Workspace ONE UEM Reviews

My customer is a Microsoft and Apple site, 99 percent of the system in Windows Servers, and the company gives every manager an iPad or iPad Pro (500-plus devices).

We deployed the MDM functionality of AirWatch to control all devices and MEM is the next step. We are struggling in MBM/MAM because all the applications are IE compatible.

The company used DEP to manage all devices previously. Now, with AirWatch (Workspace ONE Advanced) they can manage all devices and apps more easily. Among the most important improvements is the ability to set up different groups with different deployment policies.

MEM is valuable because all push emails can be monitored.

MBM/MCM could be improved. MBM can support specific versions of development tools. If VMware would let the customer know this more clearly, we would not need to waste time explaining this and delaying the project.

Also, the Content Locker cannot inherit permissions for the Windows Public Folder. If they could integrate with Microsoft on this point, it would be the perfect functionality.

We use it for managing BYOD devices and also for government-furnished devices - we support the Department of Energy. We use it for about 1500 devices.

It makes us more efficient in managing these devices, in lieu of not having it, that's for sure. We can also impose cybersecurity requirements.

For the most part it works, that's valuable to us. 

We're unhappy with the quality of support we get for it. We're unhappy with how upgrades occur, so we are migrating away from it. We have an on-premise AirWatch solution and for us to do upgrades we have to call AirWatch to be able to perform the upgrades. They're busy, and scheduling it is not timely enough for us.

There are features that we want like the ability to use Derived Credentials and things like that, which we can do with AirWatch, but doing so we move up into a different tier of licensing and the cost increases dramatically. To get the features we want, we can do the same thing with Microsoft Intune and we're going to see a product savings of over $70,000 a year.

We use it for handheld devices that have been corporately issued. They can include recognized devices whether they are connected to inventory, sales, or route delivery.

The benefit is that it helps our remote connections be as secure as possible. Also, being able to issue mobile devices increases productivity.

• Antivirus 
• The ability to push security policies down to the device

I think the stability is adequate, but I don't know for certain because we haven't actually stress tested it.

In terms of scalability, it has served our purposes, but I don't know if we go larger enterprise if it would be as satisfactory.

Our licensing is coming up, so we want to make sure that we either renew our current license or we go in another direction.

The most important criteria when selecting a vendor include reliability, the ease of obtaining technical support, and responsiveness. And of course, price.

I rate it at seven out of 10 because it doesn't fit perfectly into our framework.

My advice would be, look for the right sizing and the right use cases. It may be that the solution we're using is perfect for another vertical.

• Easy to navigate interface for admins
• Integration with Cisco ISE and other third party applications utilizing REST and SOAP APIs.
• AD/SMTP/Certificate Integration (SCEP/DCOM)
• Feature-rich, including integration with other VMware products (Content Management/Mail/VPN/SandPit).
• Zero day support for new Mobile OS firmware – fast to market on new API’s available.

By allowing us to centrally manage cross-platform mobile devices for corporate and BYOD.

• QA – better code execution
• Apple Mac management is troublesome
• Documentation prerequisites often leave out important information.
• Support in general; We have many issues that have never been fixed.

I've used this solution for six years.

• On-premise comes with challenges with upgrades and new features (SEG/Powershell)
• Many bugs with every version release of both the console and AirWatch Apps/products. Often bringing back old documented issues in new releases.

Yes. Way too many servers needed for additional functionality which becomes very complex.

If you want decent support mechanisms, expect to pay and pay well. Otherwise, the process is time consuming often covering the same processors multiples times. The first point of contact takes notes of the issue with no product knowledge.

The next escalation is slow and often just asks for logs and is not helpful. If you are implementing a new service or upgrading expect to be charged for professional services even if you believe this is a support issue.

I have used many solutions over the past five years. They all have pros and cons and, unfortunately, no silver bullet.

Setup is complex in a large or on-premise environment. Recommend SaaS model for most scenarios, but still complex once you start plugging in the additional features.

VMware is expensive and continues to raise licensing costs year on year. Business model is to separate services so you need more servers which if you are a VMWare customer cost you more in licensing costs.

Also, I've noticed that the minimum hardware specs for your servers continue to be raised.

I have evaluated the other main players. MobileIron is built by engineers, not sales teams. Infrastructure is relatively simple and does what it says on the tin well.

