What is our primary use case?
I discovered CDW Amplified for Education when I was working at another school, and we were looking for a better way to manage our Google environment. When I learned about the solution, it was called Amplified IT. I came across them while looking at a reseller for either GoGuardian or SysCloud.
We wanted to back up our system because a principal who had left the school took things with them. We needed a filtering solution to protect students and staff. While I'm aware of Little SIS, we never implemented it at my school because of multiple schools not having the right SIS to work with it.
How has it helped my organization?
I was exposed to a lot of useful tools through Amplified. For example, GoGuardian is a tool that I've used in a couple of different school districts. We don't have that here, but if my current organization was looking for a new filtering solution, I'd recommend GoGuardian based on my experience working with GoGuardian and the Amplified team. If we were looking for a backup solution, I'd go with SysCloud because of my experience working with the SysCloud and Amplified teams.
If we were looking for Chrome management and tracking tools, I would go back to Gopher for Chrome and the other lab tools they have because of my experience. Ryan and the Amplified team introduced me to those tools.
It's hard to say how working with Amplified affected the teachers. When I began using the tools they offered, it did eventually get to the student's level, but the teachers weren't in those conversations. I can't say that the teachers were directly impacted, but they benefited indirectly. I don't know if I had any teachers who joined those sessions who could say that they learned something that they could apply to their work. I was the one that turned it over to them.
Amplified helped us utilize Google Workspace for Education more effectively. It was a phenomenal experience. They have cornered the market in the understanding of the solution's backend and created opportunities for us to provide feedback to Google about bugs and feature requests. Their connection to Google was powerful, and many things changed as a result.
What is most valuable?
I liked the customer service aspect. Amplified holds your hand, and you never feel like you are being sold something. I was being educated and given the opportunity to make my own decisions based on what I needed to see. That was one of the selling factors for me. They weren't pushy. If I needed a solution, they had three or four options to choose from.
They later developed a networking group that I found helpful. I became a big fan of that. I was answering questions for other people while learning about Google, and the other products they offered.
I used a version of Google for Education Audit before, Google Workspace. Depending on how many Chromebooks or Chrome licenses you buy, you can get Google for Education Audit as an incentive. They would look into our environment and give us some suggestions, but I don't recall if they were the company that did the full audit, or if another company did prior to my arrival in one of the schools.
I used Gopher for Chrome and the tools that they have. I've used some of the other labs that they launched. Those were helpful. They had a full Chrome inventory at one point that was used to track all of our systems. Gopher for Chrome was used to track the last user who logged into a device. Those were powerful tools.
What needs improvement?
I haven't seen the same level of outreach since CDW purchased Amplified. When they were a separate company, there was a little more flexibility and a more personal touch. CDW purchased Amplified IT to add more resources, but I think I've lost that direct connection to the team that I used to have. I would like to see them return to the customer service model they had before the acquisition.
In the past, I could contact our rep, and he'd call me back within minutes. I could have a one-on-one call with their product expert or a video session to figure out a problem. I never felt like I was being nickeled and dimed on that.
Also, if you purchase tools from them, you should be entitled to join their communities for free. They charge a separate fee to be a part of that community. If you don't qualify for that incentive, it could be cost-prohibitive for a school to purchase that part. The community was the most helpful aspect, and I'm no longer a part of it. I feel disconnected from that group.
For how long have I used the solution?
I started using Amplified in 2015 or maybe a little before then.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
There were problems in the past, but they were quickly resolved because I could send an email or text to our contact, and it would be resolved in minutes or I would get confirmation that they were working on a solution.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The product lines they offer are built for the biggest environments, so they can also work in the smallest.
How are customer service and support?
I rate CDW's support an eight out of ten. They're responsive, but it feels different compared to before the acquisition. CDW's knowledge of Google Workspace for Education is pretty strong. They have a good sense of what's happening because of their acquisition of Amplified. I think they needed that as their outlet. Before that, they were knowledgeable, but they weren't as knowledgeable because they weren't doing it in the same way.
CDW has a strong relationship with Google, and they understand what all their customers are going through. They've seen all the problems or pitfalls you may face before you experience them.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
There was another solution called EdTechTeam that was emerging at the same time. It was a similar deal where you received an incentive if you purchased a number of Chromebooks. Sometimes it was professional development or discounts on solutions within the Google environment. They might dive into the backend of the admin console and provide some recommendations on how to make you stronger. They were a leading partner, but I don't know where they went. Amplified is still around.
How was the initial setup?
The setup is straightforward, depending on the product. It never took long because of Amplified. Sometimes it took a while because our data wasn't clean or some other issue, but we always had that hand-holding process, if necessary, where we could get some support from Amplified directly. I always have small teams working with me on the deployment. It's typically me and two other people.
What was our ROI?
Every product I've used from Amplified has made my job easier. I can offer protection and backup solutions to my supervisor or provide teachers with the support they need to deal with problems on the platform. When a teacher has issues, I can bring in the vendor and Amplified's representative to help negotiate that conversation and get that problem fixed. It's a high return on investment. I've been with them for so many years, and I've gained a lot from them, particularly our representative.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I think it's unfair to blame Amplified for prices going up because the vendors themselves are the ones changing the prices. Amplified tries its best to take the smallest possible cut, so the schools don't feel it, but there must be some kind of markup.
When I paid to be a part of that community, I could purchase at a discount because of cooperative pricing. That helped, but it didn't always go that way. As the company began offering more bundled products, the price began to rise. Amplify did what they could to keep the price low, but sometimes they couldn't get it as low as we wanted to. In other cases, they included more training to make up for it. They realized that the service level should stay high as the price went up, so they would throw in additional hours for setup, integration, troubleshooting, professional development, etc.
What other advice do I have?
I rate CDW Amplified for Education a ten out of ten. If you are considering Amplified, you should be ready for bumps along the road but know that someone will be there to help you through it. There are knowledgeable people out there, so you shouldn't feel like you need to go at it alone.
*Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.