Senso.cloud vs Impero

[LohamTheTech]

Now that's the kind of feedback we are looking for!

 

Thanks.

 

No problem.I believe in the software that much I'm going to work for them as a member of a staff in the very near future! I'll be posting as owen-senso in future!

Edited March 1, 2019 by LohamTheTech

[steven_layton_sl]

Quick question - Is it possible to trial Senso, whilst still having Impero installed on your workstations? Or would I have to take Impero off the stations I'm trialling with Senso? Edited March 13, 2019 by steven_layton_sl

[jon-senso]

Quick question - Is it possible to trial Senso, whilst still having Impero installed on your workstations? Or would I have to take Impero off the stations I'm trialling with Impero?

 

It should be fine to use both at the same time, the technology stack is about 95% different :-)

[noelmm]

We tested Senso while still running Impero with no problems. I think it's a sensible option to take so you can actually compare the 2 products next to each other in your environment.

[JScott]

We did our Senso trial with Impero still installed and we have not had any issues so far.

Jim

[Cthulhu]

Does the Senso safeguarding tools come with similar functionality to Impero Edaware and Edprotect?

 

Our Safeguarding Office has her eyes set on Impero and refusing to look at anything else. However, we were under the impression our initial quote would include everything and now we've been slapped with additional charges for Edaware and Edprotect. If Senso's safeguarding tools has the functionailty built in, it will strengthen my case for going with Senso as the cost will come in much cheaper.

Edited March 14, 2019 by Cthulhu

[jon-senso]

Does the Senso safeguarding tools come with similar functionality to Impero Edaware and Edprotect? Our Safeguarding Office has her eyes set on Impero and refusing to look at anything else. However, we were under the impression our initial quote would include everything and now we've been slapped with additional charges for Edaware and Edprotect. If Senso's safeguarding tools has the functionailty built in, it will strengthen my case for going with Senso as the cost will come in much cheaper.

 

Our safeguarding is a little more advanced I believe, and should provide everything your DSL needs and more within a very intuitive interface. It was designed in part by the UK Safer Internet Centre and so covers the main things needed to effectively safeguard students and staff across multiple sites(if needed) inside a single portal.

We also have a few things others don't have, and that difference will only continue to grow.

[steven_layton_sl]

Hi @jon-senso I've fired over a web form request from your site, but I'll ask here as well.

I'm interested in Senso Cloud, and keen to trial, but any move to you would occur in September 2019, with a new budget.

We have about 320 Windows 10 PCs, 15 iMacs and about 180 Chromebooks.

Would you guys be willing to let us trial now (for whatever length of time your trial period is), and then purchase in September if we liked? Or do we need to trial closer to any potential purchase date?

[JScott]

We are still in the early days of Senso but the safeguarding logs have turned up a couple of incidents that we otherwise might have missed with our previous software, not because it was not logged but the Senso logs are really easy to navigate. I would ask Senso for a demo if you have not already.

Jim

[jon-senso]

Hi @steven_layton_sl .. you can trial whenever you like.. it may be better to trial closer to September so you get to see new features etc.. since we add stuff all the time but its totally your choice

[Cthulhu]

Our safeguarding is a little more advanced I believe, and should provide everything your DSL needs and more within a very intuitive interface. It was designed in part by the UK Safer Internet Centre and so covers the main things needed to effectively safeguard students and staff across multiple sites(if needed) inside a single portal.

We also have a few things others don't have, and that difference will only continue to grow.

 

Thanks for your reply, Jon.

 

That's good to hear, I just need to convince our DSL to give Senso a look. The problem is, some government body recommended Impero and told her it's the only product that would gives us instant satisfactory for safeguarding when it comes to Ofsted inspections. To me it sounds like she spoke to an Impero sales rep

 

It's a little frustrating for me as the research I've put in and I believe Senso to be the better option. However it all falls on deaf ears because the DSL is insisting Impero.

[mavhc]

Thanks for your reply, Jon.

 

That's good to hear, I just need to convince our DSL to give Senso a look. The problem is, some government body recommended Impero and told her it's the only product that would gives us instant satisfactory for safeguarding when it comes to Ofsted inspections. To me it sounds like she spoke to an Impero sales rep

 

It's a little frustrating for me as the research I've put in and I believe Senso to be the better option. However it all falls on deaf ears because the DSL is insisting Impero.

 

Ask for a list of reasons why, there's no way a government body would be recommending only 1 product, there must be a list of requirements.

 

If I could actually open any Impero logs that would be a good start, always failing

[Cthulhu]

Ask for a list of reasons why, there's no way a government body would be recommending only 1 product, there must be a list of requirements.

 

I'd like to, unfortunately it's one of those situations where what they say goes and they're not interest in anything that challenges that.

