What needs improvement with SOTI MobiControl?

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.

The cost could be a bit better, especially in emerging markets like South Africa.

SOTI MobiControl is very good for Android and Windows, but it should add a little bit on the Apple side because it doesn't have much control on the Apple side. SOTI MobiControl should have more control over the devices.

We found some issues when we switched on the product's kiosk mode. We were not able to access a few URLs. Whenever we try to access the application, it redirects to Microsoft's login page. The URL is blocked due to some restriction policies. They assured us that they would fix the bugs in the upcoming version. There could be a feature for user ID management. It would help multiple users to log in to the same device using their unique credentials. They could allow users to log in with AD accounts.

The product’s features for managing Windows devices need improvement.

SOTI MobiControl's user interface is very tough to handle and should be made more user-friendly.

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.

SOTI MobiControl needs to improve its geographic interface. The remote screen of the solution gets stuck at times. So, that needs to be improved. For future releases, my suggestion for improvement is that somewhere in the setting and policy profile, where it's a little bit complicated. So if something can improve on that to make it user-friendly and easy to understand, then it would be better.

When it comes to areas of improvement, it would be great to have easier access to information on the Internet because it's not always easy to find what you need. The documentation could be improved in SOTI MobiControl.

They should improve the lockdown feature. Presently, it gets revoked sometimes, and the user can do some unintended activity. Sometimes, the mobiles get stuck as well. They should work on these kinds of operational issues.

They have legacy design architecture, and sometimes the support isn't helpful. Sometimes the innovative features are very difficult.

I would like to see some SMS integration so people can send data directly from a mobile phone through SMS when there's no internet. This feature would be good because there are some places in Africa where the internet stability isn't that good. During the voting process, they send the result through SMS. If SOTI can add the functionality where some of the clients can send information offline, via SMS, then that would be a good improvement for some places where there isn't a lot of internet stability.

I have used Microsoft Intune but it is more complicated than SOTI MobiControl.

I wish that I had some more tutorials and educational resources on how to use the product.

They could make it easier to configure. While setting it up from scratch, I find many networking issues, and I have to call our network people for them, but our network people don't understand. It's a nightmare to try to communicate to them that this port needs to be open, or this needs to be opened here or there. Networking people are very security conscious, and they're wary of doing anything. So, if you can't tell them exactly why they need to do something, they get really paranoid. SOTI could do a better job of making the configuration of their software easier to understand and more clear. The prerequisites should be clear. They should clearly specify what is required to get this software working. There should be a list of prerequisites that is easier to understand and trust.

SOTI MobiControl could improve by being more user-friendly.

Its user interface needs to be improved.

Companies like SOTI and Mobile Iron are working with Google to help them manage these devices and eliminate the use of bar code scanner sales and mobile device sales. That's kind of crazy. The majority of the devices that we sell use Android OS. With the latest versions of Android that are coming out, like 10 and 11, you have to have MDM software to register devices with Google. You can't get them online without going through an MDM, it's kind of this funny new aspect of Android, and it's all designed so they can control all their Android devices in the future. With the way things are licensed and the direction that Android and Google are going, they're trying to eliminate old legacy devices. There's no way to stop that unless you control the licensing. So if a company buys a hundred new devices, they have to register with Google. Once they're registered, if a new company tries to sell those hundred devices five years later and another company tries to register the devices, Google can shut them down and say that they're not authorized to relicense this product

There are complexities around networking and how to configure Mobicontrol into a network with the security requirements, et cetera. SOTI is currently making changes to the platform to simplify it further for an even better user experience. It would be helpful if the product offered more integration and more features around the iOS and macOS platforms.

The pricing policy of SOTI is not stable. You buy it today at one price, and the following year, it becomes something like 5% or 7% higher. From my point of view, SOTI is a little bit weak in terms of implementation on the new Windows 10 devices, and they have to work on this. It can't compete with Intune and other solutions when it comes to Windows implementation. It's work well with iOS and Android.

