The 4 most significant factors to look for in your patch management tool
1. Operating system and application-agnostic
The IT landscape is gradually evolving and taking different shapes every other year. Enterprises are adding new applications and systems to improve organization-wide end-user experience. With remote working, the employee expectations of on-demand IT support from the IT teams have increased. This only leaves the IT team by finding state-of-the-art technology to enhance digital operations in the organization. The system, device, and application requirements vary between departments. Your employees might work on all devices from Windows, Linux, Mac, etc. Hence, your patch management software should support a multi-OS and application IT environment on the one hand. On the other, the tool must be scalable as the IT environment grows.
2. Ease-of-use
Yes! Keeping your company away from security breaches and IT vulnerabilities is a challenging task. But, your patching process can be a walk in the park. With many SaaS-based platforms and applications emerging in the market, IT now is simpler and more straightforward than it was a decade ago. With stringent IT budgets and fewer resources, IT managers should look for a patch management tool that is easy to use and requires no manual effort. Cloud-native patch management solutions do just that.
3. Seamless end-to-end patch management
It would be best if you had a tool that does more with less, which manages the end-to-end process of any IT tasks with complete visibility. This deflects the IT team from focusing on exhaustive tasks and helps them deal with better IT objectives. The patching process starts with comprehensive scanning of the existing network, identifying gaps, deploying patches, testing the effect, and making the patches live. A critical step is the detailed reporting of the patches. Choose a tool that manages the end-to-end process and requires no help from your IT team.
4. Reduced TCO
A lot of legacy and on-premise tools do not mention associated costs upfront. Managing a legacy tool incurs ongoing maintenance costs and support from third-party vendors. The managers end up paying more for fewer features. This increases the total cost of ownership. Optimize the usage of IT budgets by choosing a tool that does more with less and adds business value to the organization.