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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…

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Recent Reviews

TrustRadius Insights

ConnectWise is a versatile platform that has proven to be indispensable for businesses across various industries. Users have found …
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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)
    5.1
    51%
  • Ticket response (81)
    4.8
    48%
  • Customer portal (74)
    4.2
    42%
  • Ticket creation and submission (82)
    3.8
    38%

Reviewer Pros & Cons

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Pricing

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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
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Product Demos

Catalyst ConnectWise Manage Integration

YouTube
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Features

Incident and problem management

Streamlining ticketing and service restoration processes

4.4
Avg 7.9

Self Help Community

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

4
Avg 7.7

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.

4.5
Avg 7.7
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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 5.6.

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%
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Comparisons

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Reviews and Ratings

(373)

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

(1-23 of 23)
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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.
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.
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 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.
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.
Alex Farling | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 6 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
ConnectWise Manage is the backbone of our IT managed service provider. We use it for ticketing, invoicing, procurement, and sales. While there is no way we could run the company without it, the product is certainly the 800lb gorilla that we have to learned to live with. Once you sign up for ConnectWise, they will try to sell you their whole suite of products, and before you know it you'll be spending more with them than you're taking home...
  • Ticketing - rock solid, keeps good history, and transitions to invoicing smoothly in most cases.
  • Integrations - Integrates to more IT products than any other PSA platform on the market.
  • Expense Management - allows us to reimburse employees for expenses quickly and accurately.
  • Sales - even with plug-ins to tools like ConnectWise Sell or QuoteWerks, the product lacks any sort of prospecting integration. It's VERY hard to run a sales team in this tool.
  • Dashboards - this should be a permission to play product by now, but third party products are required for business analytics.
  • Commissions - you can't pay your people using the CW commissions functions.
  • Calendar - as a business owner, the product doesn't let you see your life in one place. It separates Sales Opportunities/Activities from Tickets and Project tickets to a point that you operate in little Silo's and can't see your life in one place.
  • Customer interaction - even though we have closed loop ticketing (tickets update clients with emails when we work on them) the client communication stinks for things like Projects. An integration with Trello or something would go a long way - but why should I need that when the product is supposed to handle customer facing projects?
  • The Client Portal is hideous... (they are working on a new one).
You have to have it (or something like it)... it keeps us from a significant amount of duplicated effort converting technician work time into billable time, and probably catches a lot of time that was lost before we had it... but you find yourself fighting with the product to make it perform a function, instead of it being straightforward and intuitive...
Daryn O'Shea | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We are currently using ConnectWise Manage as the primary product for managing the workflow and invoicing of all service that we provide to our managed services customers. The entire organization is utilizing this product. At a cost per licensed user that is roughly equivalent to our charge for an hour of help desk service, this product provides tremendous value and functionality for our business, allowing us to more thoroughly documents tasks and track costs throughout the customer service experience. As the CFO, it gives me the fine tuned ability to apply taxes and track costs. Our ultimate goal is to utilize the reporting functionality of the software in order to better evaluate the profitability of the various elements of our business.
  • We are also a VoIP service provider. Telecommunications comes with the joy of managing communication services taxes in addition to the sales taxes we are required to collect on our managed services. Connectwise gave us the ability to set these taxes up and transfer that information to QuickBooks Pro Desktop.
  • During the past year, the folks at Connectwise have really fleshed out the online version of the software, providing nearly the same functionality of the locally installed version. With the exception of our periodic need to import and export from QuickBooks, we are able to use the software from any location.
  • Having service tickets created automatically via the receipt of a customer email has been a big help. They are even able to reopen an existing ticket by simply replying to the email thread. This makes it easier for our techs to quickly see notes and history relating to the ticket and resolve it quickly.
  • I'd like to see 2FA functionality built into the product along with a more secure tool for storing sensitive customer information. We are currently required to utilize a third party tool to help provide that data protection.
  • We are currently experiencing the occasional delays in screen refreshes and find ourselves waiting 10 to 15 seconds for our data to save or refresh. Acknowledging that this software is the primary tool we use to run our business, eliminating those pauses would be ideal.
  • Customer support is available through a variety of avenues. Having access to support via the chat method is great. However, since we often have to wait for quite some time for a support technician to get to us within the queue, having an audible notification that the tech has finally arrived would be helpful.
I was recently asked by one of my customers for a recommendation for a tool to help her manage accounting and tax preparation projects. ConnectWise immediately came to mind as a tool, even though it is designed for use in the MSP community. It is that flexible. However, the amount of setup and preparation and training that is required to utilize this software product does lend itself toward use in a large organization with many users where the investment in time will pay off quickly. The calendar function and time tracking can be a real value when utilized but we find this difficult to use when our organization has only 2 or 3 owners/technicians.
October 06, 2017

Thank You, ConnectWise!