[mavhc]

I'd like to, unfortunately it's one of those situations where what they say goes and they're not interest in anything that challenges that.

 

Email the head and governors with your recommendation, pointing out it's being ignored, then if their solution is rubbish you can go: As pointed out in my email on x: told you so

[Cthulhu]

Email the head and governors with your recommendation, pointing out it's being ignored, then if their solution is rubbish you can go: As pointed out in my email on x: told you so

 

Again, I don't get listened to because I'm not the Safeguarding Officer, I've not had any training (other than in-house training from the DSL) and I'm not the one that's supposedly talked to governing bodies about these things.

It's common practice in this place, sometimes it feels like who you report to is more valued than how qualified your opinions are.

[Courtney_Impero]

Does the Senso safeguarding tools come with similar functionality to Impero Edaware and Edprotect?

 

Our Safeguarding Office has her eyes set on Impero and refusing to look at anything else. However, we were under the impression our initial quote would include everything and now we've been slapped with additional charges for Edaware and Edprotect. If Senso's safeguarding tools has the functionailty built in, it will strengthen my case for going with Senso as the cost will come in much cheaper.

 

Hi @Cthulhu,

 

Impero Education Pro comprises of three modules of EdAdmin, EdProtect and EdTeach and aren't charged additionally, rather they are separated for you to customise your suite of products.

 

Impero EdAware however, is our separate case management and safeguarding solution which allows you to report and document concerns, which seamlessly integrates with EdProtect (online safety, keyowrds + more). To our knowledge, Senso does not offer this as part of their product suite and this may be where you're seeing these additional charges.

 

We also pride ourselves on having the most sophisticated and extensive libraries, working with numerous expert charities and organisations in the field. What's more, with the introduction of our brand new browser console, managing captures is more intuitive and easy to use than ever!

 

Please do send me a PM if I can help in any way.

 

Courtney @ Impero

Product Owner for Student Safety and Wellbeing

Edited March 14, 2019 by Courtney_Impero

[Arthur]

It's a little frustrating for me as the research I've put in and I believe Senso to be the better option. However it all falls on deaf ears because the DSL is insisting Impero.

My school decided to separate out safeguarding from the classroom management software by going with Smoothwall's Visigo for the former.

 

This then enables us to choose the best software for classroom management without affecting safeguarding.

 

After testing Senso, Impero and NetSupport my school found them all lacking when it came safeguarding (IIRC, the main criticisms being the amount of time it takes to go through the logs, the inability to detect patterns over time and the huge number of false positives).

[gshaw]

My school decided to separate out safeguarding from the classroom management software by going with Smoothwall's Visigo for the former.

 

This then enables us to choose the best software for classroom management without affecting safeguarding.

 

After testing Senso, Impero and NetSupport my school found them all lacking when it came safeguarding (IIRC, the main criticisms being the amount of time it takes to go through the logs, the inability to detect patterns over time and the huge number of false positives).

We do similar with e-Safe and Impero.

 

e-Safe analyse the logs for us and avoids the bulk of the false positives we get from Impero. However the latter does give some useful context with the screenshots and history logging so works well alongside.

 

Downside to that is two costs for both solutions though.

 

Senso did mention there's an option for a third party to do the log analysis so could be an option? Impero seem to have other Safeguarding packages too but there's too much marketing and product names to keep up with what actually does what.

Edited March 14, 2019 by gshaw

[Cthulhu]

My school decided to separate out safeguarding from the classroom management software by going with Smoothwall's Visigo for the former.

 

This then enables us to choose the best software for classroom management without affecting safeguarding.

 

After testing Senso, Impero and NetSupport my school found them all lacking when it came safeguarding (IIRC, the main criticisms being the amount of time it takes to go through the logs, the inability to detect patterns over time and the huge number of false positives).

 

I think our finance director had a minor stroke when he saw the quote for Visigo.

 

The argument that it basically replaces a full role wasn't enough. Maybe one day

[gsk]

Hi All,

 

I thought this would be a good time to chip in - I've just made the switch from Securus to Senso for safeguarding and am rolling it out to 6 sites over a period of a couple of months. The sites I'm deploying to don't use classroom management software at the moment so that is all a brilliant bonus for them. I used Impero in a previous life and was pleased with it but have heard from various sources that it's on the slide both in terms of reliability and value.

 

I trialled back in February after seeing senso at BETT in 2018 and again in 2019. I've come back to it in the past few weeks and gotten it off the ground at 2 sites and I'm pleased with everything so far. The safeguarding looks every bit as good as Securus but with a quicker and arguably more intuitive interface. The teachers love the modules we have enabled access to so far. It's also come in much cheaper than Securus.

