SmartDeploy - Avis

Incredible Asset!

Commentaires : We used a hard drive duplicator before implementing SmartDeploy. SmartDeploy has made our process for computer preparation much easier and faster. We utilize the software on a regular basis for new computers and also to prepare existing computers for the upcoming academic year. Support staff have been very helpful and I don't know if I could ask for anything more. Thank you for producing a remarkable piece of software.

Avantages :

Ease of use and functionality. SmartDeploy makes it very easy to deploy a golden image onto virtually any PC with its use of driver packs.

Inconvénients :

Nothing. The software has been very functional in our environment.

Imaging Software That Works

Commentaires : I've had the pleasure of using SmartDeploy for about 1 year now, and I don't regret a minute of it. The software is easy to use and setup, customer service is prompt and helpful, and the new features they add make it better each day. SmartDeploy is the best option for imaging that I've found.

Avantages :

SmartDeploy is easy to use and simple to manage.

Inconvénients :

Lack of reporting features...which they are starting to add.

Easy onsite OS Imaging

Commentaires : The support team is very responsive and helpful. Also, their Knowledgebase is laid out very clearly and logically. Each support article in a process leads to the next step and so forth. Their licensing site makes it easy to reclaim unused licenses and generate a report.

Avantages :

SmartDeploy can be used to easily and quickly image multiple PCs onsite. It's possible to customize deployment by adding applications or features at time of install. A group of hardware models can be imaged from the same flash drive as long as the correct platform packs are downloaded.

Inconvénients :

The use of the SmartDeploy flash drives requires our team to be onsite using our LAN connections to domain controllers. Also if we update the image which is done quarterly, all flash drives at our various sites much be reimaged.

Simplified our Image Deployment

Commentaires : I have nothing but praise for SmartDeploy. We maintain 600 PCs and keeping all of the many separate images we used to maintain up to date was an endless process of frustration. Our old process required that each manufacturer have its own image and we had a collection of legacy computers and images to maintain. Now we keep two images up to date, download the appropriate drivers for any new computers we purchase and we are ready to deploy. SmartDeploy also created a new driver pack for a legacy computer that needed to run an old OS for us and saved me endless headaches.

Avantages :

SmartDeploy made our imaging and deployment of PCs so easy. I still get nightmares about our previous system, but SmartDeploy has made updating our image and deploying it to computers very straightforward and the best of all uncomplicated.

Inconvénients :

The capture process is a little slow, but honestly that is it. I still get images updated and captured easily.

Makes standardizing PC's a breeze

Commentaires : I started using Smartdeploy 2 years ago (2016) and they have made many valuable enhancements since then. I manage a fleet of about 250 laptops with many makes and models in the mix. Having Smartdeploy has allowed me to push the imaging process out to the end user saving time and money in shipping costs.

Avantages :

-Easy to use -Great Customer Support -Flexibility -Standardization -Platform Packs

Inconvénients :

-Creating platform packs for custom systems is a little complicated -The cost, although being able to reclaim licenses from decommissioned PC's is a plus

ease deployment by inverting image creation

Commentaires : we sell laptops to our customers, delivering software of their needs, smartdeploy helps us ease this, by premanufacturing images, and simplifying the process of preparing a computer for delivery

Avantages :

Smartdeploy is a deployment program easing deployment and integration process, by inverting the process, beginning in the image end, where you set up the golden image in a virtual environment, pack it up, download platform packs(driver packs) and if you want, specific application packs you make yourself or premade

Inconvénients :

its nothing to not like about it :) it solves most problems hassle free

Excellent Deployment Tool

Commentaires : We used an deployment system that was written in-house, but when it needed updating it was much easier to move forward with SmarDeploy. We've been using it for 12 months, and have re-imaged all of the computers on our LAN. It is literally faster for us to re-image a computer than to run Windows updates if there is a Win10 feature update required. We do update our reference images monthly.

Avantages :

It's actually easy to use! I was surprised that I was literally able to learn how to use this system in about 3 hours. Of course, there was a lot of fine tuning. I really like how the platform packs make it easy to support the models of laptops and desktops we purchase. The support has been excellent.

Inconvénients :

I have had some issues with client agents getting updated on about 20 of my 100 computers, but other than that I have no complaints.

Hassle free imaging

Commentaires : Our team loves Smartdeploy - it has really helped us and made our multitasking job a bit more manageable. I would recommend this software before trying any others.

Avantages :

This is so much easier to push a software image than I expected. It really frees up alot of time and you can do more than one at a time. Its also easy to keep an updated Master Image so that you will always be a current version of software.

Inconvénients :

It can be a little daunting in the beginning, but they have great videos and tutorials to help you through it. Customer Service is great! They always have an answer or if not, they find one really fast!

SmartDeploy is a smart decision for your imaging and driver update needs

Commentaires : We have been using this software for about 4 years now. We continue to be impressed with the I.T. teams response to feature requests. They deliver on what they say they will. Use for imaging, remote driver/Bios updates, and now remote software installations. Top notch product.

