More and more organisations are moving towards a ‘modern’ workspace – dynamic, hybrid, and built on Microsoft technologies. It sounds ideal, but how do you manage such a workspace effectively and securely? And is Microsoft Intune still enough?
Many IT teams use Intune as their central management solution for digital workplaces. It’s a powerful platform for provisioning, security, and policy management – especially for laptops and mobile devices. But in practice, teams often hit limitations. As Intune originated as a device management tool, it tends to fall short in areas such as:
Application management in complex environments
Managing shared devices or multi-user setups
User context and personal settings
Migrations between workspace models or domains
With the phase-out of tools like App-V and Ivanti Workspace Control, the landscape becomes even more challenging.
So how do you manage the modern Microsoft workspace in a future-proof and efficient way – without compromising on security or user experience?
Modern workspace management is all about thinking modularly. Rather than locking everything into a single golden image, you want to manage components independently. Applications and user profiles should exist separately from the device and operating system, so updates or migrations don’t cause a ripple effect.
In practice, that’s still difficult. Many organisations continue to rely on outdated methods like image-based deployment or traditional packaging. This often results in:
High admin overhead from multiple images
Slow update rollouts or rollbacks
Limited control over user context and access
Increased security risks due to lack of segmentation
Different tools for different workspace scenarios
On top of that, with App-V and Ivanti Workspace Control being phased out – once key parts of many workspace strategies – new alternatives are needed. Ideally, these should integrate seamlessly into the Microsoft ecosystem.
Where Intune falls short, solutions like Liquidware’s FlexApp and ProfileUnity deliver real value. These tools are built to integrate with Microsoft technologies while covering the gaps Intune doesn’t.
FlexApp supports modern application management through application portability. You package an app once and deliver it dynamically to physical, virtual, or cloud environments such as AVD – without installing it or modifying images.
ProfileUnity enables context-aware user environment management. It separates user settings, app access and security from the device. Even shared devices can support personal configurations and apps, enhancing flexibility and control.
Applications and user environments can now be managed independently of the OS or platform. Together, these solutions reduce management effort, speed up deployments, and give you more control over the user experience. In the modern workspace, this means all scenarios – from legacy apps to hybrid environments and Windows 365 – can be supported through a unified strategy.
Visualisation of the modular workspace. FlexApp and ProfileUnity function independent from the Platform and OS layers.
A healthcare organisation with 4,000 users migrated from Citrix to a hybrid model using physical laptops (managed with Intune) and AVD. The challenge? Applications needed to be available across both platforms, with location-based access and shared device support.
By using FlexApp for application delivery and ProfileUnity for user configuration and security, the organisation was able to:
Centrally update and distribute applications across both platforms
Enable shared device use without losing personal preferences
Control access based on role, location, and time
The result: reduced admin workload, satisfied users, and a secure, future-ready workspace.
Beyond the technical and operational challenges, compliance is becoming more important. Organisations need more control over who can access what, and how quickly vulnerabilities can be addressed. A modular workspace – where apps and user environments are decoupled from the OS – makes this easier by:
Enabling faster patching of decoupled applications
Supporting context-based access controls (who, where, when, via which network)
Reducing the attack surface by minimising app presence in golden images
The shift to a modern, hybrid workspace involves more than just rolling out Intune. It requires a smart, modular approach that balances flexibility, security, and manageability. Liquidware offers proven solutions that have helped hundreds of organisations worldwide do just that.
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