Author: Gene Moody, Field CTO at Action1
For many IT leaders, the warning signs appeared gradually: devices slipping out of compliance for weeks, patch cycles extending well beyond acceptable risk thresholds, and admins struggling to adapt on-prem tools to a hybrid workforce.
SCCM was once the gold standard of Windows endpoint management, serving organizations faithfully since the 1990s. But as workforces became distributed and threats accelerated, the model it was built on—local networks, VPNs, and servers—became a bottleneck instead of a foundation.
Hybrid work changed everything, yet many teams are still running architectures that depend on a perimeter that no longer exists.
1. The VPN Problem: Why Legacy Tools Can’t Keep Up
Today’s hybrid workforce exposes the limits of any system that depends on corporate network connectivity. SCCM and WSUS require endpoints to check in over LAN or VPN.
That means if a remote device doesn’t connect, it doesn’t get patched. And for many organizations, it’s the daily norm.
One enterprise reported that, before modernizing, a third of remote endpoints went 30 days or more without a single update because VPN usage was inconsistent.
Bottom Line: SCCM and WSUS depend on VPN connectivity. When users disconnect, so does your patch compliance.
2. WSUS Deprecation: The Clock Is Ticking
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