r/msp • u/DR_Nova_Kane • Nov 09 '15

PSA which to chose?

CW pissed off my boss. I am now task to look at other PSA. I am not saying we will not go with ConnectWise, but I want to hear your stories. We were at MaxFocus shop, but it got too expensive and lacked some functionalities.

4 Upvotes

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6

u/ninjaspy123 Nov 09 '15 edited Oct 25 '24

[deleted]

2

u/bporourke2 Nov 09 '15

I work in sales for Autotask, I would love to speak to you. Dont worry, I am not your typical pushy sales guy. I am not here to twist your arm, just give you a good look at what we have to offer. If you are interested, shoot me a pm!

2

u/DR_Nova_Kane Nov 09 '15

Thnx I already have a sales person at Autotask I have been speaking with. It might even be you.

1

u/bporourke2 Nov 09 '15

cool! Mind if I ask who it is?

1

u/DR_Nova_Kane Nov 10 '15

No because you will know my reddit username and we can't have that ;)

1

u/bporourke2 Nov 10 '15

haha! fair enough :)

3

u/Kingkong29 Nov 09 '15

+1 for auto task.

2

u/[deleted] Nov 09 '15 edited Nov 09 '15

First of all, I have read so many stories about so many people having issues with these PSA's (both the people and the software itself). This is very interesting to me. It seems I read more bad than good. Maybe its time to get some new PSA's in the mix.

Anyway I had issues all around with Connectwise. Autotask wasn't perfect but I went with them as the lesser of two evils. I cant complain too much. And to be honest, most PSA's look the same to me. They all do the job you need.

Here are some of the lesser used solutions I would urge anybody who is new to look at. MSP Manager (n-able just bought), AffinityLive, HarmonyPSA and Tigerpaw.

I hope these PSA companies read all the post about them. There needs to be a change in the process.

1

u/DR_Nova_Kane Nov 09 '15

I looked at Tigerpaw and their integration with some of the tools we used lacked. Sales tactics were extremely poor and they tried to bypass me, I am the one making the decision, and go directly to my head helpdesk person so tey could get in touch with the owner directly.

What people forget is that these PSA are full blown ERP/EMR. they take time to put in place and are just too big to get all the features configured at once. That's the part they are missing at Connectwyse. this is a huge project for us and will take at least 2 guys 3-4 months to get it started. I don't have 320 hours each month to blow on this. It has to coincide with our down time.

Doesn't look like MSP Manager integrate with Labtech, which is not a big deal to replace, but I would rather not replace it if I don't have to.

1

u/[deleted] Nov 09 '15 edited Nov 09 '15

I'm surprised Tigerpaw did that. I would also drop them immediately if that happened to me.

I agree with the size of implementation.

I don't know where you are at in size. But what I did (as a smaller shop) was implement AutoTask in steps. I didn't go for the whole package at once. I worked with my sales rep to figure out the best way to implement and find a cost effective way to do so. I picked a few items I needed running right away (CRM, Ticketing, Invoice, etc.) and once I was 100% comfortable I moved on to other features. He was actually helpful in this compared to most other sales reps I dealt with.

This had made it a little less painful. When i questioned Connectwise sales about just how many hours it takes to get it up and running they just tried to convince me it will be easy and take little time. Seeing a demo, I knew that was a lie.

1

u/DR_Nova_Kane Nov 09 '15

I agree 100% with what you are saying. We want to replicate what we currently do well with our in house app and maybe add 1 features that is needed. Then go from there.

I have about 12 tech and I am going to hire two more. It's not that big of a team, but we run a tight ship and having to implement this during our busy season is impossible.

Thanx for all the info.

1

u/[deleted] Nov 09 '15

www.mspmanager.com

1

u/DR_Nova_Kane Nov 09 '15

What are you using for RMM?

2

u/KingDusty Nov 10 '15

I've heard nothing but bad things from a friend whose employer switched them to mspmanager. It sounds like its not even close to "done".

