What Is Microsoft Intune and Should Your Business Use It?

If your business is running Microsoft 365 Business Premium, you're already paying for Microsoft Intune. Most growing businesses in the 25-to-250-employee range have it sitting in their subscription and have never touched it.

Here's what it does, who actually needs it, and why having it in your license is not the same as being protected.

What Microsoft Intune Actually Does

Microsoft Intune is Microsoft's cloud-based endpoint management service. The short version: it lets your IT team control what devices can access company data, and what those devices have to look like before they get in.

More than 200 million devices are managed through Intune globally as of 2026. It holds about 37% of the mobile device management market, according to Enlyft data. That's not because IT teams think it's the most elegant tool. It's because it ships inside Microsoft 365 licenses that tens of thousands of businesses already pay for.

Intune works in two modes:

MDM (Mobile Device Management) gives you full control over a device. You can enforce password requirements, enable encryption, block outdated operating systems, push software updates, and remotely wipe the device if it's lost or stolen. This is the right approach for company-owned laptops, desktops, and phones.

MAM (Mobile Application Management) applies only to specific apps on a device, not the device itself. This is how you protect company data on an employee's personal phone. You can require a PIN to open Outlook, prevent company files from being copied to personal apps, and remotely wipe company data from managed apps without touching the employee's personal photos, messages, or apps.

Most businesses with 25 to 100 employees end up using both. MDM for company-issued hardware, MAM for personal phones under a BYOD policy.

You're Probably Already Paying for Intune

Microsoft 365 Business Premium includes Intune Plan 1. Business Premium runs about $22 per user per month and is designed for businesses up to 300 users. If your firm is on that plan, Intune is already in your license.

The Microsoft admin portal lets you assign the license and start enrolling devices. That's where a lot of businesses stop. They assign the license, check that box, and assume Intune is working.

It isn't.

The Default Configuration Problem

Here's what Microsoft's own documentation says: devices with no compliance policy assigned are marked "compliant" by default.

If you haven't built compliance policies, every device connecting to your Microsoft 365 environment shows up as compliant. Nothing is being enforced. Nothing is being blocked. Intune is technically on but doing nothing.

This matters because Conditional Access, which is what actually blocks a noncompliant device from reaching your email and SharePoint, only works when it has compliance signals to evaluate. Without configured compliance policies, there are no signals. Conditional Access has nothing to act on.

A 60-person firm that turned on Intune 18 months ago and moved on may have zero device enforcement in place today. The admin portal shows devices enrolled. But unencrypted laptops, phones running outdated iOS, and former-employee devices that were never wiped may still be connecting to company data. Everything looks fine on the dashboard. None of it is actually checked.

What a Real Intune Deployment Requires

Turning Intune on is one afternoon of work. Deploying it properly is a different project.

Compliance policies define the minimum standard a device must meet to access company resources. A Windows policy might require BitLocker encryption, a current OS build, and a screen lock. You need a separate policy for each device type: Windows, Mac, iOS, Android.

App protection policies cover the MAM side for personal devices. These define what employees can and cannot do with company data inside managed apps, including whether they can copy data from Outlook to personal apps or save files to personal cloud storage.

Conditional Access rules connect Intune compliance signals to Microsoft Entra ID, which controls access to your Microsoft 365 services. The Conditional Access policy is what actually enforces the compliance requirement. Without it, compliance policies collect data but block nothing.

Enrollment strategy determines how devices get into Intune in the first place. Windows Autopilot handles new device setup automatically. Company Portal handles employee-initiated enrollment for phones. Pre-existing devices need a migration plan so nothing falls through.

Employee communication matters more than most IT teams expect. Employees on BYOD programs want to know what Intune can see on their personal device. Getting that wrong creates resistance that follows you for months. Under MAM, Intune sees the device model and OS version. It cannot see personal apps, photos, messages, or browsing history. That distinction needs to be explained clearly before rollout, not after.

A structured rollout for a 75-person firm typically runs 8 to 12 weeks from planning to full enforcement. The actual configuration takes days. Piloting, policy tuning, and communicating with employees takes the rest of that time. Skipping the pilot phase usually costs more in post-deployment cleanup than the pilot would have taken.

Company Devices vs. Personal Phones

The MDM vs. MAM decision matters practically. Company-owned devices get enrolled in MDM. Your IT team has full control: push settings, wipe the device, enforce OS updates. That's appropriate for hardware the business owns.

Personal phones are different. Full MDM enrollment on a personal device gives IT visibility and control that employees reasonably push back on. MAM-only enrollment is the right tradeoff: protect company data inside managed apps, leave personal content alone. Employees stay comfortable; company data stays protected.

Most businesses with hybrid or remote workers have a mix of both. A company laptop and a personal iPhone both reaching Teams and SharePoint need different treatment, and Intune handles that cleanly when the policies are built correctly.

Who Needs Intune

If your employees use mobile devices to access email, files, or Teams, you need Intune. Any device reaching company data is a device that can lose it.

If you have remote or hybrid workers, Intune becomes the enforcement layer that network-based controls can't provide.

If you have compliance requirements, including HIPAA, SOC 2, PCI DSS, or CMMC, device management controls are part of what those frameworks require. Intune provides both the enforcement and the audit trail.

If you've had staff turnover, every departed employee with a phone that had company email is a potential exposure. Intune lets you remotely remove company data without retrieving the physical device.

If your entire team is in the office, on company-managed desktops, with no mobile access and no remote work at all, Intune is less urgent. That describes almost no one in 2026.

For context on why unmanaged devices matter, the 2026 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report found that credential theft and phishing remain the leading breach vectors. A device that isn't enforcing MFA or encryption requirements is a device that makes those attacks easier. Intune closes that gap at the device level.

If your business is also evaluating broader Microsoft 365 security settings, the M365 Copilot SharePoint oversharing problem is a related layer worth reviewing alongside Intune deployment. Device access controls and data permission controls are separate problems that need to be solved together.

FAQ

What does Microsoft Intune cost? Intune Plan 1 is included in Microsoft 365 Business Premium at approximately $22 per user per month. Standalone Intune Plan 1 costs about $8 per user per month for businesses that don't need the full Business Premium bundle. Microsoft 365 Business Basic and Business Standard do not include Intune.

Is Microsoft Intune included in Microsoft 365 Business Premium? Yes. Business Premium includes Intune Plan 1 for businesses up to 300 users. If you're on Business Basic or Business Standard, Intune is not included. You'd need to add it as a standalone add-on or upgrade your plan. Microsoft 365 E3 and E5 enterprise plans also include Intune.

What's the difference between MDM and MAM in Intune? MDM (Mobile Device Management) enrolls and manages the full device, including OS settings, encryption, and remote wipe. It's appropriate for company-owned devices. MAM (Mobile Application Management) manages specific apps on a device without full enrollment, protecting company data inside apps like Outlook and Teams without touching personal content. Most businesses use MDM for company hardware and MAM for employee personal phones.

Can Intune see personal content on an employee's phone? Under MAM (app-level management for personal devices), Intune can see the device model and operating system version. It cannot see personal apps, photos, messages, or browsing history. Under full MDM enrollment, the profile provides more visibility, which is why most businesses restrict full MDM enrollment to company-owned devices only.

Does a business need Intune if it already has antivirus? Antivirus and Intune solve different problems. Antivirus detects malware on a device. Intune enforces security baselines, controls which devices can access company data, and handles enrollment and remote wipe. In most Microsoft 365 environments, Defender for Business handles endpoint protection while Intune handles device management. They work together, not as substitutes for each other.