By transferring their patching processes to the cloud, IT management becomes more efficient.
As organizations continue to evolve, their tools require more maintenance. Patch application helps keep their infrastructure current, but as companies scale, IT admins and managed service providers (MSPs) are forced to invest more resources into this tedious and costly process. Thankfully, there’s a better way forward.
An alternative to on-site manual implementation, cloud-based patch management enables admins to offsource their digital maintenance to the cloud. By enabling remote administration, cloud patch management software reduces installation expense, improves compatibility, ensures compliance, and keeps networks and tool suites safe. Here’s how.
What is Cloud Patch Management?
The longer software, operating systems, or applications are used, the more likely they are to need an update. Patches achieve such updates, and improve existing functionality, compatibility and security when systems become outdated.
Whether installed by IT admins or MSPs, patch implementation can be a time-consuming and resource-intensive process. If conducted completely on-site, patch management can require entire servers dedicated to the task, all of which must be initially configured and maintained in order to operate. Couple that with the fact that some organizations are so large that complete patch installation can take months, and the process becomes very inefficient very quickly.
With cloud-based patch management, admins conduct all of their patch implementation remotely through the cloud, instead of on-site. This saves them the expense of a physical server network to configure and maintain, and enables them to perform all their patch installations remotely, thus saving them time and effort.
The Importance of Cloud Patch Management
The efficiencies gained through cloud-based patch management go beyond minimizing time and effort. Some other benefits are:
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Automation. Cloud-based patch management allows admins to automate their patch installation, so that it can be carried out with minimal physical engagement.
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Predictability. By automating their patch installation, admins can control when updates are performed more consistently, and with fewer disruptions
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Precision. With automatic installations and no servers to configure, or maintain, cloud-based patch management is more error-proof than manual implementation.
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Security. Most patches exist to eliminate weak points in cybersecurity systems, so by streamlining the patching process, cloud-based patch management protects companies from digital vulnerabilities.
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Compliance. In an effort to keep up with ever-evolving threats, security standards are constantly adapting. The faster installation speed that cloud-based patch management brings keeps companies compliant.
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Efficiency. Remote flexibility, no servers, and faster company-wide implementation speed are just a few ways that cloud-based patch management makes patching more efficient.
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Transparency. While being highly programmable, admins still have full control over their patch management system. By giving a clear view of their system patching needs, cloud-based patch management is highly transparent.
The workload of IT management is continuously growing, especially at a time when remote work is becoming increasingly prevalent. The increase in responsibility has caused many organizations to look to the cloud to lighten their digital load, and by offering a faster, more efficient, automatable means of patch implementation, cloud-based patch management does just that.
