Skip to main content
TrustRadius
ConnectWise PSA

ConnectWise PSA
Formerly ConnectWise Manage

Overview

What is ConnectWise PSA?

ConnectWise PSA (formerly Manage) is a business management platform for companies that sell, service, and support technology. The platform is cloud-based and integrates automation, help desk and customer service, sales, marketing, project management, and business analytics. It is the hub…

Read more
Recent Reviews

TrustRadius Insights

ConnectWise is a versatile platform that has proven to be indispensable for businesses across various industries. Users have found …
Continue reading
Read all reviews

Awards

Products that are considered exceptional by their customers based on a variety of criteria win TrustRadius awards. Learn more about the types of TrustRadius awards to make the best purchase decision. More about TrustRadius Awards

Popular Features

View all 13 features
  • Organize and prioritize service tickets (82)
    5.2
    52%
  • Ticket response (81)
    5.0
    50%
  • Customer portal (74)
    4.3
    43%
  • Ticket creation and submission (82)
    4.1
    41%

Reviewer Pros & Cons

View all pros & cons
Return to navigation

Pricing

View all pricing

Subscription

$35.00

On Premise
Per Tech Per Month

Entry-level set up fee?

  • No setup fee
For the latest information on pricing, visithttps://info.connectwise.com/manage/bof…

Offerings

  • Free Trial
  • Free/Freemium Version
  • Premium Consulting/Integration Services
Return to navigation

Product Demos

Catalyst ConnectWise Manage Integration

YouTube
Return to navigation

Features

Incident and problem management

Streamlining ticketing and service restoration processes

4.6
Avg 8.0

Self Help Community

Features that allow customers to self-service for support issues.

4.2
Avg 7.9

Multi-Channel Help

Features related to providing customer service and support via different communication channels. Communications are organized by ticket/customer/channel for the convenience of agents.

4.6
Avg 7.9
Return to navigation

Product Details

What is ConnectWise PSA?

ConnectWise PSA (formerly Manage) is presented as a business management platform for companies that sell, service, and support technology. According to the vendor, the product supports 110,000 users and helps them achieve greater accountability, operational efficiency, and profitability. The platform is cloud-based and integrates business-process automation, help desk and customer service, sales, marketing, project management, and business analytics in order to streamline a company's operations.

ConnectWise PSA is the hub of the ConnectWise suite, a set of solutions for technology solution providers that aims to give an end-to-end view and total control over their business.

ConnectWise also gives its users access to a network of ideas, experts, and solutions. ConnectWise has been in business for more than 15 years.

ConnectWise PSA Features

Incident and problem management Features

  • Supported: Organize and prioritize service tickets
  • Supported: Expert directory
  • Supported: Subscription-based notifications
  • Supported: ITSM collaboration and documentation
  • Supported: Ticket creation and submission
  • Supported: Ticket response
  • Supported: Automated responses
  • Supported: Attachments/Screencasts
  • Supported: SLA management

Self Help Community Features

  • Supported: Forums
  • Supported: External knowledge base
  • Supported: Internal knowledge base
  • Supported: Q and A
  • Supported: Surveys/polls

Multi-Channel Help Features

  • Supported: Customer portal
  • Supported: Live help chat
  • Supported: Phone support
  • Supported: IVR
  • Supported: Call scripting
  • Supported: Social integration
  • Supported: Email support
  • Supported: Help Desk CRM integration

ConnectWise PSA Screenshots

Screenshot of Service Ticket ExampleScreenshot of Ticket TemplateScreenshot of Work Plan TemplateScreenshot of Calendar TimeScreenshot of Meeting InvitesScreenshot of My CalendarScreenshot of Sales Overview

ConnectWise PSA Videos

ConnectWise PSA Technical Details

Deployment TypesOn-premise, Software as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based
Operating SystemsWindows, Mac
Mobile ApplicationApple iOS, Android
Supported CountriesUnited States, Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom
Supported LanguagesEnglish

Frequently Asked Questions

ConnectWise PSA (formerly Manage) is a business management platform for companies that sell, service, and support technology. The platform is cloud-based and integrates automation, help desk and customer service, sales, marketing, project management, and business analytics. It is the hub of the ConnectWise suite.

Datto Autotask PSA, Salesforce Sales Cloud, and Rev.io PSA are common alternatives for ConnectWise PSA.

