Item: Spiceworks Help Desk
Rating: 9
Author: Patrick Yeager

Overall Satisfaction with Spiceworks

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use Spiceworks in a variety of ways: helpdesk ticketing and tracking, inventory tracking and management, as well as a trouble shooting tool and to submit purchase requests.

Pros and Cons

Pros

Helpdesk ticketing. Spiceworks does this very well - plenty on modules and plug ins to support just about anything you want to do. You can also write your own!
Inventory management is another thing thing Spiceworks does pretty well. Right down to what software and software keys are on each machine. It's not the end all be all but it does a good job and it's free.
The community! Wow the community is amazing. Supportive quick and quick to respond with valid answers. I rarely wait more than an hour before someone has responded with something valid.

Cons

The network map isn't the greatest. You need to spend some time to lay it out correctly. It also seems to be wiped out with each new update.
Can be sluggish when using IE.

Return on Investment

Spiceworks software doesn't "cost" anything. That doesn't mean it's free. There is the cost of time to learn the software, which isn't very long or difficult.
The helpdesk system in Spiceworks has greatly increased our IT team's productivity and accountability.
The inventory tracking is a nice tool to see what software you have out there.

Alternatives Considered

BMC Track-It

Spiceworks is a multifaceted tool. Speaking of helpdesk I find it easier to use than BMC Track-It and so does the staff.

I wouldn't suggest Spiceworks for very small offices with less than 10 machines or over 1000. I have often recommended Spiceworks be used for service vendors. The helpdesk system can be adapted to work as a time management and invoice tool for them.