Firstly ARD in and of itself is not a MDM solution. Neither is it a one-stop-shop for managing/supporting Apple Devices. It does not support iDevices (iPhones, iPads etc) for example. Think of it as just one part of a management/user experience strategy for your Apple devices. Generally the solution looks like this:
DeployStudio for capturing, deploying desired images for workstations but also for some baked-in management as well as some distribution for software and/or updates.
ARD for supporting/troubleshooting end users day-to-day issues (if any) but also for distributing software and/or updates.
MUNKI also for software installs etc
Profile Manager (or any other MDM) for applying managed preferences to control/enhance the user experience.
Configurator/Meraki for iDevices
NetInstall (Server App) for deployment
Configurator, DS and Munki are free. As long as you lower your expectations and your network is not proxy driven then Profile Manager is OK to use, is cheap and does actually work up to a point. JAMPF is probably the leader here and although expensive, does not require mac hardware to run. With Apple announcing the demise of their Server product and with it their MDM (aka Profile Manager) and their possible intention to replace it with a management/user experience alternative instead. Maybe this alternative will be a combination/amalgation of Configurator/ASM and PM rolled into one neat package whose code has been written properly from the ground up rather than a miso-mash it replaces?
It may be worth your while to wait and see?
Hopefully there will be others who may post with their opinions which should help you further?
My 2p
