Challenge
A fragmented toolset and needlessly manual patch management
When Darlington arrived at SiriusXM, endpoint management was disjointed, creating more manual work than necessary. Windows patch management ran through PatchMyPC deployed via Intune, a combination that left the team waiting days on end for patch status updates.
“Intune is famously slow. We’d deploy a data collection job on a Friday and come back on Monday and get some numbers that were shades of accurate. We’d need at least a week to get any kind of effective metrics,” Darlington said of the previously unreliable and lengthy deployment process.
PatchMyPC compounded the problem. Rather than maintaining clean, up-to-date packages, it created a new Intune application entry for every version of every app. This created dozens of redundant entries with no automated cleanup.
Remote support ran through an outdated and legacy solution, adding another tool for the team to manage and another portal they had to log into. Exacerbating the issue was more often than not endpoint remediation meant getting the user on a Zoom call to talk it through, waiting for availability, and even then, still not being able to take action without physical access.
The constant context switching in and out of various applications, the dependence on end users to walk through device problems, the lack of centralized and reliable reporting, and the use of tools that hadn’t caught up with the modern enterprise resulted in countless hours of manual oversight and intervention.
Solution: Why SiriusXM Chose NinjaOne
Built for the modern enterprise, where power meets simplicity
Darlington had first brought NinjaOne into an enterprise environment while working at one of the largest entertainment companies in the world during the pandemic. The suddenly remote-first environment forced his previous company to pivot to a cloud-native tool. Today, the modern enterprise is hybrid. So, when Darlington moved to SiriusXM, NinjaOne came with him.
“I knew that I didn’t want to rebuild an environment without NinjaOne. I can’t imagine using a tool that isn’t cloud-native in this modern, hybrid world we live in,” Darlington said. “Having a powerful tool that is layered under a simple and intuitive UI isn’t just a personal preference, it’s a choice I felt was best for Sirius’ enterprise environment having just done it at my previous company.”
SiriusXM’s workstation environment is diverse and includes Windows, macOS, and Linux endpoints across a globally distributed workforce. NinjaOne sits as the central hub of IT operations that is responsible for all remote support, Linux management, Windows patch management, mobile device management in partnership with Intune, and inventory management via the ServiceNow integration.
Results & Outcomes
Windows patch management: from days to mere minutes
Replacing PatchMyPC with NinjaOne Autonomous Patch Management immediately changed what the team could see and how fast they could act. Deployment status that previously took days to report now appears within minutes in the NinjaOne dashboard.
“NinjaOne automatically reports on status within a minute of something happening,” Darlington said. “Time spent waiting and vainly clicking for status updates is a thing of the past. That’s huge!”
Patch policies are configured once and enforced consistently across all Windows endpoints. There’s no manual cleanup, no version sprawl, no reconciliation work. “It’s set it and forget it with NinjaOne Autonomous Patch Management. That’s amazing,” Darlington said. “We absolutely love it!”
Remote support: hours saved every week
One of the most immediate productivity gains came from NinjaOne Remote and its remote command-line capabilities. Before, resolving a device issue meant getting the user on a Zoom call, waiting for availability, and often still not being able to take action without physical access. Now, Darlington’s team can run commands and perform diagnostics in the background without interrupting the end user at all.
“Not having to get a user on a call and just being able to run scripts and automations saves us hours every week,” Darlington said. “It’s a game changer. Showing not just our engineers, but also our helpdesk how quick and easy NinjaOne Remote is to use has accelerated adoption.”
Reporting that drives real cost savings
Darlington built out NinjaOne’s custom data and reporting capabilities to give SiriusXM’s IT organization visibility it simply couldn’t get from Intune or other tools. Weekly automated reports covering OS update cadence, app version status, and license usage now automatically go out to the teams that need them.
One of the most direct financial outcomes came from using custom reporting to track software license utilization. By identifying unused SaaS licenses and flagging Cloud PC sessions that hadn’t been accessed recently, the team was able to surface reclamation opportunities that translate directly to cost savings.
“All of a sudden we’re saving thousands on licensing fees because of an audit that NinjaOne enabled us to do,” Darlington said.
Cloud PCs are now tracked through a custom NinjaOne report that shows last login, last interactive session, and current assignment — data Intune simply doesn’t surface. The IT team managing those licenses receives a weekly report and can reclaim unused seats on the fly.
“The amount of customization and reporting we can do within NinjaOne is next level,” Darlington said. “We couldn’t do that sort of thing with our other tool.”
A single console that unifies IT
Like most enterprises, SiriusXM’s IT environment relies on a comprehensive set of enterprise-grade tools. A major benefit is that NinjaOne functions as the connective tissue that streamlines cross-platform collaboration. As an example, Darlington built a custom link library inside NinjaOne so that every device record links directly to its corresponding records in Jamf, Intune, EDR, and ServiceNow and eliminates context switching so every technician is able to work faster.
“It’s not just a tool for supporting devices, it’s a link library for our technicians,” Darlington said. “That kind of knowledge management has really made adoption explode.”
The ServiceNow integration further simplified inventory management, providing one-to-one device record matching and deduplication across both platforms and turned what was once a Herculean reconciliation task into a seamless, automated process. “NinjaOne’s ServiceNow integration is great; it’s plug and play. It helps with everything,” said Darlington. “Our ServiceNow team loves the integration.”
NinjaOne and Jamf also function as mutual safety nets when it comes to Mac endpoint management. Each monitors the health of the other’s agent. The same is true for NinjaOne and Intune on mobile devices, each is configured to automatically and continuously monitor each other’s agents. “It’s really good to have multiple tools checking each other,” Darlington said. “If one fails and it’s your only management tool, you’re screwed.”
Not to mention, “Linux management wouldn’t be possible in our environment without NinjaOne,” said Darlington.
World-class support, unrivaled partnership
For Darlington, the best outcome in switching to NinjaOne has nothing to do with product features and everything to do with NinjaOne’s approach to customer service and support. “Having been a NinjaOne customer since 2022, I can testify that NinjaOne treats its customers like real partners. My voice and ideas are not just listened to but incorporated into product development. That and the relationships I’ve built with the NinjaOne team goes to show that NinjaOne isn’t just an excellent platform, it’s also a world-class company.”