ManageEngine Endpoint Central Reviews

We primarily use this product to monitor PCs, perform updates, and as a remote desktop.

This solution has helped me in several aspects. It has helped to identify outdated PCs, as well as to assist with remote control and software monitoring. I can see what users have installed on PCs, which is especially helpful for laptops.

Feature-wise, this solution is okay.

What I like best about this product is that I can log on to every PC, very easily, and chat with the user via the chat feature.

The dashboard is very good. It saves me a lot of time when it comes to finding the Windows calibration software that is installed on the PCs.

I would like to have the option to install the agent remotely. When we change a PC, we have to uninstall the agent and then re-install it on the new one, and it is a difficult procedure.

Sometimes the performance is not very good, which is something that can be improved.

I have been using ManageEngine Desktop Central for approximately one year.

The stability is good.

We have 25 users, which is the limit for the free version. I don't know how scalable it is beyond this point. Whether I increase my usage depends on whether I stay with this product and purchase a license, or instead try another solution.

I have not had any issues, so I have not needed to contact technical support.

The initial setup is straightforward and fast. It definitely takes less than a day to deploy.

I have been using the free version and am in the stage where I have to decide if I will proceed with the paid license, or instead choose another product.

This is the product that was recommended to me, so I did not evaluate other options before implementing it.

My advice is that if they don't have a product to control the software that users have installed on their PCs, then this is a very good tool. However, beyond a certain number of users, they have to buy it.

I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.

We use this product for:

• User management and Patch management.
• Application and software deployment management, which is made very easy using its software.
• Remote support on different platforms like macOS, Windows, Linux, and tablets (Android and iOS).
• Software usage monitoring by the users.
• Providing endpoint security and assets management.
• Discovering the software license and warranty details. 
• Device control like USB and security policies.
• Effectively applying restrictions on end-user devices like cameras and browsers.

Having one single portal for all of our patch management, application management, mobile device management, and remote support has greatly improved our IT capabilities. Previously, we were using different tools for each different purpose.

The endpoint security helps us control the user device as per the IT policies. 

OS deployment and software deployment have saved the IT department a large amount of time during the mass onboarding.

Using desktop central has increased the efficiency of the asset management in our company. 

The most important feature we found to be useful in the COVID situation is the secure connection, which gives the IT support staff the ability to seamlessly connect with the users remotely and in a secure way. They can connect to almost all of the operating systems including Windows, Linux, macOS, and tablets. This also gives great control to the IT support staff, who remotely connect to the users during emergencies.

The patch management of the different operating systems in our environment is also made easy by using the desktop central software. 

There is a slight delay in customer support, which is something that can be improved.

We would like to see more integration on the macOS side, much as it is with Windows. There are still some access-level restrictions that we can see in the latest macOS when we connect desktop central remote. This is something that should be improved in the next release.

We have been using ManageEngine Desktop Central for two and a half years.

It is quite a stable product and we have access to customer support if there are any issues. Make sure that you subscribe to an annual support contract.

It's pretty good at scaling up. You just need to buy a license and it's ready to use.

The technical support is good but sometimes, there is a slight delay in response. 

We did not use another similar product before this one.

The setup was a bit complex initially but with use, we have become experts now.

Our implementation was done through a vendor.

We have been using this product for the past two and a half years and we have seen a 90% ROI. 

It's relatively cheap if you take the overall product. Choose wisely between the Professional and Enterprise editions, based on your needs.

We evaluated TeamViewer for remote support, as well as Microsoft System Center.

Overall, given the capabilities of Desktop Central, it is one of the best endpoint management solutions and it can cater to most of the operating systems in a client's environment, through a single portal.

Our primary use for Manage Engine started off with just using Service Desk Plus to manage our internal issues.  Since started with just Service Desk Plus, we have moved on to utilizing Asset Management, MDM, and my favorite, the OS Deployment.  Another great part of Desktop Central is the Patch Management to deploy software and windows updates on our time and not Microsoft Windows. We have also utilized the Patch Management to deploy updates to external software such as Zoom, Snagit, Microsoft Teams, and many others. 

ManageEngine Desktop Central has greatly improved our organization by utilizing Service Desk Plus to monitor and keep track of issues that our end users report to our Help Desk Department. We also have written in the ode of our company's software to notify Support if an end-user experience an issue and does not report it. That way we can improve our software and be a more robust organization. Also using the Asset Management gives us a way to see what equipment users have and when they need to be upgraded and or replaced. 

