For managed service providers (MSPs), efficient software deployment is crucial for meeting clients' evolving business needs. MSPs are tasked with deploying application updates, software upgrades, and critical patches to ensure users have uninterrupted access to necessary tools, minimizing downtime and potential disruptions. Effective deployment necessitates comprehensive visibility into each client's IT infrastructure and key systems, enabling swift resolution of any deployment challenges. Leveraging automated software deployment tools will streamline these tasks with minimal manual intervention, significantly reducing the burden on MSPs.
Software distribution for heterogeneous environment
Endpoint Central MSP allows you to distribute software packages and automate software deployment and mobile app distribution in all the devices across your clients' networks—including Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android, tvOS, and chromeOS—from a central console using an automated deployment tool and without any user intervention.
Our software deployment automation tools ensure that the distribution of all packages in a working environment will run automatically. The application comes with a feature set that has advanced options to offer greater flexibility and control over the automated deployment process. This feature set includes template-based deployment, a centralized software repository, optimized software metering, a client-side self-service portal, customizable application catalogs, pre-deployment activities, post-deployment activities, installation/uninstallation using the same package, and scheduled deployment.
Template-based deployment
For deploying applications, you first need to create software packages, which can generally get tedious. However, with our automated software installation tool that has over 10,000+ pre-defined application templates—complete with silent switches—you can create packages instantly. These ready-to-deploy software packages save time, make the software installation process faster and more accurate, and eventually help in automated software deployment.
Centralized software repository
Any software package that has been created using our automated software deployment tool is stored in a central software repository. Once saved, these packages can be reused multiple times for the software deployment process.
Optimized software metering
Software metering is a powerful tool that empowers MSPs to optimize software license management and reduce clients' IT expenses. It goes beyond simply tracking software installations; this feature analyzes actual software usage to identify opportunities for cost savings.
Many of your clients are unknowingly paying for licenses for software that is rarely or never used. This can be due to factors like:
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Unused pre-installed software that comes with devices.
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Deployment of software for specific projects that are no longer active.
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End users installing unauthorized software.
Software metering tools like Endpoint Central MSP track and analyze software usage data across your clients' networks and eliminate unnecessary renewals and upgrades across your clients' systems. This data typically includes:
- Installation details
When and where software was installed.
- Active usage duration
The amount of time users spend actively using the software.
- Launch frequency
How often a program is opened.
Software metering tools typically provide three key reports
- Software metering rules summary
This report details software usage based on pre-defined metering rules. It shows the number of installations, active users, and usage duration for each metered application.
- Computers with metered software
This report dives deeper, providing usage details (usage count and duration) for each software application on every managed computer. This helps identify underutilized software on specific devices.
- Users with metered software
This report focuses on user-specific software usage across all the devices they log into. This is valuable for managing licenses for software assigned to specific users.
Client self-service portal
One of the most common tasks of an MSP is deploying requested applications to end users, for which a lot of help desk tickets are raised regularly. These tickets usually take a lot of time and resources to resolve. Using our self-service portal, you can publish software and patches, thereby empowering users to install applications and patches on their own. All you need to do is publish the most commonly requested applications and tested patches to the self-service portal, thereby decreasing the need for direct support and increasing efficiency.
Customizable application catalogue
Provide your technicians with an easy-to-use platform for finding, accessing, and installing software applications. Build a catalogue of apps that every technician can easily discover and install, thereby saving time and reducing manual effort. Ensuring that only approved applications are used can help your clients remain compliant with industry regulations and data protection requirements. A well-designed app catalog also simplifies the user experience and promotes satisfaction among your clients, where the end users can quickly access the tools they need.
Pre-deployment activities
One of the major reasons for software deployment failure is that the target computers don't meet the prerequisites. It can take a lot of time to figure out the exact issue and then troubleshoot it accordingly. You can perform condition checks and apply configurations before installation with pre-deployment activities, accelerating your software deployment process. Doing so ensures that the target computers meet all the requirements and have all the configurations set up before you apply any deployment automation tools.
Post-deployment activities
Post-deployment activities help you ensure that an application is accessible to the end user, all the previous versions have been uninstalled, shortcuts have been set up, and all the application-specific configurations are applied. The post-deployment activities empower your automatic software deployment process by allowing you to apply follow-up configurations, run custom scripts, change registry settings, create shortcuts, create/append paths, and much more after installation.
Installation/uninstallation using the same package
Creating different packages for installing or uninstalling the same application can get tedious. Once you create a package, it can be used to perform both the installation and uninstallation operations for MSI, EXE, MSU, APPX, and MSP applications.
Scheduled deployment
Downloading software packages and running the executables takes up a lot of a processor's resources, which may lead to reduced performance during deployment. This performance loss can turn into a loss of productivity for your clients' employees. To prevent this, you can deploy software packages within a suitable time interval by configuring a deployment policy for an automated deployment. By leveraging these deployment automation tools, you can automate software installations within a preset time window on a desired date, time, or day of the week.
The application allows you to copy the necessary installables to the client computers before installing or uninstalling applications. This can be configured while setting up the deployment policy. Doing so is optional, but it will speed up the installation/uninstallation process.
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"[Endpoint Central MSP] is the best endpoint management software on the market. It is a very user-friendly product; it literally takes you a few clicks to do something, deploy software, updates or retrieve any information you need on a device, and it displays it in a usable format, and you can export it easily from there into Excel or PDF."
- Pieter E,
IT and services deployment engineer.