Item: N-able MSP Manager
Rating: 1
Author: Chris Maddox

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We are a managed services provider. We use MSP Manager as our primary ticketing system across all our clients. We are using it for about 20 different clients. Some small, and 2 companies with over 500 employees. We use it for issue tickets and for project requests, that each client may need.

Pros and Cons

Web Based
Automated Ticket creation

Needs to auto refresh when tickets come in
Reporting in MSP Manager is terrible

Return on Investment

We have had to spend time and resources to create our own reports, as MSP Manager does not have them.
Searching for a ticket requires scrolling, wasting time

Alternatives Considered

Solarwinds Backup, SolarWinds Mail Assure, SolarWinds N-central, Spiceworks and ServiceNow

I want to be clear. I did not choose MSP Manager, it was thrown at me, purchased by someone who did not understand how bad this tool was. I have used other ticket systems, Remedy, Spiceworks, and ServiceNow. Those all work, and do a lot of things this can't. We have to export a list of all tickets, then use BI tools to try and work the data, just to get reports on completed tickets. It's truly terrible. I would recommend having users send a carrier pigeon over using this awful awful tool.

Support Rating

I had the chance to talk to SolarWinds reps at their Empower conference. They asked how we liked MSP Manager. (For full disclosure, we use their whole suite of products). I told them it's the worst ticket software I have ever used. They said that it wasn't the first time they had heard that. I did not doubt that he was telling the truth.

Key Insights

Do you think N-able MSP Manager delivers good value for the price?

Are you happy with N-able MSP Manager's feature set?

Did N-able MSP Manager live up to sales and marketing promises?

I wasn't involved with the selection/purchase process

Did implementation of N-able MSP Manager go as expected?

I wasn't involved with the implementation phase

Would you buy N-able MSP Manager again?

Other Software Used

SolarWinds N-central, SolarWinds Mail Assure, Solarwinds Backup

Likelihood to Recommend

If you have a small market client, with just a couple of employees, then this may be ok. You have to create each contact (anyone who will submit a ticket) manually. There is no upload option. You can give a list to SolarWinds and they will upload them, but they can't include title, phone numbers, or set them to use the portal. It's as if they tried to make the worst ticketing software possible.

Don't buy this.

Overall Satisfaction with SolarWinds MSP Manager