Reviewers rate Subscription-based notifications highest, with a score of 5.7.

The most common users of ConnectWise PSA are from Small Businesses (1-50 employees).

ConnectWise PSA Customer Size Distribution

Consumers0%
Small Businesses (1-50 employees)80%
Mid-Size Companies (51-500 employees)20%
Enterprises (more than 500 employees)0%
Return to navigation

Comparisons

View all alternatives
Return to navigation

Reviews and Ratings

(371)

Community Insights

TrustRadius Insights are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, 3rd-party data sources. Have feedback on this content? Let us know!

ConnectWise is a versatile platform that has proven to be indispensable for businesses across various industries. Users have found ConnectWise to be a valuable tool for managing projects, service tickets, and sales leads. The software allows organizations to centrally manage customers, assets, and service tickets, making it easier to track and prioritize tasks.

ConnectWise plays an integral role in streamlining operations and enhancing customer support for managed technology services providers. It facilitates communication with both existing clients and prospects, allowing sales teams to effectively manage relationships and monitor project progress. ConnectWise's seamless integration with other software tools further enhances its functionality, making it the central hub for all information.

Furthermore, users appreciate how ConnectWise helps with accounting and finance tasks by requiring timely entry of time and expenses. It assists with project/service billing, sales projection, budgeting, invoicing, and reporting, providing users with a comprehensive solution for financial management. ConnectWise also offers features like scheduling, time entry, ticket tracking, and workflow automation, enabling organizations to organize workflow efficiently, capture lost time, increase revenue, and maintain historical information.

ConnectWise University comes highly recommended as it provides users with a thorough understanding of the software's capabilities. Whether used for CRM, sales management, help desk support, marketing, or inventory management, ConnectWise proves to be a valuable business management system that caters to diverse needs. With its ability to integrate with other products and offer web access and smartphone versions, ConnectWise ensures accessibility and convenience for users on-the-go.

Overall, ConnectWise manages to address the essential requirements of organizations by providing a robust platform for managing clients, projects, finances, and workflows. It has become an integral part of many businesses' day-to-day operations while contributing to enhanced productivity and improved customer service experiences.

User-Friendly Interface: Users have consistently praised ConnectWise Manage for its user-friendly interface, with many stating that it is easy to navigate and perform tasks quickly. The intuitive design enhances productivity and ensures a positive user experience.

Integrated Sales and Equipment Tracking: The platform's integrated sales and equipment tracking feature has been highly regarded by users. It allows for seamless tracking of sales activities and equipment, streamlining the overall sales process. This functionality has received positive feedback from multiple reviewers.

Accountability Loops and Service Ticket Management: ConnectWise Manage is recognized for its ability to create accountability loops both internally and with customers. This feature ensures that all tasks and responsibilities are tracked and completed, promoting efficient collaboration and customer satisfaction. Additionally, users value the service ticket management feature as it helps manage both reactive and proactive tickets, ensuring timely resolution and proactive maintenance. Multiple reviewers have highlighted the importance of these features in their positive reviews.

Outdated and Clunky User Interface: Many users have expressed difficulty with the ConnectWise user interface, stating that it is outdated, clunky, and non-intuitive compared to other CRM systems. They hope for an upgrade to improve the overall experience.

Challenging Reporting Functionality: Users have found ad-hoc reporting and reporting on multiple projects to be challenging. They have also mentioned limitations in the reporting functionality, such as requiring manual exporting of information to gain useful insights.

Lack of Customization Options: Users have expressed dissatisfaction with the lack of customization options for fields, reporting, and views in ConnectWise. They feel restricted by the static nature of the platform and would like more flexibility in tailoring it to their specific needs.

Based on user reviews, ConnectWise Manage users commonly recommend the following:

  1. Check integration capabilities: It is important to verify if the software integrates with other tools before making a purchase. This ensures smooth workflows and efficient operations.

  2. Allocate ample time for configuration: Users advise setting aside plenty of time for product configuration. This allows for optimal customization of the software's functionalities to meet specific business needs.

  3. Seek external support and training: Due to some users' experiences of limited support from ConnectWise Manage, they suggest taking advantage of the courses and support offered by ConnectWise Manage or considering third-party implementation services for successful implementation and ongoing usage.

