brightwheel vs. WatchGuard AuthPoint

Any preschool can benefit from brightwheel, no matter the size. Brightwheel is also excellent for billing, which is especially helpful for schools that do not have other databases and billing systems. Because our school is a PS-12, it is a little cumbersome to have brightwheel along with another management system that we use school-wide. It would be nice to have a separate price point that does not include the things that another database system does for schools that are required to use what the older grades also use.

Incentivized

Works great as a 2FA token, for endpoint control, for computer and server updates, for scheduling updates, and for patching security features when exploits become known. Remote connection is very reliable and doesn't drop in and out as many programs do. It may not be as appropriate if you are looking for a plug-and-play control, as it requires more learning and setup to get it set up correctly.

Incentivized

• Recording data for students.
• Connecting to parents with photos, videos, and messages.
• Signing in and out electronically and saving paper daily.

Incentivized

• Easy to setup
• Quick to setup and use
• Works consistently
• Easy to reset token's when someone gets a new phone
• Website is secure and requires MFA to sign on
• App can enable MFA requirement to open and approve a push notification
• App is easy to use

Incentivized

• Offering a price point that does not include billing.
• Allowing more freedom of uploading own documents.

Incentivized

• Email support is SLOW unless I want to allow a stranger to access my production firewall. That is never allowed here, so our hands are tied in terms of being able to get support in less than 48 hours.
• Again, support takes far too long because you refuse to employ any staff that works in US time zones during normal business hours.
• There has to be another option besides: 1) you take full control of my systems or 2) I wait on SLOW email support that isn't that great.

Incentivized

Today to ensure our ISO 27001 certification it is important that we maintain this solution. Today it is part of the way any employee within the organization works, we no longer have any other way of working and it is the simplest way to ensure that access to the workstation is done with MFA.

Incentivized

After initial setup, it practically runs itself. Onboarding new users is fast and easy as it should be. The AuthPoint mobile app is small and simple to use. The only reason I do not give it a 10 is that I frequently get complaints from end users that the AuthPoint app is "constantly downloading". In fact, it's not downloading anything and that what the users are seeing in the app is a timer for the 6-digit code that changes every minute.

Incentivized

Has rarely been unable to use; if that were the case, it was operator error

Incentivized

No apparent problem besides a couple of times that systems weren't working

Incentivized

WatchGuard support is always quick and reliable. They have urgency levels that you are able to select when creating your support ticket, and they respond in accordance to the severity that you have set. I have never had an issue with getting someone on the phone in the same business day, even for very low priority issues.

Incentivized

It was an Onsite demo at the ditributor with the benefits of Watchguard Authpoint. Was very nice to see the abilities of the product. This Demo was a few years back, since then Authpoint changed allot. It is very nice for partners that you can get this demo without any aditional cost.

Incentivized

We use the online training for all our employees. There are both sales and technical trainings available and there even is a technical certification. You can use this for the Watchguard Partner Program which can give you aditional benefits. Every now and then you have a webinar that discusses multiple Watchguard products.

Incentivized

the first time it takes more effort. It is helpful to already understand how each authentication type works. Then it's much easier to understand the MFA solution that you implement. It is useful to check the release notes from time to time and update the key parts of the Watchguard Authpoint. Authpoint Gateway, Logon App, RDWeb... Also, it's useful to set up notifications when something goes wrong or sometimes check the statistics of how many requests are being approved/denied, etc.

Incentivized

Brightwheel does much more for the preschool level than FACTS does. The creators of this app know early childhood. The company also provides helpful webinars that are unrelated to their software, such as staff retention or ways to market. They understand the business of early childhood and exist to make the lives of providers easier.

Incentivized

I would slot Authpoint (as a product) as better than ESET but not Duo. ESET has the same limitations as Watchguard in the OTP support. It also is an on-prem installed console rather than a cloud, which increases cost and maintenance requirements. The duo now supports standard OTP for admin accounts, so it can be managed by a team. Duo support however leaves a lot to be desired and gives Watchguard the edge

Incentivized

We are a medium-sized company. We don't need rapid scaling.

Incentivized

• Value add for parents
• Saves paper
• Benefits for teachers who fully utilize

Incentivized

• We currently have 300 users on Authpoint, and most of them use insecure passwords. Authpoint gives us peace of mind that we don't have to police individual employee passwords.
• In line with the comment above, with so many people in our organization using insecure passwords, I'm sure that Authpoint has already saved us from many potential security breaches.
• Security breaches can cost a lot of money. Preventing them saves the company money and helps to achieve our bottom line.

Incentivized