Ian Hansen | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Our entire organization, a managed technology services provider, uses ConnectWise every day for all of our help desk support processes. We are required to have a highly organized system with automated workflows that helps us manage a large number of support requests from clients of a number of diverse small to medium sized businesses. ConnectWise works very well for our needs, and as the service director here, I have appreciated the ability to customize the help desk software around the needs we have to better serve our clients. Using ConnectWise, we have been able to streamline our operations and extend our support offerings.
  • I appreciate that workflow rules can be configured and customized to help keep all client support requests active and be resolved as quickly as possible.
  • ConnectWise's support has been responsive and helpful, and their training resources such as ConnectWise University have been very useful.
  • I appreciate that ConnectWise listens to its user base and releases frequent updates based on feedback.
  • I think it would be nice if ConnectWise had a feature for internal techs to send attached files when doing an internal update ticket, while updating the ticket at the same time without having to click on 'time entry'--that is a very nitpicky request.
  • ConnectWise might offer some better examples of what their workflow rules are capable of accomplishing.
  • When e-mailing help@connectwise.com, it would be nice if we did not have to remember to specify that any added information we were giving about an issue (if not on the original ticket) needed to be added to a recently-opened ticket.
If a tech support company is looking for a great tool that helps their support team get organized and stay that way, then I would recommend using ConnectWise and getting well-trained on it. If a company is not intending to grow its customer base or systems, and doesn't want to have a platform on which to expand its operations, then ConnectWise might not be a fit.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Connectwise manage is used across multiple departments. Initially, we only migrated single elements (service desk) and later on, we were able to switch other departments to it too. Additionally, after buying another company out, their processes were integrated into ConnectWise too, unifying the processes across the organization.
  • Timekeeping and expenses - easy to assign time to tasks and mobile app allows for quick upload of receipts.
  • Integration with other automated systems, currently our IT monitoring system is linked to CW and any issue flagged by it is automatically creating (and closing if self-resolved!) tickets for servicedesk.
  • Fully web based - there is a desktop client but since one of recent patches the web client looks exactly the same and allows for quick access to CW from pretty much anywhere with no fuss. Really convenient!
  • Missing options for two factor authentication with more common systems, hoping for this to be added soon!
  • Frequent patching is recommended due to amount of improvements and fixes, not necessarily a bad thing but carries an additional overhead of testing and implementation time.
  • As any bigger system it takes time to get used too, which can cause the initial settling in time to be a bit longer.
Moving from legacy bespoke systems onto a unified supported and what is more important - certified platform, can make a big difference for every company, small and large. If you are a very small business, the cost and complexity might be just a bit too much and youare better off using other systems.
September 18, 2017

ConnectWise Review

Gene Whaley | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use ConnectWise across our entire organization. It allows critical customer communication between all departments. And, we are able to manage tasks and projects associated with each client.
  • track project tasks
  • track engineer time within accounts
  • track expenses
  • not as clean when utilizing a 3rd party app for billing
  • inflexible on processes if different than the way they manage their MSP
Obviously a very good solution for an IT MSP.
Richard Raue | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use ConnectWise as our PSA tool and track all client activities for sales and service.
  • It's a very comprehensive and powerful system, if properly implemented.
  • It is the market leader in my opinion and what attracted us to CW is the huge user community.
  • We like that CW is the big dog and that all new features and third party integrations are usually available to us first before other PSA tools.
  • Though CW has done a lot over the past 12 months in regards to UI and user experience, much more needs to be done. It's a little clumsy when navigating menus and certain tasks take extra steps that seem completely unnecessary.
  • We use the cloud version and speeds have been atrocious for months. I'm surprised that this has not been addressed. At certain times of day, we are unable to use it. This causes us a lot of grief with the techs as they see it as an excuse to no longer do real-time time entry. We've lost a lot of ground on getting good and timely ticket info.
  • Implementation is the most important aspect of being able to successfully use any PSA. We paid for the diamond implementation and then had to pay many thousands more with third party consultants to get things running effectively. We are in the business of making IT work, not PSA tools. I know it's hard to get it right for every unique situation, but more needs to be done to understand the workflow of the current business before forcing us into a setup that ultimately does not work.
It's well suited for MSPs, but not at all for anyone with retail sales.
September 08, 2017

