Lightspeed setup cost?

[boomish]

We are going to be expanding our iPads (and chromebooks before anyone mentions) but will move from Meraki (free) to Lightspeed or JamF , I have no experience of either but we need something that works, I got a quote for some new iPads and license's to combine our existing units to the new ones but they want £650 setup fee for 1 day with an MDM engineer thats not optional, is this correct?

[synaesthesia]

Would sound about right, there's quite a bit of work involved.

[boomish]

Ahh ok fair enough..thanks for the quick reply, funny Meraki was relatively simple to do by ourselves. A rep I spoke to said Apple suggest Jamf but thats got even higher setup costs. Out budget is minimal and were only buying 15 more iPads , so it's seems a bit ott but we have 60 existing mini's. Maybe it's best to keep Meraki for a bit longer.

[synaesthesia]

I'd strongly suggest looking at Mosyle but the chromebooks rule that out

[boomish]

I'd strongly suggest looking at Mosyle but the chromebooks rule that out

Thanks I shall, I'd never heard of it..I don't think we mind having a separate MDM for each as long as they work

[Dom_]

It's not overly difficult to add them to lightspeed to be honest - and assuming you already have VPP setup it's even easier... You can buy lightspeed from most resellers, PM me and I'll talk you through it :-).

[CHSGM]

I used Lightspeed for the first time since moving jobs 6 months ago and within 1 or 2 hours found it extremely easy to set up for both Chromebook and iPads. I'd seriously consider looking at it yourself before committing to paying.

[boomish]

Thanks Dom & CHSGM, I did wonder how hard can it be, Meraki was easy enough, I've heard Apple's new School manager has also been simplified so seems straightforward enough.

[Brimstone]

Thanks Dom & CHSGM, I did wonder how hard can it be, Meraki was easy enough, I've heard Apple's new School manager has also been simplified so seems straightforward enough.

 

 

New...?

 

ASM is over 2 years old....?

 

If you have used free Meraki then my guess is you have never configured or used Apple Classroom?

 

MDM's are not just for delivering content to devices, they are critical to allowing teachers to see their classes in Apple Classroom, creating managed Apple ID's, enrolling students in iTunes U and more.

 

I would strongly recommend an MDM with support not just another free one with none.

[boomish]

New...?

 

ASM is over 2 years old....?

If you have used free Meraki then my guess is you have never configured or used Apple Classroom?

MDM's are not just for delivering content to devices, they are critical to allowing teachers to see their classes in Apple Classroom, creating managed Apple ID's, enrolling students in iTunes U and more.

I would strongly recommend an MDM with support not just another free one with none.

ASM is being updated in July I think, it was in a keynote last week.

 

Yep we use Apple Classroom its fab, we know what an MDM is, apologies I didn't make it clear, I mean as far as setting up a new MDM in ASM to manage all existing and new units. Spoke to Lightspeed who said no need for a setup fee, they would do it remotely for free.

[Brimstone]

ASM is being updated in July I think, it was in a keynote last week.

 

Yep we use Apple Classroom its fab, we know what an MDM is, apologies I didn't make it clear, I mean as far as setting up a new MDM in ASM to manage all existing and new units. Spoke to Lightspeed who said no need for a setup fee, they would do it remotely for free.

Apart from being able to see whether an app will be compatible with the new School Work App (which is only in beta) there are not any other changes to ASM.

[deano3693]

I agree you don't need an MDM engineer you can do it all yourself. It will take a bit of time to sort the DEP, VPP programs out properly but assuming you already have these setup it is relatively painless. Build your Lightspeed groups with the settings/configurations you want to apply, add the apps to the groups etc. Enrol devices and add them to the groups. Job Done!

[Bev]

I didn't pay anyone to setup Lightspeed - we pay £5/per device / year.

 

To be fair, I don't think I've set it up 100% correctly but it is working and doing what we need without a setup cost!

 

I also use Mosyle at another school and find that even easier, although I don't have those iPads linked to pupils and Apple Classroom.