AppsAnywhere vs. Heimdal Patch and Asset Management vs. Parallels Remote Application Server (Parallels RAS)

I have been monitoring the use of this app for the past year now and it has been incredibly useful in providing my team with easy access to the applications they need. It is well suited to organizations with a large variety of applications and users that need to access them from multiple devices. It has been very easy to deploy, manage and maintain, and I love the fact that users can easily find what they need without having to navigate complex menus. (search can still be abit better). Still a really good pick :)

Incentivized

Heimdal Patch and Asset Management has really helped us consistently patch our endpoints in what has become a much more flexible work environment. It picks up updates immediately upon release (looking at you patch Tuesday!), lets you set automatic install windows for "zero touch" deployment where appropriate and more manual control for clients you may want a slower roll-out for. Support staff are knowledgeable and quick to respond!

Incentivized

Scenarios where time is a factor in having a solution in place and up and running safely and securely. Where there are older devices that ordinarily wouldn't be up to the task of running modern apps and services. Where users need to work away from the network, and security is a concern.

Incentivized

• Shows end users a full list of every application that is actually available to them
• Install a specialist application on any Windows machine on our network
• launch the application for use

Incentivized

• Fast updates of well-known 3rd party applications
• Fast Management with only seldom cases in which we need to stop a change
• Quick Support-Team that will handle problems professionally
• Good amount of settings in the Dashboard with Group Policy options to allow custom settings for different Departments or Sub-Companies

Incentivized

• The printing driver is quite excellent, both in the Parallels Client and on the HTML5 client.
• Setup is incredibly easy; the default setup is very functional, and adding features is a breeze.
• Speed is very acceptable in general for end-users, the clients adapt quite well to the amount of bandwidth available, and features are available to adjust further.
• Automation through PowerShell is great.
• Support is usually quite fast and efficient.

Incentivized

• They should improve with the reconnection time after internet connection lost.
• They should improve with customer support team and quick reply.
• They should work on mobile devices and operating system also.
• When we launch AppsAnywhere it's take too much time to launch.

Incentivized

• Interface could be more user friendly but when you know how it works its allright
• Easier way to quickly see what updates are installed on what machines

Incentivized

• Parallels Remote Application Server (Parallels RAS) continually improves the product but has broken some features recently. For example the web management portal lost the ability to manage user sessions after a major update. That issue was fixed in a later release
• Multi-monitor support beyond 4 monitors (It does handle up to 4 -1080 monitors well)
• More options around connection security and MFA. current options are sufficient but limited
• We've noticed some performance issues with Windows Server 2019 and 2022. I'd like to see more robust support for remote applications running from those platforms.

Incentivized

We have been using Parallels since it was called 2X - it is a major part of how we do business. It is fairly simple to use and maintain - staff like it, we like it. It is a product that makes a promise - and it keeps it. As Parallels evolves, and clean bandwidth becomes more readily available everywhere - it just makes sense to continue to use Parallels in our environment

Incentivized

Almost everyone you tell to use it to access a specialist application can find the software they need and install it. However, surprisingly many have difficulties finding AppsAnywhere under the start menu or on the task bar - it is not a icon or name they recognise, and they really want to lunch the target specialist software (Zbrush or whatever). Once you find it, many people ignore the search function which is probably the fastest method, and browse the long list alphabetically, because the standard filters do not help much. Favouriting is rarely used as it is too burdensome and not an issue for users when they are looking for the applicationt hey need.

Incentivized

Parallels RAS was easy to setup, with great admin guides and resources. We especially liked the included Visio templates which made diagramming much easier. The reference deployment diagrams also simplified our deployment process. Our end users love Parallels RAS. Apps launch faster than Citrix, and the Parallels RAS client is far more reliable than Workspace.

If there are any issues with Parallels - they are usually more about the server operating systems than Parallels itself. It would be rare for us to have any reason to take Parallels offline - we schedule a reboot on the servers at 3am to keep the O/S itself fresh, but again - it is not a Parallels issue. If individual users have any issues we ask them to completely log out of parallels - which ends their session - and then back in - and that typically resolves the issue right away.

Incentivized

I am giving Parallels 9/10 on this one because the only application that sometimes seems slow or has issues - is Microsoft Outlook. It is sometimes the result of a pop-up that may not show up in the published application (vs full desktop). Other than that - pages load very quickly - and it does not seem to slow down other applications that are running at the same time. Most of our users run Outlook, softphone and Teams locally - and published applications for everything else. When they do that - it is very solid.

Incentivized

Good support in place if required, very helpful when it comes to upgrades or any issues faced. The support team is knowledgeable, friendly, and quick to respond to issues The company also provides a range of online resources, including a
knowledge base, documentation, and forums, which can be helpful before raising a ticket

Incentivized

Documentation is fair but sometimes a little difficult to follow

Incentivized

Overall, it was pretty simple compared to most other projects. Again, we had a strong familarity with the product so there was not much of a learning curve. Our 'biggest' issue is the end-user understanding of a 'local' application and a published application. For example - Online meetings need to run locally for camera/video to work smoothly so opening a link to a meeting from a published application continues to be an occasional issue.

Incentivized

The AppsAnywhere team is very quick in setting up things and also having everything in a single place. The bundle of the apps can be easily configured as the documentation is also very straightforward while setting up things and also having the team to work accordingly customize as per the needs

Incentivized

We Kaseya VSA as our RMM tool and this also incorporates patch and asset management. Although it overlaps Heimdal Patch and Asset Managment, VSA has a different database of 3rd party software. We use both solutions to give us a greater coverage of patches to ensure as many vulnerabilities as possible are patched.

Incentivized

Parallels Remote Application Server (Parallels RAS) provides the finest end user experience while being cost-effective and reducing administrative and support man hours.
Parallels Remote Application Server (Parallels RAS) is platform agnostic; it works with various kinds of devices (computers, phones, tablets) and several operating systems (Windows, Linux, Apple, etc.), allowing users to access it on gadgets of their choice.

Incentivized

We added our Integrated Services Staff to parallels, with filtered, published applications - in a single afternoon. We added licensing and installed the desktop client software on multiple platforms both in the office and at remote sites all on the same day - and got remote users that had never used the product up and running - very quickly.

Incentivized

• It has been incredibly easy to use, saving us time and money while also streamlining workflow processes.
• We where able to quickly launch new applications, allowing us to keep up with users needs.
• The reporting tools have also been very helpful in tracking usage and understanding how our users interact with our applications.

Incentivized

• A slight positive ROI according to the Heimdal Patch and Asset Management dashboard
• Malware detection rates are excellent with detections occuring live rather than during scheduled scans

Incentivized

• Our customers have had dramatic cost decreases due to no longer needing IT departments to work with our software.
• We've been able to charge more for our hosting services due to our customers saving money in the long run. Parallels Remote Application Server has more than paid for itself, and the increased income has gone right back into the business.
• Both our customers and our company have benefited from this transition.

Incentivized