Symantec Asset Management Suite Improves Productivity for Organizations
March 24, 2017
Symantec Asset Management Suite Improves Productivity for Organizations
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with Symantec Asset Management Suite
The IT Department at Missouri Botanical Garden uses Symantec Asset Management to accomplish a variety of tasks. We keep computers up to date by utilizing the patch management system to push out software updates to our users or install software remotely when necessary. We also use it to remote control computers when users need assistance or are experiencing problems and we are unable to physically visit their work area. Symantec Asset Management also allows us to generate reports based on whatever criteria we select. For instance if we need to know how many computers have Office 2010 installed versus Office 2016 then we can generate a report through the Asset Management Suite.
- One of the features that we use Symantec Asset Management Suite for the most is to push out patches and software updates. We have about 750 computer users throughout Missouri Botanical Garden so when IE or Windows requires a patch fix or update, it would take a long to physically visit each computer here and install those updates. Instead we can set up a job through Symantec Asset Management Suite that will automatically push out the patches or software updates to the computers in our organization at a certain time. The job runs automatically and will generate a report when it's finished if any computers failed to update.
- Missouri Botanical Garden is considered a "Greeen" organization, therefore we take sustainability seriously and are always looking for ways to save energy. One of the tasks that we have set up as a job in Symantec Asset Management is every evening at 8 pm, it will search for computers that were left on by users and will power them down. This helps us save on energy and allows us to continue our goal of being a sustainable organization. This function also helps when a user is out of the office and needs software installed. The user doesn't have to keep their computer on and waste energy, but instead we can use Symantec's Asset Management Suite to wake the computer up when we are ready to work on it.
- Another feature that I really like in the Symantec Asset Management Suite is the ability to create a job that will automate software installations. For instance, I have a job set up that will automatically install Office Suite 2016 to a user's computer. I just have to select the job with the Symantec Console, then drag and drop it on the computer number that I need to install it on. Once I drag and drop the job onto the computer number in the console, the command box on the computer where the software is being installed briefly opens showing the computer has received the job and it is running in the background. I refresh the console every so often to see if the job is finished, but the console takes care of everything automatically in regards to the software being installed.
- Symantec Asset Management Suite is a really great product for any organization to use for managing their computers. One of the main issues that we run into when using Asset Management Suite are problems with user permissions after updating the software. Whenever we update the software, we have to redo the permissions for users because when they try to log in they get an error stating that they are not authorized to use the software.
- Other issues that I've seen with Symantec Asset Management Suite are problems with pushing jobs out to computers. For the most part, this function usually runs smoothly, but sometimes, the jobs will not push out to the computers and we have to install the updates ourselves manually. At times it's hard to tell if the job is actually running or not because the console will say that it's pushing the job to the computer, but then it freezes up and the job never actually starts. When you refresh the console, sometimes it will report that the job is running, but it's actually not running at all.
- Another issue that I've had with Symantec Asset Management Suite is getting the console to run in my internet browser. Whenever I clicked the shortcut link to open the console, IE would give me an error that it needed to be updated and that the console could not run without the update. I updated my Internet Explorer to the latest version, but still could not get the console to run. So I had to uninstall the console, reinstall it, and redo the permissions to get it to work.
- Our ROI has been positive. We have Symantec Management Suite set up to notify us when desktops reach 5 years of age so that we can perform refreshes in a more timely manner. Before we used this feature, we had computers that were over 10 years old that were actually assigned to users. Users were unable to perform their job functions which caused our organization to lose money because we were not meeting deadlines.
- Another feature that our organization was able to benefit from was the software management tools. After re-imaging computers, we would run into issues where users would state that they had a certain software installed and that we didn't put it back on after the re-image. We had no way of knowing if the user had the software or not so we would have to go and buy an additional software license for the user. Now with the software management tools in Altiris we can generate a report that will tell us what software is installed on each computer.
- We can also use the backup and restore features to track what was installed on a computer before it was reimaged. This also cuts down on the amount of time that we spent in the past trying to complete manual backups of our computers and restoring them back to how they originally were. Now we only have to spend time updating Symantec Management Suite whenever an update is available.
TeamViewer does not have the ability to perform all the functions that Symantec Asset Management Suite can perform. TeamViewer is a good product, but I would only suggest that smaller organizations utilize it until they expand on their features a little more. The only negative thing I can say in regards to getting the Symantec Asset Management Suite over TeamViewer is that it's way more expensive than TeamViewer, but you'll get way more product for your money. So if a large organization chooses to invest in the Symantec Asset Manage Suite they'll spend more money, but the value they will receive in return from using the software will definitely boost productivity. When productivity goes up, an organization's ROI also goes up and that's the type of results you want to see when you invest in products for your organization.