These recommendations emphasize the significance of integration capabilities, careful configuration, and external support in effectively utilizing ConnectWise Manage.

Attribute Ratings

Reviews

(1-25 of 113)
Companies can't remove reviews or game the system. Here's why
Score 1 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Knowing what I know now, I would not have made the switch. Certainly the software is robust but it is antiquated and their third party trainers are not nearly as knowledgeable as one would expect. When spending thousands on a deployment you would have some expectation of better support and assistance but often the trainings were a full week apart and the transition lasted 5 months instead of 4 weeks with countless issues that had to be resolved at an elevated support level. Everything your sales rep promises will be stretched beyond belief. The "rebatch" for pulling bad invoices back out of Quickbooks isn't a "rebatch" at all and is instead a series of actions to delete the invoices in Quickbooks and multiple steps to adjust the company records in Manage. The Quickbooks connector is a joke and every step within Manage is complicated and does not flow well.
  • The sales team is relentless in seeking out your business. Unfortunately, they'll tell you what you want to hear even if it means stretching the truth.
  • Training and support are a disaster. If you're lucky you'll get a representative you can comprehend.
  • Overall, they oversell the product. Manage should be the icing on the cake, not the absolute pit of despair.
Manage is a disaster and needs a full overhaul. I have yet to find a single area they do better than the program we used before and yet they are 3x the cost.
Steve Muenstermann | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 1 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We are trying to use it to manage our project and CMSP client based services. We wanted a application to track projects, tickets, CMSP services, contracts, and sell for proposals, contract creation and lead follow-up. We were seeking efficiency for managing operations in a rapidly growing business. The challenge is the lies CW Salesperson told us on the native integration, simple data entry, ez management, interfaces with all of our business apps easily, calendars sync immediately, works with our office suite, CRM, etc. Unless you business is fully running on Microsoft Dynamics and O365 this may not be for you. It is an absolute money pit in my opinion.

Technology wise, it is comparable to an early access database. A very homegrown antiquated feel. It also requires a 100% dedicated resource for managing it. The salesperson told us it it was like having an added person as a resource. It certainly is having an opposite impact.
  • Connects with Sell
  • Inventory management
  • Numerous daily nuisance emails
  • Too many disparate pieces
  • Manage and Sell should all be on the same application
  • Integration to work properly requires costly 3rd party apps
  • Significant hours lost in training, integration and implementation
  • Too many to list
You absolutely need a full time individual on this program to manage it properly. It is likely a powerful application. However, you have to know how all the disparate parts interact with the other content in the application. How they actually interface with your businesses operation applications (really check this one out as it only seems to play nice with Microsoft suites based on our experience.) and decide how much time and additional money you are willing to bury into this. Figure at least 2x over CW cost your initial period of out-of-pocket costs.
Score 1 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Please don't make the mistake that I did by working with ConnectWise. Once you are locked into a contract the only change you can ever make is to ADD to the contract. If you want to remove something or make a change that would reduce your billing you must wait until your contract period is up.

For example, I use ConnectWise Automate, and a client is required for each computer. You have to purchase clients in blocks. If you don't use all the clients, that's your problem, you still pay for them. If you don't have enough clients you can't utilize it on those computers.

I had a simple request for ConnectWise. Please let me add a few hundred clients, but if I want to reduce that number, please let me do so with 30 days notice. ConnectWise said, very clearly, NO. You can only add clients and can't remove them. What kind of vendor engages in this sort of behavior?
  • Billing
  • Contracts for multiyear periods
  • Docusign
  • Inflexibiilty with contract terms
  • Allow us to add and remove items without being locked into a contract
  • Allow us to have people to speak to that are allowed to do more than give us their names
  • Treat your customers like they matter
I don't recommend using ConnectWise unless you want to work with a company that will only allow you to add products and increase your cost but will never let you remove items unless your entire contract is up/expired. I know of no other company that enforces terms like this and is a good partner to work with.
March 28, 2022

