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Filter 117 vetted ConnectWise Automate reviews and ratings
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February 12, 2020
A Fantastic RMM That Stands Apart from the Competition
Automate is being used by the support services department of the company. We are a managed services provider, so we manage all of our clients from within ConnectWise Automate. It allows us to easily connect to client machines and servers, run scripts against the machines to install applications, and assist with installing patches without manual intervention. It definitely helped cut back a lot on manual tasks, which saves the team a lot of time on more menial tasks. It allows us to devote more time to other issues instead of the various management tasks for machines we support.
- Automated patching. The patch management is very robust and doesn't let us down. We can rely on it to do its job.
- Scripting. The scripting engine and layout is excellent. It's very easy to work with and adapt Powershell scripts and other script to the native format with its functions. It also gives detailed logs to help determine why something went wrong if there's issues.
- They have conflicting scheduling paradigms. When scheduling patching for clients, the 1st Friday is interpreted as the very first Friday of the month, even if this is the 1st of the month. For scripting, the 1st Friday of the month is interpreted as the 1st Friday of the 1st FULL WEEK of the month. This makes no sense to have two different interpretations, and makes it unreliable to schedule recurring scripts to fall when recurring maintenance does. The scripts need to be done manually because of this.
- There is no way to dictate reboot orders for patch policies. This tied directly in with my first point. We have some clients that require reboot orders. This is not possible without having different patch policies for each server and specifying a time this way. But, there aren't small enough increments of time to make this reliable, plus patching duration might vary. Excluding reboots with patching and scheduling reboot scripts fixes this. However, this can't be done once on a recurring schedule due to the different scheduling paradigms already discussed. We have to schedule these manually each month.
We are an MSP who uses Automate to manage 3000+ endpoints. Automate handles Windows patching, alerting, remote access, among many other things for our business. It is our primary source of management for our users workstations and servers.
- Manages Windows updates.
- Alerting for offline servers.
- Antivirus management.
- Backup management.
- Due to its many features, it seems some areas are a bit difficult to configure.
November 15, 2019
To ConnectWise or not to ConnectWise?
- Automation of mundane and repetitive tasks.
- Management of our clients
- It can be painfully slow.
- It's quite complex and needs a lot of training.
We use ConnectWise Automate as our RMM platform. We are happy with the product as a whole. We are using the on-premise version of the software. One complaint we do have is the slowness of the application. However, they are moving more and more functions over to the web URL. At one point, we switched from Labtech over to Kaseya. Kaseya was substantially less expensive, however, we ended up switching back to Labtech within 8 months due to the technical support and lack of features within Kaseya.
- Computer Management
- Remote Control
- Performance
- Integration
October 29, 2019
If you are an MSP, you should be using ConnectWise Automate.
I use it daily in my technical support role. It is used across my organization.
- Seamless integration with other ConnectWise products.
- Works well and is feature rich.
- Allows me to access servers at anytime for patching and maintenance.
- Honestly, there is not much I would change.
- As far as I am concerned; it is the best by far.
- Might be a little expensive for small MSP's...But worth the investment.
October 21, 2019
ConnectWise is essential for any IT Department
We use ConnectWise within our managed services department and also for our internal IT operations. We use ConnectWise to provide remote support for end users' computers. In additional to remote control capabilities we use ConnectWise for patch management and remote monitoring. ConnectWIse is great since it provides a CRM platform and you don't have to purchase a separate CRM platform.
- The reporting is great and it shows clients and staff how many issues have been resolved and how to decrease trouble areas.
- Great at patch management.
- Scripting is one of the thing we use extensively and ConnectWise has great scripts to use and also it's very easy to create your own.
- The remote control capabilities are fast and responsive and the bandwidth overhead is minimal.
- New features are constantly being added.
- Wish is was cheaper. This is a competitive market and they should lower the price to be more competitive.
- The GUI needs to be cleaned up and more streamlined. Currently it's a mess.
- Tech support could be better.
