SOTI MobiControl Reviews

Originally, our primary use case was to manage Windows mobile devices, Intermec ruggedized devices, and now our primary use case is iPhones.

It gives us the ability to manage our mobile fleets and push out updates quickly for all of our internal applications to keep the business running. We can push an app update out in minutes, if we get something from the development staff. That's really a critical feature for us. If a bug is reported, once the developers fix it, it's critical for us to get it out to the field users quickly to resolve any issues they're having that are interfering with their ability to do their jobs.

It saves us time, absolutely. If the devices weren't managed and the users had to come back into the office... I don't even know how we would push out something easier than this. In the old days, before we had these managed devices, they would have had to come into the office to get a new version of a piece of software. Fortunately, that's not the way it works now.

The solution also definitely reduces downtime. It helps us get somebody set up very quickly. We use the Apple Device Enrollment Program in conjunction with SOTI, and the ability for us to get a replacement device set up immediately and get someone who is being paid at a high hourly rate - our labor is very expensive - back out in the field, is definitely a time-saver.

When an average salary of an end user is somewhere between $60 and $80 per hour, if you can get all of their apps loaded up within minutes instead of a half hour or an hour, you can see how much that might save, multiplied by several thousand users.

The application deployment features are usually effective. Right now, that function is broken because Apple has some problem with its enterprise deployment. In general, it's very easy to push an app, to get updates out. We manage about 6,000 to 7,000 devices in it right now, and it's very easy for us to make sure that field users get their updates when they need them.

Back in Windows mobile days, SOTI was quite effective. That was one of their strengths. Unfortunately, Apple restricts most of the MDM providers to a limited set of features, so with SOTI it's more about the overall experience, the console, their willingness to jump in and help. The features that Apple does allow are device management and pushing apps.

In general, historically, communication has been the biggest challenge for SOTI. Roadmap, general account maintenance/regular discussions, all were lacking but now they are improving in these areas.

We've had very few outages over the years. We had a couple of them where it was a bug that we had some trouble with but, considering the timespan that we've had the solution implemented, it's been very stable.

Scalability is easy. It's very scalable. Other business areas that are associated with my corporation have very quickly added 400 to 500 users. When we need to add licenses and bump up our device number of accounts, it's very quick. Within 24 to 48 hours they can add capacity for us. 

Like anywhere else, if you can get past the first-tier agents who are reading off a script, SOTI technical support is very good.

We've had several situations over the past couple of years. I don't remember exactly what the causes were, but once we engaged our account representation and escalated, we were able to get a very quick response. We do pay for the high-level maintenance.

This is the first MDM we ever used. At the time, Motorola resold SOTI, and so did Intermec. If you were getting a ruggedized device, you used SOTI. That's what it was for.

The initial setup of the SOTI environment is easy. They do most of it for you.

We went from an on-premise to a hosted solution, and I think the setup for the hosted took about a week. It didn't take very long for them to set it up at all. It was very simple to do.

They're actually in the process of upgrading one of our environments right now, and then we are going to migrate into the upgraded environment. All of that, again, has been done very well. Their change-review process is very effective and careful. Once you get with the technical teams, it's always pretty simple.

The way that we were able to implement MobiControl was with equipment refreshes: "Here's your new device, it's got SOTI on it, you can't take it off."

We didn't use a third-party with MobiControl. Our MDM is a standalone environment.

In terms of ROI, it's all soft costs. It's cost-avoidance, it's efficiency. There isn't really a hard ROI that you could point at. It saves us time for expensive labor representatives and in pushing out applications and updates and getting what our customers need to them quicker. We couldn't manage our mobile inventory or our mobile applications without it.

The pricing is reasonable and the licensing model is very reasonable when compared to some of the competitors in the market. I can speak directly regarding Intune, which is very expensive compared to SOTI. I would recommend SOTI. I think SOTI is also more affordable than MobileIron. SOTI is well-situated in the marketplace, from a commercial standpoint. SOTI is definitely a more commercially reasonable solution than others that are out there.

We evaluated Windows Mobile 6.1, at the time, which was a really long time ago. They were known as an industry leader for Windows mobile devices.

My advice would be not to do on-premise if you don't need to. Take the hosted solution, which is cheaper. Also, pay for the maintenance and the installation to get it done right, and have SOTI help you set it up.

From a performance standpoint, the difference between SOTI and someone else is really based around what Apple allows them to do. If we were using Android, we would have a fantastic and a much different experience. But unfortunately, we don't use Android. It's all on Apple. But overall, the product itself is dependable. They try to add new features all the time. We can take advantage of some of those, being Apple customers. In general, we've been happy with the SOTI.

We don't use the Lockdown or Kiosk Mode feature. We turn off the real-time location services. We're not allowed to use those because we are a union shop, and you cannot track a union technician. In terms of the admin console, my staff doesn't complain about it, so I would assume that it works well.

