Software Engineer at Romsym Data
Real User
Top 5Leaderboard
Easy to learn with many features and remote management capabilities
Pros and Cons
  • "The stability is great."
  • "It might be helpful if they offered a simpler way to use the OS deployment function. It's a bit complicated for most of the customers."

What is our primary use case?

Endpoint Central is for managing everything, including desktops, laptops, workstation servers, implementing software, and OS deployment. Mobile Device Manager is also included in some editions. There is software deployment, document sharing, remote control, and patching. The Endpoint solution is a complete solution for patching, management reports, Mobile Device Manager, OS patch, OS deployment, and complete endpoint management.

How has it helped my organization?

We are a partner of ManageEngine, and we install their solutions for our customers.

From the point of my customers, there is a need for fewer people in the company to manage things. We do not need four or five workers on Endpoint Central. 

Our customers are very satisfied as it simplified their endpoint management, their patching solutions, and is an all-in-the-one web interface control.

What is most valuable?

They recently included a feature for endpoint security for hard endpoints and offer cord blocking, for example. Also, the fact that you can manage from the same platform, desktops, laptops, mobile devices, et cetera, is great. It simplifies management. The software deployment for remote patching is helpful.

What needs improvement?

I don't know if it's ManageEngine fault or not. However, most of their agents that are being used for scanning endpoints and implementing software, and getting interaction from the ManageEngine platform are usually blocked by default by Windows Defender or other security products. Users may run into conflicts with other antivirus or firewall solutions. It requires manual intervention so that users do not receive false positives. You need to manually tell some systems, "this agent is not malware, don't block it."

It might be helpful if they offered a simpler way to use the OS deployment function. It's a bit complicated for most of the customers. You have to take some time and create a customized image. Maybe if they had a repository where you can store a Windows image and auto-deploy it, with not so many parameters on how to deploy it, or where to deploy it would be easier. It's overcomplicated for what it is used for.

Buyer's Guide
ManageEngine Endpoint Central
April 2024
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For how long have I used the solution?

I've used the solution for almost a decade since it was Desktop Central. Desktop Central's name was changed last year to Endpoint Central.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability is great. I'd rate it ten out of ten. I've never had it crash before. 

It may be slow upload to the web interface sometimes, however, in terms of crashing, only the computer or virtual machine would crash.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution scales very well. I'd rate it ten out of ten. We can go to almost 60,000 endpoints, and I'm not sure if you would need more. In Romania, we don't have overly large companies

How are customer service and support?

We've worked with support in the past. We have a partnership with them, so we are in contact often. If maybe a customer wants another feature or wants something else done differently, we're in contact with support to help facilitate that.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We have not used a different solution. We only deployed this kind of environment for managing endpoints. Endpoint Central, we consider a good price for the features we get and it scales very well, so we only recommend Endpoint Central, or different editions maybe. It's great for the customer. 

How was the initial setup?

The implementation is pretty simple. I'd rate it nine out of ten for ease of deployment. The only issue is the firewalls and antiviruses need to be manually told what it is. You simply need to install the console and the agents, and everything mostly goes like clockwork. 

Most clients require on-premises installations as they are big entities and have their own hardware and prefer to have everything on-prem. 

How long it takes to deploy everything is very subjective. For example, maybe if a customer just wants an installation. Getting the agent working can take maybe between a couple of hours to maybe a day or two. If you want customizations of policies, software uploads, et cetera, that depends on human intervention and coordination, and that can take four months. However, installing the solution is straightforward. It only takes a couple of hours to one day.

Usually, it only takes two people to handle an implementation. We just need one person that installs and one that checks on an endpoint to see if the agent started working. If it started working, then we replicate the process at scale for the entire organization.

What about the implementation team?

We can install the solution for our customers and do not need the assistance of third parties during implementation.

What was our ROI?

We have definitely witnessed an ROI.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

ManageEngine solutions are very affordable compared to other endpoint management options, like Ivanti or Microsoft. I was looking at VMware Workspace ONE. We compared to features and price and found this product to be one of the most affordable. In a straight race, ManageEngine will win in terms of pricing.

There may be extra costs on occasion. For example, if you purchase Endpoint Central Unified Edition, most of what you only need to pay for is a trial over the server or an add-on so that you have a passive machine that will wake up if the main machine dies. You might also have an endpoint security add-on. If you buy a standard, you have to pay for the add-on. If you want mobile development, you pay for mobile development. Therefore, the cost depends on the edition you're purchasing.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I have looked into VM Workspace ONE in order to compare features with this product.

