Clunky Budget Software Balloons into Premium Priced Package
December 02, 2022

Clunky Budget Software Balloons into Premium Priced Package

Logan Kitchen | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 2 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Software Version

Help Desk

Overall Satisfaction with SysAid

We purchased SysAid to manage our help desk tickets, to track our assets, and to create a functional knowledge base for our IT staff to spread collective knowledge and secure knowledge in the event of staff turnover. For now it is used exclusively within our IT department, which includes 5 admins for the system.
  • Email integration. End-users can interact with the ticketing system exclusively through email, and admins can message exclusively within a ticket. All communications are linked directly to user accounts including SysAid admin accounts.
  • Ticket management is very customizable. You can add categories, statuses, action and communication automation, ticket sorting, and much more.
  • knowledge base links directly to tickets, so repeat issues are easy to solve.
  • The UI feels like they are partway through applying a new, modern design. Different pages have different designs and styles. There are three or four different designs used throughout the product. The various menu layouts and navigation conventions make the site difficult to navigate and become accustomed to.
  • In my opinion, the KB editor is terrible and makes our articles look like blog posts from 2001. They also require links to add an image instead of direct uploads; no screenshots unless you have dedicated web storage for images. Even with dedicated storage, uploading to a separate location and then linking to that location is so cumbersome that our helpdesk techs never do it anyway.
  • In my experience, the asset feature is so bad that we don't use it and opted for another asset management solution. The scan pulls up very little on all of our IP ranges, and installing the SysAid Agent didn't change that. Also, installing the Agent on our devices is time-consuming even with GroupPolicy and doesn't always work.
  • Each way we have turned with SysAid, a fee or upsale has been lurking. Our budget ticketing tool quickly ballooned into a full-price system. Wish we had just gone for a premium service from another vendor in the first place.
  • Our resolution time has increased a lot compared to not using a ticketing system.
  • We have reduced communication load significantly for our helpdesk admins.
  • The knowledgebase is rough, but still allows us to preserve and share our collective experience and expertise.
Yes. The ability to link users with filtered questions (such as tickets containing the keyword "password") to kb articles that address those issues is very useful. Also, linking helpdesk only articles directly to tickets has helped us resolve duplicate issues much faster, especially when oneadmin gets an issue that a different admin has resolved before. We also have clearer communication on who is working on a given issue so duplicate work has virtually disappeared when work is tracked in a ticket.
The base ticketing was quick to set up and implement. In my experience, we have had a lot of difficulty with the asset management scans. Email integration is great, but can be tricky to set up and has broken occasionally for us. The fixes are usually quick, but it does mean that we miss some tickets before the error is caught and have to resolve them externally and then enter the details later.
Sysaid is a budget software for the most part. It gives similar functionality but a smaller community, more outdated platform, and, for lack of a better term, "clunkyness". In my opinion, the big competitors give better features, smoother UI, and a deeper community for a bigger price-tag. The issue is that as you begin to expand the features or size of your SysAid implementation it quickly inflates in price until it is comparable with those big competitors. If you are super small and unlikely to expand there are many free or open-source options that probably work just as well as Sysaid. If you see expansion in the future or are a larger company to begin with springing for a more premium competitor is likely the move for you. Our budget subscription to SysAid serves a very specific niche and we don't really fit into it.

Do you think SysAid delivers good value for the price?

No

Are you happy with SysAid's feature set?

No

Did SysAid live up to sales and marketing promises?

No

Did implementation of SysAid go as expected?

No

Would you buy SysAid again?

No

If you have a very small team that will not expand this might be for you. There is also a free version that works well. Performance and features will work much better in the cloud. Don't get an on-prem version. Also, they are HIPPA compliant, which was a big sell for us.

SysAid Feature Ratings

Organize and prioritize service tickets
10
Expert directory
2
Service restoration
Not Rated
Self-service tools
8
Subscription-based notifications
10
ITSM collaboration and documentation
6
ITSM reports and dashboards
8
Configuration mangement
1
Asset management dashboard
7
Policy and contract enforcement
Not Rated
Change requests repository
Not Rated
Change calendar
Not Rated
Service-level management
Not Rated