For our 6,000 managed devices I have about seven people who have administrative access to the environment. Most of them are frontline support, Tier 1 helpdesk, and then there's an environment administrator and an architect. It took about the same number of people to deploy it.

It's on all of our field-service user devices, so that's a significant number. I'm not adding staff in that area, so it will be pretty static for the time being.

Overall, I would rate the solution at eight out of ten. It's a very effective solution.

It's used to manage the devices in our company.

The best feature is its compatibility with various device versions, such as Windows, making it work seamlessly.

In future releases, I would like to see a better configuration of the dashboard.

Moreover, sometimes it's not very user-friendly because you need to change the profile and add the package to the profile before deploying the device.

I have been using this solution for a few years. I currently use the version 15.6.5.

It's stable, even with the cloud version. I haven't encountered

The customer service and support are good. They resolved my issues very easily. The support is very user-friendly.  Even the technicians were Italian were like me, so it was very good.

chose it for the remote control capabilities and its support for various operating systems, like Windows CA, and other software support.

The initial setup was easy for me.

The solution is not expensive.

I would like to compare it with Intune because Intune is a free tool, but I want to understand this software better.

I would recommend using the solution. Overall, I would rate the solution an eight out of ten because it's an industrial product, and it's not easy to configure a product like that.

We primarily use the solution to support all of our mobile devices.

The solution helps us streamline our deployments and troubleshooting. There is just a lot of time saved from avoiding downtime. The troubleshooting and deployment is a great time-saver as well.

The remote control we have helps us a lot.

The solution offers great troubleshooting capabilities. This aspect saves us a lot of time and keeps us from having to instead get products shipped back to us.

The initial setup is pretty straightforward.

The look and feel of the dashboard could be improved. I'm used to the old dashboard. The new dashboard has more steps involved just to get to the information we need. They need to streamline it or align it more with the older version which actually worked better.

The solution could use better reporting.

I have been working with the solution for a long time. It's probably been about ten to 15 years at this point.

The solution is pretty stable. We haven't had issues with crashes. There aren't bugs or glitches. It's good.

The scalability is really great. If a company needs to expand it, they can do so easily. There shouldn't be any problem at all.

We have about 10,000 users on this product and they vary from customer service to ramp agents to baggage agents. The solution has various use cases, so there's a variety of users on it.

Technical support is excellent. They are knowledgeable and responsive. I'd rate them as excellent - a full ten out of ten in terms of the service we've received.

I just came on board and the company was already using the solution. It's the only product I've ever used for these purposes.

The initial setup is not complex. It's really straightforward.

We have a business partnership with SOTI.

This is a pretty decent product. I'd recommend other organizations to check it out.

On a scale from one to ten, I'd rate the solution at a nine.

We use the product to request location tracking. Customers require the ability to track their devices and monitor activities. Additionally, they often request specific reports. In cases where custom reports are needed, we coordinate with the support team to generate them.

The most valuable features of SOTI MobiControl include location tracking, geofencing, remote device control, and SOTI self-service mobile browsers. 

Improving the reporting section would be beneficial for enhancing the product's overall functionality. As the application undergoes continuous development and follows a roadmap, we can anticipate including new features in future releases.

We have been using SOTI MobiControl for three to four months.

The product is highly stable. I rate the stability a ten out of ten.

It offers high scalability, making it suitable for businesses. It is a user-friendly and excellent product for managing mobile devices.

The technical support team resolves the issues daily and provides continuous support.

The initial setup of MobiControl was straightforward. After receiving our initial information, we coordinated with the support team, who promptly set up the cloud-based server. They provided us with login credentials, allowing us to access the console and perform the initial configuration effortlessly.

The deployment typically takes around five to six hours to complete. However, the duration may vary depending on the customer's specific requirements. Our usual deployment process involves collaboration between our sales team and the customer. After receiving the license, we will communicate with the customer to schedule a configuration session. During this session, we work closely with the customer to complete the necessary setup and customization.

I rate the process a ten out of ten.

MobiControl is a fully cloud-based solution. We create policies in the console and enroll devices according to requests and requirements.

SOTI offers enhanced mobile device security by allowing customers to track their devices and providing antivirus protection alongside DB Defender. Additionally, it includes web URL filtering, enabling customization of security measures based on specific requirements.

It is highly effective for mobile device management in the field—the solution functions efficiently.

The remote control feature has significantly impacted support operations for our customers. The in-house IT team utilizes this feature to identify and troubleshoot issues with the devices efficiently.

The location tracking feature has provided numerous benefits for our customers' organizations. With MobiControl, users can track their devices in real-time, ensuring accountability and preventing misuse of company resources.