What other advice do I have?

We're an ManageEngine partner. 

I'm likely using version 13. It would be the version they released last year that we are working with. 

It's the best product. It's a solution that has all the features you will ever need to manage all the endpoints in your company. It has everything you will imagine, and it's simple to manage, it's simple to install, and once you install it, it will work on its own, and you can reduce the manpower required. You may have needed ten administrators before, yet, with this, now you only will use two due to the automated remote control software pushing and patching. All can be done on a single console remotely. You reduce the workload and free up people.

I'd rate the solution ten out of ten based on its many features and its low learning curve. You can become a good admin within a month or two just by using it and checking the menus. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: partner
PeerSpot user
Projects, Functional Development Engineer at a government with 51-200 employees
Real User
Offer good patch management capabilities but needs to improve stability
Pros and Cons
  • "The solution's most valuable features are its patch management capabilities, especially for third-party applications, along with quick and easy configuration and deployment processes."
  • "In relation to ManageEngine Endpoint Central, ManageEngine NGAV seems to be completely useless right now."

What is our primary use case?

I used to use the solution at my old workplace, and now I implement it in my new company.

What is most valuable?

The solution's most valuable features are its patch management capabilities, especially for third-party applications, along with quick and easy configuration and deployment processes. The tool's IT inventory management capabilities are a lot more user-friendly than Microsoft Intune, especially if I consider any kind of reporting. The software deployment process is not too bad.

What needs improvement?

In relation to ManageEngine Endpoint Central, ManageEngine NGAV seems to be completely useless right now. I don't think they have officially released the latest version of ManageEngine NGAV, but I feel that it might get released later, though it doesn't seem inviting at all. ManageEngine NGAV needs improvement.

I feel that the area revolving around the licensing model of the product needs to be made a bit easier.

The stability part of the product has some room for improvement.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using ManageEngine Endpoint Central for three years. My company is a customer of the tool.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Stability-wise, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I know that the tool is used by thousands of people, but my company has a very small network, so I don't know what to say about the scalability feature of the product.

How are customer service and support?

I have contacted the technical support team of the tool a few times. The solution's technical support is fast to respond. I rate the technical support a seven out of ten.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

How was the initial setup?

The product's deployment phase was extremely easy.

The solution is deployed on the cloud.

What about the implementation team?

I did not seek any help from a third party for the deployment of the product. As I had used the on-premises version for three years, I found the cloud version was just surprisingly way easier to get started. Even someone without any knowledge of IT can probably get the tool to work.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

ManageEngine Endpoint Central's license in models is all over the place, meaning you have to pay for each individual extra module or extra user. I have been trying out a lot of ManageEngine products. The pricing of the product is not bad compared to the other similar solutions in the market.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I have experience with ManageEngine Endpoint Central and Microsoft Intune. I like ManageEngine Endpoint Central since Microsoft Intune can come across as a little time-consuming tool.

I would suggest ManageEngine Endpoint Central for a one-man team doing everything in a company, but a single person probably won't survive by taking care of the technical support and implementation of Microsoft Intune.

At my old workplace, I used to use ManageEngine Endpoint Central since I used to operate as a one-man team. At my new job, I saw that we have a small IT group with three to four members who have been working on Microsoft Intune for about a year, and I saw how we had a hard time rolling out everything in the tool since it had a lot of bugs. I decided to show the people at my new job how ManageEngine Endpoint Central can make work easy.

What other advice do I have?

I decided to use ManageEngine Endpoint Central for IT inventory management and patch management.

I immediately started to see and experience the benefits of using the solution in my company. At my old workplace, when I used to use the on-premises version of the tool, I felt that the product was a bit time-consuming. At my new organization, we were using the cloud version of the product during the trial session, after which, during the initial setup phase, I enrolled 150 machines just to show my colleagues how easy it is to manage ManageEngine Endpoint Central compared to Microsoft Intune. Within a couple of days, though not everything was completely patched with the solution, I felt it was pretty immediate to deliver in the area of patch management.

I rate the tool a seven or eight out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Buyer's Guide
ManageEngine Endpoint Central
April 2024
Learn what your peers think about ManageEngine Endpoint Central. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2024.
768,246 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Ossama Arab - PeerSpot reviewer
Project Coordinator at United Al Saqer Group LLC
Real User
Top 10
Has a good setup process, but the remote access manager needs improvement
Pros and Cons
  • "The initial setup process is good."
  • "The product's remote access manager needs improvement."

