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Table of Contents

• What is Patch Management Software?
• The benefits of Patch Management Software
• Typical features of Patch Management Software
• The cost of Patch Management Software
• Considerations when purchasing Patch Management Software
• Relevant Patch Management Software trends

What is Patch Management Software?

Patch Management Software helps IT teams install security patches to keep business endpoints and networks up to date. A patch is a software update comprising a code that is inserted into the code of an existing program. It helps IT personnel detect and avert potential security risks as well as fix issues with previous software releases.

The benefits of Patch Management Software

• Improved security: Patch management tools constantly analyze security gaps across a network and fix them by installing the required patches immediately. This keeps the network and its connected endpoints safe from new and evolving threats.
• Enhanced performance: Even a small bug can lead to downtime and impact employee productivity. Regular installation of new patches can help address this concern by automatically detecting and fixing bugs. This not only enhances the performance of existing applications but also makes systems faster and more stable, in turn improving employee productivity. 
• Support for IT team: Patch management tools allow IT teams to remotely install patches into servers and endpoints. This eliminates the need to physically visit each system, saving time that can be better used for monitoring other critical network operations.

Typical features of Patch Management Software

• Automatic patch deployment: Automatically install the latest patch releases to keep systems up to date.
• Automatic scans: Continuously scan all systems in real time for security issues and other upgrade needs.
• Network-wide management: Manage patch deployments from a central system for all applications connected to a network.
• Vulnerability scanning: Scan endpoints to check which systems are more vulnerable to threats.
• Custom patches: Create and install customized patch codes as per need.
• Remote access/control: Access and control systems from any remote location.

The cost of Patch Management Software

Most products in the market are priced on a per device, per month basis and can be divided into three pricing tiers based on their starting price.

Price ranges*:

• $0 - $1
• $1 - $5
• $5+

*The pricing included is for the entry-level/lowest-priced offering found on vendor websites on December 11, 2019. These ranges correspond to 25th, 75th, and 100th percentiles of the pricing information gathered from vendor websites of sample products.

The above list summarizes pricing for the base plans of most products. An enterprise or premium product that is priced higher may include some additional features, such as advanced policy feature, rule-based patching engine, and SAML authentication.

Considerations when purchasing Patch Management Software

• Scanning flexibility: The tool you wish to purchase should be capable of scanning network applications while simultaneously deploying missing patches. This is all the more essential if you have a complex network infrastructure with teams working remotely across time zones. Thus, flexibility in application scanning and patch installation should be a key consideration during software purchase. 
• Intelligent patch deployment: Check whether your preferred software can deploy patches automatically or requires human intervention for the task. The tool should be able to intelligently analyze bandwidth and other network settings before installing updates. It should segregate patches as mandatory or regular and accordingly set up installation policies. It should also define a sequence when multiple patches are to be installed to ensure one patch doesn't overwrite another.
• Impact on business performance: Installation of patches shouldn't impact the productivity of your business or result in downtime. So it's crucial to choose a non-intrusive software that scans systems in the background without affecting production. Some solutions can even automatically postpone the installation of patches when they detect a slow network.

Relevant Patch Management Software trends

• Patch management market to continue to grow: The global patch management market is expected to be valued at $979 million by 2024. Increasing vulnerabilities and deployment of third-party applications are the key factors driving this growth. In the coming years, more organizations are expected to use patch management software for managing these issues.
• Integration with other IT management suites: In the future, patch management tools will be integrated into other IT operations management applications. This would allow vendors to offer a holistic IT management tool that will manage the entire software lifecycle, from deployment to expiry.