Planning your patch management strategy

The best action you can take to secure your Macs is keeping their software up-to-date. Software patches include fixes for vulnerabilities that malware may try to exploit and fixes for bugs that may lead to instability or data loss. But end users hate being interrupted by IT just to install updates. You need to balance patching software with end-user productivity. That means working with their schedules to still firmly manage their Macs but with as light a touch as possible. This is why you need a patch management strategy. It should cover how you:

• Communicate with end users
• Decide the best method to patch each piece of software
• Test updates before deploying to production
• Manage the frequency of updates
• Report progress.

Don't make your end users hate IT. Plan a patch management strategy that considers not just security but the person in front of the keyboard.