Anonymous review of SMS Expert products

This post to the web-based forums was so well-done and well-thought out, that I had to blog about it.  Rarely does anyone in the forums take this kind of time to talk about a product, unless they are “paid” to do so, and I made sure to double-check that potential.  So, here’s a free, anonymous, purely objective review of SMS Expert’s products:

Original post link: RE: SMS Expert Software

Original post:

I would like to add a review here. Forgive the length, but I think this is what you and others may be looking for. I was in the same boat 1 year ago.

First, we are a Fortune 500 company with a global presence. We have locations in most countries around the world. We manage 10,000+ workstations using SMS 2003 SP2. We have approximately 130 DP's.

The goal: Provide a simple, effective, cost efficient solution to deploy software to our associates around the globe.

We interviewed and evaluated what is probably the top 3 solutions for front end software deployment or "Shopping Cart" solutions. They were Shopping 2.5 from 1E, Self Service from PS'Soft, and ESD from SMS Expert.

We actually did an initial round of reviews on the products and none of them really met my needs so we sat on the sidelines for about 4-5 months. We then did a second round of product reviews. This time I found one of the products was close to meeting my needs. The product was ESD from SMS Expert. We did about a 30-45 day evaluation in our production environment prior to purchase. I would recommend anyone do this with any of the products as you really cannot make an informed decision from just a few demo's as to whether or not it is going to meet your needs. From my opinion 1 of the other products was a close second to ESD, the third was not even close.

I want to touch briefly on implementation. It is very simple. The product installed quickly and we were using it the same day we implemented. I also want to point out that any shopping cart solution is only as good as the packages you are distributing.

So, during this 45 day eval in production we worked very closely with the developer and actually had several "Feature Requests" and suggestions for making the product better. I would have to say support is what pushed me over the edge to purchase ESD from SMS Expert. The developer implemented most every request we had. I will say that from a service and support perspective, I have NEVER, NEVER, received the kind of support I received from this company. Unfortunately in todays world, service and support is severely lacking in all industries. I think the big win here is the size of the company. Unfortunately in todays business, companies get bigger and create their own beaurocratic bottlenecks. This just does not exist with this company, decisions are made and implemented. There is none of this "Let us review your request and see IF we can implement it in the next version. It appears that one of the other companies is on about a 1 year release cycle, and I could not figure out for the other. Anyway, too long for me. When the business needs something, it needs it today, not next year.

So, we made the purchase and have been using ESD for about 7 months now. I rarely leave reviews, but have felt compelled to leave one for this product due to my expectations being exceeded from all aspects, Price, Performance, Support, and ROI. It appears as though there are 2 major releases per year with several, and I do mean several, small updates along the way. These small updates are not just bug fixes, they are usually new features.

We have implemented SMS 2003, Swimage, ESD, and are currently in the midst of an SMS companion implementation (Review maybe in 7 months). As a project manager, I am expected to do a benefits delivery analysis on what I implement. I will say for all products, ESD, was by far the easiest to deliver real benefits savings due to the product. Historically we installed applications by remoting into a users computer and then connecting to a network share and clicking the set up and clicking ok, next, ok, etc. Very cumbersome and time consuming. Our desktop support associates handled this task. Now, in the new world, we have moved ALL application deployments to our lower cost front line support associates (No disrespect to these folks). We calculated the old way of installing applications at about 20 minutes average per application. Now with ESD, our phone analysts take the call, and in 60 seconds and about 3 clicks have the requested application on it's way to the customer (Help Center Managers, Can You Say First Call Resolution). This was a slam dunk for reporting ROI to Executives (Client Engineering Managers take note here).

Our Help Centers and desktop support associates have been praising the tool since it was implemented, and 7 months later we still hear folks praising it. Our next step is to roll this service out to our customers directly. This will allow a customer to request software 24x7 from anywhere in the world. We have it working on our VPN back into the network, this allows folks working from home or traveling and in hotels to get software when they need it.

Now, here we are 7 months later and several dozen feature requests filled. I can honestly tell you the gap between ESD and the other 2 products is large. I feel the product and support blow the competition away. No contest here folks. I am not trying to slam the competition, hopefully they read this, take note, and learn. So, we know what opinions are like, so I urge anyone looking for a solution such as this to review all 3 products and make your own conclusion.I want to point out one other thing here because it crossed my mind as we were moving along the evaluation. The support has been consistent along the whole 7 months, not just a let me impress you for the sale, then get lazy with support. If anything, the support just keeps getting better. These guys value their customers and prove it to you by listening and being responsive. 

I hope this helps folks on the fence about implementing such a solution. The value here is BIG folks. The ROI on a solution like this is tremendous. Looking to impress the boss with a cost saving solution? Look no further!

I will not go into features of the product as they are several. Just eval the product and you will find out.

For the record, I am in management now but have a very extensive technical background.

Sincerely,

Mark