Microsoft Intune explained: A leader in unified endpoint management – Computerworld

Microsoft Intune explained: A leader in unified endpoint management

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Aug 22, 2025 9 mins

In today’s multi-device, work-from-anywhere world, unified endpoint management (UEM) is crucial for efficiency and security, providing a “single pane of glass” for managing mobile, desktop, and cloud environments. Microsoft Intune is a leading example of a UEM product that has continuously expanded to meet IT’s evolving needs.

What is Microsoft Intune?

Microsoft Intune is a suite of management tools that are the core of Microsoft’s UEM strategy as well as part of Microsoft 365’s broader technology stack. The company’s goal is to simplify managing mobile devices and applications, PCs, and other devices — and to reduce complexity and cost for IT teams.

For example, Intune’s mobile device management (MDM) capabilities are built to allow IT administrators to enforce security policies, remotely wipe devices, and manage configurations across heterogeneous platforms. Its mobile application management (MAM) features are designed to help businesses manage applications on both corporate and personal devices — enabling deployment, updates, and retirement of applications — and to protect corporate data within apps, preventing data leaks without disrupting user experience. ( Download our 2025 UEM vendor comparison chart for a comprehensive list of capabilities in Intune and its main competitors.)

Today, Intune leverages artificial intelligence (AI) and automation to enhance UEM security, improve end-user experience, and simplify operations.

Intune through the years

If you’re having a hard time keeping track of Microsoft’s UEM strategy, you’re not alone. What began as Windows Intune in 2010 evolved — and survived an identity crisis — to land where it is today as arguably the leader in the UEM market.

When Intune first arrived, companies were still in the throes of figuring out how to manage the sudden onslaught of devices accessing corporate data and networks — fallout from the bring-your-own-device (BYOD) trend that took off after the release of Apple’s iPhone in 2007.

To address the emerging enterprise mobility management (EMM) needs of businesses, Microsoft launched its Intune cloud service in 2010 and added numerous mobile management features in subsequent years. In 2019, Microsoft decided to combine its Intune UEM platform with its longstanding Configuration Manager (ConfigMgr) on-premises management platform, enabling users to access both through a single interface and rebranding the combined service as Microsoft Endpoint Manager. A few years later, in 2022, the service was rebranded back to Microsoft Intune, and the next year Microsoft released the Intune Suite, which consolidated its endpoint management and security solutions to streamline protection for both cloud and on-premises endpoints.

The timeline below shows the many self-imposed twists and turns of Microsoft Intune.

Why Intune is a UEM leader

Microsoft’s UEM strategy revolves around simplifying management with a cloud-first approach and reducing complexity and cost for IT teams by leveraging AI and automation to enhance endpoint security, improve end-user experience, and simplify operations. This jibes with Gartner’s forecast for the UEM market. The research firm predicts that by 2029, more than 50% of organizations will adopt autonomous endpoint management (AEM) capabilities within advanced endpoint management and digital employee experience (DEX).

Driven by corporate mobile device programs, hardware management has been shifting away from a Windows-dominant world to one that is increasingly diverse and includes iOS, Android, and macOS devices. As more worker tasks are carried out on mobile devices, the momentum behind UEM, and its capability to manage all user-facing devices from a single console, continues to grow.

While it’s a competitive market, Microsoft is widely recognized by experts and analysts such as IDC and Gartner as a leader in the UEM sector. According to IDC’s 2024 MarketScape for Worldwide UEM Software report, Microsoft is a leader in the category. The research firm notes that an important trend in UEM is the need account for “unmanaged” devices, specifically through mobile application management (MAM) features that secure corporate data and apps without full device enrollment.

Intune’s integration with other Microsoft services is an advantage it has over competitors. For example, it’s designed to work seamlessly with Azure Active Directory.

How to get Microsoft Intune and what you’ll pay for it

Microsoft Intune is a standalone product, but it is also included with certain Microsoft 365 plans. While Basic Mobility and Security is part of the Microsoft 365 plans, it’s a separate, free feature set and is not a full version of Intune. The following versions of Microsoft 365 include the complete version of Intune:

As a subscription service, Microsoft charges companies on a per user/per month basis in three tiers, which can also be purchased as standalone licenses or in bundles with other Microsoft products. The most common pricing is based on a per-user, per-month model with an annual commitment and breaks down as follows:

Additional information on Intune pricing

Looking ahead: Intune in development

What’s next for Intune? According to Microsoft, these features are currently in development for Intune and will likely be available in 2025:

Significant Intune notices

This article was originally launched in September 2018 and most recently updated in August 2025.