ConnectWise Automate for MSP Management is an Excellent tool
Every computer that we manage gets ConnectWise Automate installed on it, and it handles installing the rest of our tools stack and gets those machines assigned to the proper client with the proper settings for that client
- Alerting / Monitoring
- Process Automation
- Software Version Control
- Selective Targeting of Automations
Cons
- Patch Management - kind of clunky, but works well
- Reporting
- Endpoint user management
- Scripting / Automation
- Monitoring / Alerting
- Automatic Remediation
- Software Version Control
- Security Features
- Positive - ConnectWise Automate allows us to provide eyes on critical machines 24x7, allowing us to sell ourselves as a 24x7 shop
- Automatic deployment of software allows for fast response to Client requests, earning us high marks every month/quarter in customer service from our clients and generating good references/word of mouth advertising
- The ability to deploy vulnerability scans at the click of a button allows us to sell additional security services and generate good data on vulnerabilities that can be repaired
I have also evaluated Addigy. While I think Addigy does a better job of managing apple devices, it is clunkier, and customization is harder in Addigy than in ConnectWise Automate.
Our Engineers and Service Desk use ConnectWise Automate for Computer Management, Computer Access, and detailed information
Our Development development team uses ConnectWise Automate for the Deployment of software, Monitoring, Alerting, and Process Automation.
All of our users have access to ConnectWise Automate and use most of the functions it has to offer
The wider the knowledge of IT roles, the more you will be able to use Automate to make processes easier to ConnectWise Automate and Manage (E.G., a solid understanding of Active Directory will allow you to use ConnectWise Automate to manage Client Active Directory environments, a solid understanding of Office 365, especially Powershell access, will allow you use ConnectWise Automate to manage Office 365 environments)
- Process Automation
- Monitoring / Alerting
- Software Deployment
- Patch Management
- We were able to configure ConnectWise Automate to deploy tools for a third-party security vendor to run penetration tests with a few clicks of the mouse via ConnectWise Automate. That vendor could then generate reports for actionable items that we can then remediate for HIPAA or NIST compliance, allowing us to be a one-stop shop for compliancy
- We were able to develop a Powershell script that sets a unique complex local admin account for all the machines we manage and store it in easily accessible tools that can be used for easy local admin access
- We were able to use ConnectWise Automate to pull all user e-mail addresses from Office 365 and insert them into Active directory if they did not already exist, and then run a sync tool between active directory and our CRM (ConnectWise Manage) that creates or updates contacts for each user in Active Directory (which now has valid E-mail addresses)
- We are currently investigating a way to ConnectWise Automate responses to security incidents (E.G., registry key removal for malicious software) based on reports from Huntress
- We are looking at using ConnectWise Automate for more direct Active Directory management so that changes can be made without needing to log into client servers for those changes
- Product Features
- Product Usability
- Product Reputation
- Don't know
- Online Training
I also strongly recommend setting up an internal "testing" group when making custom scripts, monitors, and automation to that you can ensure there are no unexpected results when rolling these out to clients
The customization is easy to perform, and each user can set their own custom tiles on the computer management screen, allowing each user to see the tiles that they are most likely to use. This is in addition to two static interfaces that have all the information available.
Additional fields can be created to allow for targeting things outside of the standard database.
- Getting information about managed computers
- Credential storage
- Agent Configuration
- Monitoring / Alerting
- CANNED reporting
- Patch Management
- Custom Reporting