AirWatch has many more features but is not always implemented well. The rest are all trying to catch up or are specialized for particular use cases.

Scope out your functional requirements, HA and DR. You will need to plan for upgrades continually to any on-premise infrastructure. Lots of bad code so never go latest releases. If you want support, expect to pay. Managed services can be a good option. Test, test and test.

AirWatch has one of the best User Interfaces and it's quite easy to figure out where particular items are within the menu system.

They have good functionality across all the major platforms, too.

It has allowed employees to access their apps from their mobile or tablet while on the go, essentially freeing them from their old desktop workstations.

There is a lack of a real developer community. AirWatch doesn't seem to empower IT admins to try new things or get creative with implementations. They are more happy to sell you one of their support subscriptions.

I've used this solution for six years.

Some features like the AirWatch Launcher on Android can be very quirky.

The enrollment process on Android devices has always created challenges with scalability.

Scalability on iOS is seamless if you have developed a try zero touch build via AirWatch's integration with Apple's DEP and VPP deployment programs.

A three out of 10.

I manage Mobile Iron environments as a professional service. Through previous roles, I also have had exposure to InTune, SOTI MobiControl, and IBM MaaS360.

Not particularly, they are all evenly matched here.

Don't make compromises when enticed by enterprise license agreements for other products that may include their own MDM for a substantially low price.

You should take out a dedicated license agreement of your MDM fleet and invest heavily in innovating in this space. I've seen many companies that buy into MDM and don't make a continued investment in evolving their use cases.

Zen Mobile, Good, Silverback, and MobileIron.

Have a long term plan in place and spend more time on designing the solution before rolling out. Never lose sight in what your key motivators are, whether it's enablement, scalability, security, or governance.

We find this solution allows us to deploy apps more efficiently. We have a vendor that developed an app for their software for use in our company. We were able to deploy this custom built app easily.

We also find the Secure Email Gateway very useful. Active-Sync email routes through that server to the exchange server. With this configuration, we were able to lock down Exchange to only allow active-sync email from this server. We were able to configure the email settings within AirWatch to choose which extensions can be allowed on the email on the mobile device, as well as what app can be used to view attachments. There are alot of other options such as forwarding and screenshots that can be disabled, or restricted. We have implemented this with AirWatch Inbox to further lock down the email functionality and secure the email. We have also been able to deploy outlook settings to Windows desktop OS by using AirWatch.

I also like the ability to enroll devices in shared mode, which allows devices to be "checked out" by users by entering their username/password in the AirWatch app. Once they do this, their email is configured, and any apps, etc are downloaded. When they are done, they sign out, and the email and apps are removed.

I do like the remote wipe and how it allows you to locate a device if it is missing and delete the enterprise data, however these are limited on apple devices due to apple policies and cannot be changed by AirWatch. This will be the same on any MDM provider and isn't limited to just AirWatch. For example, if a device is stolen, you can't wipe it if they have it turned off. It will need to phone back home in order to be wiped. Now you can set a wipe after up to 10 passcode failed attempts which will help keep your data safe if it's stolen. You also can't force location services to be enabled by AirWatch. When enrolled, location services has to be enabled (or enabled later in the settings). AirWatch cannot force location services to be turned on due to Apple policies (and this will be the same for any other MDM provider). If the device is stolen and is phoning home, you can't locate it if location services was disabled or never enabled.

Jabber and other applications used often are easily able to be deployed and configured, as is e-mail. Email can also be secured more effectively with their product.

More functionality has been added for Windows desktop devices, and the options for Android and IOS has been fairly extensive already. The only recommendation I could make right now is continuing to add more functionality

We have had this deployed and in production for around 4 years now

No. The deployment is fairly simple.

We encountered an issue with the renewing of the APN certificate, which was due to a bug in the version we were running and was resolved in an update. We have had a need to move the database, and that was fairly difficult as documentation was sparse, and the first support technican said AirWatch would need re-installed. However the next support technician pointed me to the configuration file in the install path that I needed to change settings in.

This has functioned as we expected in scalability.

When we have worked with Customer service, they have most often been helpful, knowledgeable and timely. There have been some instances where they weren't great such as when I needed to move the database. The first technician stated we would need to re-install AirWatch, however I opened a case up again and the next technician pointed me to a configuration file that I just needed to update. There have been other moments when one technician states something isn't supported or possible, but the next technician would state it is and provide information on how to do it.