Avantages :

The ease of use of this software, along with the ability to perform cloud, network, or USB deployments are a plus. We can also upgrade drivers only over the network. The SmartDeploy team saves us many hours of having to look up drivers and BIOS upgrades. Now we can push them out remotely, trusting that the SmartDeploy server has us up to date. One of the best I.T. decisions I have made.

Inconvénients :

I don't have any complaints at this point.

Smart Deploy for admins with little time

Commentaires : Super easy company to work with over all. All in all this software is for an admin that can't get sccm or doesn't have the time to setup WDS/MDT.

Avantages :

The driver packages aid a ton in getting this out. As long as you're using hardware that's common like Dell, HP, Lenovo they will have a package for you. Shockingly, they even have packages for servers as well. This is the part that can be frustrating when trying to do this by hand with WDS / MDT because you can come across hardware that has the same model number but have different chipsets or different audio controller. This takes the guess work out of all of that.

Inconvénients :

I wish deployment of custom apps and packages were better. Don't get me wrong you can do it, however you still need to find the slient switches your self and hope that the devs added something in for that. Failing that perhaps integration with autoIT scripts or a macro function of some kind to aid in deployment of apps that don't have this feature.

Mass Deployment Made Easy

Commentaires : It has been a great experience for us and users working with this software. It has made troubleshooting, upgrading and deploying machines a breeze. I am in a business with 800+ machines and having the difference images for departments helps a ton. PXE and having a WDS boot image from SmartDeploy helps us and other areas of IT image on the fly whenever they need without using the console to push out.

Avantages :

- Easy setup - Works with virtual machines so you don't need to keep hardware around just for images - Can be used PXE with WDS - Differencing images to save space based on a main image - Can create disk or USB boot drives - Push images from the console remotely for clients. - constantly implementing updates and features for console - Great support

Inconvénients :

- License management for companies could use work (this is in the works for change)

Ghost is a thing of the past....Smart Deploy is the future of imaging!!!

Commentaires : We have, literally, only been using Smart Deploy between 30-45 days (new to it all), but it has DRASTICALLY changed how fast we can pump out deployments of PC's. We had SO MANY issues with Ghost and their support was HORRIBLE!!! So far we have only had one ticket with Smart Deploy and they responded in a VERY timely manner and had an answer for us.

Avantages :

Complete ease of setup and ease of use. We love the fact that is now only takes us 6-7 minutes to image a PC for our company. The "no touch" and "click and go" functionality of the Smart Deploy imaging process is superb! Setting up and using a "reference" image to use on multiple platforms of hardware is a stellar part of the processes. I could go on and on and on.........JUST BUY THIS (and then shutdown your Ghost server!)!!!! It's the best thing you can have for an imaging solution for your IT department.

Inconvénients :

My team and I would like to see this software be able to keep data and programs in tact when we use it for upgrading purposes. We have a massive Windows 10 upgrade project that we need to accomplish before EoL of Windows 7 and this feature would save us time from having to run "manual" upgrades. I am sure I could come up with more idea's for this software, but I am pretty positive that Smart Deploy is already working on upgrades to this software.

Product work great

Commentaires : We have been a Smart Deploy customer for the last 5+ years and it definitely streamlined our ability build up systems, but also respond to system failures in a very timely matter. Very happy with the overall product.

Avantages :

The ability to create and deploy images across multiple platforms using driver packs instead of images with specific hardware is awesome. I used to have to keep images for each of our hardware builds. Now I just keep track of a few driver packs and all images become universal for all of our different systems.

Inconvénients :

Creation of platform packs for Individual mother board builds was not as easy as I had hoped, but found that default platform packs from my main vendor builds, were intelligent enough to let me load these images on motherboard builds as well. Worked out in the end.

Great Imaging Software for Large Deployment

Commentaires : Overall, I think this is a great imaging software. It is easy to use and very clean looking. It is a great product for a mid-size company and certainly is more than acceptable for our needs of nearly a 1000 machines.

Avantages :

This is a decent product for a mid-size to large company. If you run your company on just a few images, then this is the software you need. The pros are that it is very clean and simple looking and easy to use. Tracking of licensing, computers, and users are very easy. They provide frequent updates to keep up with constant Windows updates and the download client handles more than one user or admin.

Inconvénients :

The major cons I have with it is that it often conflicts with antivirus software and drivers do not always apply or are available.

Excellent Tool for Imaging

Commentaires : Time spent of managing driver packs, images are considerably reduced after using SmartDeploy.

Avantages :

Driver Management, WDS Integration for PXE booting. Offline Media Creation. Very simple and effective tool. I come from SCCM 2012 background and it literally took me just couple of hours to learn this tool. Applying the driver packages/WMI queries are all automated. Boot Image creation is simple and the NIC drivers are automatically added during the boot image creation.

Inconvénients :

Need to have a better license management by selected users from the organization rather than contacting SmartDeploy each time to manage the licenses.

Great product for smaller companies/tighter budgets

Avantages :

SmartDeploy is super easy to setup, the pricing model makes sense and doesn't gouge you. The functions and features aren't hard to learn and I was able to implement Windows 10 to our desktops and laptops easily without too much frustration (typically user error). Overall it's a great product, especially when you have a small IT team/company and budget, but it will also scale very well with us.

