ConnectWise PSA

Pros

I think the ability to have tools under one roof helps to establish the integrations and work processes. The consultation is definitely a must and and helped to aid us throught the transition.

Cons

The UI design is not great. It needs working on. They bought a lot of products and everything is always in development. I can see the potential, but it's a waiting game.

Pros

It's a very, very large program and can do A LOT

Cons

Because there's so much to it, it can have a steep learning curve

Pros

When the software works it works. That is about the best I can say about the software

Cons

Software support is the absolute worst. Everyone works remote, there is no supervision and they decide to get to tickets when they want to. Software is buggy and they can't figure out why integrations with the ERP software doesn't work.

Pros

I like how focused ConnectWise PSA is around finance reporting. The system is built in such a way that when configured properly, you can get very detailed reporting on agreement and project profitability.

Cons

I don't feel like they've added many new features in the past couple of years. I understand they've been working on Asio for some time now and I'm looking forward to see what that will bring.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Switching to ConnectWise PSA

Pros

Well known and trusted by my company and MSPs in general

Cons

The cost is relatively high compared to competitors

Pros

- The ability to easily create recurring service tickets

Cons

-Workflows run on a 10-minute timer rather than constantly-Ticket templates can only be applied after creating tickets-Opportunity templates don’t exist-No way to standardize note creation that impact status and email CC-No way to standardize time entry creation using templates that impact status and email CC-Client’s e-mail address does not appear on opportunities-No way to add in-line pictures to opportunities. Only downloadable attachments-No way to add multiple resources to an opportunity’s activities-No standard approval function for approve and post process-No notify resource option for individual notes-No way to edit schedule entry descriptions-No way to add multiple tickets to a service call-No way to bookmark or favorite a client-No way to edit items added by exchange-No way to view a 5-day work week on the calendar-No way to add opportunity pods-Ticket automation regarding changing boards doesn’t allow for simply changing boards and keeping other settings on the ticket, such as status and work type-Services and products do not group under one invoice without creating an additonal invoice-To give a discount you must create a line item specifically for this.-Default billable rates changes when board changes-Can’t add more teams to the Dispatch Calendar list. (known issue)-Agreements and time/tickets can’t be invoiced together-No support for browser based predictive textNo characters for the additional 40 items on my list.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Choosing ConnectWise PSA

Switched From

Reasons for Switching to ConnectWise PSA

Pros

Easy system to use and implement. Support is quick and easy to access.

Cons

There products have been prematurely release and have outages.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Switching to ConnectWise PSA

Pros

Not very much, it did not leave a good impression.

Cons

I was not very impressed with Connectwise PSA. It seemed like to get it to do the basic functionality you had to pay for all these third party plugins in and add-ons. It's almost as if the software was written by somoene who has never worked for an MSP and doesn't understand how the business runs. Bringing up ideas and issues to support was like talking to a brick wall.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Choosing ConnectWise PSA

Switched From

Pros

Easy to use, simple learning curve in terms of configuration/implementation, godd support, great knowledgebase (ConnectWise University)

Cons

Outdated UI, pricing at the higher end of the market, product innovation can be slow

Pros

I enjoyed the ease of the navigating through the site.

Cons

The cost was a little high in my opinion.

Pros

Our company came onboard with Manage and Automate at the same time, so once we had the integration between them set up it made service tickets very easy to work. It's very customizable for however your business operates with support for the whole service lifecycle, from sales and quoting new customers all the way through to invoicing. We use it for an internal IT solution so that part isn't as important for us, but good to know it's there. Also the ConnectWise University has a lot of good material to help get you going, with training in nearly every aspect of the system.

Cons

There are so many things to set up in the beginning, depending on the complexity of your business it could take months before you're ready to go live. Also, because it's meant for MSPs there are a lot of things like on the financial side that we don't need for internal IT.

Alternatives Considered

Switched From

Reasons for Switching to ConnectWise PSA

Pros

It tracked our project progress and billing in one place, making it easy to stay on top of everything.

Cons

It required significant time and training to understand all its features and functionalities.

Pros

ConnectWise is the core system we use to provide service to our customers, and it make it easy to track and invoice from.

Cons

Can be laggy sometimes and can't keep up.

Pros

The ability to manage our sales, billing, service desk and project work from one solution.

Cons

As much as there is plenty of customisation options, sometimes the most basic automation tasks either have to be set up in an unnecessarily complex way or it's not possible at all.