What is our primary use case?

We use the product for endpoint security.

What is most valuable?

They provide good services.

What needs improvement?

The product's remote access manager needs improvement. The wake-up takes longer time, sometimes more than five minutes. It could respond immediately.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using ManageEngine Endpoint Central for one or two months. At present, I use the latest version.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I rate the platform's stability a seven out of ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We have approximately 2000 ManageEngine Endpoint Central users in our organization. I rate the scalability a nine out of ten.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup process is good. It requires a technical team of seven to ten engineers for deployment and takes an hour or two to complete. Later, we need to maintain the product as well.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The product is not expensive. I rate its pricing a seven out of ten.

What other advice do I have?

I rate ManageEngine Endpoint Central a seven out of ten. We encounter issues related to the quality of services.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Remote IT Manager KSA at Andalusia Group
Real User
Top 20
A stable and scalable solution for remote support and managing assets
Pros and Cons
  • "We use the product to know about our assets and manage remote support."
  • "The tool's security can be better."

What is our primary use case?

We use the product to know about our assets and manage remote support. 

What needs improvement?

The tool's security can be better. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the product for five years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The tool is stable. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is scalable. My company has 7000 users for the product. 

How are customer service and support?

We don't require any support from the product since we have a good engineer. 

How was the initial setup?

The product's setup is easy. We have around 45 people to manage the tool. 

What about the implementation team?

The solution's deployment was done in-house. 

What was our ROI?

I have seen ROI with the tool's use. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The product is cheap. 

What other advice do I have?

I would rate the solution an eight out of ten. 

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Assistant Manager - IT at MEP Infrastructure Developers Ltd.
Real User
Easy to used with good centralized patch management and remote troubleshooting capabilities
Pros and Cons
  • "Everything is easily centralized and managed under this one product."
  • "I would like to see them come out with a SaaS version of the product in the future."

What is our primary use case?

We primarily use the solution for managing patches and centralizing updates for applications. We can also blacklist and whitelist applications on our users' laptops.

How has it helped my organization?

Besides the office and operating systems, there are lots of other products that need to be taken care of, which are beyond your control. I have 250 endpoints here, sitting here and 100 roaming users, so for me, each and every application in the current scenario is very difficult, wherein the digital signatures are happening, the tokens are happening, which ask for the updates of Java, which ask for the update of a browser. It is very difficult for me to do the update of every PC individually. However, when handled in a centralized location, I get the control I need so that I can see which endpoint needs to be updated, which endpoint has been updated, et cetera. This is very helpful for me, very good.

What is most valuable?

The solution is very easy to use.

Everything is easily centralized and managed under this one product.

When we do the patching, I can select the applications which are applicable to my network. We will get multiple templates and tons and tons of applications, however, you can select and download and it'll start patching. It'll consume lots of bandwidth and disk space. What you can do, is that, whichever applications are applicable for you, you can select those applications and it will start patching only those applications. It will reduce the bandwidth, it'll reduce the disk space, and tracking will be much easier.

In terms of the warranty, you need to install the agent on the laptop, or desktop and once the agent is installed, when the communication happens, it fetches the entire detail of the hardware, software, and everything. The beautiful thing with that is it gives you the warranty information also, whether the product is out of warranty or not. I can set an alert for devices where the warranty is going to expire. I'll get an alert that it is going to expire in one year, a month, six months, whatever the term I defined.

Since I'm able to see whatever the applications are installed on the user's PC on the endpoint. Sometimes most of the roaming users who are out of my network tend to install applications that are not applicable as per company policy. You can define which applications are allowed. There was a couple of cases where my users had installed a YouTube Downloader, and while downloading and installing that filter, by default or by accident, they installed some of the adware also. That won't happen under this solution.

Desktop Central gives me an option wherein I can prohibit any software. When I blacklist software, the user will get an alert saying "This is prohibited software." Then they call IT and I'll get a notification. For me, I'm very much in control of my network now. I have the power of whitelisting or blacklisting.

For users that work from home and are not in the office, sometimes minor things happen, such as email not working properly, et cetera. Desktop Central will give me remote control of a user's machine and I can troubleshoot or find out what the issue might be. If something needs to be installed, I can do it remotely as well. I don't need to buy TeamViewer or AnyDesk or other software. 

