IBM MaaS360 vs. KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA)

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
IBM MaaS360
Score 8.5 out of 10
N/A
IBM MaaS360 is a mobile security offering developed by Fiberlink, acquired and owned by IBM since early 2014.
$4
Per Client
KACE Systems Management Appliance
Score 10.0 out of 10
N/A
Quest now offers the KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) as an IT Asset tracking and management appliance (also available as a virtual deployment if hardware requirements are met). Beyond discovery, inventory tracking and license management, KACE emphasizes automating software upgrade distribution with minimal end-user disruption, featuring remote replication for multi-site upgrades and rollouts. KACE SMA may be bundled with KACE Cloud Mobile Device Management (MDM) to form a complete UEM…N/A
Pricing
IBM MaaS360KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA)
Editions & Modules
Essentials
USD 4.00
Per Client
Deluxe
USD 5.00
Per Client
Premier
USD 6.25
Per Client
Enterprise
USD 9.00
Per Client
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
IBM MaaS360KACE Systems Management Appliance
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
IBM MaaS360KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA)
Features
IBM MaaS360KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA)
IT Asset Management
Comparison of IT Asset Management features of Product A and Product B
IBM MaaS360
-
Ratings
KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA)
8.6
Ratings
9% above category average
Software and hardware inventory tracking00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
License management00 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Asset lifecycle monitoring00 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Contract management00 Ratings6.00 Ratings
Asset relationship management00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
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User Ratings
IBM MaaS360KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA)
Likelihood to Recommend
8.1
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.6
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
9.4
(0 ratings)
8.6
(0 ratings)
Availability
9.1
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
8.2
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
9.0
(0 ratings)
9.5
(0 ratings)
Online Training
9.1
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
8.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Configurability
9.1
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
8.8
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
9.1
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
9.1
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
9.1
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
IBM MaaS360KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA)
Likelihood to Recommend
Enrolling bulk devices through the Device Enrollment Program (DEP) is simple, straightforward, and quick. Multiple methods for device enrollment are available, including barcode scanning, email, and manual entry via the platform. App synchronization between Apple Business Manager (ABM) and the MaaS360 platform occurs swiftly. Additionally, app distribution and removal are efficiently managed on the platform.
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I think it has added value for any organization. It reduced our Tech Support cost by: -Supporting users anywhere -Reducing users downtime as well keep them informed with the status of their tickets -Managing software and hardware actively -Processing automation -deploy mass software installs, patching or updates - Provide approved software's to users to install without IT help
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Pros
  • It's a robust and intuitive UEM that it is very easy to use and Install.
  • It's easy to protect our data and information on every device.
  • Increase mobile security and threat management. Hence improves our cyber security.
  • Seamless integration with all our security system to boost our security on all our devices.
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  • Helpdesk ticketing, the software allows not only the building of a portal that the users can log into to submit the tickets, but it also allows them to generate a ticket via email, which is a huge successful implementation that we have had.
  • Live inventory tracking. With an agent installed on a PC, as long as we maintain the data, it can report back information that is crucial to the machine.
  • Web portal makes for easy maintenance and implementation of the software and updates.
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Cons
  • After attempts to reset a passcode sometimes a phone will become disabled. When a phones IOS is locked their is no way to successfully send a passcode without wiping the phone
  • Need an easier way to change the email if you create it wrong and the phone is already deployed. Sometimes the selective wipe does not always work as it should.
  • Too many alerts.
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  • Administrative interface can be slow at times, and does require some decent PC specifications to run adequately.
  • The cost of the KACE solution can be very expensive depending on how many agents you plan to deploy
  • There is a learning curve in order to master KACE's capabilities - however Quest does provide lots of resources to dig into. It is not as intuitive as it could be.
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Likelihood to Renew
Rock solid solution with highly accessible support when needed. We do not want to interact with MaaS360 on a daily basis but when an issue occurs we are always able to find resolution due to the various support resources we have access to
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No answers on this topic
Usability
Having years of experience with MDM and experiencing the evolution of the granularity of the functionality MDM's have had to evolve, no MDM is ever "easy" to use. MaaS360 rises to the top however, because zero day changes are always ahead of the competition. A huge benefit with MaaS360 and IBM's approach to supporting these changes is that they seldom change configuration work flows. Competing Vendors always arbitrarily change workflows which requires a significnat ongoing learning curve in order to maintain technical competence
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Overall, the software is simple to understand and use. That said, most vendors have been slowly updating their user interfaces to HTML5 so that they have a clean updated look and feel. This is where KACE falls short in that the UI is great for a packaged software 10 years ago. This isn't a major limitation as the software is really meant primarily for technology users.
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Reliability and Availability
Never had an outage in 11 years of using this solution
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No answers on this topic
Performance
typically very consistent but occasionaly some lag
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No answers on this topic
Support Rating
MaaS360's phone support has been decent the few times I have used it. In addition the person who on-boarded us has been available for additional questions after the process was over. However IBM could do a much better job in creating a user-friendly search engine and white-paper database to help people find topics. Right now finding info is more based on searching through white papers themselves.
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KACE does exactly what you need it to do, it maintains your computer environment. You can set patch schedules, inventory computers, setup software catalogs; basically everything you need to ensure the computers on your network are being actively managed. This is all with little need for constant configuration or updating the setup.
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Online Training
The resources made available to me by IBM were Stellar. These resources remain available today and are extremely important as technology changes
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No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
To implement IBM Security MaaS360 with Watson, follow these steps: Set up the platform, enroll devices, configure policies and settings, monitor and manage devices. Implementing it can help organizations to securely manage and monitor the use of mobile devices and related resources in their networks, improving security and productivity for their users.
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No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
Intune claims to be free, but if you need certain features you actually have to pay for it. So the "free" claim does not fly. In addition, pushing policies can take hours with Intune. In comparison with IBM MaaS360, where policies are changed within minutes. The usability and versatility of IBM MaaS360 is no match for Intune
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For our size organization, KACE offered a more complete solution that was easier to understand and deploy when compared to Ivanti. It was also more affordable to get the features we wanted. Ivanti might be more appropriate in a larger environment. You would definitely need someone that was primarily dedicated to run behind Ivanti.
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Scalability
Rock solid, consistent solution
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No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
  • MaaS360 has helped reduce the costs associated with managing and securing mobile services, like the cost of IT support and the cost of replacing lost devices.
  • MaaS360 has helped our remote sales team make sure they always have the latest information hence reducing any miscommunication with the customer.
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  • The time savings on Windows patching through the KACE SMA alone has helped us in saving hundreds of technician hours.
  • Ticket tracking through the KACE SMA has reduced the amount of calls to our helpdesk asking about the status of a ticket.
  • The tracking of licensed software through the KACE SMA has kept us in compliance and saved time from having to run around and look to see where the software is installed.
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ScreenShots

IBM MaaS360 Screenshots

Screenshot of the SaaS portal & dashboard for UEM administratorsScreenshot of where secure user access to corporate email, contacts, calendar, apps and docs can be configuredScreenshot of a view of hardware inventory, where administrators can take action across all device types