The importance of data analysis has been steadily growing in the last couple of decades. And as technology has continued to evolve, the tools that we have available to us have significantly improved. These tools help businesses get a clearer view of their operations. One of the more recent offerings is Microsoft Endpoint Manager Analytics (MEMA). With this product, Microsoft is aiming to help organizations measure and improve their productivity. These days, businesses are placing significant emphasis on the degree of productivity of their employees. Therefore it’s important to have a way to actually see this and that’s what we’ll be going over below.

What is Microsoft Endpoint Manager Analytics?

Endpoint Analytics is essentially a new feature that Microsoft has added to Microsoft Productivity Score. What it does is to provide you with information on how the organization is operating as well as the experiences that your users are receiving. Moreover, it can pinpoint policies or hardware issues that are slowing down devices and then make any necessary changes without causing needless disruptions. Therefore, Endpoint Analytics can provide insights that are normally unavailable to IT because of a lack of visibility into the end-user experience. And it can offer this service at a better cost as compared to the costly support channel that you would otherwise use.

Getting started with Microsoft Endpoint Manager

Once you’ve met all the requirements, the actual process of enrolling a device is pretty straightforward. For Intune-managed devices, you need to go to the Onboard in the Endpoint Analytics portal. When you’re enrolling devices that are managed by Configuration Manager, there are a few steps to follow. Firstly, you have to go and enable Endpoint Analytics data collection in Configuration Manager. Next, you’ll need to enable data upload from Configuration Manager. And the last step involves onboarding in the Endpoint Analytics portal. You will see the connector status light up in Microsoft Endpoint Manager once you have successfully enabled.

Startup performance

This is an area that can be of great concern when it comes to causing delays to your employees. By measuring time to productivity, you can easily see where users are losing time. Endpoint Analytics will help your organization by identifying lengthy boot and sign-in times and then resolving them. In addition, you’ll get a couple of recommended actions that you can take to improve startup times. Having this data at hand enables you to evaluate your startup performance. You can then use this data and compare it to other organizations thus getting a better view of how you’re doing as a business. 

Software optimization with Microsoft Endpoint Manager

A lot of the time, increasing productivity only requires you to optimize your current software. MEMA plays a key role by providing you with information for improving user experience by optimizing your operating system as well as the versions of Microsoft software that you are already using. You’ll get to benefit from insights for various deployment and management services. Among these are Windows Autopilot, Microsoft Intune, Configuration Manager, Windows 10, and Azure Active Directory. Although you may already be using these platforms, analytics gives you data that helps you to get the most out of them.

Swift problem resolution

In the past, one of the major causes of delays has been users having to wait for IT to resolve problems. However, Endpoint Analytics provides proactive remediation scripting. Simply put, this great feature will resolve common support issues on any of your endpoints. Not only that, but it will fix these problems before users even know there’s an issue. There are built-in scripts that you can use for common issues. But, there is also the possibility of authoring your own scripts based on what issues your users frequently encounter.

Licensing requirements for Microsoft Endpoint Manager

A valid Microsoft Endpoint Manager license is necessary to enroll devices in Endpoint Analytics. In addition, for proactive remediations, one of the following licenses for managed devices will be required:

• Windows 10 Enterprise E3 or E5 (included in Microsoft 365 F3, E3, or E5)
• Windows 10 Education A3 or A5 (included in Microsoft 365 A3 or A5)
• Windows Virtual Desktop Access E3 or E5

Requirements for Intune devices

Devices under co-management or enrolled in Intune running Windows 10 Pro, Windows 10 Pro Education, Windows 10 Enterprise, or Windows 10 Education. Windows 10 Home isn’t supported. Only devices with Windows 10 Enterprise, Education, or Pro version 1903 or later will get startup performance insights. It’s also important to note that workplace joined or Azure AD registered devices won’t be supported. Lastly, you need to ensure that the Connected User Experiences and Telemetry service are running.

Configuration Manager requirements

For devices that are under the management of Configuration Manager, you’re going to need a minimum of Configuration Manager version 2002 with KB4560496 – Update rollup for Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager version 2002 or later. Also, the Configuration Manager clients need to be upgraded to version 2002 or later. And then you should ensure that the Microsoft Endpoint Manager tenant is attached. Another thing to remember is that enrolled devices that meet the Intune requirements will send required functional data directly to Microsoft public cloud.

Enhance your productivity

Common issues that trouble most organizations should not have to persist indefinitely. Time is a priceless commodity and your business needs to strive to fully enhance productivity. Hence the importance of software such as Microsoft Endpoint Manager Analytics. Its ability to furnish you with a comprehensive overview of how your organization is operating has the potential to make it key to your business strategies. Evaluating the problem areas affecting your users and resolving them without disruption will immediately improve workflow. Although Endpoint Analytics is still very much a new product, it’s certainly one that looks like most businesses could need.