There are so many features available to us. They've added a lot over time. Initially, the asset management was there, however, there were no warranty features. The remote control was there, however, there were various limitations. They've just gotten better and more robust over time. 

What needs improvement?

For the most part, all of my needs are met with this product.

I would like to see them come out with a SaaS version of the product in the future. There are dependencies with on-prem. For example, since it's on my data center, my bandwidth, it is totally dependent on my network. On the cloud, I don't have to worry about anything. 

One feature we're testing is when we have a laptop with just a DOS OS and we need to do a full installation, including installing the underlying OS. I'd like to have the option where we could create a template to allow the system to install the OS with the typical software. It's a feature we're testing now to see if this is possible. We don't use it yet. However, I'd like it if we could just run one script, one command, and then get an alert when the process is done so that I can go in and configure emails or whatever else I need so that it is ready for the end-user.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been working with the solution for around three years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability is very good. We have been using it for the last three to four years and there is not a single downtime where the product has failed. In terms of service updates, service backups, and whatever the features are coming, we have faced a 99.9% success ratio.

In the initial stage, at that time, we had a hybrid environment internally, where we had Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10, and some of the servers which had Windows 2003 OS. There were compatibility issues, however, we've since migrated and upgraded the systems and there is no longer an issue.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is scalable.

We are using the solution quite extensively and have about 250 users.

How are customer service and support?

Technical support has been good and we've been satisfied with their level of service. They have a good inbuilt chat option if you need to reach them. They have a technical team right within the solution that you can talk to in real-time. They can provide workarounds or escalate issues quite easily.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We used to have a Windows SUS server for patch management. There were other products that needed to be taken care of - for example, Adobe, the WinRAR, and multiple other software, which needed to be patched, and in which the assets needed to be managed. There are things such as warranties that need to be managed, and their tracking needs to be done, we were looking for an application wherein we would get everything on a centralized product, which is why we chose this solution.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was straightforward. At the time, when we were in the phase of testing for the product, we did whatever testing to fulfill our requirements. That way, when we went into production, there were not any hiccups.

Deployment took around ten to 15 days, due to the number of endpoints that needed to be done, and the number of products that needed to be whitelisted. Also, everything needed to be configured. Around four to five people were involved in that project.

In terms of maintenance, if there is any product update, or if the application will have any service package coming, then I need to take downtime, to go through everything and do testing of the service pack to see whether it will hamper any current writing process or not. Once I do it in the test environment, then I have to put it in production.

That said, once we move to SaaS, this process will be obsolete in the cloud.

I have two dedicated resources for maintenance. That includes me. The other person looks at the patch management and the warranties. I look at server maintenance and deal with whatever resources are required for servers. 

What about the implementation team?

We were able to set it up ourselves in-house. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

At the time we signed onto this product, it was a bit more expensive than SolarWinds, however, I'm not sure if that's since changed. 

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We looked at SolarWinds, however, we went for the Desktop Central. We evaluated it and we found Desktop Central was quite user-friendly in terms of patch management and in terms of asset management. Right from the user inception, until the exit, everything is tracked under Desktop Central, whatever the asset allocated to the user, whatever the warranty, whatever the application, the install, everything is tracked under the Desktop Central.

Kaseya was also evaluated which was on the cloud. However, it was costlier and there were manageability issues. SolarWinds was a bit very complex in terms of handling. Technical support was also different as they only have an email option.

What other advice do I have?

I'm a customer and an end-user.

Currently, we are using on-prem. I am waiting for SaaS, however, I really don't have the SaaS version. It'll be very good if they offer a SaaS version; my manageability will become very much easier.

If you're looking for third-party patch management, asset management, and/or remote control support, then this is the best app. For remote control, it doesn't require much bandwidth. Often, people sitting in a remote location are using their 3G data cards or mobile data, mobile phone, and they still got connected with the seamless connectivity. There has been no issue.

I'd rate the solution at an eight out of ten.

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.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1394517 - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Manager at The White Family Companies, Inc.
Real User
OS imaging and deployment has significantly reduced the amount of time and resources needed to deploy a large set of new computers
Pros and Cons
  • "Honestly, I have to say all features together have become the Swiss army knife of desktop management. They all work hand in hand. Software deployment saves an unbelievable amount of time installing an application on hundreds of computers."
  • "I really feel like asset explorer should be a component of desktop central. That would make it the ultimate desktop management tool. This would also simplify the asset management role since an agent is already being deployed and assets could be added at the same time."

What is our primary use case?

