Bank of Queensland reduces time to deliver updates by 80% with Microsoft Intune

Based in Brisbane, the Bank of Queensland (BOQ) Group is Australia’s sixth-largest bank by assets and one of its premier mid-tier financial institutions, providing banking, insurance, and financial services nationwide. With 150 years’ history, BOQ is one of Australia’s oldest banks and has grown its footprint across Australia through both its direct retail customer and business banking offering. The company has built a reputation for having a customer-centric approach, focusing on long-term relationships that emphasize trust and respect, and delivering a comprehensive suite of financial solutions tailored to individual and business needs.

As an agile organization that prioritizes infrastructure and process modernization, BOQ recognized the need for a solution to help speed up deployment of change, reduce infrastructure cost, and strengthen its compliance stance. Working with Microsoft partner DXC Technology, a leader in transformative IT solutions, BOQ set a clear path to reinforce its mission to be a forward-thinking institution dedicated to continuous improvement in service, and adherence to regulatory standards.

Compliance process transformation

BOQ had a number of strategic goals tied to technology modernization and business growth that would improve productivity, increase operational agility and automate to comply with complex regulation. To uphold its commitment to agile, customer-centered service, BOQ also needed a solution that would improve security and protect customer data.

Prescriptive regulatory expectations in the financial sector made addressing compliance and streamlining processes a top priority. Manual IT management and delays in rolling out updates were keeping operational overhead high, increasing security risk, and creating the potential for adverse regulatory outcomes.

To address these challenges, BOQ worked with Ivan Webb at DXC Technology to implement the cloud-based Microsoft Intune endpoint management solution and Windows Autopatch to automate Windows and Microsoft 365 app updates. This collaboration enabled BOQ to transform its regulatory compliance processes and better protect customer data, improve management of system updates, mitigate security risks, and reduce the need for IT intervention.

Automated management to curb risk

Facing a dynamic and highly regulated landscape, BOQ needed a scalable, automated update solution that would reduce infrastructure costs, boost operational flexibility, and automate compliance. Working closely with DXC Technology, BOQ sought to minimize business risk and strengthen its IT foundation with cloud-based services.

With DXC’s guidance, BOQ embarked on a strategic deployment of Microsoft Intune and Windows Autopatch that was designed to support prescriptive industry compliance requirements and manage risk efficiently while enhancing security. “We selected Autopatch and Intune because our tech strategy is platform-based, and also because it shifts the BOQ business towards being an evergreen digital bank,” said Craig Ryman, Chief Information Officer at BOQ. 

Intune provides cloud-based endpoint management that seamlessly integrates with Autopatch to enhance device security and streamline management. Intune enables BOQ to oversee their 6,500 Windows licenses through a unified interface, remotely managing device identities, applications, and configurations. 

With centralized management simplifying system administration, the BOQ IT team can more easily enforce policies, control access, and secure endpoints. Moving endpoint management to the cloud had enabled BOQ to minimize dependence on on-premises infrastructure, giving them greater flexibility and scalability as the financial sector evolves. Intune management capabilities allowed BOQ to transition its update processes from on-premises infrastructure to a SaaS model—further reducing the need for on-site hardware investments.

Autopatch, a cloud-based service that lives within the Microsoft 365 ecosystem, enabled BOQ to automate updates for Windows, Microsoft 365 apps, Microsoft Edge, and Microsoft Teams. By centralizing and automating these updates, Autopatch bolsters security by keeping software up to date, reducing vulnerabilities across devices. 

A phased approach enables BOQ to maintain high productivity and operational continuity while upgrading its systems with the latest tools and features. Automatically rolling out updates in sequential deployment rings, Autopatch allows BOQ to evaluate updates in phases while responding to reliability and compatibility feedback and minimizing disruption for end users. 

To improve IT resource allocation, Autopatch automates endpoint updates, releasing BOQ’s IT staff from routine administrative tasks and allowing them to focus on strategic initiatives. Autopatch also simplifies onboarding of new devices and services, making it easy to scale the environment as organizational needs evolve. Because updates are delivered using a SaaS model, Autopatch significantly reduces the need for investment in on-premises hardware, aligning with BOQ’s broader strategy to reduce maintenance overhead. 

Streamlining compliance; driving innovation

With Intune and Autopatch, BOQ transitioned from manual, resource-intensive update processes to an automated model, significantly reducing time and resource demands on its IT team. In just three months, BOQ and DXC migrated all of the company’s devices to Autopatch. In the highly regulated financial services industry, where changes to IT infrastructure are often approached with caution, this rapid deployment time is nearly unprecedented.

With the Autopatch framework automatically managing updates, all devices are current with updated security patches and aligned with regulatory standards at all times. Automating these processes has been transformative for BOQ, making compliance less resource-intensive and helping it avoid penalties that can arise from non-compliance.

“Previously we were running a very broad range of management services, and that led us to have all sorts of vulnerabilities that were unable to be patched,” said Rob Wilson, Group Chief Technology Officer at BOQ. “Our use of Intune and Autopatch has significantly reduced our time to resolve those types of vulnerabilities.”

The Intune and Autopatch solution has enabled BOQ to successfully enhance endpoint protection, reduce operational overhead, and become more agile. This directly supports BOQ’s regulatory compliance goals, providing automated oversight that helps prevent issues from falling through the cracks. The bank now benefits from having a streamlined, cloud-driven service that keeps devices current while allowing IT teams to prioritize high-impact, value-driven projects rather than routine maintenance.

Intune proactively supports Autopatch by providing cloud-based endpoint management for the 6,500 Windows licenses held by BOQ, enabling the company to efficiently oversee device identities, applications, and configurations through a centralized platform. It seamlessly manages updates, supports policy enforcement, and provides BOQ with the agility to scale and adapt to changing needs efficiently as the organization grows. This approach to IT management has not only improved BOQ’s compliance and security stance but has also led to measurable infrastructure cost savings and productivity gains across the organization. According to Ryman, “Being an organization that needs to respond to rapid shifts, the ability to adapt to changes in near real time enables us to align with what digital banks and businesses do.”   

Looking ahead, BOQ is preparing to extend its current deployment of Windows 11 and has already launched a pilot program. Autopatch will play a central role in this initiative, providing a secure and efficient framework to help BOQ reduce end user friction in the broader company transition to Windows 11. Additionally, the extended BOQ technology strategy includes the adoption of 1,000 Microsoft 365 Copilot seats, underscoring the bank’s commitment to enhancing collaboration and productivity. Copilot utilizes advanced natural language processing and machine learning to automate complex and time-consuming processes, helping BOQ employees create personalized, more efficient ways to work.

BOQ’s deployment of Windows Autopatch and Intune reflects its dedication to cloud-based technology solutions that help them address evolving industry and compliance needs. “Microsoft Intune is our single platform, and having one dashboard to run our security is a massive step-up in our capability,” says Wilson. “It touches a lot of people and a lot of devices, and the broader it is, the better it is for us to be able to understand what’s going on and keep things safe.”

Supported by the expertise of DXC Technology, this collaboration is empowering BOQ to drive ongoing innovation, effectively manage evolving regulatory challenges, and provide seamless service to its customers.