Client Management—When to Go Cloud First

• Microsoft is investing almost nothing in on-premises software to manage and secure PCs and other client devices.
• Only cloud services for client-side management will see enhancements to drive adoption, but most will come with increasingly more expensive license costs.
• Customers should target any on-premises software effort and licensing to those niches where cloud services still fall short.

Many customers still use legacy Microsoft products such as Configuration Manager and Active Directory to manage PCs, Macs, and other end-user devices. Customers should limit investment in such legacy management products, as Microsoft continues to shift its own investment toward Intune, Entra ID, Microsoft Defender XDR, and other cloud services hosted in its datacenters. Microsoft appears willing to keep legacy management products viable by only providing minimal updates such as compatibility with the latest Windows versions, but these products will continue to deliver even less value to customers than they have in the past. Cloud services, in contrast, will quickly gain new management capabilities, but current customers should always expect to regularly pay higher fees for new capabilities and budget accordingly.