CASE STUDIES: PC AGE
HIGHER EDUCATION
How PC AGE transformed its business with Pulseway
They have been able to become more effective and efficient by working proactively to maintain uptime, while responding faster to any issues that require their attention.
“Most of the things that we need to do are taken care of automatically by Pulseway. We rarely have to engage with Pulseway.”
Humberto Hilario
Information Security Manager, PC AGE
Remote Control
Being able to help PC AGE’s remote users without physically visiting them was a key feature for Humberto and better than the alternative of providing instructions over the phone, “Sometimes you can give instructions, but it doesn't matter how well you give the instructions you have to do it yourself.” As a result, he makes extensive use of the remote control functionality.
Windows Patching
Before Windows 10 was released, Humberto used WSUS to manage Windows patches but “Once Windows 10 hit, it just crashed it”, so he was looking for a reliable solution to manage Windows patching and found Pulseway’s solution “Very easy, super easy.” Humberto expands on this further pointing out the simplicity of the solution, “I just create a policy, apply to all the systems, let it be. The system turns on, gets updated, period. I don't have to even look back. Whenever I decide to go and manually check, I don't find anything pending.”
Webroot
The integration with Webroot was another advantage. As an existing customer, Humberto eventually moved his subscription to Pulseway and in addition to the simplicity of dealing with just one provider instead of two, Humberto appreciates the “seamlessness of integration” and how this has effectively made it easier to use Webroot.
Mobile Access
With 4 sites to manage, Humberto is often on the road and so finds the Pulseway mobile app essential. He says, “You have all the dashboards, all the quick readings, you can reset, you can restart, you can disable accounts, you can create accounts from the mobile app. I think that's everything we need, it's an excellent product.”
Responsive Support
Humberto is very appreciative of the support he has received from Pulseway, “It is very responsive, even in this COVID time, very responsive. I just send a message and within a few minutes, normally within a few short minutes, I get a response back. I don't remember ever having to wait long times, even on weekends.” All Pulseway customers are assigned a customer success manager (CSM) and Humberto has found this very helpful, calling his CSM “super, super responsive” adding that “Even when he's not the one on, he gets the message around and he shoots it over to a support person to help me out.”
With centers in 4 locations across New Jersey, PC AGE Career Institute is an accredited provider of IT career education. With approximately 300 students enrolled at any time, PC AGE offers a blend of online and classroom education.
Humberto Hilario is the Information Security Manager who has responsibility for both the administrative and training systems in the institute. He had previously spent several years looking for a solution to manage the administrative systems, but it had proven difficult to find one suitable for the scale of the network.
With approximately 60 assets to manage, Humberto found that many RMM providers were aimed at larger networks with over 500 assets. He eventually found a solution suitable for their size, but it proved not to be the right fit. At one point, this solution became unusable after a Windows update crashed the application and he had to manually visit the 4 sites – a 150-mile round trip – something the purchased solution was supposed to prevent.
PC AGE were an existing Webroot customer and Humberto saw on their portal that it had an integration with Pulseway. He discovered that Pulseway had “everything that I needed in a small package” and started a 30-day trial and immediately converted to a full contract in February 2019. Two of the specific features he was looking for were the ability to provide Remote Assistance to users and the ability to manage Windows patches.
Humberto found it a very simple process to set up Pulseway, especially when compared with other RMM tools he had used.