October 21, 2019
ConnectWise Automate, simply the best.
We use it daily to support our clients. We are an MSP that supports small to mid-sized local governments. It integrates well with our other applications.
- Smooth remote access to managed devices.
- Real-time machine health.
- Seamless integration with ConnectWise manage and Bizdox.
- We have some issues with the managed devices actually being online but no connection through the application. Have to restart the service on the machine.
- A little slow for the application to load on startup.
- Resource heavy.
October 07, 2019
My viewpoints on ConnectWise
ConnectWise has a CRM, ticketing system, help desk, and tools for project management, billing, and procurement. The business tool also has reporting and dashboards and uses over 300 third-party integrations.
ConnectWise gives businesses a complete business management and process automation platform for technology companies including IT service companies, professional services, software developers, security, and telecom. The workflow rules that are defined in ConnectWise cover various areas of the business, ranging from conducting targeted marketing campaigns to monitoring service delivery using service level agreements.
You can create work plans and project timelines and get detailed reporting on progress of projects. It’s also possible to use the workflow engine to manage deadlines and get notifications of overdue tasks.
- It includes a ticketing system using workflow automation, SLA, as well as performance monitoring and access tickets from mobile devices.
- Dashboards of the tool show overviews and detailed explanations of KPIs. Your business can also use the custom report writer to generate reports on whatever issue you want.
- You can use ConnectWise to automate the range of ITIL process, such as: incident management, availability management, change management, service reporting, service-level management, service asset and configuration management, request management, and knowledge management.
- You can track all your clients information and every single job you do for them. You can do quotes, send them, add providers to compare prices, manage the calendar of the employees, assign tickets to the correct person, there is nothing you can't do with this tool.
- Inside all the greatness, there are some works around that you have to do for specific duties that could be automated.
- Make sure you keep notes on each client profile, you can use the private note section, it is secure and it works as a reminder of everything you need to do about that specific client, only you and your employees will see those.
ConnectWise Automate is used in managing client systems as well as our own internal systems. Users in our support teams use it daily for access to and management of systems, alerting, and updates and users in an account management role also access it regularly for asset reporting and management.
- Scripting
- Remote asset control
- Asset reporting an inventory
- The local client is very robust, but it can be a resource hog.
- The web client is not as full-featured as the local client but runs much faster.
- Updates on the local client are installed automatically when you launch the application, but they can take some time to run. Since there is no option for a window to install them, this can cause delays when launching the software for the first time after a period of inactivity.
October 03, 2019
CW Automate automates our business
RealTime, LLC uses ConnectWise Automate in our managed services department. Automate provides rich data, simple endpoint management, and allows RealTime to automate tasks that were out of reach prior to changing to Automate about 7 years ago.
The primary uses are patch management, VMware management, automation, client onboarding, cybersecurity solutions deployment, reporting data, and tight integration with our PSA, ConnectWise Manage. Remote control via ScreenConnect, or Connect I think it's called now, is pretty seamless and we even have one-click access to backstage when using the web version of Automate. Security-wise, we use AD integration and Two-factor authentication to secure our connections to the tool in and out of the office.
The primary uses are patch management, VMware management, automation, client onboarding, cybersecurity solutions deployment, reporting data, and tight integration with our PSA, ConnectWise Manage. Remote control via ScreenConnect, or Connect I think it's called now, is pretty seamless and we even have one-click access to backstage when using the web version of Automate. Security-wise, we use AD integration and Two-factor authentication to secure our connections to the tool in and out of the office.
- It feeds tons of data to our reporting solution.
- A good overview of client endpoints, online status, av status and access to many tools to keep from disturbing end-users while troubleshooting their computers.
- Synchronizes with our PSA to automate billing changes.
- Tightly integrated with the remote control tools so we don't have to jump into a different console to make that connection.
- Alerting on multiple items (got one just a little while ago from the VMware plugin about a failed drive on a VM Host) and automatic ticket creation, and in many cases, automated remediation.