Adding more features for iOS devices would be an improvement. I found that there's a learning curve to kind of poke around and get used to the dashboard. Otherwise, it is pretty user-friendly.

In terms of the migration from AirWatch to SOTI, we had a specific use case to migrate. If there was already an existing setup on VMware Workspace ONE AirWatch, we had to figure out how to set it up or realign it on SOTI. It is a good feature but still needs to be improved in terms of the number of new devices to which it can reconfigure. There is a limitation if you want to migrate from the AirWatch to SOTI.

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.

Hopefully, the anti-virus will be available for Windows in the future. There is room for improvement when it comes to the ability to customize devices and choosing what information goes onto them.

Identity integration.

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.

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.

For the most part, the application deployment works well. Occasionally, when moving a gun, we'll see that we have to manually intervene, when working with the setup.

You need to get used to the admin console. I think it could be improved. It's not the best I've seen. Certainly, the software has a lot of features so you necessarily have some complexity in the interface, but I've seen better. They could make it easier in certain aspects. Once you know it and how to navigate through it, it's good. When you're not trained on it, that could lead to some difficult situations where you say, "Where is what I need? What do I do?" If you don't know how to navigate through it, you could get lost. It's a complex interface in that regard. You need to be trained. Development of lockdown screens, and certain aspects of the application, are still cumbersome and difficult to work. A certain subset of the features of the application are sometimes difficult to work with due to the complexity or maturity of certain modules. One of the main pain points I have had with Soti is support for the latest device. That could cause a problem. Let's say Samsung comes out with its latest device and Sprint and Verizon start to sell that device, and we have a few of those devices to support. Sometimes you need to have an agent on the device and there are times when the agent is not fully compatible with the new device. That can cause problems. Certain stuff crashes. They need to catch up with the latest devices. Generally, when we have difficulties, it's because the phone is brand new and SOTI doesn't have a connector or agent that is fully compatible with the device. Any MDM always has to make sure that its agents support the latest phones that come out. Sometimes it's difficult. They have to really work on making sure they lock down a strong relationship with the device manufacturers so that they can work in advance on their agents before the phone is released to the wider market.

The main feature that we would like to have with Soti is the ability to push an iOS update without having people come to my office. That is the main reason why we went with Soti. And that feature is not working on my version. There's room for improvement. There are some other little features that would be nice to have, like being able to just have it play a tone. For example, if you misplaced your iPad somewhere in the room, it should be able to play a tone. They could organize the software a little bit better, where you access things on the console. It seems like I have to click in three different places in order to get it to go to one area. I should be able to access pretty much any point of the server, whatever I need to touch, from a panel, without having to go click on a menu, then click on the profiles, then click over on Server and go back up to the top and click on the type of device that I have, just to get my applications to show. It would be nicer if it were a little bit smoother. I wish I had the ability to select an app singly and install or refresh it, instead of having to go into the application controls and assign it to a group. I wish there was a spot that listed all my applications. I could go into a single one and refresh or update. It's not very easily accessible, per application. You go in and you have to create a rule and in that rule you list all of the applications you want in there, and that's really your only access point to it. I don't even know, a lot of times, if there's an update available for it because I can't just go into that one application and see.

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.

There's always room for improvement. One of the things that I would like to see in the future is more control over the application layer. That has less to do with a technical approach, but more a business approach by SOTI, to look at, "Hey, can we partner with Google, can we partner with somebody like that." Most of our devices are Android, they're Google related, so we need access from Google to do certain things. There are ways around that, but right now that's something that we're really looking for. How can we control the Apple Air? How can we get into that app? One of the apps that we use all the time is Google Maps. Our drivers need navigation and that's something that we really look for: How can we control the Apple Air, how can we make sure that this app doesn't try to update in the middle of the day when our driver needs it? How can we make sure that this app is always available when the driver needs it? We've run into those issues in the past. Also, training - tips, tricks, best practices, those kinds of things - while I believe we have a training console, I've been through some of it - that's where they could improve. If they could push that a little more, provide some content that's not hidden away in another portal, that would be great. They could have different flavors of training. A video is super-helpful, even if it's a video to show some best practices and the way that things are set up. And then, offering a one-on-one or monthly webinar for a captive audience would be great too.

