Microsoft Intune: Leveraging Your Already-Acquired Licenses

Why Intune often lies dormant in your licenses

If your organization has subscribed to Microsoft 365 E3 or E5, you very likely have Microsoft Intune — Microsoft's unified device management solution (MDM/MAM, Mobile Device Management / Mobile Application Management) — without having activated all its capabilities. It's a frequent observation: the license is there, the platform is provisioned, but the deployment stopped at basic Windows PC management.

This article offers you a structured guide to what you can activate right now, without spending an extra euro, and how to approach the project methodically.

Intune as a central platform, not as an isolated tool

The classic mistake is to consider Intune as simply a Wi-Fi profile deployment tool. Its real value proposition is to be the single console that aggregates multiple security and productivity capabilities:

• Least privilege: no user has permanent admin rights without reason.
• Remote assistance: helpdesk technicians intervene directly on workstations without complex VPN.
• Controlled applications: deployment, updates, and removal of applications from a centralized interface.
• Cloud certificates: distribution of authentication certificates without heavy on-premises PKI infrastructure.
• Advanced analytics: compliance dashboards, device health, and proactive drift detection.

Think of Intune as an orchestra conductor: each musician (PC, mobile, VM) plays their part, but it's the same baton that sets the tempo and detects wrong notes.

Consistent management across all your device types

One of Intune's key strengths is its ability to cover very heterogeneous environments from a single cloud platform. Here are the supported device types:

• Physical Windows PCs (workstations, on-premises laptops)
• Windows 365 Cloud PC — virtual workstations hosted in Microsoft cloud
• Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) — Azure's application and desktop virtualization infrastructure
• Smartphones and tablets (iOS, Android)
• Hybrid workstations connected to the corporate network via Microsoft Entra hybrid join

In practice, the same compliance profile — requiring BitLocker encryption, unlock PIN, and a minimum Windows version — applies identically to a physical laptop in the office and a Cloud PC accessible from a browser.

Endpoint Privilege Management: Remove local admins without blocking anyone

Endpoint Privilege Management (EPM) is the feature that addresses one of the most thorny helpdesk problems: how to remove local administrator rights from users without them calling every hour because they can't install a printer anymore?

The principle is simple:

1. All users are standard users by default — no permanent admin rights.
2. When a user needs to elevate rights for a specific action (install approved software, modify network settings), they make an elevation request directly from Windows.
3. Intune evaluates the request according to a defined policy (authorized application, verified hash, targeted user) and grants — or denies — elevation in a temporary and logged manner.

Result: your attack surface decreases (malware running under a standard account causes much less damage), and your users are not blocked in their daily work.

Intune + ServiceNow Integration: Linking device management to IT processes

ServiceNow is a widely-used ITSM (IT Service Management) platform for managing tickets, incidents, and IT inventory. Native integration with Intune allows data to flow in both directions:

• From Intune to ServiceNow: a device's compliance status, OS version, and last check-in are automatically synchronized to the ServiceNow CMDB (Configuration Management Database).
• From ServiceNow to Intune: an action triggered from a ticket (isolate a compromised device, force a scan, remote wipe) can be executed without leaving ServiceNow.

This bridge eliminates double entry and ensures your ITSM inventory reflects ground reality — a chronic problem in organizations that manage their devices in one tool and tickets in another.

Prerequisites, key decisions, and points of caution

Before launching a large-scale Intune project, three categories of questions deserve clear answers.

Technical Prerequisites

• Identities in place: all users and devices must be present in Microsoft Entra ID (hybrid join or native Entra join).
• Compatible devices: Windows 10 version 1607 minimum for full MDM management; iOS 16+ and Android 8+ for MAM.
• Network and access: Intune endpoints must be accessible (Microsoft URLs to authorize in proxy/firewall).
• Reliable data: an up-to-date inventory of your existing devices avoids surprises during migration.

Structural Decisions

• Priority scope: do you start with Windows PCs, mobiles, virtual workstations?
• Operating model: who manages Intune policies day-to-day? The security team, the workstation team, a service provider?
• Target integrations: ServiceNow, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, Microsoft Entra Conditional Access — which ones from the start?
• Value measurement: define your KPIs before deployment (compliance rate, number of helpdesk tickets related to admin rights, average enrollment time).

Points of Caution

• User adoption: communicate in advance. Installing the Intune agent or Entra join can trigger concerns ("Is Microsoft monitoring my PC?"). An internal FAQ prevents unnecessary tickets.
• Policy governance: clearly name your configuration profiles and targeting groups from the start. A consistent naming scheme prevents a chaos of duplicate rules six months later.

Four measurable benefits to pilot

Rather than vague promises, here are four value axes on which you can build concrete indicators:

Key Points to Remember

• Intune is probably already included in your Microsoft 365 E3/E5 — the value to activate is often already paid.
• The platform covers physical PCs, Cloud PC, AVD, mobiles, and hybrid workstations from a single console.
• Endpoint Privilege Management allows you to remove local admins without friction for users (check the required license).
• ServiceNow integration synchronizes inventory and actions in both directions, eliminating double entry.
• Address identity and data prerequisites first: an Intune deployment on fragile foundations generates more problems than it solves.
• Define your KPIs before deploying: compliance rate, helpdesk time, avoided costs, and user NPS are the four compasses of the project.