Helpful Summary
- Overview: In this guide, we compare Microsoft Intune and System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) for endpoint management, highlighting their key features, pricing, deployment, and management capabilities to help organizations choose the best tool.
- Why you can trust us: At Bluetally, we have firsthand experience with Intune. Our tool seamlessly integrates with it to provide users with enhanced management and security capabilities for their devices and applications.
- Why it matters: Understanding the strengths and limitations of Intune and SCCM helps organizations choose the right tool for their specific IT environment, balancing ease of use, scalability, and control.
- Action points: Evaluate your organization’s specific needs, considering factors such as pricing, deployment, device coverage, user-friendliness, and scalability to determine whether Intune or SCCM is the best fit.
- Further research: Explore additional client case studies and reviews on Gartner to understand user experiences and deeper insights into both Intune and SCCM.
Intune and System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) are both Microsoft endpoint management solutions, but which one is right for your organization depends on your needs.
Intune is a cloud-based solution for mobile device and application management. It’s user-friendly, cost-effective, and well-suited for most environments.
SCCM, on the other hand, is trusted by many large enterprises for its robustness and comprehensive features. It is the industry leader for on-premises device and software management, but requires significant maintenance and upfront infrastructure investment.
In this BlueTally guide, we will compare Intune and SCCM, examining their features, costs, and ideal use cases. While we can't decide which solution is better for you, we hope to highlight the benefits of both so you can determine the best fit for your organization.
Why Listen To Us?
We have firsthand experience helping businesses manage their physical inventory and equipment efficiently. At BlueTally, we integrate seamlessly with Intune to streamline asset management. Our case studies show how we've automated the addition of devices from Intune into BlueTally, reducing manual data entry and errors.
By automating asset checkouts to the current device owner in Intune, we enhance accountability and oversight, ensuring every asset is accurately tracked. This integration has saved our clients significant time and effort, allowing them to focus on more critical tasks.
Intune Overview
Intune is one of the most popular cloud-based endpoint management solutions, specializing in the management of mobile devices such as smartphones, tablets, laptops, and desktop computers. As of 2024, Intune is trusted by over 10,000 companies, including notable organizations like Honeywell and Indiana University, among many others.
IT administrators rely on Intune to manage device settings, enforce security policies, and deploy applications efficiently. Intune also plays an important role in protecting corporate data on both company-owned and bring-your-own-device (BYOD) endpoints.
Intune Key Features
- It allows you to manage various devices owned by the organization or bring-your-own-device (BYOD) devices.
- It has simplified app management that allows you to deploy, add, or remove apps.
- It allows you to create policies for apps, security, device configuration, compliance, and conditional access.
- It supports advanced endpoint management and security, such as Remote Help, Microsoft Tunnel for MAM, Endpoint Privilege Management, and more.
- The self-service features allow employees and students to use the Company Portal app and website to reset a PIN/password, install apps, and join groups.
- It allows you to create policies that respond to threats, do real-time risk analysis, and automate remediation.
Intune Pros
- No server setup with Intune Cloud-Based Management
- Supports a wide range of devices
- Simple and easy to use
- Robust security policies and data protection to safeguard company information on devices
- Seamless integration with other Microsoft cloud services such as Azure Active Directory and Microsoft 365
- Automated application deployment process
- Cloud infrastructure for high scalability
- Bring-your-own-device (BYOD) friendly
Intune Cons
- Intune offers less granular control compared to SCCM
- Its cloud-based nature requires an internet connection for management tasks
- Intune may not support some advanced customization
Intune Pricing
Intune provides a subscription-based pricing model starting at $8 per month, with two additional add-on options available.
SCCM Overview
System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM), now known as Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager (MECM), is a comprehensive on-premises management solution designed to allow IT administrators to manage a wide array of devices within a corporate network.
Many enterprises prefer MECM due to its ability to provide detailed control and customization over IT infrastructure. With MECM, organizations can ensure consistent policy enforcement, streamline software and operating system deployments, maintain up-to-date security patches, and generate comprehensive reports on hardware and software assets.
Its seamless integration with other Microsoft products, such as Azure Active Directory and Microsoft Intune, further enhances its functionality, offering a unified management experience across both on-premises and cloud environments.
SCCM Key Features
- On-premises power and customization that give significant control and customization over your device management compared to cloud-based solutions.
- It allows you to manage various devices within the organization.
- Enrolls and manages devices by using the on-premises Configuration Manager infrastructure.
- It allows remote control for administrators to troubleshoot and support end-user devices remotely.
- It offers detailed asset intelligence capabilities to collect inventory data and monitor software license usage in your organization.