Great CMS for MSPs

Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Connectwise across the business, as an MSP it integrates across all departments from sales and marketing to the service desk. Prior to using this platform, we had disparate systems that weren't linked and maintaining communication across departments in a growing company was challenging. Connectwise handles leads from right at the top of the funnel through to sales and then onto support. It's easy to use and most sections are pretty intuitive, the university links in all areas are really handy to get help if you're stuck with how an element functions.
  • The flow of information through the system works well
  • A great CMS system for MSPs
  • Easy to find help articles
  • Today screen collating the days activities us useful
  • Whilst the help links are always handy they can be a bit boring to watch in the university
A really great CMS for MSPs. If you want a system to track a lead from a prospect through to a customer it can work really well
Bernado Carlos | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
ConnectWise Manage allows easy features configuration and its overall management quality is excellent. The platform has been very helpful on easy multiple project management and also on scheduling ConnectWise Manage is perfect. Reporting via this solution is easy and the analytics offered are excellent and easy to manage workflow even the project planning this system is the best choice.
  • Easy to create all the reports needed.
  • Excellent management system with simple functions.
  • Useful services and data management.
  • Reporting on many projects is not easy to all users.
  • Maintenance of the platform to some small business.
  • Configuration of the interface to new people is not simple.
Perfect on Cloud services and it helps create excellent and valuable reports on all the project activities and other project services. Easy to manage all the project documents and analytics, ConnectWise Manage is a reliable and useful solution with easy features and easy navigation. The ability for project team collaboration with the software is incredible.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use ConnectwWise throughout our organization from support to sales to HR and accounts. This helps us to automate between all departments and give employees full visibility of account activity. I especially like the ability to custom view information, to allow me to work more efficiently and this keeps me comfortable with the new system. It's different from everything else I have tried and would strongly recommend.
  • Sales pipeline.
  • Support tickets.
  • Managing customer accounts.
  • Task management.
  • More streamlined for pipeline management from cold to warm.
  • Easier to set up.
  • More customisable dashboard.
I really enjoy ConnectWise, it is a massive step forward. The ability to see all departments working towards the same goal and having full visibility on account activity is massive to our business. Only some small tweaks would go a long way to making this even easier for sales managers to keep tabs on active prospects and lead generation.
Daren Anderson, MSIS | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Prior to using Connectwise Manage, we used a variety of software to keep track of our customer's information including spreadsheets and databases we wrote but nothing was all-encompassing as Connectwise Manage. We reviewed many different products but since we were already using the Remote Connect part of the suite, we tried Manage and have not looked back. Everything is online so no matter if we are at the office or 500 miles away, we have access to the information about that customer and support problems our other techs have documented so we can get an answer quickly.
  • Service Tickets
  • Documentation
  • Keeping track of inventory
  • Sometimes the program to transfer Email to Manage doesn't work
  • Would be nice to have a way to move texts into Manage because requests get sent that way as well
If you are an MSP or someone that provides those kinds of services, you need to invest in Connectwise Manage - it will keep track of all your customers, their employees, those people's computers, tablets, printers, servers, etc. You can keep track of every support ticket by either manually entering it or importing it from Outlook. The best thing is that you can access all of this information wherever you have an Internet connection. As with all Connectwise products, it complements the other products in the suite.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use ConnectWise for our daily ticket allocation and also to store KBs. We even use the same for our timesheet management.
It is great to use as we have multiple functionalities enbibed in one tool.
We previously had desktop version but company had offered a web console with same features and speed
It is easy to integrate it with our intranet applications and two factor authentication
Product also encourages to include Sales,Procurement features which beyond for any service ticketing tool to include
I would say it will be an all in one tool because of its multi functionality. One platform for employees to work on tickets and KBs, managers to approve timesheets and Procurement team to manage their data.
Highly recommended for small scale businesses to manage data and timesheets in a single tool.


