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Microsoft Intune: Smarter Device Management for SMBs

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As hybrid work becomes the norm rather than the exception, IT managers and CIOs are under increasing pressure to secure a growing sprawl of laptops, tablets, and smartphones without slowing down their teams. This is where Intune comes in. Microsoft Intune is a cloud-based unified endpoint management (UEM) platform that gives organizations centralized control over the devices and applications their employees use every day. At Forte Systems, we help businesses evaluate, deploy, and optimize Intune as part of a broader IT security and management strategy.

What Is Microsoft Intune?

Microsoft Intune is part of the Microsoft Endpoint Manager suite and integrates closely with Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure Active Directory) to provide identity-driven security alongside device management. It allows IT teams to enroll, configure, monitor, and protect devices no matter if they are corporate-owned or part of a bring-your-own-device (BYOD) program—from a single cloud console. According to Microsoft’s official documentation, Intune supports Windows, macOS, iOS/iPadOS, and Android, making it a genuinely cross-platform solution for organizations with diverse devices.

For businesses that have historically relied on manual configuration, spreadsheets, or fragmented tools to track hardware and software compliance, Intune represents a significant step toward automation and consistency. This is particularly valuable for IT managers who are accountable for both security posture and end-user productivity, often with limited internal resources.

Why Intune Matters for Modern IT Strategy

Cybersecurity threats increasingly target endpoints—the laptops, phones, and tablets that connect to corporate networks and cloud services. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has repeatedly emphasized the importance of strong endpoint and identity controls as foundational elements of a resilient security posture. Intune directly addresses this need by allowing organizations to:

  • Enforce compliance policies, such as requiring device encryption or up-to-date operating systems, before granting access to corporate resources.
  • Remotely wipe or lock lost or stolen devices to protect sensitive data.
  • Push software updates and security patches consistently across the organization.
  • Manage BYOD scenarios by separating personal and corporate data through app protection policies.
  • Integrate with conditional access rules in Microsoft Entra ID to block risky sign-ins or non-compliant devices.

For CIOs and business leaders evaluating IT support options, this level of control is not just a convenience, it is increasingly a compliance and risk management necessity, particularly in regulated industries such as healthcare, finance, and legal services.

Key Features IT Managers Should Understand

Device Enrollment and Configuration

Intune supports automated enrollment methods, including Windows Autopilot and Apple Business Manager integration, which allow new devices to be configured and secured straight out of the box, with minimal manual setup required by IT staff.

Application Management

Beyond device-level controls, Intune allows administrators to manage applications independently of device ownership. This means a company can protect corporate data within an app—such as Outlook or Teams, even on a personal phone, without controlling the entire device.

Compliance and Conditional Access

Intune policies work hand-in-hand with conditional access to ensure that only devices meeting specific security requirements—such as antivirus status or OS version—can access company email, files, or applications.

Reporting and Monitoring

Centralized dashboards give IT teams visibility into device health, compliance status, and pending updates, reducing the guesswork involved in maintaining a secure fleet across multiple locations or remote employees.

Common Challenges When Adopting Intune

While Intune is a powerful platform, many organizations struggle with the initial planning and configuration phase. Common pitfalls include overly complex policy structures, inconsistent naming conventions, and insufficient testing before wide-scale rollout. Without a clear strategy, IT teams can end up with a management tool that adds administrative overhead rather than reducing it.

Licensing can also be a point of confusion, as Intune is available standalone or bundled within various Microsoft 365 and Enterprise Mobility + Security plans. Understanding which license tier aligns with your organization’s security and compliance requirements is an important early step, and one where experienced guidance can save both time and budget.

How LMJ Forte Approaches Intune Deployments

At LMJ Forte, we work with IT managers, CIOs, and business leaders to design Intune deployments that reflect the realities of their organization, not just a generic template. This typically includes:

  • Assessing current device inventory, operating systems, and existing management tools.
  • Designing compliance and configuration policies aligned to your industry’s security expectations.
  • Planning a phased rollout to minimize disruption to end users.
  • Providing documentation and knowledge transfer so internal IT staff can confidently manage the platform going forward.

Our goal is not simply to turn on a product, but to ensure that Intune becomes a sustainable part of your broader IT and security strategy—one that scales as your organization grows and as device management standards continue to evolve, as tracked by organizations like the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in their guidance on mobile device and endpoint security.

Is Intune Right for Your Organization?

