Impero vs NetSupport

[jkuca]

Hey everyone, first post here

 

My school is looking at going for NetSupport or Impero.

 

Cost is not an issue.

 

Which is the best option?

[Steve21]

Cost is not an issue.

 

Hire a bunch of security guards with foam bats to hit a kid if they are naughty!

 

But in all seriousness, best for "what" ? What is it you want from the software, What devices/operating systems etc? You should get a trial of all the softwares you're looking at and compare them to see what's best in your opinion, we can only suggest based on what we know about your setup etc

 

Steve

[jkuca]

What is it you want from the software, What devices/operating systems etc?

 

Safeguarding, software deployment, network management, classroom management and a bit of web filtering, really.

 

We use PCs primarily (Win 10), but we have a few Macs, some iPads, and we have heavily branched off into Chromebooks.

 

What do you use, and what do you like about it? Any nagging problems?

Edited December 14, 2017 by jkuca

[fiza]

We use NetSupport DNA and it's great. We have given our Safeguarding team access to DNA but only for Safeguarding (you can restrict access using permissions). They also have a "Report a Concern" feature which we have deployed to all workstations which students can use to report things to a Year Head or Safeguarding Officer. The concern is confidential and only the person sent the request and our Safeguarding Lead can see the details.

 

I have used it to deploy some software and it works but not done too much in that area.

 

DNA comes with Netsupport Classroom which our Teachers use heavily.

 

We dont have Macs or iPads but I believe there is a client to manage those too.

 

There is a new client coming soon for Chromebooks which we are looking forward to as we are also big users of Chromebooks.

[karldenton]

use NetSupport DNA, and have done for nearly 2 years.

 

What are your most needed features.

 

We are multi-site so use NetSupport to remote control computers a lot. However, we also use all the other features.

 

e-Safety monitoring is amazing. You can set the words based on severity, which depends on whether it is alerted, screenshot, or videoed. There is a lot of talk recently about whether it is the IT managers responsibility to go through the e-safety logs, NetSupport DNA has a safeguarding users feature so the IT manager doesn't have that responsibility.

 

DNA also has a comprehensive hardware / software inventory, a long with dynamic categories, so you can sift out all your machines with 6GB ram for example.

 

DNA also fully supports Windows 10 Store apps, and importantly, Microsoft Edge, which I believe Impero doesn't.

 

Netsupport also do not tie you in to long term contracts, just be aware of that with competitors.

 

Support is great too, no waiting several days for an answer, they always have time to fix your issue.

 

Pricing is very competitive.

 

They also have an intense development schedule and listen to feedback from IT managers to add features in

Edited December 14, 2017 by karldenton

[timbo343]

Hey everyone, first post here

 

My school is looking at going for NetSupport or Impero.

 

Cost is not an issue.

 

Which is the best option?

 

Get a demo of each product!

 

i'm an impero user. Yes there may be a lot of flack against impero but we couldn't be without it now, it's almost like our big brother.

 

Impero have an online data store called insights which is one step on from the inbuilt captures - think of it as the inbuilt log viewer but hosted by them and enables you to drill down on any violations.

[jkuca]

Get a demo of each product!

 

We have had multiple demos and calls from salespeople, representing both services.

 

Ultimately, we are torn. It may as well come down to a coinflip.

[timbo343]

We have had multiple demos and calls from salespeople, representing both services.

 

Ultimately, we are torn. It may as well come down to a coinflip.

What about visiting local schools that have impero and netsupport.

[SwedishChef]

Hey everyone, first post here

 

My school is looking at going for NetSupport or Impero.

 

Cost is not an issue.

 

Which is the best option?

 

Hi and welcome, we've just purchased NetSupport DNA recently....so here's my recomendations....although I wouldn't be telling them cost is not an option!

 

Firstly look on edugeek, there's a few threads about comparing the two, I think on the ones I've seen I'd say NetSupport Came off best. We looked at Impero it's a great product but our staff did not like it.

 

Secondly we have just bought netsupport DNA/School and notifier, I've personnaly found it a great product suite, my technicians love it, as well as my e-safety officer and staff.

 

Netsupport classroom has Chromebook integration and even a Chromebook Client for the tutor so you are not restricted to windows machines. When I've needed it support have been brilliant and very knowledgable (pre and post sales)

 

We were looking at it for a number of reasons, replacement classroom management, power settings, AUP signup, E-Safety in addition to our filtering. audit trail activity, notifications.

 

Method of installation was very easy, the footprint on the client is tiny..the "Co-Browsing" on the Netsupport School product was really good.

 

My advice get a demo (both if nessary for your due process) as products overlap massivley, but I think it's more intesting reading the forums about people who are current customes and why they might be looking to change..

 

There's my +1 for Netsuport.

[newpersn]

+1 for netsupport worked from the start..

