Apple Remote Desktop vs. Impero Remote Manager (discontinued)

For a small deployment of macOS, I can see where Apple Remote Desktop could suffice. I can see where a company that is strapped for cash could benefit from a knowledgeable employee using it to automate some tasks. I am not comfortable giving an estimate number-wise. For a large deployment of macOS or iOS, this would be a very inappropriate tool. There are far too many obstacles for an app like Apple Remote Desktop to successfully manage a large fleet of macOS computers or really any number of iOS devices. You simply need an MDM solution in this day and age. This will become increasingly necessary, even in small numbers, but MDM providers have started to provide solutions for customers in these situations.

Incentivized

Where we use the Impero Remote Manager is in a school setting and it works really well for us. We have our teachers use it every day to make sure their students are always on track. It works really well for students that we know are likely to get off track. We can see their screen and know exactly when they get off track and can get them back on track quickly.

Incentivized

• Automator Actions: This is a very cool feature and cost saving as it reduces human effort by automating the workflow of tasks.
• Curtain Mode: This lets you block your local user's view of the desktop while performing administrative tasks.
• Spotlight Search: It can perform lightning fast searches on machines using the spotlight search feature of OS X and thus saves a lot of time.

Incentivized

• It allows us to keep track of our students.
• The user interface is really easy to use and understand.

Incentivized

• I would like to see more included Unix scrips that can be pushed to clients.
• Inclusion of a way to remote control or screen share with Windows machines would be useful, as I manage a handful of Windows machines. While this would be possible using VNC on the Windows machines, including the ability to connect using Windows terminal connections would be awesome, for me.

Incentivized

• It crashes frequently, so that could be fixed.
• The ability to take over a student's screen could be a little easier as well.

Incentivized

We use it on a daily basis and works well in our environment and could see how other Apple owned organizations would benefit.

Incentivized

The user interface is amazing. You don't have to dig in to look for options. It's not overwhelming and yet a powerful utility.

Incentivized

Apple support is great.

Incentivized

The support for Impero Remote Manager is actually really good and I have been pleased every time I have had to work with them. Any time I've had an issue with the software, I've been able to call support and have the issue resolved very quickly and things start working again.

Incentivized

Very quick and easy install with no real issues

Incentivized

I use TeamViewer with users who are having trouble connecting to the VPN. I think TeamViewer is a good alternative when ARD isn't working. However supporting the number of users we support, TeamViewer can come with a pretty hefty price tag.

Incentivized

In overall features and what LanSchool can do, we actually like that product better than Impero. The reason why we went with Impero was because of the price. It has similar features but ultimately was a lot cheaper, so we chose Impero. We are a small charter school, so our budget is a lot smaller than in other school districts.

Incentivized

• Apple Remote Desktop has a positive return on investment because for the expense to the school, the value it brings to teachers is important. The return on improved student performance is very difficult to measure financially, but there is a definite return.
• The overall objective of education is to increase student learning, ARD does that phenomenally. Parents see the tool used and are impressed at what the capabilities of the tool can do and how it impacts how active their students are as well as how well they can learn.
• One negative impact is that teachers rely too much on this tool rather than on actually teaching sometimes.

Incentivized

• It keeps students on task.
• It allows our teachers to better manage how their students are using Chromebooks.

Incentivized