We use MECM for intelligent logic automation. About 400,000 users are impacted by the solution, but there are around 20 admins who work with it directly. We have multiple automation tools and use the one that makes sense as needed.
Lead Engineer at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
It's helpful for automated boot process patching
Pros and Cons
- "I like the data collection."
- "The reports are too busy. They could be simpler. I'm a technician, so I don't care how pretty the reports look. They should be easy to read. I'm designing this for production folks. They need to read the reports quickly when they're patching in the middle of the night."
What is our primary use case?
How has it helped my organization?
We're designing PowerShell scripts to automate patching the boot process. The ROI is there.
What is most valuable?
I like the data collection.
What needs improvement?
The reports are too busy. They could be simpler. I'm a technician, so I don't care how pretty the reports look. They should be easy to read. I'm designing this for production folks. They need to read the reports quickly when they're patching in the middle of the night.
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Microsoft Configuration Manager
April 2026
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For how long have I used the solution?
I have used MECM for about four or five months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I rate MECM nine out of 10 for stability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I rate MECM eight out of 10 for scalability.
How are customer service and support?
I haven't gotten support from Microsoft for MECM, but I've contacted them in the past for various tickets. They're professional.
How was the initial setup?
I work in the lab. I design a solution before it's deployed in production. I wasn't involved in the actual deployment. Deploying things in the lab is different. It's a much smaller footprint.
What was our ROI?
So far, the ROI is pretty decent.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
MECM is more expensive than Ansible, which is open and free. That's why we'll use other tools as needed for automation.
What other advice do I have?
I rate Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager seven out of 10. You need to have the right mindset to use it. The first question should always be: Can this be automated? From there, you'll see if the product will satisfy their automation requirements.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
IT Enterprise System Administrator at Nafeza
Great at collecting data and can mitigate any potential vulnerabilities or threats
Pros and Cons
- "Provides great insight into the functionalities of the data scope."
- "Management of Linux devices could be improved."
What is our primary use case?
We use this solution to apply new group policies.
How has it helped my organization?
The solution was particularly helpful for patching the OS, and for the VM in our environment. With 10 branches, we have a huge number of VMs. Using ECM, we can download the new patches one by one, apply and then restore them. It saves us a lot of time.
What is most valuable?
The valuable feature is the ability to gain all the data you need. We can collect data and get insight into the functionalities of their scope. As system administrators, we get a summarized report for each site with the installed version of the OS for all PCs in our environment. We know which meet the requirements and which don't. For those that don't, we can mitigate any potential vulnerabilities or threats.
What needs improvement?
I think managing Linux devices could be improved. It would help our colleagues and other departments like the dev opps, who only use Linux machines to quickly patch their VMs.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using this solution for two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is scalable.
How are customer service and support?
The technical support could be improved.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is very straightforward. We have six users.
What other advice do I have?
It's important to keep the database going at all times to avoid any interruption of the service. The implementation must be very well designed because you have to know the scope of your workload and that should be addressed in the action plan before proceeding with the deployment.
I rate this solution eight out of 10.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Buyer's Guide
Microsoft Configuration Manager
April 2026
Learn what your peers think about Microsoft Configuration Manager. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2026.
889,955 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Senior Cloud Solution Architect at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
A very stable and robust solution for ICCM environments
Pros and Cons
- "The solution effectively handles inventory management, deployment, and reporting."
- "The solution is very stable and robust with a longstanding reputation."
- "The solution does not support remote devices so the CMG is still required."
- "The solution does not support remote devices so CMG is still required."
What is our primary use case?
I use the solution to manage security and policies.
What is most valuable?
The solution effectively handles inventory management, deployment, and reporting.
What needs improvement?
The solution does not support remote devices so CMG is still required.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using the solution for six years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is very stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is for ICCM so does not scale like a cloud application. It is intended for security, management, or device teams and not end users.
Scaling is always available with a monetary investment.
How are customer service and support?
Technical support is pretty good.
How was the initial setup?
The complexity of setup depends many factors such as the number of sites or distribution points and whether they will be centrally administered. Proper planning and execution are important.
Deployments of an ICCM server can take up to four weeks.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The solution operates on a licensing model that can be expensive.
Pricing is reasonable for small companies but large companies or enterprise environments require multiple licenses.
What other advice do I have?
The solution is very stable and robust with a longstanding reputation. It works well with Windows devices and offers good management for ICCM.
The cloud-based platform is a good option for managing only Android or iOS devices.
I rate the solution an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner AND Reseller
Independent senior IT consultant at CP Systems
Help manage, deploy and secure all devices and applications easily
Pros and Cons
- "The solution is user-friendly and easy to learn."
- "The solution is user-friendly and easy to learn."
- "The solution can be improved with the addition of a mobile device manager."
- "The solution can be improved with the addition of a mobile device manager."
What is our primary use case?
The primary use case of the solution is to deploy the computers and servers.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature is that it integrates well with other Microsoft solutions.
What needs improvement?
The solution can be improved with the addition of a mobile device manager.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using the solution for three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is scalable.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is straightforward.
What about the implementation team?
The implementation was completed in-house.
What other advice do I have?
I give the solution a nine out of ten.
I recommend the solution because it functions as advertised. The solution is user-friendly and easy to learn. The solution has a nice-looking interface, unlike others out there.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Technical solution leader at Kyndryl
Highly stable, beneficial managing capabilities, and priced well
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable feature of Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager is the availability of being able to manage the Microsoft estate. It handles many areas, such as asset management and tracking."
