Patch management is more than just clicking the “update now” button when an update is available. It’s a vital security process that requires managing and verifying updates across large endpoint environments, ensuring that vulnerabilities are addressed as quickly as possible.
However, patch management also comes with its own challenges. While patching is a continuous process, IT time and availability for updates are somewhat more limited. As IT teams manage ever-growing patch volumes across remote endpoints (including BYOD devices) and applications, they must work even harder to meet IT compliance and audit requirements.
With that in mind, let’s look at the key patch management challenges IT teams face, what it takes to overcome them, and how a patch management solution like Splashtop AEM can help you operationalize a repeatable patching program.
Why Patch Management Breaks Down in Real Environments
First, we must understand what causes patch management challenges. Patch management requires a repeatable program that can reliably deploy updates across a wide range of operating systems and applications, which means there are plenty of points at which issues can arise.
Patch management software must support a variety of updates, including different operating systems and versions, third-party applications, and device types. All those updates have to be balanced with user schedules to avoid creating disruptions when patches are installed.
At the same time, several factors can impact the deployment process, including network bandwidth, device uptime, VPN-related restrictions, and other line-of-business app constraints.
Beyond that, patch management isn’t done when deployment starts. For many teams, the hardest part is verifying completion across every endpoint and producing proof for security and audit requests, not initiating the rollout.
The Key Patch Management Challenges IT Teams Run Into
With that established, let’s look at the most common (and impactful) challenges IT teams encounter when trying to manage patches across their endpoints. While each of these issues can create stumbling points for patch management, they can all be addressed with the right patch management tools and preparation.
1. Too Many Patches, Not Enough Prioritization Signal
One of the first challenges for patch management is the sheer volume of patches IT teams must manage. During a Patch Tuesday drop, teams can be overwhelmed with new patches, especially when combined with third-party patches and other updates.
Challenges include:
Patch volume, including large patch drops, out-of-band fixes, and third-party updates.
Prioritization difficulties, made worse by unclear exploitability, limited context, and competing fires.
Uncertainty over what “good” looks like, including risk-based tiers and clear SLAs by severity and exposure.
2. Incomplete Visibility Into What Needs Patching
IT teams may not always know what needs patching. While Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) data can help identify threats that require patching, keeping up with all the updates can be a full-time job in and of itself, especially in large endpoint environments where tracking each device is easier said than done.
Challenges include:
Common visibility gaps created by unknown endpoints, stale inventory, and shadow IT apps.
Difficulty managing updates, as you can’t patch or prove coverage for devices you can’t see.
Point-in-time snapshots that only provide glimpses of endpoints, rather than continuous hardware and software inventory.
3. Remote Endpoints and Off-Network Devices Slow Everything Down
Remote work has become the norm, but it can also create challenges for patch management. IT teams need to be able to manage remote devices, even when they disconnect from the network now and then, but without reliable connectivity and uptime, this can significantly delay the process.
Challenges include:
Offline devices that miss patch cycles.
Difficulty managing and updating remote endpoints.
Patch workflows that require retries, flexible windows, and verification, but lack the tools for it.
4. Third-Party Applications Are a Constant Coverage Gap
Even when OS patching is under control, third-party application patching is where many teams fall behind. App sprawl, packaging differences, and inconsistent update mechanisms create coverage gaps that leave common software exposed if updates are not deployed and verified consistently.
Challenges include:
Third-party patching is typically harder to manage, due in equal parts to packaging, app sprawl, and inconsistent updaters.
Common apps, such as browsers, PDF tools, and remote collaboration tools, are often overlooked.
A lack of tools to standardize the third-party catalog and automate deployment.
5. Testing and Patch Failure Risk Creates “Wait and See” Behavior
Testing patches is important to ensure they work properly, but teams often hesitate to run full tests, either out of fear of breaking business apps or due to issues with VPN clients. Beyond that, testing can take time, and IT teams often need to deploy patches as quickly as possible to avoid interruptions.
The solution lies in ring-based patch deployment, starting with a small test group before rolling out to larger rings. Where the installer supports it, use rollback options. When rollback is not available, rely on staged rings, fast failure detection, and remediation actions (including scripts) to contain impact.
6. Maintenance Windows and User Disruption Limit Deployment Options
When you deploy patch updates, you don’t want them to interrupt the business day. This can lead to limited maintenance windows and deployment options, as they have to be carefully scheduled to avoid disruptions.
Common blockers can include reboots, bandwidth constraints, and scheduling around time zones. However, IT teams can reduce disruptions with intelligent scheduling, reboot prompts, and deferrals (with limits) to ensure the updates are rolled out in a timely but convenient manner.
