Like many in IT, I am a big fan of Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM). It’s one of those tools that you can’t really go without: it can help locate your company’s servers, desktops and mobile devices; it helps install client software, patch updates (see Microsoft Patch Tuesday); and it protects your endpoints and access control tools.

Sometimes our beloved SCCM needs a little backup—like Robin to Batman.

A few months ago, one of our customers in the financial services industry came to us needing significant help fixing their devices. After logging into SCCM, support agents noticed that roughly 15% of their employee devices were not reporting to SCCM and became inactive, a common problem familiar to many in IT. Nonetheless, this subset of disabled devices created a serious vulnerability because SCCM couldn’t initiate the latest Windows security updates.

Windows defender

Watch how quickly Nexthink can resolve compliance issues for IT.

With the issue brewing below the surface, IT faced another dilemma:

In the pre-COVID world, IT used to resolve this problem by sending their support agents out to assist employees at their physical workstations. Typically, it would take an agent 5 – 10 minutes to successfully takeover and re-enable an employee’s device. This type of intervention wasn’t as disruptive back when employees met face-to-face. The employee could take a few minutes to grab a cup of coffee or go chat up a friend, and the issue would be fixed when he or she returned.

Featured-Image_IT-helpdesk.jpg

Now IT had to throw that entire process out the window. With the staff working from home, IT would be forced to remote-in and manually fix the affected devices. This time around, IT wouldn’t be able to use any visual clues before approaching employees. They couldn’t tell somebody to take a break and stroll around the office while they worked on a fix. For remote workers, their laptop, desktop, or mobile device is the office.

Luckily, the IT team was able to use Nexthink’s library of built-in automations to fix the affected devices in the background. Nexthink’s powerful integration with SCCM has enabled this IT team to quickly retrieve missing client status information and proactively resolve any issues at scale. As you can imagine, this has saved significant time on IT’s side and allowed their remote employees to work without any annoying disruptions.

What Nexthink automations do our customers use?

Here is a list of powerful scripts that complement SCCM:

For more information on Nexthink’s integration with SCCM, 

If your IT department is eager to improve their work-from-anywhere (WFA) program and they seek tangible, proactive solutions, then 

Prefer to see the Nexthink Experience platform in action?

12 Tips to Help IT Support a Distributed Workforce

\nLike many in IT, I am a big fan of Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM). It’s one of those tools that you can’t really go without: it can help locate your company’s servers, desktops and mobile devices; it helps install client software, patch updates (see Microsoft Patch Tuesday); and it protects your endpoints and access control tools.\nAll good things, but…\nSometimes our beloved SCCM needs a little backup—like Robin to Batman.\nDisabled devices, enabled frustrations\nA few months ago, one of our customers in the financial services industry came to us needing significant help fixing their devices. After logging into SCCM, support agents noticed that roughly 15% of their employee devices were not reporting to SCCM and became inactive, a common problem familiar to many in IT. Nonetheless, this subset of disabled devices created a serious vulnerability because SCCM couldn’t initiate the latest Windows security updates.\n\nhttps://play.vidyard.com/BvVgsQTxV4HWPdz67b24NX.jpg\n\nWatch how quickly Nexthink can resolve compliance issues for IT.\nWith the issue brewing below the surface, IT faced another dilemma:\nIn the pre-COVID world, IT used to resolve this problem by sending their support agents out to assist employees at their physical workstations. Typically, it would take an agent 5 – 10 minutes to successfully takeover and re-enable an employee’s device. This type of intervention wasn’t as disruptive back when employees met face-to-face. The employee could take a few minutes to grab a cup of coffee or go chat up a friend, and the issue would be fixed when he or she returned.\n\nNow IT had to throw that entire process out the window. With the staff working from home, IT would be forced to remote-in and manually fix the affected devices. This time around, IT wouldn’t be able to use any visual clues before approaching employees. They couldn’t tell somebody to take a break and stroll around the office while they worked on a fix. For remote workers, their laptop, desktop, or mobile device is the office.\nAutomating fixes for better SCCM support\nLuckily, the IT team was able to use Nexthink’s library of built-in automations to fix the affected devices in the background. Nexthink’s powerful integration with SCCM has enabled this IT team to quickly retrieve missing client status information and proactively resolve any issues at scale. As you can imagine, this has saved significant time on IT’s side and allowed their remote employees to work without any annoying disruptions.\nWhat Nexthink automations do our customers use?\nHere is a list of powerful scripts that complement SCCM:\nInvoke MEMCM\n Client Policy Actions\nThis script will trigger the execution of the desired MEMCM execution policy on the device.\nGet/Restore\n SCCM Client Status\nThis script will retrieve and restore SCCM-related client services status (SMS Agent, BITS, WMI, etc.) and information on devices.\nInvoke\n SCCM Client Auto-repair\nThis script executes the Configuration Manager repair based on Microsoft’s script center recommendations.\nStart\n task Application or Task sequence\nThis script triggers any SCCM Task Sequence, application or program, based on its ID.\nFor more information on Nexthink’s integration with SCCM, \nclick here\n.\nTiago Antão\n, Solution Consulting Director, Nexthink\n\nIf your IT department is eager to improve their work-from-anywhere (WFA) program and they seek tangible, proactive solutions, then \ncontact\n a Nexthink representative today.\nPrefer to see the Nexthink Experience platform in action?\nBook a demo\n12 Tips to Help IT Support a Distributed Workforce\n\n\nREAD THE EBOOK\n\nRelated posts:\nHow to Keep Your Digital Devices Current | Engagement & Automation \nPowering the Digital Employee Experience for Remote Workers \n7 Remote Work Problems IT Solved With Nexthink \nHow a company saved 32k hours of IT support and $1.6M on their Windows Migration \n


Backing SCCM With Smart IT Experience Automations

Disabled devices, enabled frustrations

Automating fixes for better SCCM support

12 Tips to Help IT Support a Distributed Workforce

Related posts:

Request a Nexthink Demo