- "The most valuable feature of Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager is the availability of being able to manage the Microsoft estate, as it handles many areas such as asset management and tracking."
- "Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager could improve the integration."
- "Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager could improve the integration."
What is our primary use case?
We are using Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager to manage our client's Microsoft estate.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature of Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager is the availability of being able to manage the Microsoft estate. It handles many areas, such as asset management and tracking.
What needs improvement?
Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager could improve the integration.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager for approximately 10 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager is highly stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability of Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager is good.
How are customer service and support?
The support for Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager is good.
How was the initial setup?
We did not face any challenges with the initial setup of Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager. The time it takes to do the deployment depends upon the size of the environment. Smaller deployments don't take more than a week and very large deployments can take up to three to six months.
What about the implementation team?
The support staff needed for Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager depends upon the size of the deployment. However, we do not require a large number of people to support it.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Microsoft comes with an end-to-end package that can include Office 365 and many other applications put together, it makes it a very integrated system for people to use.
We have a support license from Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager and the overall price of the solution is reasonable.
What other advice do I have?
I rate Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Integrator
Global Tech Delivery Lead Win & EUC at Mondelēz International
Stable with good on-premises usability and has potential to scale
Pros and Cons
- "The solution is stable."
- "In general, I would recommend the solution to other organizations and companies."
- "The solution is on-premises. The cloud version of the product, if a person needs to be on the cloud, would be InTune, which already exists as an option. SCCM doesn't need to offer cloud features for this reason."
- "We are trying to transition from SCCM to Bigfix."
What is most valuable?
The on-premises useability is very good.
The solution is stable.
For the most part, for our needs, the scaling is fine.
What needs improvement?
Microsoft is already pushing users towards Intune, as opposed to SCCM. It's on the roadmap for them. It's inevitable. SCCM will be on Endpoint Manager in the future. I would say nothing needs to be changed.
The solution is on-premises. The cloud version of the product, if a person needs to be on the cloud, would be InTune, which already exists as an option. SCCM doesn't need to offer cloud features for this reason.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have used the solution for the past decade. It's been around ten years at this point.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
SCCM is built for corporate networks. There is some advantage from Microsoft in terms of the content management gateway that we already have so that we can utilize the internet, however, scaling is fairly it's straightforward.
In our company, we have 44,000 devices. We do not need more. Scalability-wise we are good. We are not a company of hundred thousand devices. I'm not looking to scale it more. Therefore, I can't speak to what scalability would be like for those with 100,000 or more devices.
How are customer service and technical support?
We have a support team that does technical support for us. I don't work directly with Microsoft. I go into priority calls, however, our technical teams manage that. Therefore, I can't speak to how helpful or responsive they are.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We are trying to transition from SCCM to Bigfix.
How was the initial setup?
My understanding is that the installation is a two-day setup, however, I did not personally set it up, and therefore can't speak of the implementation or how easy or difficult it might have been.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I cannot speak on pricing. I let the procurement team deal with it. Therefore, I don't have any information on licensing fees, et cetera.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I have looked at comparisons between Bigfix, SCCM, and Intune. I personally prefer INTune as a solution, however, the company is moving towards Bigfix and away from SCCM.
What other advice do I have?
We are just customers and end-users of SCCM.
We have been using SCCM for the past decade, however, now, the company is supposed to go with Intune for model management. However, we have a new CPO or CSO double hatting with security as well. He's more inclined in Bigfix features, which offer more robust patch management as well as vulnerability scan. SWe dropped the plan to go with Intune and will go with Bigfix, moving us away from SCCM.
Our CPO, CSO is mainly the driver for the change, not because it is on our roadmap or our partnership with the vendor or anybody else.
In general, I would recommend the solution to other organizations and companies. We've been happy with it over the years. I'd rate it at a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Systems Engineer at a healthcare company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Useful for easy patch management and software deployment
Pros and Cons
- "The tool's most valuable features are easy patch management and software deployment."
- "The tool's deployment can be cumbersome."
What is most valuable?
The tool's most valuable features are easy patch management and software deployment. We use it because it is a Microsoft product, which makes it more secure and easier to use.
Microsoft Configuration Manager makes it easier to control remote desktops. It supplements other products.
What needs improvement?
The tool's deployment can be cumbersome.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Microsoft Configuration Manager's stability is very good. I rate it an eight out of ten.
How are customer service and support?
We don't contact Microsoft directly for support. We get support through a third-party vendor.
How was the initial setup?
I rate the product's ease of deployment a four out of ten.
What about the implementation team?
A contractor helped us with the product's deployment.
What other advice do I have?
I rate the overall solution an eight out of ten.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Helps with patch management but improvement is needed in documentation with videos
Pros and Cons
- "Microsoft Configuration Manager helps with patch management."
- "The tool's deployment is difficult. Microsoft needs to improve documentation with videos."
What is our primary use case?
Microsoft Configuration Manager helps with patch management.
What needs improvement?
The tool's deployment is difficult. Microsoft needs to improve documentation with videos.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with the product for ten years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Microsoft Configuration Manager is stable. We have experienced downtime from time to time.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We use the tool's free license. It is expensive.
What other advice do I have?
I rate Microsoft Configuration Manager a six out of ten.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
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Updated: April 2026
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