Laptops go missing. Phones get left in taxis. Staff install apps you have never heard of. For a growing business, the devices your team uses are both essential and a genuine security risk. Microsoft Intune is Microsoft's answer to that problem — a cloud service that lets you manage and secure every device from one console. This guide explains what Intune does, the difference between MDM and MAM, and the practical benefits.
Microsoft Intune is a cloud-based endpoint management service that lets a business manage and secure laptops, desktops and mobile devices from one place. It enforces policies such as encryption, patching, screen locks and app protection, and can remotely wipe company data from a lost or stolen device.
What is Microsoft Intune?
Intune is part of the Microsoft Intune Suite (formerly Microsoft Endpoint Manager) and integrates tightly with Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Entra ID. It lets you set rules for how devices must be configured, confirm that they meet those rules, and take action — including remote wipe — when they do not. Microsoft's overview is on Microsoft Learn.
MDM and MAM: the two core concepts
Intune covers two complementary approaches to management. Understanding the difference helps you decide how to handle company-owned versus personal devices.
- MDM — Mobile Device Management
- Enrols and manages the whole device. You control settings, enforce encryption and patching, deploy apps, and can remotely lock or wipe the device. Best for company-owned laptops and phones.
- MAM — Mobile Application Management
- Protects company data inside specific apps — such as Outlook and Teams — without managing the entire device. You can require a PIN to open a work app and wipe only the company data, leaving personal content untouched. Ideal for personal (BYOD) phones.
What Intune does
- Enforces device compliance. Requires encryption, a minimum patch level, a screen lock and other baseline settings before a device is trusted.
- Deploys apps and settings. Pushes the software, configuration and updates staff need, automatically.
- Protects company data. Applies app-protection policies so business data cannot be copied into personal apps or unmanaged storage.
- Enables remote wipe. Removes company data — or the whole device — if it is lost, stolen or the owner leaves.
- Feeds Conditional Access. Device compliance becomes a signal Entra ID can require before granting access, a cornerstone of zero trust security.
The benefits of Microsoft Intune
For an Australian business handling client information, these benefits also support your obligations under the Privacy Act and align with several ACSC Essential Eight strategies, such as patching and restricting risky configurations.
Common use cases
- Securing a hybrid workforce. Ensure every laptop is encrypted and patched, wherever staff work.
- Onboarding and offboarding. Ship a new device that self-configures, and cleanly remove company data when someone leaves.
- BYOD phones. Let staff use their own phones for email and Teams while keeping company data protected and separable.
- Regulated industries. Demonstrate device-level controls for compliance and cyber-insurance requirements.
How Intune fits with Entra ID and Defender
Intune is most powerful when it works alongside the other pieces of the Microsoft security stack rather than in isolation. Each tool contributes a different signal, and together they let you make access decisions based on real device health.
- Entra ID handles identity — who the user is and whether they have passed MFA. Its Conditional Access policies can require that a device be marked compliant by Intune before access is granted.
- Intune reports whether the device is encrypted, patched and free of prohibited configurations, and supplies that compliance status to Entra ID.
- Microsoft Defender adds threat detection, so a device with an active threat can be marked non-compliant and automatically blocked until it is cleaned up.
The practical result is a policy such as: "allow access to company data only from a managed, encrypted, patched and threat-free device, by a user who has passed MFA." That is a working example of zero trust security in action, and it is achievable on licences many businesses already own.
A note on licensing
Microsoft Intune is included in several plans, including Microsoft 365 Business Premium, E3 and E5, and it is also available as a standalone subscription. Because Microsoft updates plan inclusions over time, confirm what your specific plan covers on Microsoft Learn or ask us to review your licensing. Many businesses already own Intune through Business Premium without realising it.
The honest takeaway
Intune delivers most of its value once policies are designed thoughtfully and enrolment is handled cleanly — a poorly planned rollout frustrates staff and leaves gaps. As a managed Microsoft 365 and cyber security partner, we design compliance and app-protection policies to fit how your team actually works, then keep every device green over time.
Related services
Explore our Microsoft 365 management, managed IT services and cyber security services, or book a free IT assessment. Ready to talk? Contact our Sydney team.
Frequently asked questions
Microsoft Intune is a cloud-based endpoint management service that lets businesses manage and secure laptops, desktops and mobile devices from one place. It covers mobile device management (MDM) and mobile application management (MAM), enforcing policies such as encryption, patching and app protection.
Mobile device management (MDM) enrols and controls the whole device — settings, compliance and remote wipe. Mobile application management (MAM) protects company data inside specific apps without managing the entire device, which is ideal for personal phones used for work.
Yes, they do different jobs. Antivirus detects and blocks malware on a device. Intune manages the device itself — enforcing encryption, patch levels, screen locks and app policies, and providing remote wipe. Together they give layered protection.
Intune is included in several business and enterprise plans such as Microsoft 365 Business Premium, E3 and E5, and it is also available as a standalone licence. Always confirm the current inclusions for your specific plan on Microsoft Learn.
Yes. Intune can fully manage company-owned devices through MDM, and it can protect company data on personal (BYOD) devices through app protection policies (MAM) without taking control of the whole device or the owner's personal data.