Connectwise - Please Don’t Hate Me

A few months ago I posted a video that definitely ruffled some feathers.

It was about how Halo was a PSA solution worth keeping a close eye on with their modern approach to a PSA Platform.

Truth is, a week or so after I shot that video, I actually had a call with someone who was quite senior in the Connectwise hierarchy about helping them out with some marketing.

Aaaand, yeah. Well, the video went out, and a couple of days later I receive a message that says the video ‘makes it pretty hard for us to work together’.

I’m sad. You made me sad. 😢

It even came up in another meeting I had last week where Connectwise was on the call - like a dark cloud hanging above my head.

So I thought - enough’s enough. Let’s set the record straight, and provide a more balanced opinion. So that you might love me again.

So here is my love letter to you, Connectwise.

As someone who built their MSP using Connectwise Manage, Sell and Control - I was in the fortunate position to actually build my business around how tools like Connectwise Manage worked.

Things like billing in 15-minute increments, billing contracts per user per month when you introduced UserCentric, being able to display the name of assigned users to 365 Licenses on Invoices with CloudConsole, and building out service boards for each department in my business to introduce efficiencies that actually let us scale our business without needing to completely re-tool and migrate to other solutions.

Connectwise, even with its minor frustrations over the years, is still one of the best and most feature-rich PSA tools available today.

Please don’t take my frustrations as a genuine Connectwise user of 8 years to heart.

I’m sure if we could wave a magic wand, you and every Connectwise user would love to have an interface that loads quicker - which as my only real takeaway after using it for 8 years, isn’t bad!

And yes, whilst I’ve posted videos about how other PSA vendors that are out there ‘could be the next big thing’ - that’s kind of my job. I make videos.

But not everything smells of strawberries and rainbows, and whilst I posted a video about how amazing this other solution could be, I just want to catch you up with my progress on those who I know, and some who I’ve helped on board.

Well, one client has broken Project Templates which means you cannot deploy a templated project, instead, it just creates hundreds of blank tickets, with no description.

Great. One client has 30+ bug reports open with support, none of which have an ETA, and another client, is talking about totally ditching their PSA and moving to something more reliable, like Connectwise, because of the number of issues they’re having.

The reality is, nobody has as feature-rich and as stable a product as Connectwise, I don’t think so anyway… I’m not a big AutoTask user so I wouldn’t know about them.

Everyone seems to be using ‘Feature Parity with Connectwise’ as something to aspire towards.

This just goes to show that yeah, perhaps there are some young, more modern up-and-coming software solutions on their way.

But for now, Connectwise is like the OG Grandfather who has all of the features, the integrations, and the battle scars of a company that has weathered decades of service.

So I’m going to end this with what I say to pretty much anybody when they ask me for recommendations -

Whether you go with Connectwise, one of the OG’s, or whether you have an opinion on Kaseya and Datto/Autotask, or whether you want to try one of the new breed PSA’s that may be more modern, but perhaps an incomplete product.

Find one that works best for you, and when you pick one, learn to use it in its entirety.

I know so many MSPs who just use the service desk part for tickets.

But you have projects, order processing, stock, and inventory, quoting tools, automatic ticket creation on expired warranties, client portals, integrations with Microsoft 365 and Azure, user synchronisation, Configuration management and so much more available to you than just a helpdesk.

So here is my love letter to you. Connectwise.

Can we be friends again? 🙏

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