Although there are many great features within Desktop Central, my most favorite has to be the OS Deployment. When we order new computers in large batches, having the OS Deployment makes the process much, much easier to get them prepared for our users. We also utilize the Self Service Portal to push out applications and give the end-users the option to install the application if they want it and it can be installed without Administrative privileges which takes less time from the Help Desk or System Administrators.  

Not many things are needed for improvement, everything seems to be great as it is. One thing that would be good to have would be the ability to add MDM to a tablet running Android 5.0 using the EMM Token Enrollment.  If we wanted to add MDM to an older tablet, we just have to go the "long route" to get it added. I would guess another option would be a lower price cap for using all the separate divisions of programs that are being built withing Desktop Central.  We actually opted out of renewing Analytics Plus this last go around because of the cost and the lack of times we actually used it to run reports. 

We have been utilizing Manage Engine Desktop Central for approximately 2-3 years. 

The stability and performance of Desktop Central have been great. We have no issues, but we also use the on-prem option.

Desktop Central is deferentially very scalable.  They are always coming up with new options very often.  

Every time we have had to contact the customer support to assist with an issue or an answer, they have always been very knowledgeable and very helpful. They continue to follow-up after the issue has been resolved to ensure everything is going well and if there was anything else they would be able to assist with.   

Before we moved over to Desktop Plus, we were using Spice Works, mainly because they were free. They had several applications that are similar to Desktop Central, but they were just not the same.  It was a great investigation to make the switch to Desktop Central. 

The setup was fairly simple. We had no issues and were able to get everything up and running within 48 hours.  

Not with a vendor team, but with our talented staff of System Administrators who were able to read and study the verbiage of the documentation. 

It's hard to say what our ROI is because I do not work in the finance department. I can say that the happier we can make the executives and salespeople happy with their equipment their operation, they are able to produce more income for the company.

I would advise others to think about using Desktop Desktop for all their network, tickets, and assets needs. I personally have not used the network monitoring software, but it's like any of the other portions of Desktop Central, it must be good. 

No, there were no other applications we tried.

Some times, when adding new programs to Desktop Central, it can be somewhat costly. I say be prepared to be able to spend some money. We asked to pay for several years at a time to lower the long term cost.

We have about 180 endpoints that are spread across several buildings. We have an Active Directory environment. It is hard to maintain updates, install software, and do support in such an environment. Desktop Central has given tools to maintain our environment with ease, deploy updates to machines. Deploy software is an easy to use tool for our needs. The tool for remote support is so great with the ability to use shortcuts and chat. Also, we use an asset scan option very much to maintain an overview of our environment.

Since deploying Desktop Central our endpoints are all updated. We use configuration management to deploy shortcuts to our users' desktops with ease. Also, we use configuration management to map logical hard drives to our users. Our users are very happy with how much ease IT can solve their problems. Also, we have an overview of our complete IT environment and assets so we can upgrade our endpoints as needed. And we are an overall much secure IT environment since we deployed Desktop Central because all our endpoints are up to date.

Patch management is an excellent tool because we deploy patches with ease and also decline patches. Asset management and scan are also very useful because we have an overview of all our endpoints and their configurations. Remote connections to endpoints for support is great with chat, shortcuts to tools, and user keyboard locking. Also, notifications, if someone tries to remove any hardware from the endpoint, is working very well. We have somewhat used reporting options but it works very well and we will surely use it in the future.

We would like to see options for deploying Microsoft 365 accounts into Outlook. For now, we only can use it to deploy exchange accounts. Also, we would like to see an option do decline Windows 7 ESU patches in a bulk. For now, we have to decline them one by one which is not an easy process. Also, we are not clear about uninstalling Desktop Central patches from our server. That is not a problem for now but in the future, it could be. There should be some more clearance on how to uninstall Desktop Central patches and what are the consequences.

We have been using it for six months.

Great stability.

There are a lot of scenarios for scalability but we have not tried it yet. ManageEngine has a lot of products that can be integrated with DesktopCentral, like Service Desk Plus and Browser Security plus but we have not tried it yet.

Had no need for customer service or technical support.

We did not use a different solution.

It is very easy to setup and tutorials and online support are great.

We deployed it in-house.

The licensing is very easy to understand and pricing is right for what you get.

We didn't.

My primary use case of this solution is to monitor software installs. 

ManageEngine has improved my organization because right now we can actually monitor and find out which software products are installed on each desktop. We can then figure out which ones have to get patched and so forth.

We haven't used all the features. The parts that we're using are pretty good. I would like to see them include the ability to find out the network usage but I believe that might be a feature of it already.

It's fairly stable. Since I've been here working with the company we haven't had any issues with it. 

Scalability is very good. We've got about 100 desktops we're managing at the moment. We require two people for maintenance.