Microsoft Intune is particularly well-suited for organizations already invested in the Microsoft 365 ecosystem, those managing a mix of company-owned and personal devices, and businesses that need to demonstrate compliance to auditors, clients, or regulators. That said, no platform is a perfect fit for every environment without proper planning. If you are currently a Google Suite company, but grown beyond 50 users, it might make sense to review the options with Microsoft 365.

If your organization is considering Intune, or if you have already deployed it but are not confident it’s configured optimally, a structured assessment can clarify what’s working, what’s missing, and what risks may still exist. We can help IT leaders make that determination with a clear, technically grounded evaluation.

Ultimately, effective endpoint management is not just about the technology itself, but about how well it is implemented, monitored, and maintained. With the right approach, Intune can become a cornerstone of a more secure, more manageable IT environment for your entire organization.

Microsoft 365: A Bay Area IT Manager’s Guide

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For IT Managers and CIOs across the San Francisco Bay Area, choosing the right productivity and collaboration platform is no longer a dollars and cents decision—it’s a strategic one. Microsoft 365 has become the default choice for organizations that need secure email, real-time collaboration, and cloud storage in a single subscription. At Forte Systems, we work with Bay Area businesses every day to deploy, secure, and optimize Microsoft 365 environments, and we’ve seen firsthand what separates a smooth rollout from a costly headache. Now I know. This is Silicon Valley, the Bay Area – forget Microsoft, we grew up on Google Suite. Grammar school, Middle School, High School and College. Heck, my VC recommends it! Ok, I hear you -but really, can’t we just give Clippy a chance?

This guide breaks down what Microsoft 365 actually offers, why it matters for business leaders managing distributed and hybrid teams, and the key considerations your organization should weigh before expanding or migrating your deployment.

What Is Microsoft 365, Exactly?

Microsoft 365 is a subscription-based suite that bundles the familiar Office applications—Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook—with cloud services like Exchange Online, SharePoint, OneDrive, and Microsoft Teams. Unlike the older perpetual-license version of Microsoft Office, Microsoft 365 is continuously updated and tightly integrated with Microsoft’s cloud identity and security platform, Azure Active Directory (now Microsoft Entra ID). You can review Microsoft’s own documentation or the Wikipedia overview of Microsoft 365 for a breakdown of its evolution from Office 365 to its current branding.

For IT leaders, the distinction matters: Microsoft 365 isn’t just software, it’s a managed ecosystem that touches identity management, endpoint security, compliance, and data governance all at once.

Why Bay Area Organizations Are Standardizing on Microsoft 365

The Bay Area’s dense concentration of tech-forward companies, startups, and professional services firms has pushed adoption of cloud productivity tools faster than in many other regions. A few reasons Microsoft 365 continues to win out among our clients:

  • Hybrid work support: Teams, SharePoint, and OneDrive make it straightforward for distributed teams across San Francisco, the Peninsula, and the East Bay to collaborate without VPN bottlenecks.
  • Built-in security tooling: Features like conditional access, multi-factor authentication, and Microsoft Defender give IT teams a foundation for a modern security posture without buying separate point solutions.
  • Scalability: Licensing tiers allow organizations to grow from a handful of employees to enterprise scale without switching platforms.
  • Compliance alignment: Microsoft maintains compliance mappings to frameworks referenced by agencies like the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), which is helpful for regulated industries such as finance and healthcare that are common throughout the region.

Common Pitfalls We See in Microsoft 365 Deployments

Despite its strengths, Microsoft 365 is often under-configured or over-licensed. As an IT consulting partner, Forte Systems frequently encounters the same recurring issues when we audit a new client’s environment:

1. Security Defaults Left Unconfigured

Microsoft 365 ships with security features that are not always enabled by default. Multi-factor authentication, conditional access policies, and data loss prevention rules need to be deliberately configured to match your organization’s risk profile. Leaving default settings in place is one of the most common gaps we find during security assessments.

2. Licensing Sprawl

Many organizations pay for premium tiers—like Microsoft 365 E5—without using the advanced compliance or analytics features included. A licensing review can often uncover meaningful savings or, alternatively, reveal that a lower tier is leaving your team without protections it should have.

3. Poor Data Governance

SharePoint and Teams make file sharing effortless, which is a double-edged sword. Without clear governance policies, sensitive data can end up shared more broadly than intended. IT leaders should establish retention policies and sharing permissions early, rather than retrofitting them after an incident.

4. Underused Collaboration Tools

Many companies pay for the full Microsoft 365 suite but only use Outlook and Word, leaving tools like Power Automate, Planner, and Teams’ deeper integrations untapped. This represents lost productivity value that’s already been paid for.

