In Part 2, we explored how Microsoft Entra Global Secure Access and Microsoft Purview can modernize how organizations protect connections and data. The same modernization must happen at the endpoint.
Many MSPs consider Microsoft Intune fully implemented once devices are enrolled, compliance policies appear in the portal, and a few applications have been deployed. That is device administration. Modern device management goes further. It controls who can elevate privileges, how applications reach devices, how those applications remain current, and how exceptions are handled without giving users permanent administrative access. Two Microsoft Intune capabilities help close that gap: Endpoint Privilege Management (EPM) and Enterprise Application Management.
Local administrator rights are still permanent access
Local administrator access remains one of the most common endpoint risks. Employees may receive it to install applications, update drivers, or support a specialized process. Once granted, those privileges frequently remain in place indefinitely.
This creates unnecessary exposure. Malware running under an administrator account can make deeper system changes, disable protections, or provide an attacker with a stronger position for lateral movement. Removing local administrator rights sounds simple. Operationally, it can create a flood of helpdesk requests and interrupt employees who legitimately need to perform elevated tasks. That is why many MSPs leave the problem untouched.
Endpoint Privilege Management replaces permanent privilege with controlled elevation
Microsoft Intune Endpoint Privilege Management allows employees to operate as standard users while elevating specific applications, installers, scripts, or tasks when necessary. Instead of making the user an administrator, IT defines what can be elevated and under which conditions. EPM supports several elevation models:
- Approved applications can elevate automatically.
- Users can request elevation with business justification and administrator approval.
- Known or risky files can be denied elevation.
- Managed elevations are recorded with detailed metadata.
Microsoft supports elevation for executable files, Windows Installer packages, and PowerShell scripts. Consider a finance manager who needs to install a trusted tax application update. A legacy approach gives that employee permanent local administrator rights or asks them to wait for a technician. EPM creates a third option: approve the specific installer, define the conditions, and allow only that process to elevate. The employee remains productive. The device remains under least privilege.
Enterprise Application Management so elevation is not the workaround
Removing administrator rights only works when application delivery works. Organizations still need a reliable way to deliver the applications employees use every day. If approved software is difficult to obtain or remains outdated, users will request more elevation, find their own installers, or search for unauthorized alternatives.
Microsoft Intune Enterprise Application Management addresses that operational dependency. The Enterprise App Catalog contains prepackaged Microsoft and third-party Win32 applications prepared for Intune. Microsoft configures and validates default installation commands, requirements, and detection rules before making the packages available in the catalog. This reduces the work required to locate installers, package applications, define silent commands, build detection rules, and maintain new versions.
Most catalog updates complete automated validation and become available within 24 hours. Updates requiring manual testing typically become available within seven days. It shortens the distance between an approved application, a validated package, and a consistently managed version across the organization.
EPM and Enterprise Application Management are stronger together
These capabilities solve different parts of the same problem. Enterprise Application Management provides a controlled path for standard business software. Endpoint Privilege Management handles the approved exceptions that still require elevated rights. Together, they create a modern operating model:
- Employees use standard accounts by default.
- Approved applications are delivered through Intune.
- Supported catalog applications remain current through managed updates.
- Exceptional tasks receive temporary, policy-based elevation.
- Elevation activity is recorded for security and audit review.
The goal is not to prevent employees from using the tools they need. It is to stop solving every application requirement by making the employee a permanent administrator.
Why most MSPs do not implement this layer
Modern device management is not a checkbox deployment. Implementing these capabilities requires understanding who has local administrator rights, what they elevate, which applications are legitimate, and which business processes depend on them. It also requires an application inventory, compatibility testing, assignment strategy, and ownership for software outside the catalog.
This work does not fit neatly into an MSP model centered on device enrollment, standard policies, ticket resolution, and predictable monthly maintenance. It requires security architecture and operational design.
These capabilities may already be in your license
Microsoft changed the packaging of several advanced Intune capabilities on July 1, 2026. Microsoft states that advanced Intune Suite capabilities, including EPM and Enterprise Application Management, are now included with Microsoft 365 E5. This creates an important question for every organization with Microsoft 365 E5: did your MSP explain what these new capabilities can replace, which risks they address, and how they should be implemented?
Having the feature appear in the tenant does not create a least-privilege strategy or an application lifecycle. Someone still has to design and operate them.
How NeoDefender modernizes devices without stopping the business
NeoDefender does not begin by removing privileges or forcing application changes across every endpoint. We begin by understanding how the business operates:
- Discover: Identify local administrators, unmanaged elevations, installed applications, deployment methods, and operational dependencies.
- Design: Define standard-user policies, approved elevation scenarios, application ownership, and update strategy.
- Validate: Test application packages and elevation rules with controlled pilot groups.
- Modernize: Remove standing privilege gradually while expanding managed application delivery.
- Monitor: Review elevation activity, application versions, exceptions, and user impact continuously.
No rushed removal of administrator rights. No generic allow lists. No unnecessary disruption to productivity. Just a structured transition from basic device enrollment to modern, least-privilege device management.
Contact NeoDefender to evaluate whether Endpoint Privilege Management and Enterprise Application Management can reduce endpoint risk while making application delivery easier for your users and IT team. Your devices may already be managed. The question is whether they are being managed for the risks of today.