Our ConnectWise Experience

William Stasak | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use it in our help desk and service department. Dymin Systems is an MSP and telecommunications company. ConnectWise is our ticketing system, quoting system, and all around business platform for our clients. The CRM works very well and integrates into our RMM and other software seamlessly. Most of the troubles we have encountered were just learning curves. This platform is very customizable and robust.
  • Ticketing system works great for a help desk.
  • Help desk tickets get opened easy from RMM and through email from clients.
  • Configurations are easily tracked for companies and sites.
  • Customer ticket portal is cumbersome and not easy to use.
  • Payments can not be taken by cash or credit card easily or without third party software.
  • A Point of Sale would be a great add on as selling something in store is hard in CW as you need to creat a quote then and invoice and payment can not be made on the ticket with credit card in person or by cash with a cash drawer.
Great as an MSP or company that extends credit to all clients and works remotely or onsite at client locations collecting payment through checks. Is horrible for any sale to be made on demand in a retail setting or repair shop where clients come to you and pay with cash or credit card.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
ConnectWise Manage is being used by the whole organization. It addresses, service tickets, billing, projects, campaignes, etc.
  • ConnectWise Manage helps with all of our billing purposes, invoice creation, edits, etc.
  • ConnectWise Manage aids in service tickets. Being able to escalate a problem and have the necessary parties involved and updated in a timely matter.
  • ConnectWise Manage helps with our procurement department and collaborates seamlessly with it's counter part - ConnectWise Sell.
  • What is both a pro and con in my mind is the amount of updates. Though I appreciate improvements in the application, it tends to break services - mainly billing. They can improve on testing more with the updates and understanding the ramifications and what will change or break before sending them out publicly.

ConnectWise Manage is very well suited in the whole of a company. It addresses many facets of the day to day goings on for IT companies. It also has an impeccable support staff known as "live chat". As a whole, I absolutely hate calling into a help desk - the wait times are horrendous and I usually feel like I'm never properly heard. The live chat staff of ConnectWise Manage is amazing. They listen to your issues, are extremely knowledgeable, and find an answer for what you are looking for. If they cannot solve/answer the issue (which rarely happens) they escalate this internally to have a more senior staff assist.

ConnectWise Manage is well suited for service tickets, onboarding/off boarding of clients, invoicing, procurement, and sales.

Steven Hay | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use ConnectWise as the primary tool to run our entire organization. It is invaluable as a tool and we have put considerable resources into developing and customizing the product. If you are an MSP, this and LabTech (both owned by the same company) are your tools.
  • Single tool for all departments
  • Good integration with some powerful 3rd party tools
  • Well developed and mature software
  • Patches can break things, we always patch far behind!
  • Can be delayed years for promised key features
Suited and only sold to MSP's. But an MSP can make a board for another customer and pass those costs on.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
ResellerIncentivized
Our entire organization uses Connectwise Manage. It acts as our CRM platform, Service Desk (ticketing) platform, Invoicing platform, Project Management platform and includes Office 365 billing automation and management features (CloudConsole).
  • Outstanding service desk platform. Highly customizable in regards to fields, custom views, and reporting via Report Writer.
  • Workflow Rules engine is extremely powerful for creating automation workflows; from simple things like notifying staff when a ticket is nearing an SLA Breach, to complex items like firing off a script in an RMM (Labtech/Automate) when a given action is taken on a Service Desk ticket.
  • Design of the application has come very far in the last couple years, but is still incomplete. A number of screens/modules still use the "old design", and we'd like to see everything ported over to the "new UI" as soon as possible.
  • Knowledgebase module is virtually useless based on present-day standards. We rely on a separate 3rd party solution for our documentation and password management needs.
Managed Service Providers with 5-250 employees should find a good fit with CW Manage. Enterprises beyond that size may find customization to be a limiting factor.
Greg Hardy | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We are a managed service provider. ConnectWise is the primary tool that we use to manage our clients / tickets / time / purchases / sales. Everyone in our organization uses ConnectWise on a daily basis.
  • The core function of ConnectWise is ticket management. The customization options, workflows and SLA information makes this a critical tool for our support management.
  • Where ConnectWise does not address a specific need, they have done a good job of creating an API that allows vertical or vendor solutions to integrate directly into ConnectWise.
  • One of the biggest benefits to us the agreement management. From the scope definitions to time tracking and enforcement to billing - this is one of the key functions in ConnectWise for us.
  • ConnectWise does a good job of adding features. However, the reporting in ConnectWise still falls short and has not been addressed since we have been on the platform. Originally, our instance of ConnectWise was on premise, so we could link it to SQL and create some custom, real-time reporting. We are now on the hosted model, and this limits our ability to enhance this shortcoming. I would also like to see some easier ways to setup dashboards for financial performance, agreement profitability, ticket management, SLA performance and enforcement, and resource utilization.
  • I would like the integration with appointments in ConnectWise to be deeper with Outlook. For example, I would like to be able to invite outside parties to appointments created in ConnectWise, and not have to send a second appointment from Outlook. I understand this is coming on the Roadmap, but it has been needed for some time and cannot get here quick enough.
  • I would like to see some additional ability to delete purchase approvals that are not needed. Currently, to remove these from the approval screen, we have to approve them, create the PO, receive the items, and then do an inventory adjustment to reverse the receipt.
I would recommend this to any MSP. I implemented it in 2008 at an MSP that had no PSA tool. It was a challenge to change our process, but it finally gave us some insight and control that we were missing before the implementation. When I started my new MSP in 2014, I reviewed the PSA options again, but quickly landed on ConnectWise again because of the capabilities of the software. It is the one tool that we will not consider changing. I have recommended this solution to other MSPs as well as web developers, and they are also having success on the platform.
February 03, 2017