 

moved from Impero due to cost and issues with Windows 10,

[Michael]

I agree with the above, get a demo of both, however I do use DNA at all sites I manage.

 

The main beef I had with Impero previously, was that it required .NET 3.5, which is disabled on Windows 10 by default. I know a 4.5 version was on the cards, but I don't know if this has now been released? DNA will work on any supported OS out the box.

 

I've recently installed the DNA Browser on iPads too which works pretty well.

[Mic_Impero]

I agree with the above, get a demo of both, however I do use DNA at all sites I manage.

 

The main beef I had with Impero previously, was that it required .NET 3.5, which is disabled on Windows 10 by default. I know a 4.5 version was on the cards, but I don't know if this has now been released? DNA will work on any supported OS out the box.

 

I've recently installed the DNA Browser on iPads too which works pretty well.

 

I shan't wade in with a sales pitch but if anyone posts technical questions, I will gladly answer; the current version requires .NET 4.6 which is with Windows 10 out of the box. The issues with windows 10 mentioned above are also all resolved; they came about with a specific (1703) build of windows, rather than a build of Impero, but we changed what we do in the subsequent release of Impero which is now fine with 1703 and likewise 1709.

 

Mic - Head of Support @ Impero

[kearton]

I was a previous long time user of Impero, and liked it (most of the time, but had some minor issues with support, and then the costs kept going up).

We moved to NetSupport this earlier this year and haven't looked back. I especially like the way they take on board customer feedback and use it to improve or add features to the software.

I'd recommend you get a trial of both and see which suits your needs the best.

[karldenton]

I shan't wade in with a sales pitch but if anyone posts technical questions, I will gladly answer; the current version requires .NET 4.6 which is with Windows 10 out of the box. The issues with windows 10 mentioned above are also all resolved; they came about with a specific (1703) build of windows, rather than a build of Impero, but we changed what we do in the subsequent release of Impero which is now fine with 1703 and likewise 1709.

 

Mic - Head of Support @ Impero

 

Hi Mic,

 

Does that mean that Edge is now fixed?

[Mic_Impero]

Hi Mic,

 

Does that mean that Edge is now fixed?

 

Edge was never broken pa se, we haven't been able to support it since its release, but we're very close to a solution and will support Edge not long into the new year.

[altecsole]

I can only talk about DNA as I haven't used Impero. Our main reason for choosing DNA was for the easy safeguarding feature which has allowed us to completely pass this on to the pastoral staff and requires no technical input. We automatically install the DNA agent on on computers and it's been useful for creating dynamic queries of hardware and software. Also, the option to block USB pen drives has been very useful. The internet metering gives a good overview of actual use, because it reports on when a browser has had focus, rather than when it's running behind a windows.

 

We don't use it to deploy packages as we use Group Policy and SCCM for that.

[jj99]

So I am part of a MAT that has gone with NetSupport across the board , we are using DNA, School and Notify. We had a mix of products across our schools before like ABTutor and Impero.. We choose Netsupport not just for price but for there pre-sales support and there product development.

 

Impero has had a bit of a bad rep in the past mainly due to reliability and the reaction to that I hear they are getting better but The Edge "issue" above is prime example of that personally... Sorry Mic_Impero

 

Netsupport just works and the odd occasion we get a glitch the guys are on it, they also listen to us and make changes to future builds accordingly! Its very refreshing I honestly cant recommend them enough (and no im not on commission)

 

My personal favorite feature at the minute is the safeguarding team opening up there part of the DNA console and showing parents all the names of the websites little johnny tried to get into and a video of little johnny typing is expletives into word and they having no leg to stand on!

 

I see you are in Leicester so if you wanted to see it in action you are welcome too we are in Peterborough\Cambridgeshire - or the Netsupport HQ is not much further!

 

Happy to answer questions too :-)

Edited December 14, 2017 by jj99

[Fazza]

Ultimately, we are torn. It may as well come down to a coinflip.

 

Create a poll on this thread then and see what the results end up being!

[ricki]

I like abtutor and lanschool and netsupport notify. Imperio is not cheap

[muppet]

We recently moved away from Impero to NetSupport and everyone really likes it and finds it easy to use. The deployment took more work than Impero but the support from NetSupport was brilliant. Impero is a good product but others have caught up, and overtaken them in some instances. Our main reasons for moving from Impero were problems after upgrades, poor support and cost. They managed to drop the price by nearly 40% when I said I was moving!!! Unfortunately I had already made my decision by that point.....but to be honest even if they had come in with a decent price I would have still moved.

As others have said, trial both pieces of software and/or visit other schools using them and then make your mind up.

[leeshellard]

Hey everyone, first post here

 

My school is looking at going for NetSupport or Impero.

 

Cost is not an issue.

 

Which is the best option?

 

We have been using impero for around 10 months. Moved from secures and abtutor and it’s been great.

 

We are in leicester so if you wanted to come and see impero in use you would be more than welcome