The 2021 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) Tools is out and as I do every year it is time to dig into the detail.
Year 4 of the UEM quadrant holds steady with 8 vendors. MobileIron dropping out after being acquired by Ivanti and Sophos not making the cut. These two were replaced by ManageEngine and Matrix42.
With the moves, adds and changes (MACs) out of the way, space is probably the number one observation for this year. From the leaders to the niche players the gaps in ability to execute and completeness of vision continues to spread.
Microsoft, the Clear Leader
Is it that others have not kept up with the requirements of a savvy modern enterprise in 2021 or is it that Microsoft is just smashing it?
Either way I think it is safe to say that the trade-off decision between selecting (and using) a product that is included as part of a suite vs purchasing a best of breed tool certainly appears to have been debunked with Microsoft showing a clean set of heels to the rest of the market. It was not so many years ago that the inclusion of Intune in a commercial license bundle did not really rate. The product was included but for many it simply was not fit for purpose. 2021 is a different story as to is the case with OneDrive, Defender and Teams as 3 other examples of inclusions in a commercial bundle that are all excellent can compete as best of breed technologies in their own right.
For the second year, I am surprised by the honourable mention category and some of the inclusions. I understand the likes of 42Gears not having enough devices under management or HCL Software still building out the components needed to make the grade.
But once again and taking nothing away from Jamf as a tool that is probably the best macOS management platform out there I still can’t quite understand how it fits into a quadrant titled Unified Endpoint Management and with the key selection criteria being able to manage Windows 10 and Android along with iOS and macOS. To me its like including a jet ski into a car review.
Jet skis are great and all, but they don’t work very well as a car given they don’t actually have any wheels…
Finally it is great to see 2 names on the list that I know absolutely nothing about. Raynet and Filewave. 10 years in the UEM space and still learning. If anyone is using or has used either of these please let me know your thoughts.
Congratulations to all that made it into the quadrant, it is not an easy task and a special well done to the 3 partners we continue to work with: Microsoft, VMware and Ivanti.
If you are a Gartner customer you can download the full report here.
Roll on 2022.
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