SCCM Pros
- Manage a wide range of devices, including desktops, laptops, servers, and mobile devices
- Fine-tune configurations and policies to meet specific organizational needs
- Efficiently deploy, update, and manage software applications across the network
- Distribute patches and updates promptly to maintain security and system integrity
- Simplify and automate operating system installations and configurations
- Ensure devices adhere to corporate security and configuration standards
SCCM Cons
- Complex to set up, use, and learn
- Regular maintenance and updates are required to keep SCCM running smoothly
- Its license can be expensive and not affordable, especially for small enterprises
SCCM Pricing
Unlike Intune, SCCM (System Center Configuration Manager) follows a licensing model rather than a subscription-based pricing model. This means that organizations typically purchase SCCM through a one-time licensing fee, which can be more costly upfront compared to Intune’s subscription plans.
Intune vs SCCM: Points Of Comparison
Integration
When it comes to integrating with other Microsoft services, both SCCM and Intune offer compatibility, but their ease of integration differs. Intune boasts a reputation for seamless integration with other Microsoft services. This is likely due to its cloud-based nature, which allows for pre-configured connections with other Microsoft offerings.
For instance, integrating Intune with Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) for user authentication is a breeze. Also, third-party solutions like BlueTally can often integrate directly with Intune, further streamlining your management workflow.
While SCCM also supports integration with Microsoft services, it often requires additional configuration and setup compared to Intune. This is because SCCM operates on-premises, and connections with other Microsoft products might necessitate manual configuration or additional tools. For example, integrating SCCM with Azure AD might involve setting up a hybrid Azure AD join environment.
Deployment & Management
Intune shines with its cloud-based deployment. There's no need to install or maintain servers on-premises. This makes it ideal for small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) that might lack the dedicated IT staff or resources to manage complex server infrastructure.
Since everything is handled by Microsoft in the cloud, Intune offers a quick and easy setup process.
SCCM, on the other hand, is an on-premises solution. This means you'll need to install and manage the software on your servers within your network. While this might seem daunting at first, SCCM offers a high degree of customization that caters to complex IT environments.
With SCCM, you have granular control over every aspect of device deployment and management. This is ideal for large organizations with specific requirements or those with a significant number of Windows devices.
Device Coverage
While both SCCM and Intune manage a variety of devices, their coverage capabilities differ significantly.
Intune excels at managing mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets, as well as laptops and desktops across multiple operating systems. However, its focus on mobility may result in limitations when managing specialized devices like servers.
On the other hand, SCCM offers broader device coverage compared to Intune. It is the preferred solution for managing Windows servers within a network. SCCM can also manage macOS and Linux machines to some extent, though its core strength remains with Windows devices.
User-Friendliness
When it comes to user-friendliness, there's a clear distinction between SCCM and Intune. Intune boasts a user-friendly and intuitive interface. It's designed to be easy to learn, even for IT admins with less experience. The web-based console makes it easily accessible from any device with a web browser.
Common tasks like device enrollment, configuration, and policy enforcement are streamlined and can be managed through a central location. This simplicity makes Intune a breeze to set up and use, minimizing the burden on your IT staff.
SCCM, on the other hand, features a more complex console with a steeper learning curve. Its on-premises nature means navigating multiple consoles for different functionalities. This complexity necessitates training and a higher level of expertise for IT admins to effectively manage and configure SCCM. While SCCM offers a high degree of granular control, it comes at the cost of user-friendliness.
Pricing
SCCM requires an upfront investment in software licensing and may incur ongoing costs for the necessary infrastructure, as it operates on-premises. While the per-device licensing cost for SCCM might be lower than Intune, the initial setup and infrastructure expenses can be substantial. These expenses include purchasing and maintaining servers, as well as the associated costs of managing and scaling the on-premises infrastructure.
Intune, on the other hand, uses a subscription-based model, charging a monthly or annual fee per device managed. This approach eliminates the upfront costs associated with hardware and server licenses required by SCCM, making it more financially predictable and easier to scale.
As a result, Intune is generally considered the more affordable option, particularly for smaller organizations. The cloud-based nature of Intune also offers enhanced flexibility and easier management, which can be advantageous for organizations with limited IT resources.
Streamline Endpoint Management with Intune and BlueTally
While choosing between Microsoft Intune and SCCM depends on your organization's specific needs, Intune stands out as a cost-effective, user-friendly solution ideal for managing mobile devices. SCCM on the other hand, offers robust capabilities for large-scale deployments across complex IT infrastructures.
At Bluetally, we provide support for both Intune and SCCM. Our services include configuring Intune to effectively manage your organization's mobile devices and integrating it seamlessly with existing IT frameworks. Learn more about our Intune-Bluetally integration here.
