It is quite a common theme on HN that actual infrastructure people speak up against Intel ME. (for example: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15796392)
The tone is always along the lines: The advantages of ME for server monitoring are negligible, but the risks are huge, so they wish they could get all their hardware without ME.
I wonder if there is any way for you to unite? Maybe to change Intel's mind. Or to change your manager's mind, to be able to vote with your company's wallet against ME.
Would that be feasible?