Part 4: Why Enterprise Management Has Become a Labyrinth of Complexity

In a previous post, we detailed the vast array of endpoints a typical enterprise possesses, why having too many devices can open the door to malicious cyber actors, and the importance of tool consolidation to help manage endpoint operations and security. In this article, we cover endpoint management tool proliferation and its consequences.

In a Syxsense-sponsored research effort with the Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG), the survey revealed that most organizations possess a dizzying array of endpoint management tools. As covered in an earlier blog post, it is not uncommon for more than 20 tools to be in use. But what are these tools? 60% of organizations surveyed harness remote access and remote desktop sharing applications to allow IT personnel to remote into user systems, troubleshoot issues, and apply updates. Similarly, 59% of enterprises make use of software distribution and license management systems. 59% also use asset management software.

Next comes mobile device management (MDM) with 55%, followed by application health and performance tools at 44%, auditing and reporting tools at 40%, privilege management at 39%, and device health monitoring at 38%. Of particular concern to ESG, however, was the low number of organizations using patch management software – only 37% of respondents noted that they use patch management software to manage their endpoints.

Some of these management tools aren’t surprising – but what is surprising is how few organizations leverage foundational tools such patch management and device health. This may be why so many aging patches continue to be exploited by malicious hackers and why recently revealed vulnerabilities can take months to years to remediate.

The Need for Consolidation

As well as pointing out the importance of patch management, the ESG research showed a need for greater consolidation of endpoint management tools to help close the vulnerability gap. Similarly, Gartner sees such consolidation as an overall trend, especially with Unified Endpoint Management (UEM). UEM is entering the mainstream, according to Gartner, having reached a market penetration level of 20% to 50%, with large organizations and certain verticals the biggest adopters.

UEM can help organizations by making it easier for IT and security operations teams to manage data protection controls, device configurations, and usage policies using telemetry from identities, applications, network connectivity, and more. UEM solutions pull together areas such as MDM, patch management, asset management, and other tools into one centralized, integrated package. At the end of the day, UEM simplifies endpoint management by bringing together several different capabilities and streamlines management processes across devices and operating systems. By enabling IT teams to manage all assets and endpoints from a single console, greater efficiency can be realized.

Syxsense Supercharges UEM With Security Tools

ESG highlighted the importance of asset management and MDM as some of the most popular endpoint management tools in use in the enterprise today, while pointing out the urgent need to augment these with automated patch management. Syxsense provides all of these functions, and more, in one integrated package.

Syxsense customers can scan and inventory their entire network to find every endpoint, whether they are in the cloud, on-premise, or operating remotely. Regardless of the operating system, application, or location, device status and health can be identified – and if any endpoints need to be updated to ensure they have a low-risk security posture, fixes and remediations can be pushed immediately. This makes it easy to set up and automate tasks such as permissions and configuration changes for devices, to distribute patches to all systems, and to verify that patches have been implemented across the enterprise.

But Syxsense takes things a stage further by integrating these UEM functions with a plethora of security capabilities. These capabilities include:  

  1. Scanning, detection, prioritization, and application of missing patches.
  2. Scanning, detection, prioritization, and remediation of security vulnerabilities most often caused by misconfigurations such as open ports, firewall settings, device sharing, etc.
  3. Remediation of any risks using an automation and orchestration engine called Syxsense Cortex™ that allows users to create complex workflows via a drag-and-drop editor, with no coding or scripting required.

Instead of management and security tools existing in siloes, Syxsense enables IT and security teams to operate as collaboratively with a solution that provides seamless integration. A single agent not only automates the management of endpoints but monitors, safeguards, and reduces the attack surface and simplifies overall management.

Managing vulnerabilities, configurations, and exposures, on top of the foundational need to manage patching across an enterprise, helps IT teams reduce the complexity in their environments without sacrificing products that the business units need to get their jobs done. If you want to find out more, schedule a demo with us today.