The devices that matter most to a trades company aren't on desks. They're in trucks, tool bags and jacket pockets, taking photos of panels, drawings and permits all day. Every so often, one of them doesn't make it back.
When that happens, buying a new phone is the easy part. The harder question is what was on the old one: customer contacts, a signed-in company mailbox, job photos, drawings. Microsoft Intune is how you keep control of that, and this post covers how it works for field crews in Surrey and around BC.
If you're still moving the company off personal Gmail, start with our post on moving trades crews to Microsoft 365. Intune is the next step once email, Teams and SharePoint are in place.
Why field crews need device management
Traditional device management assumes computers sit on desks inside the office network. Your crew spends the morning at the shop and the day on a site in Surrey, Langley or Delta, carrying the same phone the whole time.
Without enrollment, every phone ends up set up differently. Company email gets signed in "just for this job," apps get installed by hand, and there's no consistent screen lock or plan for a lost device.
Intune enrolls company phones and laptops so they're managed as part of the business. In practice that gives you three things: you know which devices have company data on them, you can wipe one that goes missing, and you can push out apps and settings from one place instead of setting up each new phone in the truck.
What enrollment looks like for trucks and job sites
Enrolling a device connects it to your company's Microsoft 365 account so Intune can apply settings, and lock or wipe it when needed. For a trades company that usually means:
- Company phones and tablets get enrolled before they go out to site, or in stages so nobody gets stuck halfway through a job.
- Laptops that ride in the truck get the same treatment. A laptop that's "only for estimates" still leaves the shop every day with drawings and quotes on it.
- Settings follow the device: screen lock, managed company apps and a clear record of what the company owns.
Who gets which device and how new hires get set up are details we work out during an assessment. The goal is simple. Any device carrying company work off-site is known to the company and can be locked down if it goes missing.
Company phones or personal phones?
Personal phones feel faster at the start. Quotes, permit photos and marked-up drawings end up in someone's camera roll or personal email. Then that person moves to another site or leaves the company, and the office can't get the files. If the phone is lost or sold, customer data may still be on it with no way for you to remove it.
Company phones cost money and need a process, but you get ownership back. Enrollment is expected, and when someone leaves or a phone gets left behind on a site, you can wipe the company data.
Plenty of crews end up with a mix: a personal phone for family, a company device for email, Teams and job photos. The rule of thumb is to keep company work on enrolled company devices wherever you can. The same company-versus-personal device rule applies on Google Workspace too.
If company phones aren't practical for everyone, Intune can also protect just the company apps on a personal phone, such as Outlook and Teams, and remove company data from them later without touching the person's own photos and apps.
Remote wipe when a phone doesn't come back
If an enrolled phone or laptop is lost on site, Intune lets you wipe it, or remove only the company data, depending on how it was set up. Whoever picks it up next doesn't get into your email, contacts or files.
That's very different from replacing the phone and hoping, suspending the line (which stops calls but doesn't clear the apps), or changing one password and assuming everything else signs out.
Two catches. The device has to be enrolled before it goes missing, and it needs a connection to receive the command. A phone sitting powered off in a crawlspace won't get the wipe until it's back online. Still, enrollment gives you something to act on, which is more than you have without it.
What job sites do to phones and laptops
- Phones take a beating. Drops, dust and rain are normal. Enrollment won't make a phone tougher, but it does mean a lost phone isn't also a data problem.
- Signal is patchy. In basements, parkades and out toward the Fraser Valley, a wipe or update may have to wait until the device reconnects.
- The truck is a second office. If you only manage the desktops at the shop, you've secured the wrong devices.
- Timing matters. Rolling out enrollment during a quieter week works better than asking every apprentice to do it between calls.
We set up Intune for Able Electrical LTD, a Surrey electrical contractor, when we moved them to Microsoft 365 Business Standard. Their company devices are enrolled for remote wipe, policies and software deployment. The Able Electrical managed IT case study has the details.
Before you enroll the crew
A few things to find out first:
- Which phones and tablets that leave the shop are company-owned, and which personal devices still have company email or job photos on them?
- If a company phone didn't come back from site tonight, could you wipe it?
- Are new phones set up at the shop, or by hand in the truck?
- Who's allowed to approve a wipe when a device goes missing?
If those are hard to answer, a short assessment will map out your devices alongside email, Teams and SharePoint. Book a free IT assessment or call 778-895-6072. You can also read how we set up Microsoft 365 for trades crews.
FAQ
What is Microsoft Intune?
Intune is Microsoft's service for managing phones, tablets and laptops. A company can enroll its devices, apply settings like screen locks, install apps, and lock or wipe a device that's lost or stolen. It's included in some Microsoft 365 plans, such as Business Premium, and can be added to others.
Do we have to ban personal phones?
No. What matters is that company email, photos and drawings don't live only on devices the company can't manage. Use company-owned, enrolled devices for work where you can, and protect the company apps on personal phones where you can't.
Can Intune wipe only the company data?
Yes. Depending on how a device is set up, you can wipe the whole device or remove just the company apps and data, leaving personal photos and apps alone. The second option is usually the right one for personal phones.