ScreenConnect vs. SolarWinds Dameware Remote Everywhere (DRE)

We often need to create an ad-hoc session with a device that is not under our management. We find ourselves doing this more than ever in the COVID world. Many people are working from home on personal machines with their employer, our client's permission and we are facilitating more support for these personal machines. Connectwise Control [(formerly ScreenConnect)] gives us a robust resource to control the device, navigate anywhere we need, execute various commands, and engage in an on-screen chat with the client. The session is very simple to create and very user-friendly to initiate. We do not recommend it for Android, Apple, or Chromebook applications. There is little to no support for these platforms.

Incentivized

I think for ANY environment it's worth taking it out for a test drive. It's very powerful, especially when using the agent to connect to sessions where the end user doesn't need admin rights but when not in a VDI environment it likely would perform better with its built in functionality to ask for elevation. It is really powerful, even with the ability to run command line scripts without the user seeing (kind of a built in psexec) and it does work with Mac and Linux to some degree too so it really is worth trying out regardless of your environment. It may be just what you're looking for and the sales folks at DRE are not pushy at all, at least in my experience, and give great advice even at the expense of selling less licenses!

Incentivized

• The interface is easy to use and makes sense. It's easy to understand how to organize a large number of machines involving multiple clients. But, it's also applicable for smaller set of machines too.
• The connection speed is very quick. I've used solutions in the past that take a variable amount of time to connect, or they just take a long time every time. Control is quick every time. It doesn't get in the way of being able to support the machines on the other end.
• The connections are reliable. I haven't experienced random disconnects throughout hundreds of instances. It was a breath of fresh air coming from the previous solution we used. I consider Control a gold standard for what a great remote connection solution can be.

Incentivized

• Remote control is solid, rarely loses connection
• Allows for control of the desktop prior to login
• Allows for scripts to be executed in the background without disturbing users
• Allows for batch rollout of scripts across multiple machines
• Allows us to see the end users' desktop - as opposed to RDP

Incentivized

• I'd like to see the ability to selectively log off the remote machine via a button on the toolbar. Currently it's a setting to always lock on disconnect, or never lock on disconnect, requiring the tech to manually lock the machine if called for at the end of a session. Its a small time save that would add up!
• The chat feature could be expanded to be a lot more useful. Allowing clients to start conversations, and have conversations ping an email address if no one is monitoring the dashboard would be extremely valuable.
• Some clarity on licensing when providing host-passes to guest technicians would be a boon, especially for one-off support sessions with vendors.

Incentivized

• Connectivity to a helpdesk/knowledgebase would be nice feature so users can do self-help
• Offering a branded version of the client/agent would be a nice touch for businesses
• A web-only version of the technician console for remote support would be a nice feature

I would recommend this product for both internal remote control of end user workstations and remote access to other clients over the internet. It provides a secure and feature rich product that allows me to complete any necessary tasks without ever leaving the office. I will continue to renew as I'm eager to see what they do next. I would however wish the cloud service had a better API to work in conjunction with team collaboration or chat services to make it easier to connect with end users who use multiple workstations. (Slack or Stride provide this functionality)

Incentivized

On the whole SC is a very powerful tool that is a vital part of the IT service arsenal. On-site visits are an "emergency" only type of scenario. Just "showing your face" is not winning any browny points for me. If my client sees my face, it's usually just to upgrade hardware or to deal other aspects of business. SC provides me and my client the bulk of the info I need to get projects done.

Incentivized

It's a good tool overall, but could be better.

Incentivized

In my 5 years of using the product, I am only aware of one time when the service was down and is was due to a backbone outage upstream.

Incentivized

It performs well. It also has full control over windows security and does not get hung up like GoToMeeting when trying to install remote software at the prompt to install as admin / override. I have used TeamViewer, WebEx, LogMeIn and GoToMeeting. This is by far the best at spontaneous, remote control. It is also very easy to get a novice user connected to the session.

Incentivized

There have been two times when something has went wrong and I needed immediate assistance in order to be able to use Screenconnect to be able to help clients and response has not been immediate. The response time has been within 24 hours. Both times if there had been easier to navigate self help I would have been able to help myself. With better self help and a speedier response it would definitely be a 10 as they always respond and help. Just a little more difficult or slow than it should be at times

Incentivized

SolarWinds Dameware Remote Everywhere is an easy to use software package. The manuals are easy to understand, and the installation is simple and straightforward. The Maintenance and support costs are relatively reasonable, and we maintain support and maintenance strictly for the upgrades rather than support. Over the years, SolarWinds has released numerous feature enhancements to the software package, making SolarWinds Dameware Remote Everywhere indispensable on our network.

Incentivized

I find ScreenConnect to be very simple and effective overall, with the main problem being that a number of my clients can't download the app due to existing firewalls and so on. Otherwise it does its job well, and I'm happy with it.

Incentivized

ConnectWise has done everything they could to help us in any situation. Great support team and their new updates are always providing features that we need. Its a simple solution that works the way we need it to. Their legacy pricing model is still much better than their subscription based model however it is still fair pricing

Incentivized

I have worked with Citrix, AnyDesk, LogMeIn, VNC Connect, and many others. I ultimately installed ConnectWise as a self-hosted solution, based on the incredible list of features and capabilities, and the pricing at the time. I continue to use the product as it is still one of the best solutions out there and is certainly capable of growing and expanding to meet the needs of my business.

Incentivized

We basically selected this for our one of the SolarWinds Project. In that we needed to take remote session and screensharing and do the analysis and troubleshooting. In our initial analysis itself we got the excellent result, and it was too quick. We were very much inspired from this. Later on, we started using SolarWinds Dameware Remote Everywhere (DRE) for almost all the projects of SolarWinds. Highly appreciated, thanks team.

Incentivized

I have used multiple remote desktop support software in the past (Bomgar, Team Viewer, Logmein and Join.me) and this is far the easiest of the bunch to use. It is very easy to create a session and easy to maintain remote desktops from their access view (where you install the software and can get in at any time) I highly recommend this product from ConnectWise!

Incentivized

• Instead of waiting 30+ seconds to initiate sessions, they initiate and display a desktop in two or three seconds. The amount of frustration this avoids is immeasurable.
• Once installed it doesn't need more handholding, i.e., having the remote enter a username/password. It is always just there.

Incentivized

• seamless installation of MSI or EXE
• No Codes to enter when installing agent
• Agent automatically connects to cloud dashboard
• our deployment tool has messed up a couple of times, so agents get uninstalled or not installed when this occurs, and we can't see a computer in the dashboard

Incentivized