Why organizations waste time firefighting - and how AI-driven endpoint management breaks the cycle

"In today's hybrid workplaces, endpoints have become both indispensable and increasingly vulnerable. Employees depend on a diverse range of devices - laptops, smartphones, and internet-of-things sensors - to stay productive anywhere. However, this proliferation of endpoints makes it tougher for IT teams to maintain consistent security, patching, and compliance. Devices remain prime targets for malware, ransomware, and phishing, but too often organizations treat endpoint management as a routine task, rather than a strategic priority, leaving their networks exposed."

"Fragmented tools and manual processes hinder visibility and control in environments with numerous device types, operating systems, and configurations. Unmanaged devices frequently slip through the cracks, creating blind spots and increasing risk. When policies aren't effectively enforced across teleworkers and remote locations, organizations only recognize vulnerabilities after a breach or compliance incident - resulting in lost time, data, and resources."

"To get ahead of disruption and risk, forward-thinking organizations are turning to unified endpoint management (UEM) platforms enhanced with artificial intelligence. AI is revolutionizing endpoint management, shifting the approach from reactive firefighting to proactive control, with practical benefits such as: Proactive Issue Resolution: AI-powered automation identifies and remediates problems before users are affected, minimizing downtime and preserving business continuity. Advanced Security: Real-time AI threat detection and responsive controls strengthen endpoint defenses and help ensure compliance."

Endpoints in hybrid workplaces are essential but increasingly vulnerable as employees use diverse devices like laptops, smartphones, and IoT sensors. Proliferation of endpoints complicates maintaining consistent security, patching, and compliance, while fragmented tools and manual processes create visibility and control gaps. Unmanaged devices and weak policy enforcement across remote locations produce blind spots that increase risk and lead to breaches, lost data, and resource drains. Unified endpoint management platforms augmented with AI shift management from reactive to proactive, enabling automated remediation, real-time threat detection, predictive analytics, automated patching and compliance, and optimized resource policies.

Read at Computerworld