Director of Technology at a educational organization with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Top 20
2023-05-11T18:55:00Z
May 11, 2023
I believe they've really worked on this, but there could be a deeper integration of their tools within the Google Workspace platform. For example, for a while, we had to have our own server on our network to actually sync Little SIS with Google Workspace. They've since gotten rid of that, but there are other little nuances where it would be nice to see more integration from their tools directly with Google Workspace without a "middleman" or a "hop, skip, and a jump" process. If they can continue deeply integrating their services with Google, that would be a marginal improvement. It's a solid product, but there is always room for improvement. Beyond the direct integration, they could make some of their interfaces and tools a little more user-friendly.
Director of Technology at a non-tech company with 501-1,000 employees
Real User
Top 20
2023-05-10T18:33:00Z
May 10, 2023
Speaking to the empowerment of teachers, and maybe this already exists, but I would like to see them develop and market more for teachers. Maybe they could hire teachers or teacher leaders to deliver the same types of programs and opportunities that Amplified seems to have been focused on with technical directors and tech leaders. They could do the same thing for the teachers. Teachers are definitely willing and interested when it comes to learning more about the technologies that they're using. That could be an area of growth for Amplified.
It would be great if we had a central place to log in and see all the different things we have access to as a member. Currently, there's no centralized place like that. There are things that we pay for that we could easily forget. It could be that we don't need a particular feature right now, but in a year, when we need that feature, we won't even really realize that they have it. It would be nice if they had a centralized place for all the features you get with a membership, and to know how many support hours we have remaining.
In the Little SIS interface, when when I'm doing a student search and trying to see where they're rostered, for example, it would be nice to have a little more insight into what the students are actually doing. It would be good to see how much time they spend in their Google Classrooms and how much time they're expending working on assignments. That's one thing where it's somewhat limited.
Immediately after the CDW acquisition, some of our expectations were a little disrupted. For example, when you purchased Chromebooks, you would get service credit that you could turn into hours. Because we purchased the Chromebooks from CDW, and now CDW also owns the company where we would redeem those credits, I don't quite understand that dynamic, but that was impacted. In the last couple of weeks or months, it seems that they're trying to find paths to being flexible with those service credits and stack. That is one area that they may be slowly catching up on, after the acquisition. But there was a year or so after the acquisition when we were having to purchase more hours out of our budget, rather than use our credits for those hours that we got for purchasing Chromebooks. But they are finding ways to do that appropriately now. It's not quite the same, but it's getting better.
The support is good, and we usually get a response within 24 hours, but the response times could be more efficient. Sometimes, speaking with someone one to one is helpful, and some issues are more elevated from our perspective but less from the global perspective of Amplified, where it seems like less of a problem. Quicker attention in this regard would be a welcome improvement.
Learn what your peers think about CDW Google Workspace for Education. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: February 2025.
A web interface for some of the information stored on Sheets would be a welcome change, especially with the ability to delegate to Level 1 techs or even technical coordinators within the schools. Then they could assist in the management or see some statistics. Much of what Amplified does is Sheet driven, and I like the Sheets, but having a web GUI is better for some.
I wish Amplified would develop a few more tools. There are a few functions that I want to do through an interface like Gopher. For example, I want a tool that lets me quickly browse my organization's publicly available Google documents. I want an administrator to be able to check which documents everyone on the internet can see with a link. It would help everyone in the organization understand what they've shared and with whom. It would also be great to have a tool to look at all the Google Drives in our district and who has access. More in-person training classes would be nice. They used to come to a school or organization and host seminars, but they stopped doing that. It seems to be entirely online. That provided some additional contact that people could leverage for advice after class. I miss that, but it's hard to criticize Amplified because they do everything well.
I haven't seen the same level of outreach since CDW purchased Amplified. When they were a separate company, there was a little more flexibility and a more personal touch. CDW purchased Amplified IT to add more resources, but I think I've lost that direct connection to the team that I used to have. I would like to see them return to the customer service model they had before the acquisition. In the past, I could contact our rep, and he'd call me back within minutes. I could have a one-on-one call with their product expert or a video session to figure out a problem. I never felt like I was being nickeled and dimed on that. Also, if you purchase tools from them, you should be entitled to join their communities for free. They charge a separate fee to be a part of that community. If you don't qualify for that incentive, it could be cost-prohibitive for a school to purchase that part. The community was the most helpful aspect, and I'm no longer a part of it. I feel disconnected from that group.
CDW could be better at marketing precisely what they and their product can do. There are sometimes cases where we didn't know the company had a specific capability. It can also take some work to get ahold of the representative we need; our rep is excellent, but we sometimes need to schedule with others, and there can be delays when scheduling in Google Meet. The system works fine for the most part, but it would be nice if we could bring someone onsite occasionally.
Little SIS should be built into Google Workspace for Education. It shouldn't be a third-party service that we need to buy. When we pay for the Education Plus platform, the admin should be able to completely control Google Classroom. Google's standard learning management system doesn't give admins much visibility and control aside from seeing who's a member and what classes are happening.