Our primary use case is to manage most aspects of the endpoints in 21 remote sites. All sites are connected via IPSec VPN mesh and have distribution servers at each site, OS deployment, software deployment, patch management, remote administration, configurations, mobile device management, and browser management. One of my favorite features is a simple remote CMD. This enables us to troubleshoot certain things without interfering with the user desktop session or needing to ask them to take remote control of the machine. It's very valuable being able to fix a problem without stopping user productivity.

How has it helped my organization?

It has become a single pane of glass for a majority of client support and administration. It has enabled my team to quickly identify machines, who is using it, what applications are installed, and a huge set of tools to solve most problems. OS imaging and deployment has significantly reduced the amount of time and resources needed to deploy a large set of new computers or even just reimage a problematic PC because of malware or other problem that would take much longer to troubleshoot. Software deployment has taken the task of installing a common application on hundreds of computers to just a few clicks.

What is most valuable?

Honestly, I have to say all features together have become the Swiss army knife of desktop management. They all work hand in hand. Software deployment saves an unbelievable amount of time installing an application on hundreds of computers. A full suite of remote administration tools to troubleshoot problems or make a change via PowerShell without intruding on the user desktop. Mobile device management eliminated the problem of missing iPads or iCloud locked tablets and phones. The mundane process of patch management is now a breeze.

What needs improvement?

I really feel like asset explorer should be a component of desktop central. That would make it the ultimate desktop management tool. This would also simplify the asset management role since an agent is already being deployed and assets could be added at the same time.  the CMDB would be quickly populated with a PC hardware and software inventory along with user relationships. Device assignment and tracking would be another added value. Adding that feature set would tie everything together and be the one-stop-shop of desktop management suites.

For how long have I used the solution?

Approximately a year.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It's very stable it just seems to always work.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Very scalable. Distribution servers are the main factor.

How are customer service and technical support?

The few times we have contacted customer support they have always very quickly solved the problem. Every support agent has been very professional and curteous. 

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We did not use a different solution. We did a trial Desktop central and immediately fell in love with it and have not regretted the decision.

How was the initial setup?

It was very easy to setup initially. The side effect is you will spend a lot of time tweaking and fine-tuning everything. 

What about the implementation team?

In-house.

What was our ROI?

Time saved is money saved.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Go with what you can afford. Every part of the application is going to save time and money and a very worthwhile investment.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We did not evaluate competing products. Everything we were looking for was there and worked well and was easy to use.

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.
PeerSpot user
NitinKumar1 - PeerSpot reviewer
SecOps Lead at Barco
Real User
Comprehensive solution used to manage every aspect of Windows that is easy to install and upgrade
Pros and Cons
  • "The centralized control of all of our Windows hardware that this solution offers has been most valuable to our organization."
  • "Compared to the solution we use to manage our Mac products, this solution lacks the ability to create dynamic groups. We would like the ability, for example, for machines which have been upgraded to form part of a grouping based on this upgrade."

What is our primary use case?

We use this solution to manage all aspects of our use of Windows.

What is most valuable?

The centralized control of all of our Windows hardware that this solution offers has been most valuable to our organization.

What needs improvement?

Compared to the solution we use to manage our Mac products, this solution lacks the ability to create dynamic groups. We would like the ability, for example, for machines that have been upgraded to form part of a grouping based on this upgrade. 

Another feature we would like is a distribution server to allow communication between our company's different servers using the internet. I have already suggested this functionality and it is being worked on by ManageEngine. 

For how long have I used the solution?

We have used this solution for more than one year. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

This is a stable solution. When there are bugs, they are fixed with new updates which are easy to install. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

This is a scalable solution. We have more than 5000 users.

How are customer service and support?

The customer support team is great. I have not experienced a support team like this using any other solution. There is an online chat channel that is easy to use. 

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was straightforward. Vendor support is not needed. The solution's support team are helpful and good at providing support. 

What other advice do I have?

I haven't had any issues using this solution and would recommend it to other users if it fits their business requirements. 

I would rate it a nine out of ten. 

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
PeerSpot user
IT Infrastructure and Security Manager at a logistics company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Top 20
Automatic alerts, simple deployment, and easy to scale
Pros and Cons
  • "ManageEngine Desktop Central automatically alerts you if there are newer releases or updates. You do not have to go to their website and check."
  • "ManageEngine Desktop Central should keep up with some of the features that other major vendors are providing, such as Microsoft."

What is our primary use case?

