Cisco Webex Support (discontinued) vs. Microsoft Intune

WebEx Support Center does what it is designed to do very well. If you need robust, efficient, and comprehensive remote support software, look no further. There are certainly other products that are simpler, and other products that are a bit "prettier" from a UI standpoint, but in terms of overall functionality, WebEx Support Center is hard to beat. If you're a company on a very tight budget, there are certainly cheaper options available, however.

Incentivized

Windows Autopilot makes provisioning user Windows PC laptops a breeze. A user only needs to turn on the laptop, join it to their local WiFi, login with their O365 account then sit back and let Windows Autopilot handle the app installations required for work, configure the laptop settings to meet my organization requirements. I have seen this all completed in less than 30 minutes depending on how fast the internet connection is. Where Microsoft Intune needs to improve I think is the part where it can push out software updates to 3rd party apps. Right now I have to use Automox to fill in this gap.

Incentivized

• Webex has helped us increase and streamline support to our customers.
• It allows us to enable forums or collaborative spaces to explain to clients and coworkers solution to certain problems

Incentivized

• [Microsoft Endpoint Manager (Microsoft Intune + SCCM)] helps to speed up the deployment of patches/software throughout our environment. I can easily build a package and then deploy across all endpoints.
• The ability to supercede software is also quite handy. This automates the removal of old versions and replacing them with newer versions.
• The Intune Autopilot option is very useful if you want to deploy software to devices straight out of the box. You can configure them to download software when a user opens a new PC and turns it on for the first time.

Incentivized

• [In my experience], when there are issues, they sometimes ask for us to run tracelogs on the impacted participant's computer. Sometimes those participants use machines that are not managed by us and they are unwilling to get those logs. Ideally, [I feel] Webex can gather all the information from their side versus the participant side.
• While I do appreciate the constant follow up, sometimes it is overwhelming. I know they are trying to clear their queues, but it seems like they email once a day if they have not heard back from you [in my experience].
• Their support hours should coincide with my local hours of operation. Most of the support people I have worked with are located internationally and their hours of response are the opposite of my working hours.

Incentivized

• Installation is very laborious and complicated. The number of things to manually configure during the installation is incredible.
• OS deployment is hard to configure and troubleshoot. The Microsoft article on deploying Windows 10 via System Center Configuration Manager in a test environment takes 44 minutes to read (Microsoft's estimate, not mine -- check here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/deployment/windows-10-poc-sc-config-mgr). If something goes wrong, there are multiple log locations to check on both the server and client, making troubleshooting difficult.
• The management console looks old, and its performance isn't great. It is often hard to find settings in the console, and it refreshes slowly. The old name for System Center Configuration Manager, SMS, comes to mind often. "Slowly Moving Software."

Incentivized

Webex is well known by many other companies. It is easy to use and versatile. This familiarity builds a standard to conferencing and users are more comfortable using it. If you want to be safe with a choice of the many conferencing tools out there, Webex will be your best bet

Mascom Wireless is a Microsoft shop and SCCM has proved to be helpful in keeping our Microsoft products up to date every month without fail. We also have a Microsoft Enterprise Agreement which we renewed for three years ending 2022. The remote access utility works wonders for the organisation and have saved travel bills including subsistance allowance. We have been able to fulfill security audits both internal and external. We have been able to keep a robust inventory of our computer assets and nothing falls of the cracks

Incentivized

Honestly, there are people available. But none of them will help you with your issues. They just keep assigning new service engineers who are often clueless.

Overall, Microsoft Intune is very usable. While help documentation can be lacking, once setup and configured, Intune does all the work that used to be manual. There is a lot of automation and advanced features and manufacturer integrations you don't get anywhere else. These are absolutely game changers when managing IT workloads.

Incentivized

It's a 'heavy' system, which demands a lot of resources form the datacenter perspective. So, make sure you followed the requirements to avoid frustration in the future. From the 'client' perspective, it's fine. I've never had any issue with that.

Incentivized

The support team is highly incompetent. The only thing that they are able to do flawlessly is register an issue and open the case. But this case related to the issue is never resolved. They will forward the case or assign a new service engineer. But the case will never be resolved. At least not soon. They take weeks to resolve issues.

Being a Microsoft product, support was good. Out interaction was limited to our in-house IT team which was installing the Intune app in our mobile device. The installation was smooth and we haven't faced any difficulties with the app while using it. Provides a smooth and secure access to all Office 365 apps in mobile while separating the personal and professional data.

Incentivized

Work with a "test group" of users who you have a good relationship with so that when things don't work properly they understand! Work with your partner nicely without forcing things especially timelines as you are bound to make mistakes and create oversights in the project Management can also interfere with the implementation (which can cause delays) if you make too many mistakes which takes me back to having a "test group" where you have good relations

Incentivized

Logmein GoToAssist

• Logmein-GoToAssist is the product we used previously and still to some degree use with WebEx Support Center. It was not always reliable and suffered with network congestion but worked quite well for us, we as a team feel that WebEx Support Center is a more reliable and a better overall product. This to me is due to the simplicity of the UI and ease of use as well as the quality of the network performance.

Kaseya with VNC Connect

• We use within Kaseya for our internally servers and local office users due to cost and efficiency, but it is more intended as console-level access and has a bit more features then WebEx Support Center, however is not good for remote support for our users who travel as it is slow.

Incentivized

Microsoft Intune is more robust as far as fine-tuning security controls. It also allows for software installs, folder access controls, updating PCs, and other features simply not found in previous products we have used. Because it is rolled into MS 365 it's very cost effective. It's also a single pane of glass for managing user PCs and personal devices

Incentivized

• Initially the ROI was very good. We tried to leave and use another platform (cost issues) and didn't have as much success so we came back to Cisco Webex Support.
• It allowed us to provide support to employees and clients as we needed to be able to provide it.

• The positive impact it's had was it has been really beneficial in having an all-in-one Systems Management solution to be able to manage all endpoints across the organization. This has saved both time and costs from having to search/setup/manage other System Management applications and also have saved money from having to purchase a license for other commercial products.
• Another positive impact it has had was in being able to easily remote into computers/endpoints, and also being able to provide remote assistance to end-users.
• The negative impact has been it is not being fully utilized by most of the IT staff, as it is a more complicated platform to learn/master. This would require funding for IT staff to take training in learning the product, or require time to consult the documentation in the use of the product. As a result, this may hurt productivity in being able to have to work on other things.

Incentivized