We haven't had to contact their technical support. So far this solution is working well and doing what it's supposed to do.

It's a very good product and I would suggest it to someone considering it. It's been working very well. Since it's been running I don't think we've ever had any issues with it. I would rate it a ten out of ten.

What is valuable for us is the ability to manage Windows OS, Mac OS, and Linux OS on a single console. This also includes push applications, patches, and configurations on all three platforms.

We are able to manage all user operating systems on a single console.

Management of Mac OS X, Linux OS, and encryption. We would like this to be on par with how Windows OS is managed.

Also, the reporting feature could be more flexible.

We have been using the solution for three years.

We had an issue with the reporting feature, but other than this, it's pretty robust.

We did not encounter any issues with scalability.

The technical support is excellent.

We previously used SCCM and ARD. Cost was a big factor. Just the ability to manage all operating systems on a single console was the main reason we chose this solution. Ease of use for the administration was also a big factor.

The setup was straightforward.

We evaluated Jamf, Lansweeper, TriActive, FileWave, etc.

Look for something that will fit your environment, budget, and level of expertise. For us, we manage all OSs. This was a perfect fit.

We also have 5000 endpoints. ManageEngine allows us to manage these endpoints at a fraction of the cost.

Our IT administrators are also able to use the product without much complication compared to other competitors.

Desktop Management and various reporting features.

We have almost 2500 computers inside our private network. Managing those computers from a single console meant a dream come true for us.

Besides this, central patch management and detailed reporting, especially active directory or inventory management reporting, boosts up our regular activities.

Reporting should be customizable. Although there is already a scope of customized reporting, there should be some other option. Besides for that, for inventory management, this software takes data from active directory’s database.

Sometimes this shows some garbage or duplicate value. There should be some method to search the out of order or dead computers.

Since December 2016.

Not yet.

Not really.

Technical support is not up to the mark. In my opinion, this is the area where they should look after more carefully.

I used some trial versions of Microsoft SCCM and different ManageEngine products including ADaudit Plus , ADmanager Plus.

The initial setup was very easy and straightforward

There is a strange licensing policy regarding technician restrictions. Normally, it comes with single technician license (at least at our scenario), which means only one admin user can log into the system.

I think the licensing details, as well as the local partner’s technical resources, need to be evaluated before purchasing the product.

Yes we do, Microsoft SCCM.

Secure USB has allowed us to secure USB ports on our PCs, thus improving our PSN compliance. The main selling point is that it's centralized. We can easily control which system should have access to what and we’re also able to produce a report in case of a security issue.

Patch Management provides us with the ability to patch third-party software on terminal servers. This has improved productivity in terms of being able to automate the process as well as targeting the rights OUs, Security Groups, etc. I have successfully decommissioned my WSUS server and now all Microsoft updates are performed using the “Automate Patch Deployment”.

“Deployment Policy”: It provides me with the ability to schedule server/non-server reboots. This has, for the time being, been the solution for a Microsoft bug for server 2012 R2 whereby a server does not properly reboot after MS updates been applied and forcefully does it when the user logs on instead.

I no longer have to use a dedicated WSUS server, everything is properly scheduled including the ability to get reports via e-mail. Everything is administered using a web interface. It’s an all-in-one solution not just for patches but for software inventories as well. From a sys admin point of view, it now requires less effort and time to perform these administrative tasks.

I would like the deployment window time to be reduced as it currently requires a minimum of three hours. The automated patch deployment should stick to its own schedule.

The web interface is sometimes confusing and requires improvement, meaning it should be easy to find your way round if you’re looking for a specific option, i.e. adding a new computer object.

Some help files aren’t helpful as they don’t clearly explain the tasks to follow. There should be videos or more scenarios to assist the user.

I've used it for less than a year.

At first it took me some time to understand how to automate the patches, especially the “deployment window time”, other than that everything becomes straightforward once you've spent “some time” learning the process.

None

No

4/10. Symantec, for instance, has better business support as you can log in for follow ups. It takes time for your call to be answered; you don’t know what your SLA is; you don’t get a quick reply. It’s basically not there yet.

For Windows updates we used WSUS. With MangeEngine it’s so much easier to administer and monitor. We struggled to update 3rd party applications in the past. Software deployment is also not an issue anymore and easily manageable.

I wasn't involved in it.

In-house. My recommendation would be to export all your computer objects, in .csv format for instance, from AD then import into ManageEngine. It would be simple and shorten the amount of time it would’ve taken, otherwise, to manually add each object and subsequently ease the process of deploying the agents to each object.

With Secure USB, the system relies on the Device Instance ID of the USB device to identify and secure it (Allow, Deny). For implementation, my advice would be to “Deny all USB access” in order to allow access to devices only permitted by the organisation when plugged in.

