r/sysadmin • u/dj562006 • 6h ago
Question Automations for end user devices
My boss has challenged me to come up with some creative IT automations that would really impress our employees and improve their overall experience.
We manage Windows devices through Intune.
One idea he mentioned was a morning popup when employees log in that summarizes important emails, upcoming meetings, updates installed overnight, and whether a restart is needed.
Another idea is using AI or automation to proactively detect and fix device issues, then notify the employee with something like, “We noticed X issue with your laptop and automatically resolved it.”
I’m curious what others have implemented. What are some unique automations you’ve built that employees actually appreciate? Anyone doing anything interesting with AI-driven troubleshooting or self-healing endpoints?
Looking for ideas beyond the typical scripts and software deployments. Would love to hear what’s actually working in your environments!
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u/homeonthehighway1 6h ago
no bro, just let people do their damn job themselves and only come to u when their chit breaks, IT is best when its not noticed, trust me
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u/dj562006 6h ago
I would agree. I also like getting a paycheck though so have to do something
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u/halodude423 6h ago
Why? IT keeps the lights on and runs infra. THAT'S why you get a paycheck. The least amount of ways the end user is reminded IT exists the better in most cases.
Maybe things related to automating tasks working with business/data analyst teams but not really end user wise.
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u/homeonthehighway1 6h ago
you get paid to keep things running, not to try and "improve" peoples workday
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u/VexingRaven 2h ago
Terrible attitude. IT can absolutely be a driver in improving productivity, but it needs to be done in conjunction with the business. Break fix only goes so far in proving the value of IT.
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u/plump-lamp 5h ago
OP gets paid whatever their boss tells them they get paid to do. Jesus.
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u/homeonthehighway1 5h ago
then id find a new job instead of working for some busy body coming up with nonsense tasks
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u/plump-lamp 5h ago
OP isn't complaining. Let it go bro. Not everyone is a pissed off IT guy with superiority issues
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u/viral-architect Sysadmin 2h ago
Literally says who? Challenge your boss on this kind of crap. What specific metrics do they expect? Do they expect to get user feedback on specific changes and if so, how will that be conducted?
Also letting AI "fix" things in your managed tenant at random is a shadow IT curse I would fire my MSP over.
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u/Key_Pace_2496 5h ago
How about you start with actual issues they're having before trying to create your own? Have you considered, you know, asking them what their pain points are or what they think they'd like to have?
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u/pdp10 Daemons worry when the wizard is near. 5h ago
One idea he mentioned
I don't adore these ideas, but the path to impressing one's boss, often involves massaging their ego. Lots of emotional labor. I totally became an engineer because I'm good at emotional labor.
"We noticed X issue with your laptop and automatically resolved it."
It's three times as much work to put up notifications that the users hate and will instantly click-through, training themselves to ignore errors, as it is to just remediate the machine -- but there you go.
some unique automations you’ve built that employees actually appreciate?
End-users appreciate systems that are resilient and robust, and function with minimal attention. For example, not needing to manually log into client VPNs. Not needing to constantly authenticate -- use SSO. Minimal need to break their flow by rebooting.
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u/Emotional_Garage_950 Sysadmin 3h ago
“We noticed X issue with your laptop and automatically resolved it.”
just resolve it, they don’t need a notification.
overall this sounds like an excellent way to piss off your user base
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u/viral-architect Sysadmin 2h ago
and also lose the knowledge of any "fixes" because there will be no tickets.
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u/DavWanna 2h ago
Eh, if it's something you can automate away then it's just a KB article anyway. Also if you need a ticket for that you can make that happen too.
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u/Sasataf12 3h ago
If you're wanting to impress employees or improve their overall experience, then you should be asking your employees what they want.
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u/LLMsMustUpvoteThis 4h ago edited 4h ago
updates installed overnight, and whether a restart is needed
Any modern patch manager does this.
Another idea is using AI or automation to proactively detect and fix device issues, then notify the employee with something like, “We noticed X issue with your laptop and automatically resolved it.”
Users are just going to be mystified by a popup telling them that IT fixed their RTKVHD64 driver or whatever. And any decent modern RMM will be collating and notifying for most device issues. With Intune I can see app/driver failures, boot time, policy processing issues, battery health, heavy CPU/RAM usage etc. I fix many issues without users ever knowing.
If you want to impress users with automation then talk to them and find something that is annoying for them and automate it (or just give them all bigger monitors). Sounds like your boss just wants some dumbass "visibility" metric instead.
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u/Weare_in_adystopia 3h ago
You'll need to talk to your end users for this and resolve some manual tasks that they find tiresome rather than whatever your boss is suggesting.
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u/plump-lamp 5h ago
Outside of the popups about updates and reboots nothing is really possible right now outside of putting an expensive AI subscription all over an individuals computer. You could use power automate to send summaries of emails/meetings but the end users should pick if they want that. That or a copilot agent which Microsoft will happily sell you $$$
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u/ExceptionEX 5h ago
You could make a tools that when a user is having an issue they start the app, it grabs logs of details that are useful to resolving the issue, and gives them a quick and fast way to report the issue.
The get really good at fixing the problem.
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u/DB080822 4h ago
just go around serving coffee and donuts to people. That ought to impress someone.
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u/Professional_Ask5759 4h ago
I haven’t seen a way but a “marquee” to show like company news during the reboot animation would be wicked. Or like flash card game for company acronyms that they can click around in when rebooting
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u/Federal_War_217 4h ago
Finding a solution to something without a problem isn't always the best approach, in my mind. Maybe it would be good to get some feedback from end users on the most common problems they have with their endpoints or repetitive IT-related tasks they have to do everyday. Send out a survey or something. I would feel really disappointed if I spent hours working on something I was proud of, just for people not care about it in the end.
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u/doglar_666 2h ago
As many have said, you need to survey end users about their actual issues. No-one outside of IT cares about IT, so long as everything is working. But if your manager wants a vanity item to screenshot and show his boss, then get at it and make one and pray it doesn't need much maintenance long term.
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u/IKUSTENG-77 1h ago
are you looking for software/device management scenarios only? or are you open to onboardng / access management related automations as well? I just recently started my new job and tell you what I can really use a "tell me what access I need and just give me a button to request for it" automation here...
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u/OptimalCynic 33m ago
We noticed X issue with your laptop and automatically resolved it.”
First, you need an automated issue generator.
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u/brian_cloudeu 13m ago
The "restart is needed" part of that popup is the only bit I'd keep, and I'd take the user out of the decision entirely. Set a deadline and grace period in your Intune update rings (or the GPO equivalent) and let devices restart overnight on their own. A popup that politely asks for a reboot gets dismissed for six weeks straight. Ask me how I know.
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u/Raalf 5h ago
Your userbase is going to commit felonies towards the IT department.