Microsoft has dropped a ton of news at the start of its Ignite event, and among them is a set of new management capabilities for businesses. The most notable of the new announcements is Endpoint Manager, which aims to simplify IT management for businesses by bringing together functionality from Intune and System Center Configuration Manager (ConfigMgr). It also includes the Device Manager Admin Center and the Desktop Analytics tool. These features will be available in Endpoint Manager over the next few months. Microsoft is also simplifying the licensing for these products by making Intune licensing available to ConfigMgr customers.
Another new tool is the Microsoft Productivity Score, which provides organizations with insights into how the business is doing in terms of productivity. It has two different experiences: one that focuses on employees and how they collaborate and communicate; and one focused on technology, including permissions, device and app performance, and device settings.
There"s also a new Managed Meeting Rooms feature that helps monitor Teams meeting rooms to ensure they"re secured and up to date, as well as proactively monitored. This capability is entering private preview, and those interested in it can register their interest here.
Microsoft is also renaming Desktop App Assure simply to App Assure, and bringing it to Edge and Windows Virtual Desktop. This means businesses can ask Microsoft to fix any apps that cause issues when moving to Windows Virtual Desktop. When Edge becomes generally available next year, businesses can also ask Microsoft to fix compatibility issues with apps coming from Chrome or Internet Explorer.
Speaking of Windows Virtual Desktop, Microsoft is expanding its availability to Linux users through a partnership with IGEL. Soon, support for Windows Virtual Desktop will be available in an SDK so other partners can build their own solutions. Microsoft says it"s also working on a "new paradigm" of app delivery through MSIX App Attach.
Finally, there are some more improvements to the Microsoft 365 admin center, including a new Global reader role, which lets users see all the settings and administrative information in the organization, but not make any changes. There are also new AI-powered recommendations that help address any potential concerns in areas such as Advanced Threat Protection, GDPR compliance, and more. More information about that can be found here. There are also some improvements to Office 365 Groups, including support for naming policies, and much more, which you can read more about here.