#IT Management #Recast #Intune

Insights from the 2026 State of Intune Survey

The recent survey conducted by Recast sheds light on the evolving challenges faced by IT teams in their endeavors to manage applications and endpoints effectively. The 2026 State of Intune survey gathered insights from 890 IT professionals across the globe, revealing critical aspects of their experiences and operational realities. Despite a generally positive reception of Microsoft Intune, many teams are grappling with persistent issues that threaten to undermine their efficiency.

Satisfaction with Intune

One of the standout findings of the survey is the high level of satisfaction among IT professionals. Approximately 81% of participants expressed that they are either somewhat or very satisfied with Intune. Additionally, 83% reported feeling confident in their troubleshooting capabilities within the platform. Such statistics, however, mask the underlying operational burdens IT teams endure. The survey shows that while teams appreciate the functionality provided by Intune, they continually find themselves bogged down by the workload associated with application management.

Reactive Workloads and Manual Tasks

A closer look at the daily operations reveals a significant trend: most respondents describe their workloads as heavily reactive. A staggering 65% of participants reported dedicating between six to 15 hours weekly on manual tasks, such as packaging applications, troubleshooting, and reporting. This indicates a troubling disconnect between platform satisfaction and operational efficiency. It seems that the complexities of managing Intune and additional configurations within Microsoft Configuration Manager (ConfigMgr) directly contribute to the heavy workloads.

Application Management Challenges

Among the respondent concerns, application management stands out as a critical pressure point. 37% of participants cited application packaging and deployment as their leading challenge with Intune, while 33% pointed to issues related to third-party patching. Alarmingly, nearly half of the organizations (49%) still manage Win32 applications manually, despite the growing trend for automation.

These findings suggest that many IT departments remain dependent on legacy processes that hinder scalability and efficiency in an increasingly complex endpoint environment. The rise in AI-driven application vulnerabilities adds another layer of urgency, calling for IT and security teams to reassess their patching and security approaches correctly.

The Hybrid Management Reality

A crucial takeaway from the survey is the persistence of what Recast describes as the