Did you know that remote patch management can save your company time and money by allowing your IT staff to remotely update your computers at night? It can. Patch management allows your IT staff to automatically track and prioritize patches, install only the patches your company needs and trigger path installations after businesses hours so that your employees work day is not interrupted by computer downtime and reboots. Patch management systems are also affordable and easy to use. It all amounts to saved money and time for your company.
Automatic Tracking and Prioritizing of Patches
Remote patch management allows your IT personnel to remotely track and prioritize patches via a single website. Your IT personnel can track the patches according to operating system, office location, computers already patched and computers that still need patched. For more information on patch management, click here.
It’s all readily available in the patch management systems reports window. The reports window will tell you how many of your machines are running Windows and the types of Windows operating systems installed. It will tell you how many of your machines are running MAC operating systems and how many of your machines are running other operating systems. It will also tell you how many machines are up to date and how many still need to be patched. It’s all quickly and easily viewable through the web portal.
Only Install The Patches You Need
Remote patch management allows your IT personnel to only install the patches your company needs for the operating systems and programs that you have installed on your computers. That means that if your company only uses Windows XP and Office 2000, you don’t have to automatically install patches for Office 2003, Vista or any other program you don’t actually have installed on your computers.
It allows your IT staff to prioritize patches by selecting only critical updates or priority updates or delaying certain updates until well into the future. It also allows your staff to trigger those updates at a certain time so that the updates do not interfere with other computer maintenance or the work day.
All of these features save time and money by ensuring that your computers are up to date and ready by the time the new work day starts.
Trigger Patches After Business Hours
Remote patch management allows your IT personnel to trigger all the patches and upgrades for your office machines after hours by allowing them to view the machines and patches via an online portal. This ensures that your business can function all day without computer interruptions due to upgrades and patches. That means that your employees can be productive all day without fear of unscheduled and unwanted downtime, and your machines stay upgraded and safe from viruses and glitches.
Keep Track Of All Your Office Equipment
Remote patching allows your IT personnel to keep track of all your office equipment. Every piece of equipment connected to your office network has an IP. Those IPs are listed in your patch management queue with the node IP address, MAC address, ping status, connection status, SNMP status and the date the machine was last modified. It lets your IT personnel quickly scan and determine which machines need updated and which machines do not need updated and trigger the needed updates within a matter of minutes.
It also allows your IT staff to scan for new machines on your network, load those machines into the queue and get and install the required updates for those machines, and it can all be done remotely. The IT employee does not need to be in your office to complete the patch and update tasks for your computers.
Save Time and Money
By using a remote automated patching management system, you can save your company both time and money. there is no wasted time downloading and upgrading each machine individually. It can all be done remotely and more than one machine can be updated at one time.
Match management systems also ensure that your computers stay patched and updated while your employees remain productive throughout the work day. Keeping machines updated keeps company data secure from viruses and hackers. It also allows your IT personnel to complete other tasks during the day, this enables them to put out fires on the spot rather than being tied up with other tasks. This decreases computer downtime and allows for all your employees to be productive during normal operating hours.
In short, patch management systems allows your computers to remain updated while leaving your employees free to perform their work during the day which increases their productivity and your companies bottom line. Learn more at Kace.
Contributed by:
David Malmborg, works with Dell Kace. He enjoys reading, hiking and writing about technology.
