Businesses of all sizes are potential targets for cyber-attacks and this has become more likely with the numbers of remote devices or endpoints increasing due to the pandemic-related shift to remote work. Every remote endpoint is a potential vulnerability for a cyber-attack, and with the number of businesses continuing with a hybrid workplace in the future, the risk posed by endpoints is a dilemma that isn’t going to shift.
When it comes to protecting business endpoints, it is vital to ensure security is high-level. Without the right security, there is potential for your business brand to be affected negatively and have a heavy financial impact. One important benefit from expert endpoint management is reducing costs, as secure devices mean less risk of data breaches and financial fallout.
Why is endpoint management important?
Endpoint management is the process of defending devices connected to a network, called endpoints, from cyber threats and malicious activity. These endpoints are devices such as laptops, desktops, digital printers, the Internet of Things (IoT), and mobile devices.
Endpoint security management is a vital part of an organisation’s cybersecurity strategy, to prevent unauthorised access and theft of data. Protecting sensitive corporate data has become a significant concern for security teams as more devices are connecting to networks. The average cost of a data breach in Australia is $3.7 million, a significant amount of money that few businesses can afford to lose.
Endpoint management tools have evolved from basic antivirus software and firewalls to cutting edge technology that employs artificial intelligence, automation technology, and predictive analytics software. Solutions such as Microsoft Endpoint Manager protect your data both in the cloud and on-premises, to ensure your risk of endpoint attack is minimised. Endpoint Manager is unified endpoint management (UEM) that offers security and device management, with Microsoft Intune, Configuration Manager, and Windows Autopilot to keep your mission-critical business data safe.
External endpoint attacks seem to be the more obvious threat, but insider endpoint threats are a serious concern as well. Every employee in your organisation potentially can compromise your endpoint security, whether through malicious intent or negligence.
Increase endpoint management to improve costs
The key way to reduce your organisation’s costs with endpoint management is to ensure your endpoints are as secure as can be, protecting your devices from malware, ransomware, and vulnerabilities that can lead to data breaches.
Steps to reduce your risk of financial damage as a result of endpoint mismanagement:
- Ensure that your hardware is operating at peak performance levels by installing the most current version of all drivers and performing regular upgrades. These upgrades will help avoid your operating system crashing or other issues that could result in negative consequences for the whole operation.
- Updating new software will increase the safety of your systems and limit unauthorised access to a compromised system. It’s important to make sure you keep up with the latest updates on these endpoint protection tools as it helps reduce the risk of cyber-attacks, and allows employees to securely access the data they need.
- Cloud-based solutions minimise hardware and maintenance costs for companies as apps and data are hosted remotely on a server, so you only pay if you use the resources, rather than paying for unused resources. It also reduces risk since all data will be stored offline in another location, meaning that no matter what happens with your hardware or servers they won’t lose any of their valuable information.
- Outsourcing to managed IT service providers (MSPs) offers a cost-effective way to help with endpoint management. They deploy their resources on a large scale, which means there is lots of support and economies of scale. This minimises costs for you as your employees don’t need to spend time managing these devices – they can focus more on other important tasks like marketing or sales management.
Get expert advice on endpoint management
Creating and implementing an endpoint management solution can help your business to reduce costs for your devices, as well as reduce the amount of time that is needed to manage and maintain them. The right endpoint management solution will help your business to be more productive, secure, and efficient, improving employee experience in the modern workplace. Talk to the endpoint management experts at INTELLIWORX about how your business can be more secure than ever before.