Security Considerations for IT Leaders

Given the sophistication of today’s threat landscape, Microsoft 365 environments are a frequent target for phishing and credential-based attacks. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has published guidance specifically addressing cloud email security, much of which applies directly to Microsoft 365 tenants. Key recommendations we help clients implement include:

  • Enforcing multi-factor authentication across all accounts, including service accounts
  • Applying conditional access policies based on device compliance and location
  • Enabling audit logging and regularly reviewing sign-in activity
  • Training employees to recognize phishing attempts, since human error remains a leading cause of breaches

For CIOs weighing risk, it’s worth noting that a well-configured Microsoft 365 tenant, paired with sound governance, can meaningfully reduce your organization’s attack surface compared to a patchwork of disconnected tools.

Getting the Most Out of Microsoft 365

Deploying Microsoft 365 is not a “set it and forget it” project. It benefits from ongoing management, similar to any critical business infrastructure. Organizations that get the most value typically:

  • Conduct periodic license and usage audits
  • Review security configurations quarterly, not just at initial setup
  • Provide ongoing user training as features evolve
  • Partner with an experienced IT consulting firm to manage updates, troubleshoot issues, and align the platform with business goals

How Forte Systems Supports Microsoft 365 Environments

As a Bay Area IT consulting firm, Forte Systems helps organizations plan, migrate, secure, and manage their Microsoft 365 environments. Whether you’re consolidating legacy systems, tightening security policies, or simply trying to understand whether you’re getting full value from your current licensing, our team brings the technical depth that IT Managers and CIOs need to make confident decisions.

If your organization is evaluating a new Microsoft 365 deployment or wants a second opinion on your current setup, Forte Systems is ready to help you build a more secure, efficient, and cost-effective cloud environment.

Microsoft NCE (New Commerce Experience) and how it will impact your organization

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Microsoft is releasing the details of the Microsoft NCE (New Commerce Experience) on January 10th, 2022.

This is a price increase for Microsoft 365 and a change in the commitment process.

New Commerce Experience

– January 10, 2022: Microsoft will launch the general availability of NCE for Modern Work and Dynamics 365 for indirect partners to offer to CSP re-sellers. Microsoft will also offer two time-bound promotions to incentivize users via their reseller partners, to migrate to NCE.

These promos are:

 5% off annual subscriptions January through March 2022 

Monthly subscriptions will be available at annual pricing from January through June 2022.  

So, this would require you to sign up with your reseller and change from a month-to-month contract to an annual contract. There is an option to stay month-to-month, but there is a 20% premium fee!

– March 1, 2022: There will be a price increase for the following products: 

Enterprise:  
Office 365 E1: $10 (from $8)

Office 365 E3: $23 (from $20) 

Office 365 E5: $38 (from $35) 

Microsoft 365 E3: $36 (from $32) 
 

SMB: 
Microsoft 365 Business Basic: $6 (from $5) 

Microsoft 365 Business Premium: $22 (from$20). 

Please note Microsoft is NOT changing pricing for Microsoft 365 E5, Microsoft Business Standard, or the Frontline SKUs.

– March 10, 2022: All new subscriptions for Modern Work and Dynamics will be required to be procured through the NCE Platform.

  

– July 1, 2022:  All renewal subscriptions for Modern Work and Dynamics will be required to be procured through NCE Platform. Pax8 will no longer allow partners to renew customer subscriptions on CSP legacy. 

– October 1, 2022: Incentives only available for NCE transactions (through MCI). 

  

– July 2023:  All non-migrated client subscriptions must be moved to the New Commerce Experience.  

  

What Does This Mean for You?

Moving to the New Commerce Experience will help you prepare for future growth thanks to improved revenue predictability, reduced licensing complexity, multiple term options, and features that enable new sales capabilities and operational efficiencies. You can expect: 

Term Options 

– Monthly term options at 20% premium – if you want to stay on month-to-month, there is a 20% premium in cost.

– Annual term options; upfront or monthly payments 

– Tri-annual term options; upfront, annual, or monthly payments  

– Cancelation period is now 3 days, including day of purchase. There will be a full refund issued if canceled on day 1, and a pro-rated refund if cancelled on days 2 and 3. 

Windows 365: Windows 365 subscriptions will only be available via the monthly term offer on NCE. Windows 365 subscriptions will not be subject to the 20% premium for monthly terms at this time.  

Nonprofit and Education: Nonprofit and Education licenses will not be offered on NCE at this time. Non- Profit and Education products will not be affected by the price increases in March.