This leading company provides end-to-end contract air services and cutting edge critical data solutions to clients across the region. The IT team manages laptops, NUC devices, and mobile phones across Windows, Linux, Android, and iOS.
Being a European company, they operate within tight data protection and cybersecurity frameworks such as GDPR and ISO 27001 certification.
Business challenges
Unmanageable patch cycles with no automated update process across four operating systems.
Before using ManageEngine Endpoint Central, the IT department managed endpoints manually. Managing devices across four operating systems was challenging for the company due to remote and hybrid work locations.
Martijn, the ICT support, said keeping everything updated was nearly impossible, especially on time. There was no tool that would automate this process and allow keeping the whole environment updated automatically, thus ensuring its compliance with NIS2 and ISO 27001 regulations.
Inconsistent remote management requiring extensive coordination with end users.
Enabling employees who worked from home or as part of a hybrid model remained difficult. Remotely taking over computers was always a challenge, as there were no tools available to allow the team to handle endpoints efficiently and remotely. Each time something needed to be done on a remote computer, it required extensive cooperation with the end user in terms of communicating instructions or waiting for approvals before anything could happen, consuming lots of time.
Compliance and audit exposure under GDPR, NIS2, ePrivacy, and ISO 27001 without reporting tools.
Without a central system to monitor, control, and manage devices, the team lacked visibility into configurations and security, and couldn't push updates. Operating under GDPR, NIS2, ePrivacy, and ISO 27001, the company needed proof of compliance of the endpoints in the network. Since no tools provided audit and reporting capabilities, creating reports and proving compliance was a challenge.
"Before implementing ManageEngine Endpoint Central, managing endpoints across remote and hybrid work locations took a lot of time and was inconsistent. Keeping all devices up to date was also near impossible, especially to do in a timely manner. Taking over computers remotely was also always a struggle. Not being able to monitor devices or easily push certain changes made us vulnerable."
- Martijn, ICT Support
Evaluating the market
The IT team evaluated various endpoint management solutions before choosing ManageEngine Endpoint Central. The solutions assessed included NinjaOne, Microsoft Intune / SCCM, and Datto RMM.
After evaluating these alternatives, the team chose ManageEngine Endpoint Central based on several decisive factors:
| Decision factor | What it meant |
|---|---|
| Ease of use and deployment | Intuitive interface that a small IT team could adopt and operate without extensive onboarding. |
| Cost and value | Competitive pricing that delivered enterprise-grade capabilities within the constraints of a lean IT budget. |
| Patch management and security | Comprehensive, automated patching across all four OS platforms to close the vulnerability window. |
| Remote management and support | Reliable remote desktop capabilities to support distributed staff without manual coordination. |
| Compliance and audit readiness | Built-in reporting and audit trails aligned with GDPR, NIS2, ePrivacy, and ISO 27001 requirements. |
| Asset and software management | Centralized inventory and software tracking across heterogeneous devices. |
| Automation and productivity | Automated workflows to reduce repetitive manual tasks for the small IT team. |
| Deployment flexibility | Support for on-premise and cloud deployment to fit the existing IT architecture. |
The ManageEngine Endpoint Central solution
With the implementation of Endpoint Central, Martijn's team has access to a unified solution to control all of their endpoint devices. This is how each feature makes its impact.
Cross-platform patch management
"Cross-platform patch management is the most widely utilized capability," says Martijn. What was "almost impossible" before can now be accomplished in a very efficient manner. All devices running on the organization's infrastructure can receive updates for both the operating systems and third-party programs. This is done for all supported platforms, including Windows, Linux, Android, and iOS, from one interface.
Launching patches through the portal interface has simplified the procedure to such a degree that there is no necessity to contact each user individually. The process of testing, approval, and deployment is now automated, resulting in reducing the vulnerability period to zero.
Remote desktop support
Remote desktop is a core day-to-day tool for the IT team. Previously, supporting a remote user required lengthy coordination: explaining steps, awaiting access approvals, and hoping the session would work. Endpoint Central's remote control feature allows IT professionals to gain access to any endpoint immediately to troubleshoot problems and fix issues long before they affect most end-users.
The non-invasive nature of remote control functionality helps maintain user productivity while IT professionals work on identifying and resolving issues, with session reporting being an additional advantage.
Software and configuration deployment
They regularly use Endpoint Central to roll out configuration settings and ensure consistency of all endpoints, irrespective of their locations. Rolling out a configuration change that once required manual effort per device is now a centralized operation executed in minutes.
The Self Service Portal has also made a real difference. End-users can independently install approved software without raising a request to the IT team, which reduces the volume of routine IT interactions and frees the team up for more meaningful work.
"The Self Service Portal also saves us a ton of work by allowing users to install a specific set amount of software."
- Martijn, ICT Support
Compliance and audit readiness
Operating under GDPR, NIS2, the ePrivacy Directive, and ISO 27001, audit readiness is a practical requirement for them. The use of Endpoint Central's dashboard and reporting functionality has made the preparation for audits a lot simpler.
The team is now able to provide clear visibility into the state of devices in terms of device status, patches, software installation, and endpoint compliance in general. The data that was gathered before by hand from different sources is now provided directly in the Endpoint Central Dashboard.
"The dashboard and reporting capabilities make audit preparation significantly easier by providing clear visibility into the device status, patches, software inventory and endpoint compliance. We can quickly demonstrate it during an audit."
- Martijn, ICT Support
Results and impact
Since implementing ManageEngine Endpoint Central, the organisation's IT team has seen measurable improvements across every aspect of their operations:
| Challenges before | Outcomes after |
|---|---|
| Manual, time-consuming patch processes with no consistent update cadence. | Automated, centralized patch deployment across all OS platforms from a single console. |
| Remote support required extensive manual coordination and was unreliable. | Instant remote desktop access enabling rapid troubleshooting before users experience impact. |
| No visibility into device status, inventory, or security posture. | Unified dashboard providing real-time endpoint visibility and software inventory. |
| Compliance evidence required significant manual effort to compile. | On-demand audit reports demonstrating patch status, device compliance, and software inventory. |
| Configuration changes required device-by-device manual effort. | Centralized configuration push deployed across the entire fleet in minutes. |
| Users raised support requests for routine software installs. | Self Service Portal enabling users to self-serve approved software independently. |
ROI is visible in every part of IT operations. The team claims to have saved time in all the areas where Endpoint Central has been used. What used to require direct user engagement or manual device access now launches from the portal with no user involvement. The IT team no longer has to spend time on requests for routine software installation, from explaining how the process works to waiting for approval. Now, users just go to the Self Service Portal.
"We save time with every aspect. Being able to launch patches from the portal saves the time to explain to the user or manually update ourselves. When a certain issue happens we can act way faster, which solves issues before most have even experienced it."
- Martijn, ICT Support
Looking ahead
Their IT team has built a strong foundation with ManageEngine Endpoint Central, and the platform continues to deliver value as the organization grows. With patch management, remote desktop, configuration deployment, and compliance reporting all running through a single console, the team has moved from a reactive, manual way of working to a much more controlled and predictable one.
As their operations expand and its endpoint environment evolves, the flexibility of Endpoint Central means the team can scale their IT management capabilities without needing to add headcount or switch platforms.
Features
Cross-platform patch management
Remote desktop support
Self Service Portal
Results
- Automated patch deployment across Windows, Linux, Android, and iOS from a single console.
- Instant remote desktop access for distributed and hybrid staff without on-site visits.
- On-demand audit reports aligned with GDPR, NIS2, ePrivacy, and ISO 27001 requirements.
- Self Service Portal reduced routine software installation requests and IT workload.