 

My only critisisms are:

*The scheduling module is not as intuitive as you'd hope. Sometimes you'll want to apply a policy constantly during a period of time (eg mute sound) but sometimes you'll want to trigger it at a certain time and nothing else (WOL, Shutdown, Restart). The interface doesn't make it clear how to do this so trial and error is needed.

*The power scheduling is clunky and if you don't follow the guide, you're likely to shut whole groups down immediately. The option for the user to delay or snooze the shutdown would be good too

*The WOL function isn't as instant as our ConnectWise Control client, which is a shame.

[owen-senso]

Hi All,

 

I thought this would be a good time to chip in - I've just made the switch from Securus to Senso for safeguarding and am rolling it out to 6 sites over a period of a couple of months. The sites I'm deploying to don't use classroom management software at the moment so that is all a brilliant bonus for them. I used Impero in a previous life and was pleased with it but have heard from various sources that it's on the slide both in terms of reliability and value.

 

I trialled back in February after seeing senso at BETT in 2018 and again in 2019. I've come back to it in the past few weeks and gotten it off the ground at 2 sites and I'm pleased with everything so far. The safeguarding looks every bit as good as Securus but with a quicker and arguably more intuitive interface. The teachers love the modules we have enabled access to so far. It's also come in much cheaper than Securus.

 

My only critisisms are:

*The scheduling module is not as intuitive as you'd hope. Sometimes you'll want to apply a policy constantly during a period of time (eg mute sound) but sometimes you'll want to trigger it at a certain time and nothing else (WOL, Shutdown, Restart). The interface doesn't make it clear how to do this so trial and error is needed.

*The power scheduling is clunky and if you don't follow the guide, you're likely to shut whole groups down immediately. The option for the user to delay or snooze the shutdown would be good too

*The WOL function isn't as instant as our ConnectWise Control client, which is a shame.

 

Hi Gsk,

 

Thanks for the Feedback. I saw this reply a couple of weeks ago. I managed to get the Devs to amend some things for you:

 

1. We have now added the ability to Cancel the shutdown for the user.

2. I've created a video guide for a Power Off schedule to give an idea of how to do one. You can find it on our Youtube Channel.

3. The latest client release should also address some issues you mentioned in your first point. I'm also going to do a video guide on this today.

 

I'd also love it if you could get in touch about your last point with regards to WOL as it should be instant.

[Wubbalubbadub]

Hi Gsk,

 

Thanks for the Feedback. I saw this reply a couple of weeks ago. I managed to get the Devs to amend some things for you:

 

1. We have now added the ability to Cancel the shutdown for the user.

2. I've created a video guide for a Power Off schedule to give an idea of how to do one. You can find it on our Youtube Channel.

3. The latest client release should also address some issues you mentioned in your first point. I'm also going to do a video guide on this today.

 

I'd also love it if you could get in touch about your last point with regards to WOL as it should be instant.

Impressive customer service! Rarely you post a list on forums and it's sorted.

[mavhc]

Is there documentation on how to add your own keywords to lists and then apply those lists to groups?, I use this a lot in Impero to block things like Youtube when pupils aren't concentrating, turn on block list, get back to listening to the lesson, turn off again near the end of the lesson

[owen-senso]

Is there documentation on how to add your own keywords to lists and then apply those lists to groups?, I use this a lot in Impero to block things like Youtube when pupils aren't concentrating, turn on block list, get back to listening to the lesson, turn off again near the end of the lesson

 

Hi mavhc,

 

We would be happy to assist with this, please contact us via the chat function in the portal, or send an email to [email protected]

 

Thanks

[brittonc]

We've just made the move from Impero to Senso. I don't think it's as intuitive for the end user as Impero but there are more useful functions.

 

The few things I don't like are:

 

1. The PC selection feels clunky. Impero has single click for select all, select power on, select powered off etc. With Senso you need to apply the filter before choosing an operation. You also have to remember to remove the filter afterwards.

 

For example, if I want to turn off any powered on PC's it takes 4 clicks with Impero. The same procedure with Senso is 6.

 

2. I prefer Impero's Operate dropdown list as it's quick. Senso has separated the End Session (Log out, Shutdown, Restart), Power On and Remote Logon.

 

3. If you have control of a PC (or are viewing in full screen) you can't use the console for anything else. It needs a pop out window option. I like to be able to control/view more than 1 PC at a time, which Impero allows.

 

However, hopefully these things may come as development is always continuing which is one of the reasons we made the switch. Impero hasn't changed in a very long time and is less and less reliable. The keyword logging is a great feature as is the word cloud (though it needs some work to stop detecting part words!). We'll be reviewing again in a year but I'm hopeful this will be a good change.

 

Also, support is fantastic! We have been working closely with Alex and the issues we had have pretty much been sorted out and quickly.

Edited July 30, 2019 by brittonc