This company uses the product a lot to do the patch implementation. In terms of the configuration of all machines, they do a lot of remote sections for the end-users.
General Manager at a logistics company with 51-200 employees
Easy to use with good patch distribution and a nice graphical dashboard
Pros and Cons
- "The mobile functionality is very easy."
- "Desktop Central has very good information, however, you can't customize the dashboards."
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
The patch distribution is so easy.
The mobile functionality is very easy.
Remote sections are very good.
The initial setup is easy.
The solution is scalable.
Technical support has been helpful.
It's quite stable.
The pricing is good.
The graphical dashboard is so easy to do analysis from.
What needs improvement?
I don't have any suggestions to improve the solution at this moment. However, the problem is Desktop Central is a big solution. It is a very powerful solution. It can be overwhelming.
Desktop Central has very good information, however, you can't customize the dashboards. If they had dashboard customization, it would be a very good improvement. When you have a dashboard that shows where, when, and why you had some problem it's quite useful. Customizing it to meet your exact needs would be ideal.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using the solution, more or less, for four years.
Buyer's Guide
ManageEngine Endpoint Central
December 2025
Learn what your peers think about ManageEngine Endpoint Central. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: December 2025.
879,422 professionals have used our research since 2012.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is a stable product. The performance is good. There are no glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze.
Sometimes we have bugs, however, the support is very, very nice and the support is a very good to us.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
With a customer, we have more or less 2,000 desktops, 50 mobiles, and 300 servers.
It is a scalable product.
We do have plans to increase usage in the future. Likely in the next two months, we'll be looking at getting 200 more licenses.
How are customer service and support?
We don't have problems with support. They are very helpful and responsive.
We also use remote sessions to do support for the final user.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We also did POCs with HPE and IBM. We also looked into CA, Computer Associates.
Before moving to ManageEngine's Desktop Central and doing the POCs we did not use any different products.
How was the initial setup?
It's an easy implementation. The setup is not overly complex. I haven't had any issues with the process at all.
It doesn't take long to deploy. The problem is this customer. I spent a lot of time not on the setup. We did a POC and I spent more or less three months on it as this customer compared ManageEngine with three other solutions. ManageEngine Desktop Central was benchmarked in the comparison of the other three products. We proved everything including patch distribution, configuration, machine configuration, OS deployment, and remote sectioning. We proved everything and we did a comparison with two other solutions. That's what took the most amount of time.
We have more or less 20 technicians working with Desktop Central.
In terms of maintenance, the Desktop Central team works with the client to maintain all the machines and keep them up to date in terms of configurations and patches.
What about the implementation team?
We handled the implementation ourselves. We didn't need outside assistance.
What was our ROI?
We have seen an ROI.
If you do have one company with more 200 computers it's impossible to have all the machines up to date with patches. It's hard to get to every final user's machine. The problem is when you have many sites and solutions and development solutions inside of the company, it gets complex.
If you do one patch optimization without doing a test before the real installation of the patch in all machines, you can run into very big problems inside the company. Sometimes you install one patch and this patch is not compatible with all solutions, for example. If you have to patch for 2,000 machines, you can't say how many people will need which patch, et cetera. This solution solves that problem and removed the hours of work and complexity that you'd have to face if you didn't have it on hand.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The pricing is very good. It's very reasonable and less than other options.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We looked into HP, IBM, and CA. We compared them against ManageEngine. ManageEngine ended up being the cheapest.
What other advice do I have?
We are using the last version of the solution.
I'd advise users to try out a POC. If they have a lot of machines in their company and need help with patching, this might be the perfect solution. However, try it on some machines first. See how it goes. It's the easiest way to find a solution that will work for you.
I'd rate the solution ten out of ten.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Head of Digital Data Technology & Facilities at a financial services firm with 51-200 employees
Good interface with great features and reasonable pricing
Pros and Cons
- "The solution is stable."
- "The team I've currently got is not using it particularly well, due to the fact that they don't know how to use it particularly well. They've not done any training and so on."