7. Proving Patch Status and Compliance Reporting Is Harder Than Patching
Once a patch is deployed, how do you prove it? It’s essential to maintain evidence that patches are applied within their defined timelines and that they’re working properly, not just “installed.” If there are any exceptions or issues, those should also be documented, with a proper rationale.
Maintaining records and logs will help prove IT compliance during audits, so it’s important to use a solution that maintains records and can demonstrate proper compliance with a repeatable reporting cadence.
8. Tool Sprawl and Manual Handoffs Create Inconsistent Outcomes
If you have too many patching tools, that can lead to conflicts, confusion, and blind spots. Patching is often split across Mobile Device Management tools, various scripts, patching tools for different operating systems and applications, and tickets, which is simply too much to manage for a single task.
As a result, this can lead to:
Conflicting status views, as different tools may show varied results.
Missed third-party coverage due to a lack of unified patch management.
Slow response when urgent patches drop, due to conflicting tools trying to take priority.
A Practical Way to Reduce These Challenges
Fortunately, none of these challenges is insurmountable. With a good endpoint management solution with automated patching, like Splashtop AEM, you can address and overcome these difficulties in a few quick steps.
Follow these steps to keep patch management simple:
Maintain continuous asset inventory, including both devices and software.
Define patch tiers and SLAs based on severity, exploitability, and exposure.
Standardize patch rings, starting with a small pilot group, then expanding to broader groups, and maintain a critical emergency track for the most dire vulnerabilities.
Automate deployment with retries and clear failure states to ensure patches are properly installed and verified.
Control reboot behavior and user disruption by setting policies that deploy updates at convenient times.
Verify installation and capture evidence automatically for audits and verification.
Report outcomes weekly and ensure exceptions are documented and addressed.
Keep in mind that this is a repeatable operating model, not a one-time cleanup. Patch management is an ongoing process, so you should use a patch management solution that consistently maintains an inventory, detects updates, and deploys them in accordance with your policies.
How Splashtop AEM Helps Teams Operationalize Patch Management
You need a powerful endpoint management solution with patch management features to properly support and manage a distributed endpoint environment. That’s where Splashtop AEM (Autonomous Endpoint Management) comes in.
Splashtop AEM provides visibility and control across endpoints, including real-time device and software inventory, CVE-based vulnerability insights, and automated patch management with verification and reporting. It empowers IT teams to overcome the many challenges of patch management in several ways, including:
1. Close the Visibility Gap With Real-Time Device and Software Insights
Splashtop AEM provides real-time inventory tracking to detect devices and applications. This provides an accurate inventory and patch status clarity, while reducing the number of unknowns IT teams have to worry about. As a result, teams can more confidently keep all their endpoints up to date, prioritize more reliably, and avoid unwanted surprises like shadow IT devices.
2. Automate Patching to Reduce Backlogs Without Creating Chaos
Splashtop AEM’s automated patch management is designed to efficiently and reliably deploy patches across endpoints. It supports policy-based scheduling and staged rollouts, with verification and clear success or failure status so teams can take action on endpoints that do not complete updates as expected. This helps ensure consistent outcomes and reliable, repeatable patching processes.
3. Improve Third-Party Patch Coverage Without Adding More Tools
While many patching tools are focused on OS-only, Splashtop AEM provides holistic patch management for operating systems and third-party applications alike. This helps ensure full coverage across endpoints, requiring fewer manual updates, and reduces the risk of exposure from vulnerabilities in commonly used apps.
4. Make Patch Proof Easy With Verification and Reporting
Splashtop AEM keeps records of all updates and verified patch deployments, consistently providing evidence for audits and security reviews. This helps ensure regulatory compliance and makes it easier to pass audits by providing clear, demonstrable proof that endpoints are properly patched and kept secure.
Why Patch Management Fails (and How to Prevent it)
Patch management fails when it’s treated as a monthly task to be handled in a single, lengthy pass, rather than as an ongoing, repeatable process. Doing so can lead to disruptive patching processes, missed devices, and inconsistent results, which result in poor, undocumented security and a greater risk of exposed vulnerabilities.
However, with a powerful endpoint management solution like Splashtop AEM, it’s easy to consistently monitor for new patches, prioritize them, and safely deploy patches across endpoints. This results in fewer missed patches, minimal disruptions, faster patch cycles, and clear proof of cybersecurity and compliance.
Splashtop AEM helps solve the most common patch management breakdowns by closing three gaps: visibility (what needs patching), execution (getting patches installed reliably), and proof (verifying and reporting outcomes).
In practice, that means you can maintain accurate device and software inventory, automate OS and third-party patching with policy-based workflows, track completion with clear status, and produce audit-ready reporting without stitching together multiple tools.
Ready to streamline patching, verification, and reporting from a single place? Get started with a free trial of Splashtop AEM today.