CoreComments

Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use ConnectWise (CW) to create and manage tickets, opportunities, sales orders, purchase orders, receiving, and contact management. We also integrate it with a number of third-party solutions to pull those systems into a single console. It is used as our primary tool to track and manage all service and sales across the organization.
  • Integration with well-established third-party vendors.
  • Live chat support.
  • Established as an industry leader in this space for MSP.
  • Custom Report Writer is very hard to use and understand.
  • Project Management modules need to be revamped. Although you can create a project, managing it is slow and clunky so it makes it hard to know what is going on.
  • It would be nice to have an out of the box "Best Practice" setup configuration. It took several years of us tweaking and changing things to get things set up so that we got the built-in reports from CW to work and report revenues properly.
In the MSP space, there are so many products on the market and you need a solution that actively pursues integration with the best of breed products. It is almost imperative to have a central console where everything reports to so your techs can keep their heads above water. ConnectWise has its issues, but the important part is they actively work to correct and improve them and they also keep on banging the bushes to find other tools and services to integrate with. ConnectWise has become one of the top solutions in this space so vendors are now building solutions and talking to ConnectWise right away to integrate with them.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized

Our entire organization uses ConnectWise. We have 2 business units, Managed Services and Insurance Billing (Revenue Cycle Management) for medical practices. We log all activities in ConnectWise to address a number of business problems.

1. Record time spent against clients. This allows us to understand profitability per client and have a record of actions taken. This is primarily in Service Tickets and Projects.

2. Track assets for Managed Services Clients and associate those assets w/ service tickets.

3. Knowledge Base to help speed resolution of future service issues. To be fair, we supplement this function with another product too, but link to that product from within the assets in ConnectWise.

4. Service billing. We track and invoice service agreements and service tickets out of ConnectWise.

5. CRM and Sales. Contacts, company info, sales leads and sales process management.

6. Integrates with our RMM tool, Labtech and other monitoring tools to automatically open tickets based upon alerts or thresholds being met.

  • Ticket management. This is where the bulk of our service work is created, tracked and closed out for invoicing.
  • Agreement management. Automated billing of contracted services, lets us see what we are doing, and compare cost vs. invoicing to determine profitability of the service and the clients.
  • Time tracking. We do payroll out of ConnectWise too and we can see what that time was spent on by employees.
  • The project management piece is a little clunky and it is hard to collaborate with third parties using just the build in PM tools.
  • Some service agreements with some third parties are particularly troublesome, but this is probably more due to the third party and the way they transmit info than anything else.
  • The customer portal leaves a lot to be desired.

Managed Service Providers - I don't know how you run a company like ours without a tool like this. I know one man shows and 200 employee MSPs who use it religiously.

Telecom companies - we've recommended the tool for friends who run telephone service companies and they love it.

If you run a service industry where you need to track what is being done for your clients, ConnectWise is a great tool. It's a CRM x 10!

