EasyVista Service Manager vs. KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA)

It is well suited for a service-based department, but it can sometimes offer confusion for non-technical users because of the amount information the form fields require. Most customers don't want to write the equivalent of a book to simply say that " I want to obtain a license of Adobe Acrobat and charge it to the department."

Incentivized

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

Incentivized

• Documentation is very important for any technology department. We can easy attach quotes, screenshots of issues, or invoices so that any one looking at the work order once closed can see that the task was completed quickly or may require more resources if needed again.
• Tracking the progress of your team is also important when considering pay scales or promotions. Reports help you see which employees are going above and beyond and those that are needing extra motivation.
• Universities have to work as cohesive unit to be successive. Our customers tell is us what is needed for them to do their jobs and we are able to divide the work amongst our staff to continue the quest quickly.

Incentivized

• Inventory: KACE provides a ton of hardware and software inventory information that is easy to search, filter, and export. This is critical when we need to find the answers to questions about how many of such and such we have in our fleet.
• Patch Management: We were using WSUS before and it was altogether too cumbersome. KACE has given us the power, flexibility, and verification we need to feel comfortable our patches are up-to-date.
• Service Queue: We made KACE our help desk system and it does everything we need it to do. Great improvement over our old system.

Incentivized

• Customization without the need for lengthy contacts with tech support. Non-technical team members should be able to resolve malfunctions with the interface and its components.
• A mobile app would make resolving work orders in the field easier. Without the need for a PC-like device to access the program. Many times, weather conditions are not kind to tablets. A cell phone is more reasonable.

Incentivized

• The KACE SMA needs a better way to handle different roles in the software so certain users can access or administrate certain parts of the software, but not the entire software installation.
• The KACE SMA could improve the ticketing process of projects. The aspects of the title and some information do not always flow down from the parent ticket to its child tickets.
• The KACE SMA could improve the UI of the software with the addition of different CSS color schemes.

Incentivized

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.

Incentivized

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.

Incentivized

There has been less downtime due to incompatible upgrade elements in our environment. EasyVista is takes hours not days to troubleshoot and resolve any functionality errors. Tech Support has been more helpful and reachable.

Incentivized

We have selected this software because it rolls several different systems into one. We have a helpdesk system with this and an asset and inventory management system as well. We pay one price for the whole system instead of paying multiple companies different amounts that would have totaled more than we pay for the single system.

Incentivized

• Our turnaround time has decreased steadily use implementing use.
• Our CIO is update on the progress of his team at all times.
• The customers feel better informed about their requests from start to finish.

Incentivized

• KACE has saved us from having to spend several days of employee hours in crafting DVDs and duplicating them (100+ DVDs)
• KACE has saved us on the postage required to send out those DVDs for every update (monthly) to all of our customers electronically

Incentivized