  • The Statuses that are setup for ticket are perfect to know the current work needed on it
  • Timesheets are easy to manage both for filling and approving
  • Good part is we even have Expense reports along with Sales and Procurement details
  • Project Managers find it very helpful to create projects and its sub tasks
  • Calendar feature is an add-on to monitor the resource availability
  • Strongly recommend for an upgrade on UI
  • Improve a little more on the search accuracy for ticket data
It is very much suited for small scale organizations
Can be used as a go-to option replacing multiple applications for Tickets, Timesheets, Expenses and Sales
Easy to use with self training instead of a physical training to the team
Not likely preferred for large scale companies as it becomes slow when there is heavy load
Stella Heesom | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 1 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
JagFT is a Technology Enablement Specialist NOT a Managed Service Provider. We use ConnectWise Manage, Connectwise Sell & ITBoost for a combined CRM capability (sales, procurement, finance). We do not have an on-premise solution.
  • Pre-sales
  • Customisation in the cloud - the current capability is poor. Templates, reports, workflows are not intuitive or easy to implement.
  • Local presence - it can be very difficult to deal with the time difference - Miami FL, is a long way from Brisbane Australia.
  • Basic issues are not easily resolved - a lot of time is spent troubleshooting issues only to find that the simplest answer is the correct one.
  • It is very expensive for what you get
  • The customer portal is outdated and we don't use it as it is not user friendly.
  • Add on products are ok but have all of the same issues outlined above.
  • It is very ticket centric, rather than customer centric
It just too difficult to use consistently. There never seems to be day where we aren't troubleshooting something.
Angela Heid | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Connectwise manage is used across the whole organization. We use it for our CRM system as well as tracking sales opportunities, projects, and time. Before Connectwise we had to use several different programs to accomplish the same thing, so this makes things easier by pulling it all together.