Integrating SOTI Mobile Control with our customers' existing IT infrastructures and systems is straightforward. No major configurations are required, making the process seamless. MobiControl can easily adapt to any existing system without encountering any issues. 

I recommend converting or purchasing non-supporting devices so the company can work with MobiControl. I rate it a ten.

There are multi-purpose in which we are using SOTI MobiControl. We have barcode scanners and internet devices that are all running Windows. We have a lot of E-devices that we are using SOTI MobiControl for.

The SOTI MobiControl Assist tool is very good for remote controlling devices for troubleshooting. SOTI MobiControl is very helpful.

SOTI MobiControl could improve by being more user-friendly.

I have been using SOTI MobiControl for approximately five years.

SOTI MobiControl has been stable.

I have found SOTI MobiControl a scalable solution.

We have approximately 1300 users using this solution in my organization.

We have no plans to increase the use of the solution. However, this depends on the clients.

The support is very good from SOTI MobiControl. They have good knowledge and are quick to respond.

The installation of SOTI MobiControl is straightforward. However, it can take approximately one hour because you have to create multiple rules and other policies more many devices.

I am able to do the implementation myself.

The deployment of SOTI MobiControl requires only one person and the maintenance of the number of people required depends on shift coverage and some other factors, typically one or two persons are enough to manage SOTI MobiControl.

We have annual licenses to use this solution.

If a company wants to manage the devices in their stores or industry then SOTI MobiControl would be a good choice.

I rate SOTI MobiControl a nine out of ten.

We use it for managing our mobile devices.

MobiControl is vital to our operation. We have to have SOTI to manage all of our devices. Otherwise, we would have different configurations at each site and it wouldn't be centrally managed. We like the fact that SOTI allows us to centrally manage all of our devices.

Among the valuable features are managing configurations of all devices and being able to remote into devices. That's pretty much all we use it for. We send out configurations for each site that has its devices. Each site has a different configuration, and SOTI manages each configuration for each site.

The remote control technology and screen sharing feature help us resolve issues faster. We primarily use them for Windows CE and Android right now, not iOS. These features are good. We like them.

We use the Lockdown Kiosk Mode feature on all of our devices. We use that so that the operators can't change any settings in the background, and so that the applications they run are immediately available to them. It's a good feature. The admin console is also good; no problems with it.

I would like them to improve the process of enrolling Android devices. It's much more difficult to enroll Android devices than it is Windows CE devices. There are a lot more steps required.

The stability is good. We've had very few cases with SOTI. Over a five-year period we've had something like ten cases.

The scalability is good. We have two groups that manage SOTI. I'm in manufacturing and I have a counterpart in logistics. He has more facilities, so he has deployment servers around the globe, whereas I just have one. 

That is going to change in the next couple of years. We're going to be putting in new deployment servers, probably in Europe and China, likely next year. From what I've understood, that's going to be pretty easily done. We're just going to use a management server in the United States and updates will be sent to all the deployment servers that we set up. 

So it seems really scalable, and we've purchased an additional quantity of licenses that we think we'll need for that deployment.

Technical support has been good. They're very responsive. We had basic support before, but now we have the Enterprise Support. We just got that, so I can't evaluate it. But the basic support we had was very good. They were very responsive. That's the main good thing to look out for: making sure they answer emails and the like.

The setup was straightforward. We have the Enterprise Support package, so they walked us through how to set it up.

In terms of our implementation strategy, right now we're upgrading from version 12.4 to 14.2. It's taken a couple months, but I just set up an on-premise test environment to start moving some pilot devices over. Once that's complete, I'll upgrade the test environment to 14.2, and we'll test it for two or three weeks and then schedule a time to upgrade the production environment.

I am doing the deployment myself, but the admins at each site are helping with the testing process. Once I've completed the test environment, the site admins will test their devices, and I'll do the upgrade after they're done testing.

We used SOTI directly. We have that Enterprise Support and they are required, according to that support model, to help us walk through that. Our experience with them has been very good.

It has saved us money because the manpower needed to manage all the devices, without an MDM, would be a lot. But I can't give any specific numbers.

It makes sense to have scanners on SOTI MobiControl, but it makes less sense to have printers because there are fewer features for them, while the price is the same for both. If they had a lower license fee for printers, we would probably want to purchase those. But since it's the same cost, no matter what kind of device it is, we've opted out of doing printers. There are just not enough features to really justify it.

Plan early and give yourself enough time to plan. Make sure you know what the customer needs as soon as possible. Make sure they understand what they need as well. Test everything. That's probably the best advice I could give, even though it's common sense.

We don't really use application deployment. We don't deploy the actual application itself using SOTI. The application is preinstalled on the devices. We do deploy certain configuration files. We also don't use the real-time location services. 

I wouldn't say MobiControl has reduced device downtime, it's just made it easier to configure the devices.

We have about 40 factories where we're using it. That is probably going to double over the next two years.