What is our primary use case?
The solution is used predominantly for our service desk and IT uses it for capturing issues from our users.
What is most valuable?
The solution has a lot of the features we need and we are looking forward to taking advantage of them after a little bit of training.
It seems to be pretty straightforward in terms of ease of use. The user interface is good.
We don't have any issues with the pricing.
The solution is stable.
The product can scale.
What needs improvement?
The team I've currently got is not using it particularly well, due to the fact that they don't know how to use it particularly well. They've not done any training and so on. There are lots of things that need to be done. Hence, why I was looking to whether it's a good product or not, which I think it is. It's a good enough product, yet in terms of the team, they just don't know what to do. I don't know how good it's going to be. That said, it looks like it's going to be perfect for what we want; it just needs to be matured further.
For how long have I used the solution?
I am an interim contract head of IT for the Commission, and the company I work with has been using it for about two years. I wanted to see what other potential solutions there might be out there, and also to see how it stacks up against others. I've only been using it for about six months, however, I was looking at the competitors as well.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability is good. Once we get going with it, and we get the partners to help us develop it further, it'll be absolutely perfect.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability seems to be okay.
How are customer service and support?
I have no comments in regards to technical support. I've never called them.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I did not previously use a different solution.
How was the initial setup?
I was not around for the initial implementation and therefore cannot speak to how easy or difficult the process was.
What about the implementation team?
It is my understanding that the company had third-party support to do the implementation.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The cost of the solution is reasonable.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I have been actively evaluating other solutions.
What other advice do I have?
We are using a previous version of the solution. It's not the latest version.
The most important thing, when you're looking at any product, is to make sure you've clearly defined what you're trying to achieve and do, and then go through what it can and can't do for you to make sure you get a good fit. That's the advice I'd give to anyone considering implementing it.
I would rate the solution an eight out of ten. I've been pleased with its potential capabilities so far.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Buyer's Guide
ManageEngine Endpoint Central
December 2025
Learn what your peers think about ManageEngine Endpoint Central. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: December 2025.
879,422 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Head of IT Services at a manufacturing company with 5,001-10,000 employees
A complete, ready-to-deploy product for all sizes of enterprise
Pros and Cons
- "All of Desktop Central's features are valuable, especially its simplicity."
- "The team should work on improving the stability, particularly with massive patches deployment, clients are not 100% getting patches and the information provided by the system does not help; more detailed report would be very useful."
What is our primary use case?
My primary use case is for operating system imaging and deployment. We also use it for software deployment, automatic software updates, and computer remote assistance.
How has it helped my organization?
Desktop Central allows us to manage everything related to computing equipment including mobile devices and software licenses in a centralized place.
What is most valuable?
All of Desktop Central's features are valuable, especially its simplicity.
What needs improvement?
The team should work on improving the stability, particularly with massive patches deployment, clients are not 100% getting patches and the information provided by the system does not help; more detailed report would be very useful. ManageEngine should provide a periodic health checks for licensed customers; can be a sharing for best practices, tips or recommendation of critical patches or features the customer may have missed.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using Desktop Central for two years.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
This solution is scalable.
How are customer service and support?
Excellent technical support, the team is very supportive and responsive to all issues.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I previously used Microsoft SCCM, but it was difficult to deploy, while Desktop Central is more flexible and user-friendly.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was straightforward.
What about the implementation team?
I implemented it by myself, which took two days.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We pay 40,000 per year for Desktop Central, ready to manage any size of IT computing environment without having to pay additional fees.
What other advice do I have?
Desktop Central is easy to deploy, manage, and integrate with other ManageEngine products. I would recommend it to anyone managing a computing environment - it's a complete product for all sizes of enterprise, and it's ready to be deployed straight out of the box. I would score it as nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Senior Information Technology Specialist at a philanthropy with 501-1,000 employees
Good support, stable, and enables us to roll out images over the network
Pros and Cons
- "I like being able to image over the network. That's a nice feature that it has. Patch management is pretty decent on it as well."