The problem is the software is very slow and the various tabs often lock up. I have noticed increasing problems with this for the last year. When I contact support, there are no good solutions for this.
  • Dashboards to provide an overview
  • Workflows to manage processes and send reminders
  • Being able to tag the resources needed unique to every ticket or project
  • Have expense reports built into the same system as time entry
  • The report manager is still hard to use
  • We have the cloud version, and some days it has a lot of latency
  • quoting is an addon or a separate program
  • locks up a lot
  • report writer is slow & clunky to use, not very user friendly
  • need more time frequencies for invoicing for multiyear
This is well suited to a business that has lots of service work, whether it be an MSP or project based
Cameron Rainey | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
ConnectWise is being used organization wide primarily as our ticketing and billing system. This allows us to manage all of our tickets in one place. We can then pull reports and provide that info to our clients so that they know we are working on their account. It also allows us to bill for our services.
  • Ticket entry
  • Service reports
  • Billing
  • Report writer is very complicated
  • More integrations with third-party apps
  • Way too many menus in the GUI
Great to be used as your service desk and for billing and reporting. It’s just a massive beast that’s capable of doing so many advanced things from reporting to ticket entry. If you're a smaller shop, I wouldn’t recommend it.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use ConnectWise Manage as our primary help desk software. With all of the integrations, it's easy to use it as the source for any issue that comes in. We've created automated flows to handle certain types of requests as they come in to streamline responses.
  • Service ticket management
  • Integrations with other platforms
  • Automated flow
  • Mobile app is subpar and difficult to use
For smaller companies, ConnectWise Manage may be overkill, but if you are able to pull the trigger on cost/implementation, it is well worth it. It is one of those platforms where it isn't very plug-and-play because of the extensibility of it. If you do choose this, make sure to have someone who is able to become the ConnectWise Manage expert.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
ConnectWise Manage is being used all across our organization. It is used for day to day Service Desk tickets, Reporting, Clocking in and clocking out, processing sales orders, organizing multiple clients, and keeping a detailed record of time sheets. This allows one piece of software to handle tasks that would normally take at least 5-6 pieces of software.
  • Ticket History. Keeping detailed notes in Service tickets which makes it easy for technicians to know what is going on at any given time.
  • Client Management. If done properly, knowing who has called in or submitted tickets about their issues can make it easy to track down common problems
  • Configurations. Keeping accurate track of computers via configurations helps track down what has been done to a machine.
  • If a technician has a time entry open and someone else updates the ticket, you can't save what you have done in that time entry. It would be nice to lock other people out or be able to save time entries no matter what
  • Easier to manage types and subtypes when entering tickets
  • Changing a work type say s that it's required, but it actually isn't. Being able to manage required fields would be a plus.
ConnectWise Manage is well suited for companies that have multiple clients and deal with multiple people on a day to day basis. It makes it easy to sort out who worked on what and for whom. It is not well suited for small companies that don't have a lot to manage. There are much better and cheaper solutions out there for smaller companies.
Rob Rotundo | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use ConnectWise Manage on a daily basis. We use it to enter everything that we do, from project plans to password resets. We also create quotes through it. It helps us manage our daily schedule using the built in and customizable workflows. Every one of our 21 employees use it. The Outlook calendar integration helps us schedule our days and techs also.
  • Workflows to automatically do things for you, thus leaving out the need for a person to manually make changes and updates.
  • Scheduling works well.
  • Quoting from opportunities to invoicing works well.
  • The reporting is horrendous. Basic reports require some pretty hefty scripting.
  • Updates could be handled better.
  • One of my biggest issues is that if a workflow isn't working, there is no way to know until it's too late and a client asks for status.
ConnectWise Manage works well for medium to larger businesses who require precision and scheduling. It's good for a growing MSP. It's also really good if you have a dispatcher who will schedule things for the techs automatically. This only works if you know precisely how long the jobs will take. Probably less appropriate if your job times differ.
Score 1 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
ConnectWise Manage is used for managing client service desk tickets. We also use it for billing time and products for IT projects and as a CRM system.
ConnectWise addresses our need to maintain an audit trail of all helpdesk activity and track billable activity not covered by our service agreements.
  • Management of billable time and products.
  • ConnectWise customer support is non-existent. Account managers do not listen to problems, and when you raise something like a billing query it takes weeks to get a response.
  • All technical support goes through live chat which is a painful process often taking 45 minutes to get a couple of sentences out of poorly trained engineers that don't seem to know what they are doing.
  • User interface is extremely dated with all configuration going through database tables instead of a proper UI.
  • Reporting is dated and involves manually exporting information to get any kind of useful data on KPIs.
ConnectWise is useful for tracking billable time and products in a service desk environment but completely useless at everything else. The system is buggy, unintuitive, dated and difficult to learn.
The customer and technical support is shocking and they don't listen to you when you provide feedback or raise a serious complaint.
Score 4 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
ConnectWise Manage is used by everyone here as the primary way we record time spent doing anything. This includes the management of tickets, internal projects, hourly employee tracking, and customer sales interactions. We use it for some accounting functions, such as creating and emailing invoices. It is also used to tie other pieces of MSP software together. We use it for scheduling future events as well as record keeping for actual time spent.
  • Contract management
  • Service ticket management
  • Connecting to other software
  • Very slow (Cloud version is not usable in real time with customers)
  • Terrible quoting system (must buy add-on Sell to modify Quote template at all)
  • No two-sided accounting (must buy add-on to talk to QBO or to export some transactions)
  • Unusable knowledge base (must buy third-party add-on like IT Glue)
  • Unusable documentation management system (no versioning, no wiki, no linking, 100% featureless)
  • Slow customer support
  • Customer support refuses to assist with any report
  • Password management is insecure or absent
  • Expensive
  • Many incompetent features requiring add-ons not disclosed upfront
  • Very difficult to implement (plan a year in advance)
If you are an IT firm and you do not have a PSA at all, then you are leaving money on the table. You need to explore and implement this type of software with care. ConnectWise Manage is one of the best for connecting more competent products together but is probably not the right choice for most small MSPs. Do not just believe the marketing that this software does everything. Very many functions are extremely limited or just outright inadequate. This is by design. They sell an assortment of very expensive and complex to implement and train on products that you will need to buy in addition to ConnectWise Manage. Unless you have time for a degree in ConnectWise Manage (I finished three initially included but they took them away a few months later), you will need outside help with the reporting engine. ConnectWise Manage support refuses to assist that. ConnectWise Manage can do time and contract management pretty well if you if you beat it into shape just right. Remember that ConnectWise Manage is just a centerpiece. There is no trialware with ConnectWise Manage for a reason! Don't buy until you shop around and price out your whole software stack.
Jeremy Kushner | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 6 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Connectwise is really the central tool of our operations and we use it for all core business activities such as ticketing, project management, invoicing, and time entry, just to state a few of its uses. We use it across the entire company and all departments.
  • Ticketing
  • Invoicing
  • Time entry
  • Project management
  • Customer support
  • Marketing automation
For ticketing, time entry, and invoicing it works very well and has nearly infinite customizations. To be honest, it fulfills the needs of its core tasks across the board. My reservations on the product are based more on the cost and support.
Score 2 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We used CW Manage for customer support (helpdesk), CRM, and sales. The benefit was that it had all of these features in one system, but it didn't do any of these things very well.
  • Lots of features
  • User interface is slow and cumbersome.
