Senso.cloud vs Impero

[DCUK6]

The Senso website has one of the things i hate the most and enrages me however.

 

They have a video demonstration where THEY DONT TALK!! They use the captions instead of getting a voice on there. Please change immediately!

 

Id be interested to know bandwidth costs, we are out in the sticks so our internet is very lacking compared to the city schools

[speckytecky]

Anyone got a useful update on this please; our Impero update fast approaches and I'd love to be able to compare the various features and try and assess which of the available products is likely to offer best value to us. The main features of Impero we use at present are:

 

WOL - a lot, with scheduled shutdown as well.

Monitoring and filtering - limited access of this to non-tech staff as the teachers who had access kept getting in a pickle.

Was using the MSI distribution feature for the likes of Flash update but in the last year or so that's not worked at all well and resulted in failed updates but also console lockups.

[free780]

Having used and deployed Vision,netop,abtutor and now impereo. They are all prone to breaking and causing strange issues to the underlying OS. In terms of how quick Windows 10 is updated means it's harder for these companies to keep up with the changes. Though a cloud solution could be interesting.

[mb2k01]

I was in a similar boat - been a long-time Impero user who felt the need to change based on how they've gone (arguably since JV left and then started making Senso!)

I'm not sure how much Senso has moved on since I last looked, but it looked to me that a few things were listed as being hopefully available in the future - i.e. didn't feel like a completely ready product for me at the time.

I ended up going with NetSupport (DNA + School) which gave me everything Impero should have, all that Senso could do (albeit not cloud hosted, but same feature set) and a lot more. The DNA side of it is something I'm exceptionally pleased with.

Might be worth a look if you haven't already?

(Disclaimer: I don't work for them - just a reasonably new, very happy customer after looking around and evaluating others!)

Edited August 17, 2017 by mb2k01
correcting my spelling!

[mavhc]

Senso currently has predefined lists for keyword detection, and reports them. They're working on user lists now I think. I renewed Impero for another year.

 

Doesn't have WOL yet, I guess they'd need a standalone WOL proxy installed on the server for that.

 

I like that it's cloud based, seems to have a solid foundation, msi could be easier to install. With a bit of work the UI could be good.

 

If your clients are not all on your lan, a highly distributed school for example, it could be the best option even now.

[NB9457]

Senso currently has predefined lists for keyword detection, and reports them. They're working on user lists now I think. I renewed Impero for another year.

 

Doesn't have WOL yet, I guess they'd need a standalone WOL proxy installed on the server for that.

 

I like that it's cloud based, seems to have a solid foundation, msi could be easier to install. With a bit of work the UI could be good.

 

If your clients are not all on your lan, a highly distributed school for example, it could be the best option even now.

 

Be especially good for one-to one deployments where pupils take devices home or even remote support for staff

[mb2k01]

Not sure if it will help, but as I commented above I thought I'd add a bit of an update.

I've just done the DNA upgrade to 4.5 (my first NetSupport upgrade since leaving Impero) and have to admit was dreading it, having faced some form of issue with Impero after every upgrade in the last 1-2yrs!

Glad to report that the upgrade went perfectly - quick, easy, no complications. Clients updated themselves automatically. New functionality which was promised all appear to work, and previous functionality all still works too.

How refreshing!

[Steve21]

Bit of a ninja bump, but just wondering how the guys who started trying Senso out are finding it over the last few months?

 

Still looking at options of what to use here as part of our new builds, and wondered if anyone found any gotachas or is it still running highly recommended?

 

Thanks,

Steve

[mavhc]

Last time I checked it didn't have the configurable block/allow lists Impero has, not seen an update for a while, hope they're just busy working on the most complex part.

 

The rest was fine, few weird parts about deployment and update of the clients.

[Fazza]

Is anyone from Senso.Cloud going to bet at BETT2018?

