1. Home
  2. Help Desk Software
  3. ConnectWise PSA Reviews
  4. User Review of ConnectWise PSA
More than software - truly value-added automation for IT service provider
April 04, 2014

More than software - truly value-added automation for IT service provider

Jared Tremper | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Software Version

2014.2

Modules Used

  • ConnectWise Mobile

Overall Satisfaction

As a small MSP with 4 employees, we use it across the entire organization. We use it as our centralized ticketing, configuration management, sales and marketing solution. It enforces managed processes in what would otherwise be an ad hoc IT support operation. We live by the doctrine, "if it isn't in ConnectWise, it didn't happen." With integration from our RMM partner, much of the data we use to deliver value to our clients are automatically collected and updated. And with a developing sales process, we are now growing in best practices for marketing and sales to apply the same automation principles to those disciplines that we have employed in our service delivery. I can truly say it is more than software: it is the collected and applied wisdom of well-managed service provider (ConnectWise itself) that helps us become an efficient small business.
  • Service desk management is the primary value proposition. Even a small IT provider can greatly enhance their service delivery. This is achieved through the email connector technology that routes inbound mail (e.g. help@youritcompany.com) to a service board. Ideally there is a person who "owns" the board (a dispatcher). No service request need be lost or ignored with this system.
  • Configuration management, particularly with the integration with a remote monitoring and management partner, is very useful. It shows a level of care to our client since we can know details about their system as it pertains to any active tickets. Is the warranty expired? We can look that up. System status? Absolutely! It is a professional level of IT management done remotely and makes us look like we know what we're doing.
  • Maturity management. What I mean is that ConnectWise (as Arnie will say) is not merely software. When using the full breadth of resources from ConnectWise University, a growing IT service provider can truly be a professional service provider and deliver a consistently superior service when accelerated by the process automation of the entire solution.
  • Marketing and sales for IT providers is greatly enhanced with the integration of ConnectWise. From the first introduction to client on boarding, ConnectWise is a powerful and unifying solution to put a company's best foot forward.
  • Until recently, the software performance was a real struggle. There have been recent improvements, but the interface is clunky, sometimes ugly, and non-intuitive.
  • Limited Apple Mac support - no native client yet. Browser support is improved with the most recent version, but it can stand more enhancement.
  • I would love to see Office 365 and/or SharePoint integration. There is some documentation capability, but searching and managing documents can be a real pain.
  • Automation of IT management tasks
  • Better customer service
  • Overall improvement of business process management
Whatever may be lacking is insignificant to the ongoing value ConnectWise brings. To attempt to do this without ConnectWise is to quit the business. Moreover, the integration of processes (not just the technology) is part of our DNA and would require a blood transfusion (so to speak) -- we simply wouldn't be who we are today, nor what we need to be tomorrow.
I think any IT service provider should seriously consider ConnectWise for their PSA solution. Again, I will return to the fact that it is more than software: it is the collective wisdom available to the intrepid administrator to bring about real process improvement. If PSA (professional services automation) is taken seriously, automating repeated functions that may be handled manually now is the real value proposition. How many IT professionals waste time on unprofitable but necessary tasks? ConnectWise is a powerful solution to reduce that burden. But it requires significant buy-in at all levels of the organization, from owner to technician to sales and support. It means trusting the guidance offered by ConnectWise as a partner, which not all people are will to do (as this means admitting what is currently being done is not working well). The journey can be transformational if you are willing to engage in good faith.