We deployed ManageEngine Desktop Central mainly for the patching of systems. Additionally, we have used it extensively for doing ad hoc software deployments, making changes to systems, such as if we need to deploy a registry fix. The solution also allows us to have local repositories. When we do a deployment at a local operation, everything is deployed locally from within that operation. We do not have to use the network to receive anything.

We do not use it for remote assistance very much, and the reason is we use ScreenConnect. I know that the Desktop Central remote control works. The other thing that we use Desktop Central is to receive quick access via the command line. It's very convenient that we can open a command prompt on a remote host.

How has it helped my organization?

We have seen a lot of benefits in reporting, we are able to pull a lot of information. For example, we can go ahead and pull out a report saying how many Windows 11 machines are in the organization, how many machines are missing patches that are older than 60 days, and how many machines have a specific version of the software.

What is most valuable?

ManageEngine Desktop Central automatically alerts you if there are newer releases or updates. You do not have to go to their website and check.

Your agents or your assets that are managed by ManageEngine Desktop Central, if you have a relay server, the agents will work over the internet. If there is an asset, then there is some vulnerability. As long as it's powered on and connected to the internet, it doesn't need to be on the corporate-wide area network. As long as it's on the internet, you can go ahead and manage it.

What needs improvement?

ManageEngine Desktop Central should keep up with some of the features that other major vendors are providing, such as Microsoft. 

If this solution could include the MDM component, then it would be a very strong contender with the other competitors.

The OS deployment of the solution could improve, I tested it before, and it was weak.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using ManageEngine Desktop Central for approximately four years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability of ManageEngine Desktop Central could improve. We have found that at times it can become a bit unstable. We have had issues with that in the past, but not much lately. 

The performance of the solution is good.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is easy to scale. What you need for your scalability is to have more assets. You can scale the resources, such as the processor and memory. The way to scale would be doing the repositories at sites.

We have approximately five IT users using this solution in the organization.

We have been using ManageEngine Desktop Central extensively in my organization but in the last year or so more we have been focused more on the SCCM. We plan to increase usage as the company expands.

How are customer service and support?

I've spoken with technical support in the past. It's a hit and miss, depending on who you speak with support. Some agents are very strong and some agents tell us to read an article and come back if we have any more problems.

The technical support could improve by being more consistent.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I have used other solutions in the past.

How was the initial setup?

We do our software deployment based on a logical grouping of computers. ManageEngine Desktop Central provides the ability to create groups or a collection of computers. That's what they call it. If we can create the collection, of the software we've just uploaded to ManageEngine Desktop Central, it synchronizes it against all repositories. Then based on that collection, we only need to tell it to deploy that piece of software to the computers.

We can also use another tool for deployment that Desktop Central has which is really nice called the self-service portal. We have a list of applications that are common and ones that are not. The applications that not every user uses. For example, in the SAP GUI, not everybody uses SAP. We can have it published in the self-service portal and if the user needs it, they can deploy it themselves.

What about the implementation team?

We use one person for the deployment of the solution. However, the deployment difficulty and time depends on a few factors, such as the size of the collection, how many computers are you deploying it to, how many users, and what is the size of the package and their complexities. Usually, once it's all replicated and the agents are online, if we tell it to deploy, it's almost immediate. Additionally, we do deployment based on off-hours, we can do them immediately or we can schedule deployments.

When the solution is up and running it does not require a lot of maintenance because it uses PostgreSQL, they have routines that manage the database. The only thing that you need to keep your eye on is the size of the repositories because as you patch more and you deploy more software, the size of your repositories grows and you need to keep a watch on this.

What was our ROI?

We make everybody else look good. We have received a return on investment because we were able to deploy applications a lot easier where we do not have to get the field services team involved.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The solution is very affordable.

The nice thing about ManageEngine Desktop Central is that when it's time for renewal, you can increase your footprint by the number of assets you're managing. I can scale up and down based on the size of my organization.

What other advice do I have?

My advice to those wanting to implement this solution would be if they have a small IT department and they do not have strong IT people, ManageEngine Desktop Central is pretty simple to deploy. The complexity is not as big as an SCCM or some of the other products.

In terms of training, there's a lot of things on YouTube that tell you exactly how to do it. There is some good documentation from ManageEngine Desktop Central. It is very simple to deploy and get it up and running.

I rate ManageEngine Desktop Central an eight out of ten.

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.
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Updated: April 2024
Buyer's Guide
Download our free ManageEngine Endpoint Central Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.