CDW Google Workspace for Education provides educational institutions with customizable tools, a Google Admin console for management, and extensive training support. It aids in managing Google Classroom and enhances the educational experience through resourceful integrations.CDW Google Workspace for Education offers a comprehensive suite of tools tailored to educational needs. With features like Google for Education Audit, Little SIS management, and the Gopher series, institutions can...
I believe they've really worked on this, but there could be a deeper integration of their tools within the Google Workspace platform. For example, for a while, we had to have our own server on our network to actually sync Little SIS with Google Workspace. They've since gotten rid of that, but there are other little nuances where it would be nice to see more integration from their tools directly with Google Workspace without a "middleman" or a "hop, skip, and a jump" process. If they can continue deeply integrating their services with Google, that would be a marginal improvement. It's a solid product, but there is always room for improvement. Beyond the direct integration, they could make some of their interfaces and tools a little more user-friendly.
Speaking to the empowerment of teachers, and maybe this already exists, but I would like to see them develop and market more for teachers. Maybe they could hire teachers or teacher leaders to deliver the same types of programs and opportunities that Amplified seems to have been focused on with technical directors and tech leaders. They could do the same thing for the teachers. Teachers are definitely willing and interested when it comes to learning more about the technologies that they're using. That could be an area of growth for Amplified.
It would be great if we had a central place to log in and see all the different things we have access to as a member. Currently, there's no centralized place like that. There are things that we pay for that we could easily forget. It could be that we don't need a particular feature right now, but in a year, when we need that feature, we won't even really realize that they have it. It would be nice if they had a centralized place for all the features you get with a membership, and to know how many support hours we have remaining.
In the Little SIS interface, when when I'm doing a student search and trying to see where they're rostered, for example, it would be nice to have a little more insight into what the students are actually doing. It would be good to see how much time they spend in their Google Classrooms and how much time they're expending working on assignments. That's one thing where it's somewhat limited.
Immediately after the CDW acquisition, some of our expectations were a little disrupted. For example, when you purchased Chromebooks, you would get service credit that you could turn into hours. Because we purchased the Chromebooks from CDW, and now CDW also owns the company where we would redeem those credits, I don't quite understand that dynamic, but that was impacted. In the last couple of weeks or months, it seems that they're trying to find paths to being flexible with those service credits and stack. That is one area that they may be slowly catching up on, after the acquisition. But there was a year or so after the acquisition when we were having to purchase more hours out of our budget, rather than use our credits for those hours that we got for purchasing Chromebooks. But they are finding ways to do that appropriately now. It's not quite the same, but it's getting better.
The support is good, and we usually get a response within 24 hours, but the response times could be more efficient. Sometimes, speaking with someone one to one is helpful, and some issues are more elevated from our perspective but less from the global perspective of Amplified, where it seems like less of a problem. Quicker attention in this regard would be a welcome improvement.
It would be good to offer more focused teaching and learning updates accessible to teaching staff.
A web interface for some of the information stored on Sheets would be a welcome change, especially with the ability to delegate to Level 1 techs or even technical coordinators within the schools. Then they could assist in the management or see some statistics. Much of what Amplified does is Sheet driven, and I like the Sheets, but having a web GUI is better for some.
I wish Amplified would develop a few more tools. There are a few functions that I want to do through an interface like Gopher. For example, I want a tool that lets me quickly browse my organization's publicly available Google documents. I want an administrator to be able to check which documents everyone on the internet can see with a link. It would help everyone in the organization understand what they've shared and with whom. It would also be great to have a tool to look at all the Google Drives in our district and who has access. More in-person training classes would be nice. They used to come to a school or organization and host seminars, but they stopped doing that. It seems to be entirely online. That provided some additional contact that people could leverage for advice after class. I miss that, but it's hard to criticize Amplified because they do everything well.
I haven't seen the same level of outreach since CDW purchased Amplified. When they were a separate company, there was a little more flexibility and a more personal touch. CDW purchased Amplified IT to add more resources, but I think I've lost that direct connection to the team that I used to have. I would like to see them return to the customer service model they had before the acquisition. In the past, I could contact our rep, and he'd call me back within minutes. I could have a one-on-one call with their product expert or a video session to figure out a problem. I never felt like I was being nickeled and dimed on that. Also, if you purchase tools from them, you should be entitled to join their communities for free. They charge a separate fee to be a part of that community. If you don't qualify for that incentive, it could be cost-prohibitive for a school to purchase that part. The community was the most helpful aspect, and I'm no longer a part of it. I feel disconnected from that group.
CDW could be better at marketing precisely what they and their product can do. There are sometimes cases where we didn't know the company had a specific capability. It can also take some work to get ahold of the representative we need; our rep is excellent, but we sometimes need to schedule with others, and there can be delays when scheduling in Google Meet. The system works fine for the most part, but it would be nice if we could bring someone onsite occasionally.
Little SIS should be built into Google Workspace for Education. It shouldn't be a third-party service that we need to buy. When we pay for the Education Plus platform, the admin should be able to completely control Google Classroom. Google's standard learning management system doesn't give admins much visibility and control aside from seeing who's a member and what classes are happening.