If the interface was a little bit more intuitive, more easily allowed me to get to where I want to be, that would be a little bit nicer, as far as the file sync goes. I think there's a lot more functionality to this that I'm not utilizing. I wasn't really given extensive training on the product. I'm using it for just what I need it for, but there's probably a lot more than I could use it for. So more training from the account management team or Professional Services, so that I knew exactly what the functionalities are and the scope of what the solution could bring to us, would be helpful.

If SOTI had an in-your-account chat feature, that would be super-helpful. I've been having some trouble with getting ahold of someone to help me when I have an issue within SOTI or with a device or with my account. And with staff members of SOTI being in Canada, the time difference doesn't tend to help. They have fewer people in the office at times that I'm in the office. So if SOTI is able to build in a chat feature where it allows a user to chat with someone while they're in their account and trying to figure out a problem, that would be super-helpful for me and my company. That is one of the biggest things we have struggled with, with SOTI: finding what's wrong with our account at, say, 2:00 pm, when no one at SOTI is available to help; or when our account managers have stepped away from their office or email and they can't get to us, but we need the device working. Also, one thing I asked our account manager and one of the tech support agents about, previously, was: There is a feature within SOTI that I've seen where I can right-click my device and it would allow me to locate my device. However, the thing we've struggled with is that SOTI requires me to have the Find My iPhone feature turned on. What I want to know is, can SOTI, within their mobile device management system, as we're downloading that into the device, have something that reads the location without the Find My iPhone - or Find My Device on the Apple iPad - turned on? With the privacy setting on the 300 iPads that we use, we allow the location to be found, but we don't have the Find My iPhone feature turned on. So if SOTI can somehow build it so that I can locate my device without needing Find My iPhone turned on, that would be another super-helpful thing that would benefit our company. Another issue is that if someone is using an Apple device and they're on the SIM card for data, it does not push the SOTI management system through immediately. It only works when you have it on WiFi. That's something I've noticed as we're troubleshooting and deploying devices into the field. Some of our sales managers have had an issue with this, waiting for SOTI, plus our company's app, to go through to their iPads. It does not work on a SIM card only, it only works through WiFi. Additionally, reporting could be better. When I try to run a report, it doesn't have a filter or even a feature where I can choose what I have in the report. That's been a struggle since the first time I used it so I just don't touch it anymore.

We're not using MobiControl to its capacity. We're not driving the ports out of it, we are just starting to enter it. It's a function of time and personnel, in getting to all the other attributes it has. At this point in time, until my staff and I can really dig into MobiControl and take it to another level, I don't think it would be fair for me to talk about improving anything. And right now, I probably couldn't tell you what to improve. We're at a level that SOTI MobiControl can far outdo what we're using it for right now. I would not be doing MobiControl justice if I said they have to improve something, because I'm not working from a position of being a super-user, I'm just becoming one right now.

The previous version, for example, had the networking signal and that feature was great. When we were troubleshooting, we could find the level of the network I/O. If the worker was working in a corner of the warehouse where the signal was not as strong as in another part of the warehouse, we could say, "Just move a little and you will have coverage for your device." That was great. I don't know why they removed it from the newer version. The interface works really well with Internet Explorer but when I use the router and I try to get a huge number of devices the max goes from 25 to 50 to 100 or 200 or 250. I don't know why I cannot go forward with the 250 on Internet Explorer. On the screen, when collections are in transfer, I cannot move or see the whole collection.

The quality of the support service is poor. The headquarters are not very responsive. Additionally, the actual quality of the software has its drawbacks.

We're deploying an application upgrade. We can't do more than three or four devices at once, and we don't know if the device actually received the upgrade. There's no indicator saying it's 100 percent complete until everything is done. Let's say I work East to West. I work on the East Coast and I want to confirm it is done with the upgrades in that region. I won't know until I actually go into it. There's no indicator telling me that it's complete.