It just works and it works really well. It’s also good to know that the product isn’t standing still; it’s constantly evolving.
Ben Whitaker, Head of IT Services
Tell us about Bury Grammar School…
Bury Grammar School can trace its roots all the way back to 1570 when it was founded in the centre of the town. It’s a prestigous, high achieving, independent day school that is steeped in history. The school was originally for boys only, but, over time, it began to admit girls. These days, it’s an all-through school, catering for children aged between 3 and 18, with students being independently taught from the ages of 7 to 16.
What were some of the main IT challenges you faced (pre-NetSupport)?
We had two main issues: firstly, an ever-increasing electric bill that we needed to find some way of managing. Secondly, we needed to find efficiencies, which was not easy with only a small core team of technicians for a school that is spread over various sites. After researching possible solutions, I believed NetSupport DNA could help us.
Did NetSupport DNA manage to do that?
It has definitely helped us – especially the power management feature! We have nearly 600 PCs, plus all the ancillary stuff, over five different school sites . The feedback I get from my technicians is that DNA is just brilliant; it has made them more streamlined and much quicker at responding to jobs because they can remote onto PCs so easily and all the tools they need are at hand. This summer we’re moving to Windows 10 and, to prepare for that, the technicians needed to check the specs of hardware devices and note what software was installed on each machine. Normally, that would have been a case of having to go round and check manually, but now we can just do it from the console; it’s probably just saved us a week’s worth of work. With just one look, you can see and collate information – you can’t imagine just how much it has helped! We knew it was great product but to actually see it and use it is something else.
How have you found the remote support tools in NetSupport DNA?
Really good. They’re reliable and they work every time. The technicians find them all excellent. It has saved a lot of time in so many ways.
What do your technicians think of NetSupport DNA in terms of usability?
The technicians all say it’s easy to use. When we bought it, we rolled it out to the network within a day without problems. It just works and that’s exactly what you want. For me, as a manager, and my team as technicians, you just want to install a product and start using it and getting on with things. In the past, we’d had issues with a rival product where it just wasn’t working; we spent more time trying to fix it than use it. Now we’ve got the opposite: we’ve got a great product that just works; it’s really useable and we use it all the time.
What is it like working with NetSupport?
In terms of tech support, the technicians say the team is really responsive; the support is spot on. I can’t fault the sales team either. In our experience, NetSupport gets things done quickly.
How does NetSupport compare to previous solutions the school has used?
Brilliant! It just works and it works really well. It’s also good to know that the product isn’t standing still; it’s constantly evolving. There are continual updates and changes. It’s great to know that NetSupport is listening to feedback and putting those ideas back into the product.