- "The only problem with it is that the setup isn't very intuitive. I know that they just upgraded the product to make it a little bit easier to use, but compared to some of the other platforms, it is not easy to configure it, set it up, and get it running. However, once you have set it up and got it running, it runs great."
What is our primary use case?
I used it about six months ago. We implemented it in the last company I worked with. We were using it for patching, rolling out images, and other similar things.
We were using the most recent version.
What is most valuable?
I like being able to image over the network. That's a nice feature that it has. Patch management is pretty decent on it as well.
What needs improvement?
The only problem with it is that the setup isn't very intuitive. I know that they just upgraded the product to make it a little bit easier to use, but compared to some of the other platforms, it is not easy to configure it, set it up, and get it running. However, once you have set it up and got it running, it runs great.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Once it was set up and running, there were no issues with it. It seems to run fairly well.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is scalable. I was the admin for this system, and we probably had over a thousand end-users. I was the only one who knew how to use it at the time.
How are customer service and support?
Their tech support was pretty good. For any issues we had, they'd come in and work with us and get them resolved pretty quickly.
How was the initial setup?
Its setup isn't very intuitive.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We had perpetual licenses. The cost was around 36,000, and then you'd have the yearly maintenance fee of 2,000 or 3,000.
What other advice do I have?
They have a service where they come in and configure it or do the setup for you for a price. I don't remember the price, but it was pretty reasonable. If you're not familiar with the platform, that might be a good thing to go with, especially if you don't want to go in and do the ifs and buts trying to set it up. It would be a lot easier if you had them come and set it up for you. With all the alerting and everything else that you have to set up with it, it takes a minute to get it up and running and have everything the way you wanted.
I'd give it an eight out of 10. I was really happy with it.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Assistant Manager - IT at a construction company with 1,001-5,000 employees
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: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Very user friendly and patch management is effortless
Pros and Cons
- "The solution is time-saving and resource-saving."
- "The solution lacks some configuration."
What is our primary use case?
We carried out a POC on Desktop Central before implementing and it's been in production for two months. Our use case is for patching third-party applications and Windows applications. We use the solution extensively so that aside from the monthly scanning we use it to work on Microsoft vulnerabilities.
We are customers of Desktop Central and I'm an IT Manager.
How has it helped my organization?
Previously, our monthly maintenance would have taken about eight hours, and two or three people continuously on a laptop. Our maintenance is now carried out by this solution and once it's done there just needs to be a check for errors. It's time-saving and resource-saving which is pretty good!
What is most valuable?
The patch management is really wonderful, it's effortless and just a matter of building a few configurations and creating a few templates which can be reused. The UI is quite good and user-friendly.
What needs improvement?
There are a few basic things that haven't been configured in the tool. We're dealing with 600, 700 servers. The way the solution has been configured means you can only see 500 systems at a time. The company has acknowledged that this is an issue but they haven't worked on it yet. It's a little strange given the amount of time the product has been on the market.
We're working on migrating to Azure. It involves a new patch that was not picked up by Desktop Central. I think it's a problem for them because Azure is everywhere right now and they don't seem to be up to date with the new patches. More needs to be included because everything Microsoft is launching now is more related to Azure.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using this solution for six months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Performance is good and stable. If it's working on 600 servers at a time, there is a 90-minute window that it uses to communicate with its agent, and that's divided between all the servers. It can hamper performance at times when compared to other tools where you just click and everything is communicated without any wait time. The IT Ops team uses Desktop Central which, in our company, is two or three people.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We haven't yet scaled but I believe it will be quite easy.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We were using batchpatch earlier.
How was the initial setup?
All the ManageEngine products are pretty straightforward when it comes to implementation. There are a few configurations you have to do on a network level for the codes, but it's not complicated. I carried out the deployment with one other person. We contacted the vendor a few times for some assistance but that was it. The POC took about a month and the actual deployment took a week to 10 days including configuring everything on the network level.