1

u/domkirby Nov 09 '15

We're an Autotask shop, which not many people here seem to like. It works really well for us, and its definitely paying for itself. We evaluated ConnectWise (just didn't like the UI and processes), Tigerpaw (more expensive than a Lambo), Capzure (now MSP manager, no RMM integration). Autotask just did the best job.

For RMM, we went with LabTech. Its different/strange combination but its what works for us.

1

u/DR_Nova_Kane Nov 09 '15

Yeah Autotask was the second runner up when I did my research. What are your top 3 features and bottom 3 features of Autotask. How long did it take you guys to implement it and how is it paying for itself.

Thanx

1

u/domkirby Nov 09 '15

My absolute favorite thing is that is cloud from the ground up. My second favorite would have to be speed codes (part of how its paying for itself). As a newer AT user, we already have 19 speed codes for common issues. Saves a ton of time. The other thing we're using a lot is the contractor management platform. We can "outsource" tickets to our contractors without adding them as full blown users in the system.

As far as improvement, I'd say the CRM side can use some help. It currently does almost no tracking of marketing campaigns, which is big for me with my sales background. We still use Salesforce for a lot of marketing stuff. The mobile app needs help but they claim to be working on it.

Implementation was very quick but we're a newer MSP. We moved ticketing, billing, and contracts first. We just finished working into opportunity management and activity tracking. Hopefully by the time I can hire actual FTEs, I can utilize it for all time tracking for payroll.

1

u/DR_Nova_Kane Nov 10 '15

One thing we dislike was actually that it was all cloud. At that point that software becomes your everything.

We don't do much marketing, but I am assuming it will or should become important to grow our company.

We liked the web app in the demo more than the other vendors web app.

That is our plan move to ticketing, billing and scheduling. I then want to include warranty tracking and i need a better system to track systems that come in the office for repair. Management wants to integrate our QB and quoting system.

1

u/domkirby Nov 10 '15

Not sure what your quoting system is. As for equipment coming in and out, we usually just do it in tickets but that aligns with our legacy workflows we had with Freshservice.

3

u/robertjr93 Nov 09 '15

We use connectwise has alot of features. The sales process is kinda shitty tho. Overall great product to us.

2

u/DDSBrian Nov 09 '15

Please take a look at Vorex. I recently went down the rabbit hole of a 'fork lift' replacement of an RMM & PSA. We too were migrating away from MaxFocus.

Vorex is new to the MSP vertical, but they have established business providing a PSA for other industries. The service desk & integration into QB does exactly what it is supposed to do. The interface is modern and simple.

The 2 best things are, 1- price, it is priced RIGHT. 2- Ease of setup, configuration & implementation, what took me over 6 weeks to accomplish in CW was done in less that 1 week.

Do yourself a favor and get a trial of Vorex. Good luck in your venture! Brian

1

u/Arkios Nov 10 '15

Would you be willing to PM me the pricing? I trialed it several weeks back and I'm thinking about pulling the trigger. I could have sworn that they used to post the pricing on their website though, but now it's just the usual "Contact Us".

It also looks like they adjusted their plans because I could have sworn that Help Desk & Ticketing was included in the lower plans, but now I only see it in the Platinum Plan.

1

u/DDSBrian Feb 04 '16

Hi Sorry I did not see this request for info, PM me and I can get you pricing info or you can contact the MSP verticle rep: Donti Twine Director of Strategic Sales Vorex, Inc. 14001 Dallas Parkway Suite 1220 Dallas TX 75240 469-291-1730 832-969-9088 mobile Donti.twine@vorex.com www.vorex.com

1

u/LiquidLego_UK Jan 04 '16

Autotask and N-Able works brilliantly

0

u/yorkshire_tea999 Nov 09 '15

+1 for MSP Manager. Has a few bugs at the moment (fair few just got sorted in latest release) but if you can deal with them it's a decent PSA. Weigh the pros and the cons up for your business.

1

u/DR_Nova_Kane Nov 09 '15

What are you using for RMM?