66 INTERVIEW Gene Moody shares how the Action1 platform can support organisations and IT administrators with device visibility and security in a hybrid world Device management can be a complicated process. For instance, employees may be working on a mix of corporate and personal devices, each with different operating systems, configurations and security postures. Meanwhile, the rising popularity in remote and hybrid working is leading to many devices becoming less visible, making it harder for IT teams to track software versions, installed applications or compliance status. According to Gene Moody, field chief technology officer at Action1, device management became truly critical during the Covid pandemic. “As the entire world shifted to working from home during the pandemic, business and IT resources were stretched thin, and it turned out this environment was really lucrative for bad actors to hunt in,” he explains. Since the pandemic, more organisations have realised the benefits of adopting an autonomous endpoint management (AEM) solution to protect employees’ devices. In fact, Gartner’s 2025 Autonomous Endpoint Management insight report predicts over 50 per cent of organisations will adopt AEM capabilities by 2029. “The one thing you cannot buy more of is time,” says Moody. “AEM allows you to take many of your predetermined needs and everyday repetitive tasks and turn them into an autonomous workflow. This ensures scattered endpoints are maintained consistently and allows IT and security teams more time to focus on more critical tasks.” One major use case for AEM is in patching cycles. During what is referred to in the industry as ‘patch Tuesday’, IT administrators face unpredictable monthly patches, that can lead to any number of vulnerabilities. When using AEM, administrators no longer have to worry about manual deployment delays, inconsistent patch compliance, or scrambling to test updates across different device configurations. According to Moody, these types of challenges are “consistent no matter the business size”. “They all need the right intel, the tools to act upon that intel, and the tools to efficiently repeat those tasks over again,” he says. The Action1 platform handles around 15 million endpoints, with a less than one per cent non-compliance rate. This is usually due to problems within the operating system that won’t allow the endpoint to update, says Moody. To support organisations with adopting AEM, Action1 offers a free tier that includes up to 200 endpoints. “I urge all people to test their system, even if they believe it is working,” says Moody. “We see customers find vulnerabilities they weren’t even aware of all the time. Some of BY AMBER HICKMAN Simplifying endpoint management “ The one thing you cannot buy more of is time”
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