In terms of maintenance, the server and installed agent need to be updated on all servers. You do have to check it on your test environment to make sure everything is compatible with a virtual environment, otherwise it could crash your VM.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The solution is relatively cheap because we purchased the full package. For now, we're only using patch management, but it offers many other things such as software deployment, the ability to create configuration packages and install new software. There are no additional costs to the licensing fee.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We only recently started using Desktop Central, so we're comparing the results with another solution use, BatchPatch. The Desktop Central UI is very good and easy to use. BatchPatch is a cheaper product so it's more complicated and the UI is not as good. What BatchPatch does have that's lacking in Desktop Central is the granular representation of progress and what's happening on the backend. BatchPatch gives you a clear picture of what's happening step by step and progress per server; it gives you specific errors so you can check and troubleshoot. Desktop Central lacks that visibility. If you're carrying out maintenance of 600 servers, you need to have that visibility, so that if something's not right, you can look into it instead of having to wait eight hours.
What other advice do I have?
If you're new to the solution, check your requirements because the solution is not suitable for every situation. We're using it for a data center, so we configured it differently. If, for example, you're dealing with local laptops on office premises and you're looking to do patch management, a product like Ivanti might be more useful. For us, Desktop Central is pretty good because we are working on servers, and the vulnerability checks we do on the security base are pretty high, so the patch management option of Desktop Central is pretty good.
There is room for improvement, so I rate the solution eight out of 10.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Chief Enterprise Architect at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Patch and upgrade many devices simultaneously in a DevSecOps pipeline which is effective but demanding on resources
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable in Desktop Central is the way it is tightly coupled with the rest of the modules and the entire gamut of ManageEngine."
- "The performance sometimes lags a bit because the solution is demanding on system resources."
- "The pricing is lower than other well-respected solutions in this category."
What is our primary use case?
I am certified for two of the modules of ManageEngine. I am a certified associate for AD Manager Plus (Active Directory Management) and I also have the certification for Desktop Central. Desktop Central is a management module used to manage devices and services from one location.
To manage a large number of users and devices and push upgrades and patches, we need a solution that allows us to do that in an efficient way. We can do this with Microsoft Active Directory. That would be our primary use case for this solution. There are other things that we do with it.
If we want to track an incident more closely to do some root-cause analysis, Desktop Central can help us with this.
If I have a large group or area of a company that extends into EMEA (Europe, the Middle East, and Africa) and APAC (Asia-Pacific) and maybe LATAM (Latin America) that is on Windows 7 and I want to upgrade multiple devices to Windows 10, I can plan for these upgrades and do them simultaneously. Desktop Central has certain use cases within IT, Ops, and DevSecOps (security as a part of software development and IT operations) roles. Using these you can build a DevSecOps pipeline using Desktop Central.
In the case of a well-formed pipeline, the Ops is given the liberty to do the releases rather than having to get IT involved at multiple locations. With minimal help, the Ops can do the releases, they just have to define the release and the release goes out smoothly without any IT intervention. The automation process can be built out this way to give technical control to non-technical users. We built our own platform for doing that from scratch Java based. But the technology matured and there are more options available from vendors to solve these issues. We chose to deploy Desktop Centeral as our dedicated solution.
How has it helped my organization?
It has greatly simplified updating and patching within our systems.
What is most valuable?
From my hands-on experience, the features I have found the most valuable in Desktop Central is the way it is tightly coupled with the rest of the modules and the entire gamut of ManageEngine. So if I want to collect data about who the users are on the system, I can pull that from the Active Directory. The AD Workbench is a dashboard that gives all the data about the users enterprise-wide.
Desktop Central has got a dedicated mobile device management module. ManageEngine has got the complete gamut of offerings. It has got asset management, service management, and asset classification. It can do any kind of patch management. It is best at the general management of assets and reporting.
