What I Learned at FileWave Alliance 2018

Working in Education as and IT Professional or Administrator for close to 20 years has had its share of challenges. From dealing with Faculty/Staff insecurities when introducing new devices or tools. Major Infrastructure or system failures that are never planned for. But the most important part of IT is the customer or in my case the Student and Teachers. I have always had the mindset that the Students, Teachers or Professors have to have zero down time. Now most in the corporate world would say to me "What are you losing with downtime, I work at a bank, if we have downtime we lose money." That is a very true statement, however when technology started making its presence into all divisions of the education. From University, College, and K-12 it changed the dynamics of the classroom. Most classrooms if not all at this point have a white board and a projector or a smart board or all of the above. Each room or lecture hall will have a laptop or desktop to run said projectors. The rooms are designed for technology and run by technology for the most part. What does this mean for a Professor, Teacher or Student? It means the planning by the instructor is mostly wrapped around some sort of power point or slide deck. This is driven by the laptop or desktop and projector within the classroom. So yes the classroom being down does not mean money is being lost. It does however mean learning is impacted and that affects everyone involved, Faculty/Staff/Students. So to my friends in the corporate world, yes in Education downtime in my opinion is just as important.

Where does FileWave fit into this picture you may be asking yourself. Its simple! FileWave is the best multi platform device management system on the market. How do you manage hundreds or thousands of devices with hundreds if not thousands of end users? How do you manage thousands of devices in multiple locations all over the world? How do you schedule application installations or updates in a controlled process? How do you modify installation packages to fit your companies policies or standards? FileWave has become a system that according to Tim Williams, VP Of Global Marketing, "Filewave makes IT the Hero". 

FileWave the product is the perfect system for an IT department in so many ways. What FileWave is doing that any other device management system is not. Working with API's and Custom fields has become a game changer. Going into this conference I had no interest in using the API's for my organization. I thought the Custom Fields was all I needed and didn't feel the time to work with the API's was necessary. After attending the FileWave Advance Track with Tony Keller and Dave Herder I am a changed man. I was blown away by what you can do with the API's working with Custom Fields. Plus using services like Slack and Invigate to process tickets or alerts. The options are almost unlimited and can be customized to your organizations needs. Scripting within filesets with P-M Lejon was also great class on how an organization the size Bonnier News manages so many devices in locations all over. Dan DeRusha with Matthews International showed us how they have refined the DEP Deployments with dynamic workflows that allows the users choose the tools to do their jobs.

FileWave the product is not the only thing that is great. FileWave the company and employees are like a large family. How many companies do you know, when visiting a conference you are able to rub elbows and enjoy lunch with the executive staff? I had the pleasure to have dinner or lunch with Nurdan Eris - Chairwoman of the Board, Rolf Anweiler - CEO, Tim Williams -VP of Global Marketing, Chris Russo - VP of Sales, Kyle Miller - CFO, John Clayton - CTO, Derek Deckard - Engineering Manager (if you have called into support you have reached him at least once), Dave Herder - System Engineer Manager. I think I either had a drink, ate or had a conversation with the entire Filewave employees in attendance. What made this so special is how they welcome you with open arms. Truly wanting to connect to you as a customer and build a relationship. What sets this company apart from many is that connection. They truly care about the customer and love their jobs. I think this small gesture that costs nothing is the key to the success of FileWave. Thats why I am a believer of the company and its vision and its leadership. I am a "FileWaver" not and official term yet but maybe I can start working on that.