Spiceworks has done more for my IT department than any two or three other software packages combined, and all for free.
June 06, 2014
Spiceworks has done more for my IT department than any two or three other software packages combined, and all for free.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Software Version
7
Overall Satisfaction with Spiceworks
We use Spiceworks within the company as an asset management/discovery tool for all of our networking and computing equipment. It's the primary inventory for our desktop and mobile PCs and tablets and software licenses. It automatically discovers and inventories anything attached to your network, and you can also add in other devices to the database as well. It has a very robust help desk built in, and it has tools to put its users directly in touch with vendors and re-sellers for quotes on hardware, software, and services. The community forums are an invaluable resource because it puts IT professionals in touch with each other to share advice, support, software and hardware reviews, and user generated scripts and plugins, etc. The software itself is invaluable, and the community is second to none when it comes to getting real answers from real IT professionals.
With Spiceworks, I can solve computer problems from start to finish. For example, a user submits a ticket to Spiceworks Help Desk, then I use Spiceworks Inventory to compare his computer to similar machines and to see what software is installed that could be causing problems, I can go to the Spiceworks Community forums to get advice on how to solve the problem or to read product reviews, and then I can even get quotes from vendors for the replacement parts or new software, all without having to leave Spiceworks.
With Spiceworks, I can solve computer problems from start to finish. For example, a user submits a ticket to Spiceworks Help Desk, then I use Spiceworks Inventory to compare his computer to similar machines and to see what software is installed that could be causing problems, I can go to the Spiceworks Community forums to get advice on how to solve the problem or to read product reviews, and then I can even get quotes from vendors for the replacement parts or new software, all without having to leave Spiceworks.
- Help desk software is easy to set up and manage and has a user portal with room for a FAQ or self-support as well as a robust ticketing system.
- Network inventory discovery in Spiceworks is better than many expensive solutions that I've used, and it's completely free.
- I get quick answers to complicated questions in the community forums. Many IT Superheroes are more than happy to help you out with technical problems or offer up advice.
- With Spiceworks, I can solve computer problems from start to finish. For example, a user submits a ticket to Spiceworks Help Desk, then I use Spiceworks Inventory to compare his computer to similar machines and to see what software is installed that could be causing problems, I can go to the Spiceworks Community forums to get advice on how to solve the problem or to read product reviews, and then I can even get quotes from vendors for the replacement parts or new software, all without having to leave Spiceworks.
- There has been talk of adding a Wiki feature to SpiceWorks, which I think would be a great addition.
- Only runs on Windows. It will automatically discover and inventory any OS, but the software itself must be hosted on Windows.
- FREE, so the only investment was the time it takes to install and configure, which can be done in an afternoon.
- Spiceworks Help Desk has greatly reduced the time it takes to address and solve users' problems, and to keep a record of all help desk activities.
- Network/PC/Hardware/Software Inventory used to be very time consuming and was often inaccurate. Spiceworks does inventory for you, so it's always accurate and up-to-date.
- Spiceworks will notify me when one of my network resources stops responding to pings, which allows me to quickly address problems before they can have a negative impact on our business.
- Sysaid,Mediawiki,Liferay,nmap
I selected Spiceworks because it replaces a lot of different software packages. By combining inventory, help desk, purchasing, and support forums, I can solve just about any problems with IT infrastructure in my organization from start to finish with tools in Spiceworks. Plus, it's free, so there is really no contest, Spiceworks wins hands-down.
Using Spiceworks
2 - IT Department of two, both of us use Spiceworks on a daily basis. Every user in the organization can access the help desk, either through email or through the Spiceworks user portal.
2 - I think anyone who has intermediate computer skills would have no problem installing and supporting Spiceworks.
- Help Desk
- Inventory Management
- Knowledge Base
- Community support forums
- Offline device notifcation
- In addition to hardware and software inventory, I've used Spiceworks to keep track of contact information for vendors, service providers, utility contractors, etc.
- The community has grown at an unexpected rate, and keeps getting better every day.
- More reliance on the help desk for ticketing. Right now users initiate support through telephone, email, walk-in, etc. so many times a support ticket is never created. If our company keeps growing, we'll be relying much more heavily on the help desk than we are now.
- Help desk portal can be a great tool for self-support and FAQ before users submit a ticket, but we haven't done much to implement that yet.
Spiceworks Implementation
- Implemented in-house
- After inventory scans, network devices sometimes show up incorrectly or not at all if they're not configured properly.
Using Spiceworks
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Like to use Relatively simple Easy to use Technical support not required Well integrated Consistent Quick to learn Convenient Feel confident using Familiar | None |
- Inventory is very easy, and there are great articles about configuring your devices to make sure Spiceworks can accurately scan them.
- The community is one of the most helpful and professional support forums that I've ever been a part of. Many major IT companies are involved in the community, so you can often speak directly to a representative of the company whose product or service you're having trouble with or researching.
- Help desk is much better than the previous (paid) help desk software that we had been using before Spiceworks.
- The only difficulties I've experienced with Spiceworks is related to automatic scans of network devices. Some devices don't show up properly in the inventory. This is usually something that can be fixed by changing settings on that device.
Yes, but I don't use it
Upgrading Spiceworks
Yes - Very smooth, minimal downtime, no work at all on my part. New releases seem to be a little bit slower than their predecessors because of increased system requirements.
Installing an update is as easy as downloading the new executable installer and waiting for it to finish. Everything is pretty much automatic.
Installing an update is as easy as downloading the new executable installer and waiting for it to finish. Everything is pretty much automatic.
- Each upgrade has many bug fixes and improvements.
- More integration with out systems on our network.
- I'd like to see a Wiki implemented, I've heard that this feature may be on the way.