The “Device Instance ID” is a unique, long string, alphanumerical identifier. To allow access to a specific device you’ll need to copy/paste this ID (from Device Manager) into ManageEngine. Let’s say you now have 20 IDs listed, how would you know which ID is for which device, as ManageEngine does not provide such option. I ended up creating a spreadsheet which records such information. That’s quite a convoluted way of doing things.

A USB Device can have multiple “Device Instance Id”: i.e. Digital camera. That means sometimes it becomes a hit and miss to get the device to work.

The automation control over scheduling server patching along with the ability to automate the reboot time has been critical. This process isn't straightforward, but after figuring out the requirements staggering reboots is an easy process to manage.

The software has provided the ability for us to not only replace SCCM seamlessly, but to train and allow for easy cross training.

The way patches are pushed out and applied can use a little work as it appears the patches are pushed out and just force applied as a group, as opposed to a specific registry pattern. Not too often, but this causes servers lockup or fail patching as it halts reboots before other patches can be applied which cannot be applied because the registry is locked from previous patches applied.

This software has been in place coming up on a year now. The flexibility of the software has proven very useful. A small business perspective replacing SCCM with this product has proven both cost effective and an efficient use of our staffs time.

We have had no issues deploying it.

There have been no stability issues.

Overall once we figured out the process structure we really did not have a whole lot of issues. From our client base, and architecture I do not see anything that would hinder scalability based on the way the remote offices are setup within this code.

I would preface this by saying in general the FAQ's are pretty helpful. Overall the support system has been helpful for this specific product, but we have not needed a whole lot of assistance.

We previously used SCCM which is a great enterprise solution if you can keep the administration knowledge on-site. For a small business, SCCM did not meet the ease of use or the price break which was the reasoning for the move to Desktop Manager MSP 9.

The installation of the product itself was very straightforward. The installer was pretty much default settings all the way through and was able to reference FAQ's for the few custom settings we desired.

Implementation was done in-house and for the most part was straightforward. Once the client setup process is done I would suggest babysitting the automated pushes for a couple of weeks. We ran into some weird issues that we were able to resolve fairly quickly and completed the maintenance during our timeframe which otherwise would have just looked like the patching jobs failed completely when they succeeded in reality.

The ROI switching to this product was noticeable after it had been around six months as we were able to retire our SCCM product along with the licensing that comes with using SQL.

I like the ease of setup and administration. There are some minor annoyances with how often the server software needs patched, how patching is applied and how the terminologies are translated.

Keep an eye on the automated reporting that is generated. We have not fully invested the time to discover why we have inconsistencies with the data, but it appears to be happening.

The features that give us the most value are patch management, remote control, and configuration management.

We used to use Windows Server Update Services, but had difficulty getting reports that gave an accurate picture of the patch situation across the estate. 

Desktop Central allows both Microsoft and third-party patching while giving precise reporting and dashboards, enabling us to catch problem computers easily, as well as show the company that we are keeping their IT infrastructure safe.

The ability to backup and restore or move user profiles to another PC would be a fantastic addition to the feature set.

We have used this solution for five years now.

We've had no issues with deployment.

We've had no issues with stability.

We've had no issues with scalability.

I have found customer service to be very responsive. I have had a couple of issues over the years and on one occasion logged a ticket on the ManageEngine support site and had a call back within 15 minutes. The support rep took control of the server and fixed the issue within 10 minutes. 

They are also very responsive as far as feature requests are concerned. I have in the past requested features and have had at least some of them make it into the product.

We used Altiris for our service desk, as well as systems management, before it became Symantec. It was a very good but expensive solution. 

I was tasked with finding a replacement for the cost of the maintenance of Altiris. I did that with the combination of ServiceDesk Plus, Desktop Central and OS Deployer.

Installation and initial configuration is very easy, taking less than an hour to have a fully-working system on a network of 700+ computers. Obviously, it takes more time to fine tune the solution to your exact needs, but you can have an installation ready and auditing your estate in no time at all. I would say that any reasonably competent IT person can set this up with no outside help. The installation was very easy and required no help from any outside company including ManageEngine.

I did it by myself in-house.

Not sure if it is the case now, but they used to say 80% of the features of the big players for 20% of the cost. I think that they may be overlooked because of the price, but download it and take a look. You will be very surprised.

Give it a go. If you are a small business of less than 25 users, it is free. For larger companies, it is a very reasonably priced solution. It is feature rich and the list of features is growing rapidly. Depending on the version you have, new features are free of charge. Some features are only in Enterprise and not in Pro.