SolarWinds Web Help Desk (WHD)

Score6.6 out of 10

53 Reviews and Ratings

What is SolarWinds Web Help Desk (WHD)?

SolarWinds Web Help Desk is ticketing and IT asset management software. It is designed to simplify help desk management. This solution includes built-in ticketing management, asset management, change management, and knowledge base capabilities.

Categories & Use Cases

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Social integration
Agents can communicate with customers via social networks like Facebook and Twitter; may also include brand activity monitoring/reporting capabilities.
Category average: 8.2
Subscription-based notifications
Users subscribe to notifications for ticket updates
Category average: 7.9
Customer portal
Customer portal allows customers to submit tickets themselves and/or access self help resources.
Category average: 8.6

Expert directory
Directory of IT and businesses services available to customers to help route tickets to appropriate subject matter experts
Category average: 7.6
Help Desk CRM integration
Integrates with CRM so that tickets and support communications are coordinated with customers' records.
Category average: 8.5
External knowledge base
Customers can self-service by searching through help articles.
Category average: 8.2

Verified User

Contributor in Information Technology (51-200 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We needed a ticketing system for IT as well as a purchase approval process and onboarding/offboarding ticket with checklist. This was able to do it all. We still haven't integrated it with SolarWinds Orion which it can do as well. We didn't have the funding to go with something like Service Now and I like Web Help Desk's UI better which is customizable

Pros

Integration with Active Directory
Integration with email
Checklist for onboarding and offboarding
approval flows

Cons

I have had problems with upgrades that break the system and have to restore snapshot prior to upgrade
The UI isn't as intuitive as it could be but I think it is better than SNOW
Documentation isn't always as helpful as it could be

Return on Investment

Not sure about ROI but we now have hard data for the work we are doing
This was something that management wanted and it has made them happy
Reporting has been useful to see what tasks are taking most of our time

Usability

Other Software Used

SolarWinds Access Rights Manager (ARM), Veeam Data Platform, CyberArk Privileged Access Management

Robert Pfau

Director of Technology in Information Technology at Bristol Township School District (501-1000 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I use SolarWinds Web Help Desk (WHD) across the entire organization, teachers/principals are responsible for submitting a ticket when experiencing a technology issue or request. We did use it for laptop and Chromebook inventory, it included helpful information such as purchase order, price, date and location deployed. We used to use an excel spreadsheet to keep track of tickets, who was responsible for resolving them and any notes the user had.

Pros

Active Directory Integration
Asset managment
User and tech both receive emails upon entry
Easy to use interface
Great reporting functions

Cons

Because of AD integration, users sometimes try logging in with their email address and not AD credentials. The user then calls stating they can't put a ticket in, it would be nice if there was a method of matching the AD Email field with a login.
Setting up new techs with the building they are responsible for can be a little messy
I would like to see the UI updated. It looks old, even in the latest releases.

Return on Investment

I enjoy I can continue running the software on my internal servers, the cloud is more expensive while providing minimal benefit to our organization
Cost per technician license is minimal

Usability

Other Software Used

SolarWinds Serv-U, SolarWinds IP Address Manager (IPAM), FortiClient, HPE Alletra, Aruba ClearPass, FortiEDR, Aruba Networks Wireless WAN

Jennifer Aguilar View profile

Senior Network Administrator in Information Technology at County of El Paso 911 District (11-50 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We utilize the SolarWinds Web Help Desk both internally within our organization and we support "outside" entities that utilize our Public Safety Application and/or hardware. We tried out a demo and the product and decided to make it permanent in our environment. We use this track for re-occurring issues, as a knowledge base, and to measure the performance of our service. This has been a very valuable tool for our organization.

Pros

SolarWinds Web Help Desk was easy to implement and maintain
Support behind the product is phenomenal
SolarWinds is great about notifying customers about product updates
Owners / Users of the product can make suggestions to SolarWinds to help make improvements or feature requests

Cons

I have been a user for over 8 years and the product continues to exceed my expectations!
I am amazed at the fact that the users have an impact on how the product continues to evolve
Continued efforts put forth on the security of all the SolarWinds products have been amazing

Return on Investment

Amazing impact on our Organization, we are much more organized since we implemented SolarWinds Web Help Desk
The ROI is in the statistics! The application cost pennies to run compared to what the product will do for your organization.
I challenge you to find a better product for the price!
Our documentation has improved since we implemented SolarWinds Web Help Desk

Alternatives Considered

CA Service Management and with CA Service Desk Manager

Other Software Used

SolarWinds Database Performance Monitor (formerly VividCortex), SolarWinds Engineer's Toolset, SolarWinds Dameware Remote Support (DRS)

Jonathan Sorrenti View profile

Systems Manager in Information Technology at Midlands Technical College (1001-5000 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use SolarWinds Web Help Desk (WHD) as our ticketing system for IT Helpdesk at the college. It addresses any and all technical issues and account creation requests through the college systems. End users who have issues can send in an email and leave a voice message and those are created into tickets. Use can also log into SolarWinds Web Help Desk and manually create their own ticket.

Pros

Ticket Creation and Completion Tracking
Assets Management and Reservations
FAQs management

Cons

Mobile App

Return on Investment

Easy for users to submit tickets - saves time
Easy for technicians to see their workload - saves time

Other Software Used

Brightspace, Adobe Captivate, Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365)

Usability

Margaret Auld-Louie

System Administrator in Information Technology at Colorado Coalition for the Homeless (501-1000 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

SolarWinds WHD is used by multiple departments for supporting users. Used by IT, Data (who provides application support), Facilities/Maintenance, HR and possibly others.

Pros

Easy to view tickets for department and self.
Easy to assign tickets to techs.
Easy to create email in ticket to send to user.
Advanced ticket search capabilities.
Ticket emails show all details of ticket.

Cons

Clunky, dated interface.
Interface doesn't always work. Sometimes have to click multiple times to get something to work.
No categories for tickets.
It is not possible to unmerge tickets in the technician interface. You have to go into the database to do this.

Return on Investment

It provides a way to track support requests in IT, Data, HR and Facilities without incurring a huge software cost.
It does not provide a way to manage our IT assets which makes it more difficult to manage the assets.
It is not the most intuitive software for techs to use, which can make it hard for them to come up to speed on it.

Other Software Used

Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365), Synology DiskStation, ConnectWise Control (formerly ScreenConnect)

Zendesk Suite

Freshdesk

ConnectWise PSA

SolarWinds Web Help Desk (WHD)

What is SolarWinds Web Help Desk (WHD)?

Categories & Use Cases

Media

Key Features

Top Performing Features

Social integration

Subscription-based notifications

Customer portal

Areas for Improvement

Expert directory

Help Desk CRM integration

External knowledge base

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Alternatives Considered

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