Item: SolarWinds Service Desk (SSD)
Rating: 7
Author: Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

My company uses SolarWinds Service Desk across the entire organization, being used by 800+ employees. The primary purpose for using Service Desk is for information technology issues and requests. Employees can report issues with their computers, the network, servers, etc. and can request new hardware, software, password resets, new accounts, permissions, and anything else supported by the information technology department.

Pros and Cons

Self-service portal.
Simple setup and configuration.
Ease of use.
Asset management.

Workflows.
No canned responses.
Ticket details are on multiple tabs instead of one page.
Automation rules are limited.

Return on Investment

Self-service portal for employees.
Ease of use for IT staff.
Great asset management.

Alternatives Considered

I have used several ITSM platforms and IT issue tracking systems including Remedy, Spiceworks, ServiceNow, SolarWinds Service Desk, and Zendesk. SolarWinds Service Desk competes well with both Zendesk and Spiceworks because it has a complete ITSM platform. Service Desk's asset management component is very robust and tracks the lifecycle of assets very well, making it hard to beat by just about any platform. However, larger organizations may find that overall, Service Desk lacks automation and workflows that can be a good aid in any IT support environment. ServiceNow offers these two key items so keep that in mind.

Support Rating

SolarWinds support for Service Desk is a bit lacking. They are slow to respond to requests that require higher tier support. Their in-product support chat feature is nice and if the issue is a low tier one, it does the job. Details about issues on the platform are lacking when compared with other competitors but you do have the ability to sign up for outage notifications, which is helpful. Overall, their support could use improvement.

Key Insights

Do you think SolarWinds Service Desk (SSD) delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with SolarWinds Service Desk (SSD)'s feature set?

Yes

Did SolarWinds Service Desk (SSD) live up to sales and marketing promises?

Did implementation of SolarWinds Service Desk (SSD) go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy SolarWinds Service Desk (SSD) again?

Yes

Other Software Used

Microsoft 365 Business, KACE Systems Deployment Appliance (SDA), Namely

Likelihood to Recommend

SolarWinds Service Desk is a decent ITSM platform and is very affordable, making it well suited for small businesses. Additionally, the setup and configuration are simple so an experienced administrator, team lead, and manager level employee should have no issues managing Service Desk. If you are looking for more complexity with workflows, automation rules, and customization, SolarWinds Service Desk isn't for you.

SolarWinds Service Desk is Great for Small Business, Lacks Intelligent Workflows and Automations

Overall Satisfaction with Solarwinds Service Desk (formerly Samanage)