November 16, 2015

ConnectWise for MSPs

Delano Collins | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
ConnectWise has the unique ability to tie together all people and processes within our organization, making it an essential tool for everyone in our organization. From service to sales to finance to product integration, ConnectWise is designed to weave all of these disparate silos together into a centralized, meaningful way. Many of the products and services we use, tie directly into ConnectWise, making alerting, ticketing and billing a snap. With scheduling, time entry, ticket tracking and workflow automation features, not only is invoicing is more efficient than ever but the product has been designed to be scalable to grow with your organization.
  • Agreement billing is easy with correct work role and work type configurations, giving you the ability to streamline your billing process, but also the flexibility to easily address your clients with unique billing arrangements.
  • Workflows can be configured to alert anyone in your team to exception-conditions. Expiring agreement in 3 months? Warranty expiration in 45 days? Negative survey? Missed SLA? Emergency tickets? Not a problem with Connectwise's workflows.
  • Product integration allows for better alerting, with improved ticket categorization for data analytics.
  • Outside Sales benefits from improved reporting helping you determine what is and is not working, track your sales quotas and project your growth based on successful sales.
  • Inside Sales benefits from streamlined quote creation and delivery, activity and ticket tracking all while delivering key sales metrics.
  • New GUI Reporting interface allows SQL-novices to drag and drop fields to make the reports that are meaningful to you.
  • Knowledge Base is weak.
  • The ability to send Project surveys is limited to tickets within the Project, but not the project itself.
  • The current release cycle is very aggressive. Be prepared to update the program every 30 (or fewer) days.
  • The program's flexibility can be a weakness, so you will need to educate your team. ConnectWise University is a great resource - use it.
The solution's flexibility ensures that you will find it being used by a lot of different companies in different ways. For a company that delivers products and services, we feel it is the right fit for us. For those choosing ConnectWise, you will want to identify whether you feel the on-premise or hosted / cloud version is the best fit for you. Up front costs can be challenging for small organizations, but make sure you allocate the time and resources to ensure proper training. In addition, try to adopt best practices and train your employees on these practices - it will save you a lot of headaches later on.
Gavin Stone | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We are a Managed Service Provider and use ConnectWise across our entire organization. We support the IT needs of clients across the New York Metro area.
  • The ability to audit tickets for changes made has been a key feature when looking to determine if a ticket status was changed pre-maturely by mistake or if it was closed due to lack of response from a client.
  • The improvements to the Knowledge Base search have been a great improvement in tracking down necessary information when techs need to deal with or respond to complaints about known issues due to 3rd Party Vendors.
  • Training has always been a strong feature in ConnectWise. The ConnectWise University is a great resource for training new users how to use CW and finding information on making changes to the system.
  • The Google calendar sync needs to have better integration, and there needs to be a faster response time when the connection is broken.
  • Connectivity and speed can be lacking, there are times where the system is too slow for tech to be able to access information and update tickets.
  • The system is still missing the ability to add individuals CC'd to a ticket when the ticket is generated by e-mail. The only way we know if there are additional individuals cc'd is to open the original email and only do that if other people are mentioned in the ticket.
It all depends on the business need. I would not recommend ConnectWise to an in-house IT staff or a new startup managed service provider (MSP), but I would recommend to an individual that has started their own MSP and has multiple clients.
Adrian Kwitkowsky | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We currently use ConnectWise to manage all aspects of our managed services business. Though my primary use of it is within the service department, we use ConnectWise projects and finance pieces as well, and utilize the in-depth reporting features both internally, and with third-party software that pulls data from ConnectWise.

As the service delivery manager, ConnectWise allows me to create incredibly detailed configuration item entries for all hardware deployed in the field. These items begin their life as the Project Team on-boards a new client. Documenting every known piece of information about client hardware increases the effectiveness of the service desk, as we have all the information we need to start troubleshooting, as well as seeing a detailed history of the device.
  • ConnectWise allows for extremely granular detail for documentation of client environments. Photos/diagrams can be attached to further supplement the text input fields.
  • Seamless integration between CW and MS Outlook is priceless. Scheduled tasks in CW block out Outlook Calendar times, and alert technicians when their next task is due.
  • Kaseya, our other primary software, populates ConnectWise with information from workstations out in the field. Not only does it create configuration items, but it also updates those automatically with the machine audits that are conducted by the software, making ConnectWise the go-to software for all information about client environments.
  • It would be beneficial if attachments within ConnectWise could be opened by the software itself. An example is, a client emails in a screenshot of the error they're having. CW will not have a placeholder mark or any indication that there is an attachment. One needs to download and open the originating email in order to see the attachment/contents
  • Similar to the first point, items that are attached to configurations such as PDFs, photos, and diagrams, need to be downloaded and opened on the computer. Technicians in the field who jump on to CW at a client site may not be able to access the needed information since the workstation they're utilizing may not have the appropriate software installed. A built-in previewer for even just PDF or JPG would save time.
  • My most requested feature for CW to implement would be a way to clearly denote VIP or C-Suite clients within the system, so that dispatchers are made immediately made aware that this user is to be dealt with accordingly.
Overall, between large-scale projects, and day to day service, I have not found a scenario that ConnectWise was unable to handle. Though I have had, lets call it 'minimal' exposure to other PSA software, I have been extremely pleased with the functionality of CW from a service and project standpoint, and would not hesitate to recommend it to a friend or colleague.
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