  • Customer service is terrible.
  • They lock you into deceptive auto-renewing contracts.
  • Unresponsive when you try to cancel, just keep sending invoices.
I wouldn't recommend it until the customer service improves.
Score 1 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Before considering ConnectWise, make sure you read the recent reviews and have a look at the Bureau of Better Business Practice where you will see a lot of unanswered complaints from clients who cannot close their accounts. ConnectWise used to be a good product but it is no longer the case. The product is not updated and very bogus, same for documentation. Support is basically non-existent. We had support request elevated and unanswered for over a month. As with many other customers, they told us we would have a free 3 months trial period (even thought there are still considerable costs for implementation and the ridiculous ConnectWise University) they now refuse to close our account. Setting up an account was supposed to take under 48 hours and instead it took 10 days! We have now moved to a competitor and are so happy about it even though it will probably take us a lawyer to be able to close our account with ConnectWise after months of painful and costly implementation.
  • Pre-sales.
  • Screen connection.
  • The product as a whole.
  • The support.
Please have a look at the complaints and the most recent and likely reviews. Note that you cannot buy a license for yourself, you have to call them and buy in bundles of 25. In our case, it took over a week for them to give us extra licenses. Deployment is painful and there is no support.
Nicolas Poague | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use ConnectWise across the whole organization. Our business relies on it, as it is how we centrally manage our customers, their assets, sales leads, service tickets, and projects. Everything must go in ConnectWise! Our schedules are managed through the application, so it is the main way employees can track what everyone is working on. All client communication happens through ConnectWise, whether in relation to a service ticket or sales proposal. It's integrated with our quoting system as well as our network monitoring system, so everything ultimately ends up in ConnectWise.
  • Service tracking: whether for help desk, sales, or network alerting, everything gets tracked as a "ticket." in the system. Whether automated through the multiple integrations available, or performed manually, the service tickets are easy to manage. Our system heavily relies on ticketing, so having multiple ways to create and manage tickets is a must.
  • Customization: it's built so that businesses can customize the features to meet their needs. Being in IT, we can create multiple "boards" where we can lock down permissions only to certain departments. Those boards then can track specific kinds of tickets. The customization can go beyond that as well, from workflow to asset management, so needless to say it is very flexible.
  • Reporting: since everything is in a database, the latest reporting features with ConnectWise (such as Report Writer), make it easier to pull the data you need. So for example, we pull reports on sales leads monthly to track how many quotes were referred by technicians, and then use that to reward the technicians. This can also assist tremendously when meeting with clients to present data on the work we've done, as well as internally to identify any trends.
  • Performance: we use an on-premise instance of ConnectWise, but our system meets or exceeds the required specs. However at times the system can be a bit clunky. When our business relies on using the system, we can't afford to wait even more than a few seconds for a screen to load.
  • Interface: while the application is extremely versatile, the interface seems a little dated and some of the menu items can be confusing. This has improved slightly since the previous version, but I'd like to see a more modern look and feel with a design that is a little more intuitive.
  • Project module: the relatively new project module was a feature we were hoping to use heavily for our larger scale projects, however it ended up not being able to fit our needs. Specifically I know the projects module didn't integrate will with workflows in ConnectWise, which we use heavily, but I know our project team found other areas where it didn't meet their needs. We've provided this feedback to ConnectWise in hopes to have future enhancements, but in the meantime we continue to use regular service tickets for our projects.
ConnectWise is most suited for a business that can really take advantage of all its features. The company needs to evaluate how many of the features they can really use in order for it to be cost effective. So if one was just looking for a help desk solution, using ConnectWise is probably not the best solution as it would provide much more functionality than is needed. On the other hand, if a company has multiple large customers, departments, and needs a way to track issues and scheduling along with the reporting, asset management, sales, and workflow capabilities, ConnectWise is a good pick. Lastly the prospective ConnectWise user would want to evaluate what kind of integrations they may require, or could benefit from, and make sure that ConnectWise has a relationship with their third party vendors. For example, our network monitoring system integrates well with ConnectWise to create and track alerts. Now that we heavily use ConnectWise we always make sure any new products we look at can integrate with ConnectWise.
Kyle Forward | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Connectwise is the leader in the industry and is by far the BEST PSA on the market today. With over 300+ certified integrations, there is not very much you can't do with this tool! We use it manage all aspects of the business from products and inventory, Service, Time tracking, Projects, Sales, and everything else in between.
  • Time tracking.
  • Project management.
  • Resource management.
  • More certified integrations.
  • Not really much bad here honestly.
If your company manages inventory and service, this is the tool for you! Member time tracking and management is one of the best points of the tool. If you are looking for automation with your ticketing, this is it! You can build completely customized workflow rules to move tickets and re-assign as needed.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Connectwise for our service company to track customer tickets and time entries. We also use it to track sales opportunities and projects. For the ticket/time entries we also use to calculate billing to customers.
  • Separation of duties.
  • Time keeps for ticket management.
  • Sales tracking.
  • Getting outdated as far as the interface goes.
Ticket management and customer tracking are made easy with easy navigation.
James Buchholz | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
It is being used in both of our offices by all departments. It addresses our need to track tickets, inventory, purchasing, and documentation.
  • Keeps track of tickets with all their documentation and attachments and configurations.
  • Has 2-factor authentication for increased security.
  • Very good uptime, almost never goes down.
  • When we enabled their new text formatting system for ticket notes, the whole system ground to a crawl.
  • Support could be a little faster on their response times.
  • It will randomly take a while to load tickets, purchase orders, etc. Not often, maybe once every couple of weeks.
It is great for tracking a high volume of tickets, purchase orders, and inventory. I don't like the project side of the ticketing system. There doesn't seem to be a lot of visual graphs or anything to see at a quick glance of what projects are in progress, when they are scheduled, due, etc.
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
It's used throughout our entire company to track time, manage sales opportunities, receive service tickets, send quotes and manage contacts, track expenses, and marketing campaigns. We very recently started using the ConnectWise campaigns feature that allows us to send email blasts, create forms and schedule social media posts.
  • Reports, when configured correctly, provide insightful information, such as forecasts, opportunities and sales call plans.
  • Offers a link shortener for social media.
  • The user interface leaves a lot to be desired.
  • It's not very intuitive.
  • Getting help from their support team is hit or miss, but I do appreciate the chat function they offer.
  • The Outlook Calendar integration can get messy, and it's really cumbersome to change a meeting time or date with an internal team of users.
It offers a wide range of company functions (finance, marketing, sales, time tracking, and a service desk), so the whole team can utilize the same central system, which is great. While it's nice it's an all-in-one tool, I think the UI could look a lot better than it does. The reports are also not very pretty. I was not with the company when ConnectWise was implemented, and I received no training. I do not find it to be an intuitive tool that I can just use without some training or level of understanding of what everything does. If you change or fix one thing, it often negatively affects many other areas. Their knowledge base/help documents (called University) does not often provide me with the answers I'm looking for, so I have to chat with support. I love the chat feature but have found the help to be only OK. They are all friendly, but I think they could be better at helping me resolve my issues by finding alternative ways to accomplish my end goals. There is no bulk way to update or manage contacts, which is frustrating when you want to add a large number of contacts to a group since you need to individually select them and click to add them to a group.
October 16, 2019

