Spiceworks truly is "Everything IT!"
June 04, 2014

Spiceworks truly is "Everything IT!"

Brent Long | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Software Version

7.2.00195

Modules Used

  • IT Service Contracts
  • IP Subnet Calculator
  • Ticket Guage
  • Portal Tweaks
  • Auto-Populate Ticket Due Date
  • Bulk Delete Network Scan entries
  • Help-Desk-Only User Role
  • Help Desk Customizations
  • License Manager
  • Windows Performance Monitor
  • Bulk Delete and Close/Open Tickets
  • Screen Connect Support

Overall Satisfaction with Spiceworks

Spiceworks is an integral part of my daily IT toolbox and we utilize it throughout our organization for IT Support, Help Desk, Inventory Management, User Management, License Tracking, Software Tracking, Warranty Statuses, Network Monitoring, Server Monitoring, and even more! I cannot say enough positive things about this software and all of its features, not to mention the organization itself, and the entire IT community that supports, uses, and interacts with one another on a daily basis. The hardest thing to believe about Spiceworks is the fact that it is 100% FREE while still being robust, constantly updated, and phenomenally supported!

Pros

  • Help Desk interface and management, hands down, is a fantastic feature of Spiceworks. The user portal enables my users to empower themselves while also allowing our IT department to provide a better level of service to the user base. Ticket management and Problem resolution are much better organized and allow any IT department to optimize their support processes.
  • The inventory abilities of Spiceworks are a great ability that allows an IT department to track assets, get extended and detailed information of many, many devices, and the advanced scanning options allow for an administrator to fine-tune the scans to be unobtrusive, selective, and thorough.
  • Warranty and License management within Spiceworks allows for proper and accurate tracking of these critical subjects which allows an organization to stay within compliance of software regulations, keep track of hardware age, warranty expiration, and so much more!
  • One of the greatest features of the Spiceworks package has to be the IT user community that supports it! I have found SO much in terms of support, tweaks, add-ons, and an answer to almost ANY technical question you could possibly have, regarding Spiceworks or any other hardware/software!!

Cons

  • I've come across a few things about Spiceworks that could use refinement, one of which being the network scanning/inventory feature. I've come to notice that handling stale/expired inventory is a bit of a hassle within the database, however there are independent user tweaks and tips that allow an competent IT pro to work around and cleanup inventory.
  • I would REALLY like the ability to fully customize the Help Desk Portal within Spiceworks itself without the need of directly modifying the page code or using a third-party module. the base Portal design is great, however it is not nearly as customize-able as it could/should be.
  • I've noticed that the Spiceworks installation on a server sometimes has a hard time restarting, will hang upon service restart, or will sometimes just "die" (for lack of a better term) however a simple reboot of the server usually resolves the issue. I do not have a dedicated Spiceworks server, so that *could* be the issue. In the real-world most IT departments wouldn't necessarily be dedicating a server just to Spiceworks, however with Virtualization being what it is now, if you have the spare resources, it could be a good idea to dedicate a VM to the install.
  • ROI is, of course, AMAZING since this is a FREE product!! It is a dream when presenting it to management, and quite the easy sell!
  • Efficiency is the name of the game for this software and it provides IT departments and a user base the advanced ability to manage many off the daily needs and aspects of technology within an organization!
  • My IT department and overall company has benefited greatly from this software and it shows in our productivity, user satisfaction, and issue resolution times.
  • Manage Engine,Zendesk,Feng Office
Spiceworks was the clear winner in the battle of the Help Desk solutions for us. The options, features, and abilities provided within the software, combined with the cost, the productivity benefits, and the rollout process made it an easy decision. The real "push" over the competition had to absolutely be the Forums and Spiceworks Community available for questions, support, and technical answers at any time of the day, anywhere in the world!
This is an easy decision. We are sticking with Spiceworks for the long-haul because it works for us, plain and simple! The fact that it is constantly being vetted out, updated, feature-enriched, and supported truly make staying with the package a very smart business decision. As the old homage says, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!"
It might not be robust enough to handle a multi-national corporation, but for ANY small, medium, or even large business structures it is a great and capable fit! My specific experiences with companies using it were a past size of 94 users/160 PC count, and my current company that has over 300 users and 400 PC's with no issues!

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