Why Patch Backlogs Keep Growing
Do you have a backlog of patches waiting to be installed? If so, don’t feel too bad, as this can happen even in well-run IT teams. Between the sheer volume of patches for applications and operating systems, multiple remote endpoints to manage, and limited automation tools, it’s easy for patches to pile up.
The solution to this isn’t just hiring more IT staff. Not only can this become expensive quickly, but it also fails to address the actual causes of the backlog. Instead, IT teams should use automation, visibility, and prioritization to systematically reduce their patch backlogs.
With that in mind, let’s explore how patch backlogs grow and how IT teams can address them using automation, visibility, and tools like Splashtop AEM.
What Causes Patch Backlogs in Modern Environments
Before we can address patch backlogs, we must understand their causes. Several factors can cause backlogs to build up, including:
1. Too Many Patches, Too Little Time
The sheer volume of patches can’t be overlooked. When there’s a constant stream of OS and application updates, they can quickly pile up, especially when multiple third-party applications need patches. As such, prioritizing and scheduling updates is essential.
2. Manual and Semi-Automated Processes
Patching isn’t as quick and easy as pressing a button and letting a patch install. Manual and semi-automated patching processes require approvals, scripts, and the occasional fix for patch errors, all of which can slow the process and cause backlogs to grow.
3. Remote and Offline Devices
Devices need to be online and connected to receive new patches. If endpoints are left offline or rarely check in, they’ll fall behind on their updates, creating an even larger backlog of patches to install once they’re back online.
4. Treating All Patches as Equal
Some patches are more important than others. For instance, a patch with a critical vulnerability fix should take priority over a patch with minor performance updates, yet without the right tools to prioritize patches, they can all be treated as equally important. This lack of prioritization can cause critical updates to sit in the backlog, rather than being installed promptly.
Why Hiring More Staff Does Not Solve the Problem
One might ask: if the problem is that patches are backing up, why can’t businesses just hire an IT agent to focus on deploying them?
While additional IT agents can be helpful, this doesn’t address the cause of the problem, and can even introduce new difficulties, including:
New hires take time to onboard, so backlogs will continue to grow as the new agents are trained and brought up to speed.
Patch volume scales faster than headcount can, which means it’s nearly impossible to hire enough agents to keep up with demand.
Manual processes still limit throughput, so deployments will still be delayed regardless of staffing levels.
Backlogs return when staffing stabilizes, starting the cycle all over again.
What Actually Reduces Patch Backlogs
So if staffing isn’t the solution, what is? There are many ways to reduce patch backlogs, all of which involve targeting the causes of the buildup.
Ways to reduce patch backlogs include:
Automation that runs without manual approval cycles, eliminating the need to manually check and approve each patch.
Event-driven patch execution instead of delayed check-ins, so devices can receive updates as soon as they are available and meet policy conditions, rather than waiting for long check-in intervals.
Clear prioritization based on risk and exposure, so the most critical patches are deployed first.
Visibility into what is patched, pending, or failing, so IT teams can ensure proper execution and address any failed installations.
Fewer tools and fewer handoffs, so as to keep the process streamlined and efficient.
How Splashtop AEM Helps Eliminate Patch Backlogs
If you want to keep your devices up to date and eliminate patch backlogs, you need a patch management solution that efficiently prioritizes and deploys patches across your endpoints. That brings us to Splashtop AEM (Autonomous Endpoint Management), which can streamline IT operations with intelligent automation and automatic patch management.
Splashtop AEM can automatically detect new patches, prioritize them based on defined policies, and deploy them across endpoints when conditions are met. This provides:
1. Real-Time Patching Instead of Scheduled Cycles
When devices rely on set cycles for patching, they can go for long stretches without installing a new update or miss patch cycles when offline. Splashtop AEM supports real-time patch execution, allowing patches to be deployed as soon as endpoints are available and policy conditions are met, rather than waiting for fixed scheduling windows.
2. Policy-Based Automation at Scale
A lack of prioritization can delay vital patches in favor of less essential ones, but with Splashtop AEM, you can set your own rules for priority. Not only does Splashtop AEM automatically deploy patches across endpoints, but it also follows your prioritization rules to ensure the most important patches are applied first every time.
3. Third-Party Application Coverage
Too many patching solutions focus only on the operating system, leaving apps behind and without their much-needed updates. This contributes to patch backlogs, as the apps and other third-party software don’t automatically receive the updates they need. Splashtop AEM addresses this gap by supporting both OS updates and third-party application patching across supported Windows and macOS applications.
4. Centralized Visibility and Reporting
A lack of reporting and visibility can make it difficult to ensure patches are properly installed. Splashtop AEM provides centralized visibility into patch status across endpoints, along with reporting that supports audit readiness and compliance evidence requirements. If a patch ever fails to install properly, IT agents can see and reinstall it.