- Patch management is always a little finicky. Gets better every time.
- If you decide to hitch your MSP to ConnectWise Automate, make sure you have a clear plan of what you want to accomplish and please, save your self a ton of hassle and use ConnectWise consulting to get things going initially.
- Conflicting answers from support on more complicated items.
- Not sure if this applies, but you need to have someone at your MSP whose job is the care and feeding of Automate, as well as that script and automation creation. Not really a complaint, more along the lines of "you are buying a business automation platform, you need to dedicate people to get the most out of it."
May 01, 2019
ConnectWise Automate does more than our needs for an RMM - It provides a platform to grow
ConnectWise Automate solves our ability to provided scripted resolution to repetitive tasks for all of our clients. Regardless of the client or physical location ConnectWise Automate is the tool that allows us to perform a consistent task, document the work, and send the necessary details of it to billing. Network Services Group deploys it to every client. It is part of our comprehensive support stack.
- Automatically perform and records billable work time.
- Consistently perform representative tasks.
- Schedule tasks for off-hours to minimize disrupting our clients.
- Excellent source for details in developing new sales.
- Having to pay for licensing in advance. If you need additional licenses you need to plan ahead to have them available.
- Some ConnectWise Automate options such as third-party patching could offer patching for more software.
- ConnectWise Automate can be very complex so it can take time to understand all it can do. The more time you invest in ConnectWise Automate the easier and more powerful it becomes.
We are an MSP using ConnectWise Automate to manage about 1100 endpoints for our clients. We use this product for patch management and remote monitoring/maintenance.
- Integration to ScreenConnect and ConnectWise are fairly tight at this point.
- Powerful tool for automation and custom scripting - if you have the technical capabilities and time, you can do more with Automate than any RMM on the market...
- New UI is built to be pretty, but it's bloated, slow, and lacks the information that used to live on the main screen. You now have to dig to get information that was once easily at hand...
- Too Noisy - it alerts on EVERYTHING, and it's very difficult to tone it down without missing things that are important. This puts a drain on staff time... We can't respond to every ticket, and then important details get lost in the noise...
- No Mac/Linux client - my admins need access to a Windows PC to function...
Our organization uses ConnectWise Automate as a central point for end-user support and automation management. We leverage Automate as a scripting repository which provides us with the flexibility to apply configurations based on machine information such as installed applications, site where the machines are located at, and other parameters such as resources available. Automate allows us to 'script it once' and deliver many times, as a managed services provider, this is of crucial importance as it is a multitenant architecture which we can apply to all of our customers based on service tiers that they have signed up for.
- Scripting.
- Centralized configuration management.
- Healthchecks.
- The GUI interface is archaic.
- Scripting engines could use work to be more PowerShell native.
- Ability to work in VDI environments.
We use Automate every day to provide our customers with support. We use it to remote control, automate maintenance tasks, monitor our clients' systems. It is an essential part of how we do business. Our business would not be successful without this application and the rest of the ConnectWise suite of products.
- Remote control.
- Patching.
- Monitoring.
- It is a little slow some times.
- It can be difficult to set-up and maintain.
- The interface is not very intuitive for new users.
February 19, 2019
My ConnectWise Automate (formerly LabTech) Review
Our entire Service Team uses ConnectWise Automate (formerly LabTech). It gives us the power to automate the management of a greater number and broader range of endpoints, maximizing our efficiency and our profitability. We use the scripting and numerous connected products, such as Warranty Master and ConnectWise Control (formerly ScreenConnect). Screens like Dataviews and tabs like Hardware are immensely useful.
- It's better than Kaseya.
- It's flexible, allowing our integration team to leverage the data therein, creating custom tools that empower and accelerate us.
- It's fairly stable, considering its immense power.
- Its interfaces have a wide variety of looks and feels, and it might be nicer if it were more cohesive.
- Documentation of usage and features can be hard to locate at times.
- A little more memory stability would be nice.
