Item: ConnectWise ScreenConnect
Rating: 8
Author: Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use Connectwise Control to provide support and maintenance for our clients. This is either on an 'on-demand' basis or as part of an ongoing maintenance/support agreement. We support both the end-user with IT issues and also use it to maintain server infrastructure. As we are an IT service provider, Connectwise Control, is absolutely essential. It allows us to perform our day to day tasks. Being able to start up ad-hoc support sessions easily from both the web app and via a mobile device is critical. In fact, being able to support end-users and initiate a remote support session from the smartphone app is by far the most useful feature to us as a business. As we are often out of the office and may be required to provide remote support at short notice without having access to other devices. Being able to do this from a smartphone is the 'killer feature' for us.

Pros and Cons

It is very easy to initiate a remote support session from within the web UI.
Remote sessions are persistent, but you can easily install 'permanent' access from within the basic support session (which helps with Mac in particular).
The client installer for remote access is very small for PC.

When you reboot a Mac running a basic support session you lose connectivity. You need to install 'permanent access' to maintain connectivity following a reboot. It would be great if you did not need to do this.
On Mac, you need to permit access to the app through 'Accessibility' options. This is since 10.14. It is an extra step which complicates the remote access process. It would be good if this was automated.
When someone sends a message through the client app you need to scroll down the list of computers to find the indicator showing who left the message. It would be good if you could click a link or button near the top of the screen to show you those computers that have sent a message.

Return on Investment

Great ROI: the ConnectWise Control is key to our day to day business and lets us run multiple simultaneous remote support sessions.
Very good ability to control connection response by changing the quality of display output.
The toolbox is brilliant for quick deployment of useful tools to the end-user machines, antimalware scanning tools, Sysinternals tools, etc.

Alternatives Considered

LogMeIn Rescue

We used LogMeIn Rescue for 3 years before moving to Control. Logmein felt clunky and required locally installed software. We had frequent issues with the LogMeIn Rescue client on end-user devices and needed to manually uninstall it every so often. We were not able to use Rescue from a mobile device and this was becoming a big limitation for our business. Rescue was also becoming too expensive. These are the main two reasons we moved to Control.

Other Software Used

BeyondCompare, Camtasia, ConnectWise Automate (formerly LabTech)

Likelihood to Recommend

It is well suited to many situations:
1. Repairing issues in Windows/Mac post boot: you can reboot in safe mode with networking in Windows which is incredibly useful!
2. Dealing with network issues: we often repair WiFi issues by asking the client to physically plug their device into a network connection with a patch cable.
3. With Windows 10 you can reload the OS easily. We have carried out many OS reloads remotely by simply ensuring that the target computer has a full backup before resetting the OS. At that point, the end-user re-establishes our remote session and we can continue with the setup. We have found it to be appropriate for almost all situations. Of course, pre-boot access is an issue, but we often overcome that with UEFI Bios management from within the OS or VM management (many of our servers are VMs).

Great features and excellent value

Overall Satisfaction with ConnectWise Control (formerly ScreenConnect)