When we have worked with Technical Support, they have most often been helpful, knowledgeable and timely. If we got one that wasn't, we give it a day and open another case in hopes of getting a better technician.

We used the default exchange settings to manage e-mail however the settings for security and deployment are limited there compared to AirWatch. We also tried to Use Vipre MDM but it was very limited as well when compared to AirWatch.

The setup of AirWatch itself was performed by AirWatch, however the setup of groups, policies, apps, etc. was straightforward.

We implemented this product on our own. It was straightforward and fairly easy to implement.

This product is effective and simple to manage. It has more options that stand-alone products such as Anti-Virus or Exchange.

Two of the most valuable features are the MDM, mobile device management, and the content management, the containerization management of apps so that I can have clients that bring their own devices to an enterprise as well as enterprise apps, and I have two different solutions of deploying applications to those mobile devices. There are a lot of other aspects other than security that are advanced features in AirWatch that I didn't see in some of the competitor's products.

From an AirWatch standpoint, basically a lot of concerns in the enterprise today are security. With these MDM and mobile content management solutions, an organization can manage their applications without any concern for the end user losing important enterprise data.

For instance, say a person leaves an organization, we can basically, even though they own the device, we can using AirWatch, wipe all the content that's enterprise related off of that device immediately. If it's an enterprise device and it gets lost, we can wipe that device immediately. AirWatch gives you the security built into their solution that's very robust.

I'm so overwhelmed and pleased with the solution that they offer. The solution that I had before was so difficult for me to use that I haven't been able to use it enough to find things that it's lacking. There may be things out there that it's lacking, but I'm not just aware of those at this point.

We use the cloud version. They have a on-premise solution of AirWatch. We use the cloud solution of AirWatch. We found that the responsiveness of that solution far exceeds the competitor products. We used competitor products for a while, and we were consistently encountering issues with stability as far as connectivity, time outs, but the AirWatch solution flawless as far as the cloud solution is concerned.

From a scalability standpoint, it looks like it's really, really robust, but we haven't had the opportunity to scale it up to a high number of users. Just from a scalability standpoint, for instance, the ability to take organizational groups and manage at a lower level of an organization with the multi-tenancy just kind of blew my mind.

I'm amazed that somebody thought about this in advance of the solution of the development of the product so that the solution that comes out would be a solution that you can have like three or four companies under one AirWatch instance. I was amazed.

I myself, haven't used them a lot. When I have used them, it's been stellar. They've been very responsive. What I really like is they have the support infrastructure that allows you to go to their forums and ask questions. I've shared a lot of information with other forum participants and finding solutions to the specific problems that others have had as well as the search capabilities inside the forums are really robust.

There were some issues that we encounter with respect to.... For instance, we would have partners that we work with that have their own apps and they want to put those apps on our devices and use our devices, or they want to have their own devices and use our apps.

The solution that AirWatch had where you can manage just content on a device, or you can manage a device itself as far as an enterprise device, was a lot more flexible, so we were able to put our apps in, say, the Apple App Store and allow our partners to download those apps onto their devices in a containerized solution that we can immediately wipe.

For the cloud solution, it was really straightforward. There are some, they weren't issues, I wouldn't call them issues, there was just some technical obstacles to overcome that were more organizational than anything else related to the AirWatch connector to sync active directory, et cetera with the enterprise.

Right now, I'd rate it a 10 but that's because everything that I've looked at from an AirWatch standpoint that it says it does this, this and this, it has been able to do and do well. You have to realize I have some exposure to experiences where, "Hey, our product does this, this and this." Then we go do those specific things and the product doesn't do it. Whereas with AirWatch, everything that it said it would do, it did out the gate. There wasn't like, "That's the next upgrade," or, "We'll ... " That's my satisfaction.

I think they should consider flexibility. One of the things with respect to AirWatch, and its ability to be flexible in any type of enterprise, and as well as working with external entities from your company that your teams or sales people are working with to deploy whatever solutions to any of your clients. You want something that's going to change so you can adapt it to your specific business model or business environment.

We see what other enterprises are doing. We look at that. Then we also look at some of the Gartner materials that are out there. We use some ITIL Standards to do some evaluations. Basically, we definitely look at what's happening externally in the environment. As you know, this industry is changing so fast. Somebody has a solution but that solution is no longer relevant by the time we implement it.