[Lippy]

Looks like they are - https://www.bettshow.com/bett-suppliers-list/sensocloud?&azletter=S&searchgroup=libraryentry-bett#/

[Fazza]

Looks like they are - https://www.bettshow.com/bett-suppliers-list/sensocloud?&azletter=S&searchgroup=libraryentry-bett#/

 

I had the latest junk mail through the post from BETT the other day and I must have missed them in it!

[EdTechJedi]

I bought Senso last April to replace Impero and I was so impressed by it, I am joining the company as an employee next week! This will actually be my last post as Director of IT for a school district in the US.

[speckytecky]

They did mention to me that they anticipated Senso would have added features including WOL by the start of 2018. That's not happened. Meanwhile, Impero really seems to have upped their game I'm delighted to report.

[speckytecky]

I'm finding Senso pretty clunky e.g. I'm currently trying to pull up a thumbnail view of a staff member's laptop and even though my Broadband is pretty nifty it's not happening. Plus the procedure for applying updates is not in any way smooth to work.

 

Senso did mention to me that they anticipated the product would have added features including WOL by the start of 2018. That's not happened.

 

Meanwhile, Impero really seems to have upped their game, in particular, they have some superb support staff who are fabulous to work with.

[Steve21]

I'm currently trying to pull up a thumbnail view of a staff member's laptop and even though my Broadband is pretty nifty it's not happening. .

 

I'm guessing that's an offsite thing though as doesn't the local one work across network not internet? (As in it also depends on the teachers config at home too then?)

 

Thanks,

Steve

[kidpressingbuttons]

Impero have really improved- looks like they have really listened about pricing and support!

[ITBadger]

We've been working with Senso in ironing out a couple of issues. Thankfully they have been focussing on making sure that the core product is rock solid at the expense of rushing out new modules. For this reason they are a little behind where they anticipated being last year when they published their roadmap. From our perspective it is getting better all the time and I know from experience how much time and effort the guys are putting into supporting the product. I'm glad to hear that Impero are upping their game, but I would still encourage anyone in the market for a solution to at least try Senso.

 

I do believe that they will be at BETT next week, so go and have a look at what they have been doing.

[ITBadger]

Thought I'd update here with some of the additional functionality that Senso has seen over the last 12 months. The screen broadcast module is now up and running, and (with one or two minor issues) works well. Power management has been added and we can wake on lan to our heart's content. They came up with a cunning way to avoid having a server agent in the end so once again I was proven wrong as to how it would work! Chromebook management is in place and has a fair few features, with more to come I believe as Google have been sniffing around asking how Senso have managed to get things working so well. One of the biggest and most important additions though has been the implication of a logging (safeguarding) module which works a treat and provides reliable evidence of student (and occasionally staff) misdemeanours. If you've trialed Senso in the past and been keen to see any of these features it may be time to give it another go.

[Arthur]

@daveleonard. Do you know roughly when Senso will support macOS? Is it on their roadmap for the next 6-12 months?

 

That's the only thing stopping us from switching from Impero.

[ITBadger]

Hi @Arthur, I've not heard any dates regarding MacOS yet, although it is something that we would be keen to see too. We have noticed that with the Chrome extension pushed out to Macs we can view what they are doing in Chrome, which is a start but by no means the finished article. I'll make some enquiries and get back to you with any news.

 

Dave.

[ITBadger]

So the news is that they have the MacOS client on their roadmap, but also a million other things too (some of which are likely to be very useful). Their aim is to have the MacOS client ready to show off at BETT in just 7 months time (scary how soon that will come around). Hope that helps @Arthur and others like us who may be looking forward to using it with Macs.

[berttie]

We are trialing Senso now .. Pleased with it so far, its not the complete package now .. for example I find examining the log files for a student a bit hard to do but they have listened and taken our ideas on board along with several others ... love the way its cloud based and not restricted.

 

They are playing catch up for sure ... and Impero have taken their eye off the ball too ...

[mavhc]

Impero are doing a similar thing. Fun GDPR stuff when a company is storing all your logs on their server.

[Danp]

Anymore thoughts on this? Impero here but still getting the random black screen on login and some logging issues.