Remove the pesky red badge by pushing a custom config with the following settings.
com.apple.systempreferences
<dict>
<key>AttentionPrefBundleIDs</key>
<integer>0</integer>
</dict>
Since we are controlling Software Update we need to prevent the badge icon on System Preferences each time a new update is available. Our policy is to hold off on all updates for 2 weeks after their release.
Are there any better ways to handle this?