The State of Microsoft Hybrid Client Systems Management

• Organizations should consider Intune first for client management but may still need Config Manager for some Windows PC management scenarios.
• Intune offers support for a broad range of client OSs, while Config Manager only supports Windows PCs.
• Config Manager continues to support offline scenarios and offers deeper management than Intune can provide, but only for Windows devices.

Config Manager (formally branded Microsoft Configuration Manager) and Microsoft Intune were designed decades apart to meet very different client management scenarios.

Intune offers simplified management of a broad range of client devices, as long as those devices can connect to the Internet. Config Manager continues to have a role where organizations cannot or will not let clients connect to the Internet. (For a high-level comparison of the two client management technologies, see the chart “Comparing Intune and Config Manager”.)

This report focuses on management of client devices, including PCs running Windows 10 and Windows 11. Microsoft’s direction for server management is quite different and is based on a family of Azure-based server management services.