Leaves You Wanting More

Score 3 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
ConnectWise Manage is used almost company-wide. Our sales staff no longer uses it, as we found that we could use Zapier to manage their portion of the work. Our project managers use ConnectWise Manage in order to create tickets for resources to work on, and then the resources track their work in individual tickets. We primarily use ConnectWise for tracking the time that our resources spend working on different clients' various projects/tasks.
  • Time tracking of resources - ConnectWise Manage is very good at tracking how much time each resource spends on a ticket, down to the minute.
  • Reporting is almost impossible. The reporting tools look as though they are about two decades old, and functions like it too. The Report Writer feature is nearly useless. I have found that it's much easier to pull data from ConnectWise Manage and import it into Microsoft Power BI and I can then generate reports much easier. They're also much more visually pleasing.
  • Account Management seems to be non-existent. Whenever I need to speak to our Account Manager, I have to go through ConnectWise Manage's Support Team to find out information. I have to do this because our Account Manager will change without any notice. I have no idea what purpose Account Managers serve at ConnectWise Manage, as we only speak about 1-2 times per year. The other software programs that we have all have dedicated Account Managers, who I speak with at least once per month.
It is a good software to use if you want to track your resources' time, but there are far better options out there. Clients do not like the way the ticketing system sends emails to them. They can be very difficult to read for new clients. The entire system as a whole has a much steeper learning curve than is needed.
Return to navigation