Pros

We are currently using Amazon Connect as the inbound call dialer for our business. We have taken ITBoost on trial and this seems to have more features. It provides us with more details with regards to the incoming contact, such as contact history, live updates and also suggests helpful knowledgebase articles. The experience seems a lot more 'complete' and is easy to understand.

Cons

I don't like the way that products seem to be separated out. My understanding is that Connectwise gives you access to their entire platform, however this is not the case. You need to signup to trial different products which is slightly annoying. Other than that, this seems to be a good piece of software.

Pros

Easy project management and time tracking features make it a convenient tool.

Cons

The interface can be a bit overwhelming and takes time to get used to.

Pros

Inventory Management in this system is amazing. It provides great information to us and our clients.

Cons

This product is on the expensive side and has more features than most people need or use.

Pros

There is a learning curve, mainly due to how much the software can do. That does mean it can be a little complex at times, but at the same time makes it extremely powerful and flexible to fit our needs. We are able to manage tickets across our client base, including project tickets. We can create and edit configurations and attach them to the tickets (example: a server or printer), and then go back and track down ongoing/consistent issues with specific pieces of hardware or software easily. Outlook calendar integration is nice (when it works as expected). We can send out mass email communications to our client base on demand. We utilize this software in so many ways, it can be daunting to a newcomer.

Cons

There is a more recent track record of updates breaking crucial things, such as Outlook calendar integration. Our on-prem instance (not cloud) of CW Manage ceased to function some months ago due to an Amazon Web Services outage, which should not have been an issue with an on-prem server instance. Level 1 support can be laughably bad at times. The company seems to be making a serious effort to improve on these things, but they still appear to have a ways to go until they are at that point of having a consistent and stable product (especially when updates are involved).

Pros

It does an adequate job of managing tickets, although the product remains tired and dated in how it looks and operates.

Cons

It's slow, it's clunky, it's busy, it's tired, it's trying to be so many things that it's hardly good at the most important things.

Pros

ConnectWise was designed from the ground up for MSPs, by MSPs. The service tickets and CRM functionality works well. ConnectWise also have a huge partner network of add on tools that fit the gaps so ConnectWise does not need to build in every solution.

Cons

There are things that are limiting like the dashboard functionality, reporting, customer portal options, knowledge base and document management where ConnectWise is limited. As long as you know you will need other system or tools that integrate with ConnectWise to fill the gaps, your strategy should be sound.

Pros

ConnectWise Manage has a wide birth of functionality. It has 80% of what an MSP needs to manage its service offering. We used the product for 3 years. We used it for ticketing, project management, product inventory, lead tracking, marketing, and client communications. The product's maturity lead us to use many integrations with other services and products.

Cons

It's so hard to pick just one thing that I liked least. The company itself was my biggest issue. The sales team had no sense of ethics and resorted to lying in order to make a sale.
If ignoring the deplorable ethics of the company, the product itself has innumerable flaws. The one thing we could not get past was our struggle to regain the efficiency we had prior to using ConnectWise Manage. We took an 30% efficiency hit using ConnectWise Manage. Previously we used MaxFocus Service Desk, and since moving away from ConnectWise we use SolarWinds MSP Manager. We immediately regained our lost efficiency and have maintained it for the past 6 months.
ConnectWise Manage had great automation, but the number of clicks and manual steps required to take advantage of it were not worth it.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Choosing ConnectWise PSA

Reasons for Switching to ConnectWise PSA

Pros

It is scalable in a technical sense since it is cloud based, and it is affordable compared to other solutions.

Cons

The UI in my opinion needs to be overhauled and could be much better and more user friendly.

Pros

It changed my business. Thanks to the organization the software provided, I was able to build the business to the point at which we sold 5 years ago and I'm now working at another small business which is building up its Managed Services practice.

Cons

The lack of feature enhancements the last few years is noted. Since the sale of CW to Toma Bravo I don't believe the software has been moving forward by any other means other than acquisition in a meaningful way.

Pros

Central piece of software that integrates with other packages for support issues, quoting /procuring products and managing projects

Cons

At times very basic features aren't available and we are asked to list them as future features but they never get actioned.

Pros

Tracking customer assets and reminding you when renewals are due are awesome. The flexibility to run client and internal reports are very good. Workflows are great, the automated processes make it so nothing is forgotten or missed. It is a great way for MSP's to stay on top of tickets, tasks, and activities.

Cons

I find it very difficult to search for a closed ticket if I don't know a key word in the subject line. It won't search the body of the ticket for a key word.