For example, we can use it for virtually anything having to do with security on endpoints. Say we have maybe 4,000-plus devices that we have to monitor and upgrade the OSS (Operations Support Systems) and apply patching. This can all be handled with Desktop Central from a central location. That is what makes it a very good option.
Desktop Central manages pushing upgrades to endpoints and how to securely manage those endpoints. That is how it is most useful.
What needs improvement?
The product has several places where there is room for improvement.
Although it is on the cloud, sometimes the performance is slower than it should be. One of the reasons could be that it is tightly integrated and tight coupled with the rest of the modules and all of them have to be in sync. This syncing takes time and resources. When I go to our Desktop Central console, sometimes it runs slowly. So performance is one place where it could have room for improvement.
In terms of patching, which is a major benefit of the package, patch management can work even better as well. The vulnerabilities are obvious. Every day we get reports on a lot of new vulnerabilities. It is clear that ManageEngine is doing the patching and the package is easily deployed once they are developed and available. The incident management, the root cause, the planning of the resolution, the service management — all these things are known and available. The team at ManageEngine is good at that. But they do not provide reports to user admins on the development and delivery which is information they already have and admins could use. Once the patch is added to the repository the defense against vulnerabilities improves. But the information about developments and vulnerabilities would be good to have and could be shared more candidly.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with Desktop Central since February 2020, so that is about 2 years now.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The product is constantly being upgraded by the vendor for any known issues with some features or some bugs. That kind of stability issue will always be temporary.
There can be minor bugs that linger because they are not affecting operational issues, but even these can be escalated for fixing. We can get it fixed through the support and the product team for that. We talk directly to the product team if we feel something is important. It can happen over the phone, or it can happen by email. The entire product team has got different account managers for each of their customers. We can go directly to the team professionals that we need and get a bug fix and get it applied.
Although Desktop Central is performing well, it sometimes experiences lag because of the resources available. The CPU and memory available might be temporarily low. Desktop Central needs a lot of resources to perform its services and syncing.
Overall we have not had any serious, lingering issues with stability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We have not had any issues overall with any type of scalability. Right now we might have more than 12,000, 15,000-plus users spread across the geography. We can add more.
All the service management gets taken care of by Desktop Central, which monitors everything. So if you need to expand services you configure this in Desktop Central. There are business KPIs (Key Performance Indicators), so it is KPI driven. How many incidents we are expecting, how much we can scale and all these system variables can be driven by business KPIs.
Quest Office has a product called Foglight that has been used for quite a long time to order business KPIs. There are two different types of KPIs: the business KPIs, and then the functional or technical KPIs. So those are all integrated with Desktop Central from Foglight.
We have incident management through Alacrity which is made by a different segment of BMC Software which has also got the product called Remedy. Alacrity is something similar.
Within Desktop Central there is a production management function that is at the core of the application. When we configure Alacrity to care for incident management or Foglight to manage KPIs, this becomes integrated with the Desktop Central modules.
We can tightly integrate other applications to the Desktop Central solution and expand out what it oversees and interacts with.
If the workload increases, we can scale services easily on the cloud or make other plans for enhancing our architecture.
How are customer service and support?
I am quite satisfied with the customer support. They have bigger support teams available and the routing to the proper people and resources is quite good. They have support out of different cities, so they 'follow the sun' from the perspective of support and the availability is quite good all the time.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
VMware was our solution at first. It was a PaaS (Platform as a Service) offering with built-in security and a part of vCloud Air. Workspace ONE was on the top of that. It was the first real desktop virtualization. Like Citrix, it gives you VDI (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure). With that, VMs can easily be managed through Workspace ONE and integrated VDIs.
If I already have VMware and vSphere as my core backbone for the virtualization strategy in the organization, I might also look at automation for deploying updates. If I have a containerized application that is not automated, I can build in the automation using the DevSecOps pipeline or I can look for another solution. If you want to do the DevSecOps pipeline in the VMware workspace, you can do that with vRealize automation.
