Airwatch (or any iPad MDM)- anyone here use or heard of it?
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Can they not download at home before heading out for the day?
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Why the push to put the onus on the end user to do a task as simple as syncing/pushing a file to remote device?
This places a burden on them unnecessarily that would allow them to fail. We can or at least should be able to do something as simple as push a file to a remote device with little effort.
@Breffni-Potter said:
Can they not download at home before heading out for the day?
Let's assume for the moment that they can't connect to the WiFi at home, primarily because there is no reason for them to since they aren't allowed access to Safari or the app store, so there is no reason for them to be on any WiFi. The same would go for plugging it into their computer at home.
Don't think of this as an iPad, think of it as dedicated black box with a screen that's only function is to provide the function the company wants.
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@Dashrender said:
Don't think of this as an iPad, think of it as dedicated black box with a screen that's only function is to provide the function the company wants.
Seems like a custom app would be best for that, then.
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@scottalanmiller said:
@Dashrender said:
Don't think of this as an iPad, think of it as dedicated black box with a screen that's only function is to provide the function the company wants.
Seems like a custom app would be best for that, then.
maybe so, but that would be much more expensive than just shipping out a PDF every month.
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Currently they write their invoices up on paper based on information in the iPad. They could definitely use an app on the iPad instead that they put everything in, then a printer in the truck to print an invoice.
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@Dashrender said:
@scottalanmiller said:
@Dashrender said:
Don't think of this as an iPad, think of it as dedicated black box with a screen that's only function is to provide the function the company wants.
Seems like a custom app would be best for that, then.
maybe so, but that would be much more expensive than just shipping out a PDF every month.
Depends, making an app isn't necessarily that much work for something really simple.
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If they don't have wifi at home and they are not at the office routinely. How do they get updated files during the week? I'm really confused by how they can use these. Am I missing something obvious?
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Maybe a description of how it is IS used, rather than a filter on how it is NOT used, would clarify things.
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@Dashrender said:
The most notable recent problem was they were trying to push out a PDF price sheet to all devices, only two of them picked up the price sheet.
If the engineers can't get on wifi, what MDM will actually fix this for them?
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I was pretty sure I mentioned that the device are all on 3G/4G, but it was in a post, not the OP.
OK how the device is used/desired to be used.
The device is connected to the internet solely through 3G/4G wireless service. The users (plumbers) are to access dedicated apps and assigned PDFs to get pricing information while in the field. The pricing index can be updated anytime remotely by management.
I don't know much more at this time.
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@Dashrender said:
The device is connected to the internet solely through 3G/4G wireless service. The users (plumbers) are to access dedicated apps and assigned PDFs to get pricing information while in the field. The pricing index can be updated anytime remotely by management.
So back to my original question. I've just tested this with onedrive for biz and it works.
You can download these files to be available offline, so as part of their job, why can't the plumbers download the files when they have signal and the onus is on them to check that they have the right company information to hand before going on site.
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Airwatch is a rather difficult to use MDM In my opinion. Meraki is a much more simple to deploy and manage solution.
Now, don't get me wrong, there are things about Meraki I'd change too, but from everything I've dealt with Airwatch I'd much rather go with Meraki.
Pus Meraki is free
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Meraki is fine for really basic stuff, and free is nice. But in all fairness, we only deployed it after our 1st round of ipads were stolen, so I've not had a chance to test it much.
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@DustinB3403 said:
Airwatch is a rather difficult to use MDM In my opinion. Meraki is a much more simple to deploy and manage solution.
Now, don't get me wrong, there are things about Meraki I'd change too, but from everything I've dealt with Airwatch I'd much rather go with Meraki.
Pus Meraki is free
I don't have an iPad to test with - can you push files to the iPads?
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@Dashrender Yeah, to the bookstore on the ipad.
Specifically using the backpack function of meraki.
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@Breffni-Potter said:
@Dashrender said:
The device is connected to the internet solely through 3G/4G wireless service. The users (plumbers) are to access dedicated apps and assigned PDFs to get pricing information while in the field. The pricing index can be updated anytime remotely by management.
So back to my original question. I've just tested this with onedrive for biz and it works.
You can download these files to be available offline, so as part of their job, why can't the plumbers download the files when they have signal and the onus is on them to check that they have the right company information to hand before going on site.
My question is why? Why put the onus on the end user? Why not have a tool that tells me the file is on the device in question, similar to how use WSUS that tells us workstations have Windows updates on them?
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@DustinB3403 said:
@Dashrender Yeah, to the bookstore on the ipad.
Specifically using the backpack function of meraki.
Awesome - sounds like a possible solution.
Assuming they hire me to look into solving their issue, I'll suggest these options.
and most likely setup a trial or three. -
@Dashrender said:
My question is why? Why put the onus on the end user? Why not have a tool that tells me the file is on the device in question, similar to how use WSUS that tells us workstations have Windows updates on them?
I might be old fashioned, but if I go to site to do a job, I make sure I bring my toolkit.
Conversely, if these guys want to be paid and sell to clients, why would they not check that their tools are working and up to date?
Windows updates are something the end user should not touch or even be aware of. But the tools and data they use to do their job for their role, should be up to them.
If a user turns around and goes "Yeah we lost $500 worth of sale because IT screwed up" where-as the onus should be on them if they want those sales.
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Yes automated tools can help the users, but would your users really walk into a client meeting, open their app, only to find they have none of the data they need whilst standing there in front of the client?
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@Breffni-Potter said:
Yes automated tools can help the users, but would your users really walk into a client meeting, open their app, only to find they have none of the data they need whilst standing there in front of the client?
I've never actually touched these devices or seen them, etc.
I would assume before they were ever assigned to a tech that they had a copy of the price book. Further I would assume that in a good system, if the same filename is in use for an updated version, that the old one would only be deleted after the new one was completely downloaded to the device, then a process behind the scenes would delete the old one and put the new one in place.
In lieu of that, they would have newer file names (probably date based) that would allow the end user to pick the most recent price book. And a process through the MDM could be setup to delete old files after x amount of time.I don't have an issue with having the end user ensure they have access to a pricebook, it just may not be the most recent one.
There are just to many details I don't know to have a continued conversation.