I'm the main administrator for the solution, and we have a local admin at each site or group of sites. They have fewer admin responsibilities, but they have admin over their particular sites, their particular folders and devices. I have control over everything. My counterpart in logistics has been using SOTI for a long time, so I lean on him a little bit for his expertise. So it's really two guys who support the system.

We use it for the management of our store mobile devices. We have 12,000-plus devices managed by SOTI. We actively deploy applications on a weekly basis, sometimes multiple times a week.

We use the remote control technology and screen-sharing features for our enterprise Android devices. Those features definitely do allow us to resolve some issues faster because we can work with the store associate to have them do whatever they're doing on the floor, and we are able to actively look at the data and figure out what's going on.

While the solution hasn't helped with device downtime per se, but it has helped us resolve application issues.

One of the most valuable features is the remote control. If there are issues in the field, we can remote into those devices and see what kind of issues they are.

Obviously, the other one would be just how easy it is to deploy applications, and we pretty can much guarantee the applications are going to be set up as needed on our enterprise devices.

The management console could be improved to be a little bit more user-friendly. Some of the stuff is a little bit cumbersome, some of it feels like an engineering solution, but otherwise it's pretty good.

Most of the time it's stable. We were on the phone with SOTI pretty much every day when we were doing an upgrade. For a week or so it was pretty rough going. Since then, it's been mostly stable.

When we looked to scale out the solution to manage more devices, it became a little bit cumbersome, as far as managing when devices checked in, managing multiple deployment servers, etc.

Once you figure out how to scale it, it seems to work pretty well.

Sometimes tech support is hit or miss. Sometimes it's more an issue of trying to find the right person who can help you resolve the issue. Typically, you're dealing with an initial-help consultant, but most of the time it requires, at least in our instances, people who have more knowledge of the product, to be able to assist us.

We didn't fully switch. SOTI offset some of the functionality because our legacy platform couldn't support Android devices. That's why we introduced SOTI into the mix. One of the reasons that we chose SOTI, as far as Android goes, is that it was the most advanced platform at the time. We were used to the legacy Windows mobile devices, being able to remote control and see everything on the devices. SOTI allowed us to continue everything that we were used to.

The initial setup was pretty straightforward. Our deployment strategy is to do pilots, expanded pilots, and full roll-outs. The amount of time it takes depends on what we're doing and how big the application is.

Everything was done internally and we worked with SOTI directly to resolve any issues.

The only two we were looking at were SOTI and AirWatch.

Make sure to see if all the features meet your criteria. That is really the only thing that varies between MDMs, the features.

We don't use the Lockdown Kiosk Mode feature of the solution. I actually created our own version of the lockdown kiosk feature because we needed more control than what SOTI can provide.

We don't use the real-time location services since we are corporate and everything is local. We don't need to see where devices are geolocated. As for the admin console, it could be better but it's not bad; we're running a slightly older version of SOTI.

The device users are store-associates. The staff for deployment and maintenance of the solution are just two individuals, myself and another engineer. We handle the whole system.

I would rate SOTI at eight out ten. Honestly, there's no product out there that I would ever give a ten, because every product has nuances and issues. My rating of SOTI is more along the lines of the need for them to keep enhancing it and making it a better product, making it easier to use. Most organizations are looking for a more-or-less automated solution that can run and maintain itself, rather than needing a lot of man-hours.

We mainly use it in transport, for example, in police and governemnt.

The solution allows for very good remote control. We only have to get one application and have everything we need under the license. 

It's a very complete tool.

We've had a good user experience overall. 

The licensing is simple. It's just one license to gain access to all of the functionality. Other competitors have different versions, like premium and standard, where some features are only available for one version. This isn't the case with this product.

There is a good "closed mode" where you can use only one application or certain chosen applications.

It is very fast. It's very responsive compared to other applications. 

The pricing could be a bit less. Maybe if there were tiers, it would be better as then companies could lower the pricing by going to the lower deployment model.

I've been using the solution for five years. 

The solution is stable. I'd rate the solution seven or eight out of ten. 

The scalability has been enough for us. We haven't had issues scaling. I'd rate the scalability ten out of ten. 

We will continue to use the solution. However, we are open to looking into other solutions as well. This solution is meeting our needs for now.

The initial setup is very simple. 

We do have outside help for deployment. I have a local company that supports us, and the feedback we get is that it is very easy to set up. 

We have witnessed an ROI while using this solution. 

The cost is different, depending on if you are using cloud or on-premises deployments. 

There is a bit of a high cost. They don't have standard versus premium so we are paying a bit more since we don't have the choice to choose a lower tier.

We upgrade regularly and are on the latest version of the solution. I'm not sure of the version number. We use it both on-premises and cloud. 

I'd rate the solution nine out of ten. It's a fine solution.