October 18, 2018
Powerful product but support needs an overhaul
We use Automate as one of our tools to provide Managed Services to our client base. It is used for patch management, system monitoring and alerting, remote control, scripting and asset management. We install Automate on all managed servers and workstations.
- Scripting in Automate is very comprehensive and flexible. Other tools we've used pale in comparison to the scripting in Automate.
- Remote control is 2nd to none. Screen Connect has proven to be incredibly fast and stable. This is a significant improvement over the old LabVNC in previous versions of Automate
- The ability to group things manually and dynamically. Being able to automatically add systems to groups based on some criteria (almost anything) and then run scripts or commands against those groups is a huge benefit. A great example is adding machines to a group based on anti-virus install. If a machine doesn't have AV installed it gets added to a group. The group is setup to run a script at some frequency to install AV.
- The biggest issue for Automate is their support. They seem to be completely overwhelmed. Chat support for simple questions can be anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes in the queue. Then when you are connected they are doing little more than creating a ticket that will take days to hear back from them.
- Patching. The documentation and advice from our implementation person do not match reality. The process of denying a patch is documented, but doesn't work. We were unable to block certain patches from being distributed until we spoke to a specialist about it. He couldn't explain the mis-matched documentation.
- Speed. Using the Automate client is painfully slow. Very sluggish and non-responsive at times.
February 05, 2019
ConnectWise Automate Is Great If You Have The Money.
When we first started using Automate we used it for all of our clients. However, we have now brought that down to just a few due to the cost of the product. We still actively use it today for a handful of servers.
- It organizes client machines very well.
- Is very good at automating processes.
- Is great for setting up alerts on client's machines.
- The cost of the product is way too high.
- A better GUI and wizard would help streamline the process.
- The auto-install process for other applications could be made a lot better.
I'm a sole proprietor and ConnectWise makes it possible for me to connect with my clients from home, across the United States and Canada. ConnectWise allows me to connect with clients and see their specific issues first hand. I am also able to save clients money for training that would have to be done on site because I am able to connect to their individual workstations and to do program training with the individual or group remotely at their convenience.
- Allows me to download files from a toolbox feature or drag and drop from my server to their system.
- Gives an easy to use client access window to easily find different clients and groups.
- Simple to use, install and work with. Unlike many other programs of its type, it is easy to generate an email invitation to a client to connect or give them a simple code to connect. Also has the ability for me to share my screen with clients for training and demonstrations.
- That's a tough one! Great program, great features already.
- Possibly allowing the chat box to remain on screen. It closes when you connect to a program or open windows on the screen.
- Allow more than 1 username/ password to be stored for the auto access. Notes made on different machines seem to disappear if there is an upgrade. I lost some notes I had made on sites I support using this feature.
October 03, 2018
Connects Wisely and Quickly
I love ConnectWise. It was a little cumbersome at first to deploy but it works great as a support tool across the organization. I have a lot of remote users who I support with it and sometimes due to bandwidth I may get disconnected but other than that it is great. It is very user-friendly once you surpass the small learning curve.
- It connects quickly
- Signing in is bar none
- Connection is fast
- Lots of additional features have been added.
- The upgrade GUI is a little hard to use out of the box
- It disconnects randomly sometimes
- Some commands like rebooting can be a little slow
August 03, 2018
Connectwise Automate - Tons of power, tons of time spent
We used Connectwise Automate for many years. The product handles remotely monitoring PCs & Servers for any problems that match the automation either built-in or created in Automate. The problem solved is monitoring all the endpoints in a way no human could.
- Remote Control via ScreenConnect is wonderful.
- Scripting is the best of all RMM products we have tried.
- The customization capability of Automate beats all other RMM products.
- Because Automate is so configurable it also requires the most time put into it of all RMM products we have used. It requires a dedicated employee to just managing the product and the services provided by it. Without that dedicated resource, many alerts will be missed (due to configuration issues).
- Support is not very good. This is a larger scale Connectwise issue.
