What you need. What you need, when you need it, with the support you deserve. Filewave has been one of the reasons we have been able to adapt so well to distance learning and teaching! Thank you Filewave.

Transition from VPP tokens to ASM tokens We had a staff member that decided they would be switching us from Apple's VPP service to ASM and in the middle of it started complaining that the filesets for the apps were not being pushed out. I was able to get in touch with Filewave and the tech was able to determine that the filesets did not know which authority to use to install them since they were jumping back and forth with a legacy token versus the new token. Some homework was given that day to see if it would work. The next day I was able to schedule again with the same tech and several more things were passed back and forth to fix it further. The tech gave me some homework things to do later that night when people would be off the system and the next day, I scheduled one more appointment with the tech to figure out one last part of the puzzle of not having the devices connect. We are running again. Not completely smoothly since we have some clean up to do, but the persistence of the tech to help out was excellent.

We are just getting started so I think… We are just getting started so I think it is a little early for feedback.

Unable to manage devices after an upgrade, poor communication from Filewave. I haven't been able to manage my devices for a week now since I upgraded to 14.0.2 (I tried 14.1.2 also, no dice). The support person told me that I shouldn't revert my snapshot because "it's not recommended" even though as a part of your KB you tell people to create a backup before performing an upgrade presumably for this express purpose. The support model of "remoting in and controlling your computer" is not something I like, I prefer to have someone walk me through it rather than someone do it for me. I learn nothing that way. I asked the support tech for an update from Development (who my problem was passed to) a few days ago and she passed the message along but no one has updated me on anything. So not only has my problem not been resolved, I have received no indication that it is even being worked on. There are some things to like about Filewave, but I am not very happy right now with the support or the program.

Not for us on the Windows side IN MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE, Filewave is well suited for iOS and MacOS. Almost everything that I have tried dealing with Mac, which admittedly has been limited to creating filesets, has worked as touted and experienced. My difficulties have come on the Windows side. The following is not very positive, but take what I say with a grain of salt. I am sure that someone who knows Filewave inside and out would not have the difficulties that I have had, but there is the rub for me. I found the learning curve to be a little too steep for someone who has many, many varied responsibilities in our company that go way beyond just setting up and maintaining Windows machines, Perhaps, I could not just give enough time to fully learn FW. It would be nice if the documentation and tutorials were suited to newbies as well as old timers. But, I am a Windows guy. My experience with FW in the Windows environment has been unfavorable. Granted, I am not one for the deep dives into making FW work with Windows, but I have found the documentation for FW to be scattered and in some cases irrelevant. Often I cannot find documentation dealing with what I need to create or do. That may be my inability to grasp their site layout, but I don't have this issue on other products. I suppose that is to be expected when an operating system changes as much as Windows has from Windows 7 - 8.1 to Windows 10. I think that with more in-depth and relevant documentation geared specifically to Windows 10, my experience would be more positive. As it is, the online documentation is very hard to follow and in many cases gives the steps for doing things in Windows 7 and then making reference that it should work in 10 as well...when, indeed, it doesn't always translate well, especially when it comes to imaging. I have had spotty success with FW imaging in Windows 10. I also have found some of the filesets to be 'wonky' from machine to machine. Perhaps FW would be better to scrap their present Windows documentation...at least dealing with filesets and imaging, or at least make a version dedicated solely to Windows 10. They have committed to concentrating more resources to Windows than they have in the past, but it's a little too late for me. Our system is considering moving to Chromebooks and using online virtual machines that the Chromebooks can access when Windows may be necessary. As to Filewave's support, I find their techs to be quick and ready to lend support. Any time that I have reached out to them, they have quickly gotten back and given what support they could. I have no complaints about their support department.