ConnectWise Automate vs. Hexnode UEM

I recommend it to all IT colleagues; regardless of the size of the PCs with which you work most of the time, the application allows connection stability between computers that make it possible to continue working or taking care of the infrastructure from afar.

Incentivized

We enjoy the ability to remotely support our end users with their tablets while they are traveling. I've had the ability to provide support to some of our remote sales users as they are working at a customers location. However, sometimes the remote view can be a bit of a lagging issue that makes things a bit difficult. Though overall this has been a great experience that helps us support our various users throughout the company.

Incentivized

• Desktop sharing / view with chat to the operator, file sharing and pass-through for keyboard strokes
• Computer/server monitoring with thresholds and warning
• Search - tracking down computers when you have many by name, logged in user, IP
• End user ticket raising is built into the tray icon which make access really easy

Incentivized

• Android zero-touch enrollment allows bulk enrollment of corporate-owned android devices with a single click.
• With the help of the dynamic device grouping function, devices may be grouped in accordance with specific pre-configured criteria.
• The kiosk mode supports both single-app kiosk mode, in which the device is restricted to using a single app, and multi-app kiosk mode, in which the device is in kiosk mode but has access to a number of other programs and files.

• They have conflicting scheduling paradigms. When scheduling patching for clients, the 1st Friday is interpreted as the very first Friday of the month, even if this is the 1st of the month. For scripting, the 1st Friday of the month is interpreted as the 1st Friday of the 1st FULL WEEK of the month. This makes no sense to have two different interpretations, and makes it unreliable to schedule recurring scripts to fall when recurring maintenance does. The scripts need to be done manually because of this.
• There is no way to dictate reboot orders for patch policies. This tied directly in with my first point. We have some clients that require reboot orders. This is not possible without having different patch policies for each server and specifying a time this way. But, there aren't small enough increments of time to make this reliable, plus patching duration might vary. Excluding reboots with patching and scheduling reboot scripts fixes this. However, this can't be done once on a recurring schedule due to the different scheduling paradigms already discussed. We have to schedule these manually each month.

Incentivized

• Devices running watchOS cannot be handled or enrolled.
• The policies under WIFI, which allowed certain websites to be blocked using website certificates, were complicated .
• The app management features provide the ability to push the installation of corporate apps on the devices. Even though it was successful on the Hexnode Portal, this feature periodically malfunctioned, and the apps were not loaded.

The primary reason for this rating is that ConnectWise Automate is currently so integral to our operations that moving away would involve more man hours than we would realistically have to invest. However, ConnectWise Automate is also completely capable of meeting all of our business needs and customizable to the point where if something is not meeting those needs out of the box, it can be modified to do what we want. From only installing software on machines if a different software package exists, to push a new version of that software is available, to check if credentials for user/machine have been updated to our new standards and then updating them if they have not, ConnectWise Automate is capable of doing everything we ask of it.

Incentivized

It works exactly as needed, no need to find another solution.

Incentivized

Basic use of the product is fairly easy. Information about the machines you manage can be found in customizable dashboards, which can be unique for each user, and, therefore, properly suited to the users' needs/job function. This is not a 10 because some of the interfaces are very clunky (Patch Management), and some features are not intuitive and not well documented (reporting). Scripting and Patch Management have a fairly steep learning curve (For structure in patch management and syntax in scripting), but once learned, they work well.

Incentivized

UX is pretty good, but various screens are a bit redundant. Managing user and managing devices is often one in the same operation, but is broken across multiple screens. Device management policies are strange because if you make a "macOS" policy, why does it have all the Windows, iOS, Android etc options? It's unlikely you'll want all of these options for all possible OSes in one policy, but that's the only way to build a policy. Manage policy changes require remote system restart which is highly disruptive to employees.

Incentivized

It used to be great, but then they broke reporting, speed and responsiveness with version 11 and the new Patch Manager. It's really bad and their support people are way behind on fixing so many bugs. They have really gone downhill. If they don't get it together soon, we'll start looking around.

Incentivized

ConnectWise Automate lets you manage more endpoints, with enhanced productivity and improved service, all without increasing expenses. It can manage patches and updates across thousands of computers. We also use it for customized monitoring and alerting on workstations and servers. Monitoring is really robust and granular. It does a great job of gathering a TON of data about the network, and that data is searchable. There are a bunch of different reports built in. Integrates with Manage, Control, and other applications. It does a ton of stuff out of the box, and has endless customization options.

Incentivized

Online chat support is the best I have received from my vendors.

Incentivized

The Online training has been re-done and needs a lot more work. When you look at training in different roles, it shows a lot of the same topics but no explanation to what is different about them. Several times that topics are the exact same, but they make you re-take the same information for a different topic, instead of marking that you have already completed that portion of training.

Incentivized

Start small and learn the in's and out's before making policies and rolling things out company wide. Ask the questions of why if you don't agree with something or your company does things a different way. Usually they are done a certain way for a reason. Start simple with roll out and slowly enable or add on the functionality that is needed.

Incentivized

Follow the steps, and it will install very easy.

Incentivized

I believe the monitoring and alerts in Continuum command is better, but [ConnectWise Automate (formerly LabTech)] does have stronger scripting, and perhaps a better interface. N-Central is inferior on all fronts to both. I did not make the purchasing decision. I would myself likely pick Continuum if I had to make a on the spot choice.

Incentivized

I am currently using both the platforms, Hexnode UEM and Esper. Esper is used for managing mobile devices and Lenovo Tablets while Hexnode UEM is being used for Microsoft tablets. The basic framework behind both of them is almost the same. Both of them have a clean and interactive UI with good functionality.

• We found we were able to provide good monitoring of our customers sites which was an objective. However, that came at a significant time investment that never seemed to be finished.
• We were able to negotiate a price that worked for us for an up-front purchase which was nice.
• We found the pricing to be very competitive.
• Bottom line for us was despite the pros of the product, we found other RMM solutions to be a better overall "value" due to not having to dedicate technicians to maintaining the product.

Incentivized

• We already had someone try to walk away with an ipad after deploying Hexnode, and we were immediately able to force an activation lock telling them to bring it back and they did.
• It has saved us a lot of time setting up ios devices as we have a limited amount of IT staff and Hexnode makes it take probably around ten minutes an ipad.
• Employee experience has improved since we can reset code remotely and they no longer have to send the ipads back to the corporate office to get reset.

Incentivized