- The product is very resource intensive if you host locally. Upgrades are usually pretty buggy and add the need for extra resources.
- We found VMware and Dell Open Manage monitoring to be very weak compared to other RMM products.
October 03, 2018
ConnectWise Automate was the right choice for us
All of our project team and support desk use ConnectSise Automate (formerly LabTech) to remotely manage all of our clients' computer systems (both workstations and servers).
- ConnectWise Automate helps us manage Microsoft updates for our client base.
- ConnectWise Automate makes it easy to remotely troubleshoot issues for our client.
- ConnectWise Automate works well when we need to push a script out to one or multiple computers.
- Sometimes computers show as offline when they are really online.
- We find that sometimes a computer will show in the program multiple times.
- It often will not update the current username so makes it harder to find computers sometimes.
June 29, 2018
ConnectWise Control - Great for Large Organizations
ConnectWise Automate is used by our organization to allow our engineers to do 99% or their job remotely. We use it to monitor the status of computers, maintain software, and maintain a clean patching environment. It does its name justice as it allows us to automate a good portion of our environment.
- The way we can automate tasks to run keeps our client's system as up to date as possible.
- It allows our engineers to work silently on a customers machine without interrupting their productivity.
- The vast array of plugins, allows for great customization to fit your needs.
- Patch Manager could use improvement. At times, it will crash in the middle of patching, or switching between configurations. Setting the patch priorities seems a little convoluted.
- The ability to copy over a file using the silent File Explorer would be nice. Rather than having to interrupt the user to replace a file or execute a download.
- I would like to see more details in script logs. I want to see why a script failed, what step it was executing.
January 10, 2018
Behold the power of ConnectWise Automate
- Scripting across multiple domains
- Remote Resource Monitoring
- Onboarding
- Patch Management can be un-reliable at times
- Easier UI
- Better integration with AntiVirus providers
December 27, 2017
Automate - the fastest way to improve productivity and client satisfaction for MSPs
- Management of servers and workstations. Organized by client and location for ease of use.
- Remote access is unparalleled, one button click and the computer is up with very good refresh rate.
- Scripts and automation are easy to create and perform. Automated reboots of servers / workstations make management easy.
- Steep learning curve, program can be very intimidating when initially configuring and deploying.
- Software version upgrades can become a bit clunky and "undo" some progress. Recent version upgrade revamped entire Windows patching system and required setup from scratch.
- Limitations on hardware monitoring, especially for hypervisors with VMWare.
December 01, 2017
We won't change from ConnectWise Automate!
- Remote access
- Alerting on issues
- Integration with ConnectWise
- Quick access to system logs
- Patch Management
- Ease of implementation
- Script library updated
ConnectWise Automate Scorecard Summary
Feature Scorecard Summary
About ConnectWise Automate
Categories: IT Infrastructure Monitoring, System Monitoring
ConnectWise Automate Screenshots
ConnectWise Automate Integrations
ConnectWise Manage, ConnectWise Control (formerly ScreenConnect), ConnectWise Control (formerly ScreenConnect)
ConnectWise Automate Competitors
Kaseya Virtual System Administrator (VSA), Kaseya Virtual System Administrator (VSA), Autotask Endpoint Management, Continuum Managed IT Services, Solarwinds N·able
Pricing
- Has featureFree Trial Available?Yes
- Does not have featureFree or Freemium Version Available?No
- Does not have featurePremium Consulting/Integration Services Available?No
- Entry-level set up fee?No
ConnectWise Automate Support Options
| Free Version | Paid Version | |
|---|---|---|
| Forum/Community | ||
| FAQ/Knowledgebase | ||
| Social Media | ||
| Video Tutorials / Webinar | ||
| Phone | ||
| Live Chat | ||
ConnectWise Automate Technical Details
| Deployment Types: | On-premise, SaaS |
|---|---|
| Operating Systems: | Windows |
| Mobile Application: | No |
| Supported Languages: | Automate's Control Center is in English, Agents are compatible with all Windows supported Languages |