VMware, compared to Desktop Central, is far more expensive. Desktop Central has got a license and pricing advantage similar to your windows update and Windows WUSP (Windows Update Services: Client-Server Protocol). That is your Windows update platform. With Desktop Central, you pay something similar to that. It is only a few dollars per license per user.
Switching to Desktop Central was a matter of having an opportunity to make a switch, keeping aware of the developments in the technology and on the market, and moving to a product that was cheaper and had the capabilities that we needed to carry out the task.
How was the initial setup?
Our process and roll out for doing the setups are pretty easy. We have managed to gain familiarity with the product and created a pretty smooth process for the installations.
I have installed a lot of modules by myself, like EDI Manager, and I even installed Desktop Central. We run tests until we are satisfied that these two modules are installed correctly and this usually does not take much time.
What about the implementation team?
We do not necessarily handle the setup and deployment totally by ourselves. We stay connected to the managing and support team. There are different product teams within the managing team. There is one for EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) Manager, there is one for Desktop Central, there is another one for the service management. There are many different parts at the support team level. Most of the installations do not require assistance but we can consult support when required. They will help us cope with any sticking point and we can move on from there.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Desktop Central can be less expensive than other solutions like VMware for managing DevSecOps. You have to pay per asset with Desktop Central and the final cost depends on how many assets you have across the organization. Per asset, the license cost will be less than using a more expensive license for VMware and vRealize. I think per desktop it might be somewhere around $50 or $100 each using ManageEngine.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
This is the only product I have in mind for this type of solution currently, although we have not evaluated Sophos yet. After that, there is only Citrix and VM Workspace ONE. Citrix is the oldest vendor we have had since Citrix MetaFrame Presentations Server days. At that time they were using screen sharing on desktops, RDPs (Remote Desktop Protocol), and still using all those older technologies. So that is too old as a solution. Desktop Central is doing much better things and has advanced well beyond that solution.
What other advice do I have?
My advice to people looking into this solution is that if you want to improve on the patching processes as a part of a DevSecOps pipeline, Desktop Central can help you do that. It will help you make that workflow easier and it is a better option than other solutions. So this works out to be a better because everything is built-in. You do not have to integrate with any other company's portal or any other incident management or tracking.
If you plan for a patch, there are different tools to use, different notifications to set for the patch, and they can be administered within Desktop Central itself. So the admin can approve it and once the notification changes, the patch can be released to the endpoints. That works pretty fast. That built-in workflow makes it more productive and easier to use.
On a scale from one to ten, where one is the worst and ten is the best, I would rate Desktop Central higher than the VMware and Citrix Workspaces. The workflows are much better and easier, and the different roles for IT and Ops are well defined. So I would rate somewhere around seven.
It is a seven because it still has got some room for improvement, but I think seven is good.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
System Admin-Network Engineer at a computer software company with 201-500 employees
A flawless package with great functionality and very user-friendly
Pros and Cons
- "Has good functionality and is user-friendly."
- "There are no dynamic changes on web pages and it's lacking visually."
What is our primary use case?
I'm a system admin and network engineer.
What is most valuable?
I've found the solution to be user-friendly for us in the IT department and for our employees. Raising a ticket is pretty much effortless and getting it to the next level is also simple. The entire package is quite flawless. The functionality, the basic elements and the help aspect are all fine.
What needs improvement?
The user interface could be improved because it's quite hardware based. There are no dynamic changes on web pages and it's lacking visually.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using this solution for six months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable. I haven't found any crashes or abnormalities in the program.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We haven't fully tested scalability. For now our users include three IT people and 105 employees.
How are customer service and support?
We haven't needed any support but I think everything is available on YouTube.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was straightforward and took maybe half an hour. I found some useful tips on YouTube.
What other advice do I have?
We've only tested the help desk aspect to date. From that perspective I would definitely recommend it. We've been testing ManageEngine for the past six months and we'll continue that for a while longer.
I rate this solution eight out of 10.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
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Updated: December 2025
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