- Intune pushes security settings like disk encryption and screen lock to every device and confirms they are applied.
- It can remotely lock or wipe a lost, stolen, or departed-employee laptop and separate company data from personal data on phones.
- Windows Autopilot lets a drop-shipped laptop configure itself on first sign-in, replacing a half-day of IT labor per machine.
- Intune is included but not automatic: policies, enrollment, and compliance rules must be set up before it protects anything.
If your company is on Microsoft 365 Business Premium, you already own a real device-management system. It's called Microsoft Intune, and most small businesses never turn it on. That's a missed opportunity, and occasionally a real risk.
What Intune actually does
Intune is the tool that lets you manage the laptops and phones your team uses, from one place, without walking over to each machine:
- Push security settings to every device (disk encryption, screen lock, firewall) and confirm they're applied.
- Require that only healthy, compliant devices can reach company data.
- Separate company data from personal data on a phone, so you can wipe the company side without touching someone's photos.
- Remotely lock or wipe a lost, stolen, or departed-employee device.
That last one is the wake-up call for a lot of owners. The day an employee leaves with a laptop, or one goes missing, is the day you find out whether you can do anything about it.
Autopilot: new machines that set themselves up
Paired with Intune is Windows Autopilot, which handles new computers. Instead of IT unboxing, imaging, and hand-configuring each laptop, a new machine can be drop-shipped straight to the employee and configure itself the first time they sign in: policies applied, apps installed, ready to work.
For a growing company, Autopilot turns onboarding from a half-day of IT labor per laptop into a box that shows up at the new hire's door and just works. It's the kind of thing that quietly saves real time once you're hiring more than occasionally.
Why it usually sits unused
Intune is included, but it isn't automatic. It needs to be set up: policies defined, devices enrolled, compliance rules written. That's the work, and it's exactly the kind of thing a managed or co-managed IT partner does once and then maintains. The license is already in your plan; the configuration is the project.
What to do about it
If you don't have a clear answer to "can we lock or wipe a lost laptop right now?", that's the sign Intune isn't set up, and it's worth fixing. The same project gives you zero-touch onboarding as a bonus.
If you want to know whether the device management you're already paying for is actually running, we're glad to take a look. Let's talk it through.