What is our primary use case?
Basically, in a previous company where I worked, I was a product owner and our company searched for tools that would be able to remotely connect to our customer computers and assist if some IT issue arises.
We have customers outside of our office that we are supporting. We cover all IT devices, including computers and Windows machines as well as our applications. If an employee of these third-party companies has any issue they call a support number and communicate directly with an engineer. He can directly connect and take over control of their machines if necessary. This is helpful, for example, if an employee cannot describe what actually happens on his computer during a problem and network activity still exists. Our employee engineers can jump on the computer and witness it from the perspective of the user.
What is most valuable?
The price is very good. The licensing is simple and they offer discounts for remote renewals.
The support is quite nice as well.
I do love the monitoring page. If you are using ConnectWise Control, which is the on-prem version, when you are logged into the admin panel, there is a status page that checks network connectivity, the status of the license, and so on. If monitors different parameters. If some issue arises, you just need to log into this admin page and check to see if all positions are green. If something is red, we would investigate further to find out what is going wrong.
In our experience, we've had a price issue and the one was related to licensing. We had a valid license, however, something happened on the vendor side. When we started getting alerts that something wasn't working, the admin went immediately to the admin page and saw that there is a license-related issue. We raised it with ConnectWise, and, after ten minutes, we were back online.
It's quite easy to set up this product and configure it.
What needs improvement?
The on-prem installation uses something like an Emulator, which emulates the Windows environment to a written application to run on Linux. We faced different issues related to security which are easier to overcome on a Windows machine. Also, the configuration and maintenance are easier when the implementation is done on a Windows Server if we are speaking on-prem version.
There is if documentation of ConnectWise Control on-premise, however, on a Linux machine, there are different limitations that are not there on a Windows Server. Much more limitations exist on Linux deployments.
Companies that support some others in computer-related things or large organizations that have an internal service desk support team should be able to connect to own devices and assist employees in case trouble happens.
In the on-prem version, operators need to tell those they are assisting to visit a webpage, where they will see a welcome screen banner and they must enter their ID. After that, a small client must be installed on the computer. For large corporates that have introduced different security measures, such as Microsoft Adblock, sometimes it can be an issue to connect.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've worked with the solution for four years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The product works well and is quite reliable. For example, we've had a lot of IT systems in our environment and usually, with ConnectWise Control, we have only had one incident in three years. It runs well and just needs a one-time configuration.
Even after upgrading, we haven't had issues with bugs or glitches. It's been seamless so far.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We have 15 users who are on it on a daily basis and using it to assist customers.
We haven't tried to expand it. We had a rather small installation and have no plans to increase usage right now. At the outset, we didn't really look into its scalability as we knew we didn't have plans to grow beyond what we initially planned for.
How are customer service and support?
Support is great.
They respond very fast on support tickets because we've had experience with other products and with different supporters and product-wise really answer fast. If they cannot answer immediately, they always come back without the need for us to reach out with a reminder. It takes one to two hours and they come back with a solution. Consultations on our tickets are opened and dealt with quite fast.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We haven't really used any other solution before we chose ConnectWise. For internal users, we used SCCM to connect to our corporate computers.
The functionality would be the main differentiator between the two solutions. There is the possibility to enter some automated jobs in ConnectWise. In SCCM, this was not possible. Basically, ConnectWise has some small features that engineers can utilize to assist with troubleshooting and may make the tasks go faster and be much more comfortable.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is straightforward. In every setting, you have a GUI and you can see all configurations. You can choose which type of configuration you want and you're good to go.
The first step is to collect the requirements from the internal department, which provides support for external customers. It's important due to the fact that, when you are building an IT solution, it's important to know what exactly the needs of the internal customer may be. We did our research and looked at different options and did a demo to make sure it matched our requirements.
A server for the on-prem version is needed and it's important to sync which one Linux and Microsoft Windows. We do recommend a Windows Server. Linux has its limits and limitations. For us, after a major upgrade, we needed to migrate to Windows. You will need to understand your RAM, CPU and so on.
It's important to have a discussion with the network team and to have documentation that can be used for communication. The network setup must be done on firewalls, on the switches, and so on. When you have your network and your server, you can proceed with application installation.
It happens quite fast. When you are installing, you must have the appropriate license. When calculating your license requirements, it's important to understand how big the workload is in your company in order to estimate which license will be appropriate.
If you want people to be notified via emails, you must set up SMTP servers. It's possible to do a white label web branded landing page that can be customized fully. Your information, brand, and custom colors can be added.
For us, the deployment took three working days to set up. They have up-to-date and technically deep documentation, which allows us to do a fast setup. Only one integration was with the Active Directory to be able to authenticate users by their corporate credentials and it was done also in three days. It was quite easy as there was a graphical user interface that simplified the process.
We did not have a large deployment. We had 15 engineers which are supporting external clients. The deployment itself one person did it in three days.
There isn't really any maintenance needed. There may be some occasional patching, however, that's basically it. We tend to update the solution quarterly.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Four years ago, when we bought it, it was the cheaper side and we had a new license and we got good discounts. We might have originally had a 50% discount due to the fact that we had licensing previously. For some products, if you have, for example, a subscription, this license is valid for two years or one year, and then you must pay full price after that. ConnectWise has the benefit of, when renewing a license, getting quite large discounts.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We looked at various products and the best option for us regarding functionality, ease of use, and, of course, the price was ConnectWise Control.
What other advice do I have?
We are a customer and an end-user.
We used an on-prem server and I just started using Linux, however, we don't recommend using Linux. It's better to go with a Windows Server machine.
We do recommend using the Windows Server for our clients.
I would rate the solution at a nine out of ten.
I'd advise potential new users to understand all the needs of the company first to make sure the solution will cover what you would like to be accomplished. If ConnectWise Control is chosen, do the trial license. It doesn't take a lot of effort to deploy it. Take some time in the demo environment and see how it works for you. If the functionalities are there and it is meeting your expectations, proceed with the next steps.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.