Inconvénients :

The application packs are still a bit flimsy, meaning I could have two .exe's with the same arguments that work great in CMD prompt, but in the application pack I have to tweak the executable location or argument within SmartDeploy. After doing a handful of them, I know what to look for now but it was a little bit of a learning curve.

Excellent Product

Avantages :

SmartDeploy is really user friendly, they provide activity wizards that take you step by step through the process from creating your golden image to deploying your to your first machine. I downloaded the trial software and deployed my first image about 4 hours later.

Inconvénients :

I'm having a small issue that I am working with their developer team to resolve. The software didn't support the naming convention of my domain. They are working to modify their software to work with my company's domain. I was told the functionality would be included in the next software update. Do not take this as a negative comment because this is no fault of SmartDeploy that my company named the domain in an unconventional manner. I just wanted to express that the SmartDeploy team recognized my needs and is trying to accommodate my company.

Simple and Powerful Imaging Tools

Commentaires : SmartDeploy has cut several steps off our deployment process, helping to standardize our workflow and reduce the errors we were seeing in rolling out new machines. We're also deploying machines much faster as it takes fewer visits to websites for downloading drivers and software.

Avantages :

The product saves steps by joining a machine to a domain during the deployment process. SmartDeploy also gives several options for naming a machine during the deployment process. Driver management is simple. SmartDeploy keeps driver bundles for most industry standard workstation, so there's no need to check with every vendor.

Inconvénients :

The install was a little cumbersome. It needed to download separate tools from Microsoft instead of having them included in their installer.

Fast, Friendly and Intuative

Commentaires : Overall it has been an excellent experience. Turned out deployments into a stress free time of the year which compared to how things were done previously was night and day. Would recommend.

Avantages :

Given instructions (Video and Documentation) very clear and straight forward. Support for WDS integration Built in Agent and Console made deployment a breeze. Rapid deployment time using both Unicast or Multicast Speedy response from support (Time zone allowing) Frequent Updates Easy managment of drivers

Inconvénients :

Once deployment packages are created for the agent they automatically change to Unattended deployment. Would like to see an option to keep them attended. Sometimes Driver packs would require rebuilding due to version change, not that it took very long to rebuild.

Imaging

Commentaires : Overall, Smart Deploy has been a huge time saver within our IT department. Before we used several products including Symantec and Microsoft's solutions, however they seemed very difficult to get configured. Smart Deploy walks you through very simple steps and with the addition of the platform packs, it saves our desktop team the time it would take to also load drivers on our systems. Also, the fact that the imaging process auto syspreps each new system has been a game changer! (configuring sysprep with our previous solutions was often a very difficult and daunting task) Imaging that used to take us almost an entire day now only takes an hour. I am overall very happy with this product.

Avantages :

I like how easy this software is to use.

Inconvénients :

I did run into a few problems where some of the driver packs caused blue screens on some of our units.

Best Windows Imaging Software on the Market

Commentaires : One of my favorite tools in my arsenal as an IT Admin

Avantages :

-Cloud Imaging through multiple providers like Google Drive and Box.com -Built in MDM for managing devices to view system info and remotely install applications -Amazing answer file support -Multiple ways of deploying images to machines, you can use local storage like an external hard drive, pxe boot or use a usb to boot into the SmartDeploy environment. -Driver packs make deployment a breeze I would highly recommend SmartDeploy to anyone looking to image and maintain a large amount of windows PC's

Inconvénients :

Wish it didn't use Microsoft Silverlight

Windows 10 Upgrade Made Easy!

Commentaires : We went from taking almost a full day to get a new PC out to one of our branches to imaging computers for an entire branch in just a few hours! SmartDeploy got our image onto our drives in 10 minutes! I was blown away by the speed of this program and how easy it was to use it. We trained our entire IT department how to use it in just minutes. Can't imagine doing this upgrade project without SmartDeploy.

Avantages :

It is so easy to use once you get it configured.

Inconvénients :

We had one small issue with the driver for our new PC's not having the PXE driver in the package we downloaded, however this was resolved by SmartDeloy in minutes after reaching out to them for help.

Time Savings

Commentaires : SmartDeploy is a time saving product that I like a lot.

Avantages :

I like the time savings features of deploy an image with the software already loaded instead of manually installing everything.

Inconvénients :

I had some issues trying to capture some VM's once in awhile.

Fantastic

Commentaires : Awesome!

Avantages :

It is easy to use. You defiantly get what you pay for. The customer service is very responsive as well. That is something we wanted to make sure of before purchased this product. Everyone assisted us with any questions and the imaging process was straight to the point. Smartdepoly you hold up to your name. Awesome product!!!

Inconvénients :

There is nothing I don't like about it! it is a little more costly than their competitors.

Amazing!

Avantages :

The product is incredibly ease to use and has significantly decreased my image processing time. Albeit, I used to manually configure OS from scratch using the manufacturer restore DVD. The Platform Packs was another great feature that made me go with SmartDeploy. All in all, amazing product.

Inconvénients :

None to speak off at this point. I personally haven't incurred any issues worth noting.