Step-by-Step: Reducing Patch Backlogs the Right Way
Reducing your patch backlog doesn’t have to be a struggle or require extra staff. If you want to better manage your patches and reduce your backlog, you can accomplish that in a few simple steps:
Audit your current patch backlog and categorize by severity, so you can prioritize your update needs.
Configure your policies in Splashtop AEM in accordance with your needs and regulations, ensuring critical and high-risk updates are managed first.
Enable real-time patch execution for remote endpoints, so updates can be deployed as soon as devices are online and meet policy requirements.
From there, you can monitor your progress, ensure patches are properly deployed, and address exceptions as needed. It’s also recommended that you review your backlog to identify any trends and refine your policies as needed. This helps ensure seamless, automated patch deployment across endpoints that will efficiently work through your backlog.
Keeping Patch Backlogs From Returning
Reducing your backlog is only part of the equation; the rest is to prevent it from growing again. Splashtop AEM’s automated patch management helps IT teams deploy patches more consistently and reduce the risk of backlogs returning.
Splashtop AEM keeps patch backlogs from growing with:
Continuous Prioritization
When you have multiple patches to deploy, it’s important that the most critical ones are rolled out first. Splashtop AEM uses CVE-based insights and severity data to help prioritize patches, reducing exposure windows and supporting ongoing compliance efforts.
Exception-Based Management
There are times when automation fails and humans need to step in. With Splashtop AEM, agents can manage those exceptions directly when they need to, without needing to manually manage and approve every patch. Doing so helps agents ensure that patches are properly deployed and exceptions are addressed, without needing them to manually manage every update.
Ongoing Visibility
When visibility diminishes, backlogs can grow. Splashtop AEM provides visibility into patch statuses and queues across endpoints, empowering IT teams to monitor and manage their backlogs and patches. If a backlog starts to grow, agents can see it and start deploying updates, as well as identify failed patches or individual devices that are in need of an update.
Security and Compliance Benefits
Given the work that goes into patch management and reducing patch backlogs, some may wonder if it’s worth the effort. However, maintaining patch compliance and keeping backlogs low has many benefits for cybersecurity and IT compliance, including:
Faster remediation of high-risk vulnerabilities: Splashtop AEM’s automated patch management helps ensure critical patches are deployed promptly, rather than waiting in a backlog, leading to a faster remediation time.
Reduced exposure windows: The faster a vulnerability is patched, the less time devices spend exposed. Automated patch management reduces exposure windows by accelerating patch deployment, helping organizations maintain a stronger security posture and produce compliance evidence.
Improved audit readiness: When you undergo an audit for security and IT compliance, one of the things they’ll check for is your patch statuses. Splashtop AEM’s automated patch management helps keep your endpoints fully patched and up to date, so you can demonstrate compliance during even a surprise audit.
Lower operational stress for IT teams: Constantly checking for updates, approving patches, and manually installing them across devices can be a major source of stress and time sink for IT teams. Patch automation with Splashtop AEM removes the burden from your agents, freeing them up for more pressing tasks and eliminating a source of stress.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Reducing your patch backlog is important, but trying to rush it or approaching the backlog without a plan is courting disaster. When you want to manage your backlog, you’ll want to watch out for several common mistakes.
Common mistakes include:
Trying to clear the backlog manually is a time-consuming process that lacks the prioritization, automation, and efficiency of automated patch management.
Automating without prioritization will result in critical patches being overlooked while minor, nonessential patches are installed first.
Ignoring third-party software updates leaves devices vulnerable, as third-party applications are common attack vectors and often have their own critical security patches.
Relying on long check-in intervals leads to extended periods of vulnerability where devices remain unpatched, and leads to larger backlogs once the check-in comes around.
Measuring effort instead of outcomes focuses on the wrong metrics and assumes a correlation between effort and results, rather than whether the patches are properly and promptly installed.
Fewer Backlogs, Better Security
Patch backlogs aren’t a matter of staff, but rather, a matter of the systems you use. When you’re relying on slow patch check-in cycles and manual patching, you’re letting your backlog build up while lacking the speed to keep up with new patches.
IT teams need automation, visibility, and real-time execution to reduce their patch backlog for good. With the right patch management software, it’s easy to detect, approve, prioritize, and deploy patches across remote environments without needing to hire extra IT agents.
Splashtop AEM helps you manage patches quickly, efficiently, and with minimal manual labor, allowing IT teams to protect endpoints and reduce their backlogs without needing extra hands. It gives IT teams the tools and technology they need to monitor endpoints, proactively address issues, and reduce their workloads, including:
Automated patching for OS, third-party, and custom apps.
AI-powered CVE-based vulnerability insights.
Customizable policy frameworks that can be enforced throughout your network.
Hardware and software inventory tracking and management across all endpoints.
Alerts and remediation to automatically resolve issues before they become problems.
Background actions to access tools like task managers and device managers without interrupting users.
Ready to reduce your patch backlogs without increasing headcount? Experience Splashtop AEM for yourself with a free trial.
