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SolarWinds IT Service Management Products Review 2024
IT infrastructure is the backbone of successful online and software-based businesses. Any business, startup, or entrepreneur that has or wants to have a website with a lot of traffic needs to have solid IT services. However, maintaining that IT infrastructure can prove difficult and costly. That’s where IT service management tools and products come into play. Such tools allow business and website owners to focus on their customers and their businesses, not on their websites and server performance. This review will introduce SolarWinds and review the company’s IT service management products.
What is SolarWinds?
SolarWinds is an IT company offering IT a suite of tools, services, and products to clients who need assistance in managing day-to-day IT needs. Areas of focus include database management, server performance monitoring, website performance monitoring, application performance monitoring, network management, systems management, IT security, and much more. The company operates with the goal of reducing complexity, overhead costs, and increasing productivity for its clients.
Solarwinds IT Service Management Products
SolarWinds understands that many online business startups, and small, and medium-sized businesses need IT management support to get off their feet and keep their services running. That’s why SolarWinds offers solutions like a service desk and web help desk. These two products make it easier than ever for businesses to focus on their work and forget about the IT services.
SolarWinds Service Desk
The Service Desk is SolarWinds’ approach to giving clients a platform that provides productivity and efficiency wrapped up in a user-friendly portal. The ITIL suite is an AI-powered service management platform that includes incident management, IT asset management, an employee self-service portal, a knowledge base, custom dashboards, a mobile app, reporting, and much more.
- Customizable reports that provide deeper insight into operations
- Dashboards help aggregate pertinent information into one area
- Attractive interface makes working and tracking incidents easy
- May not be suitable for larger companies with more complex IT systems
- ITIL platform with incident and change management capabilities
- Built-in automation to classify and route tickets
- Full lifecycle management of IT assets
- Auditing for a complete, historical view of incident and change management
- REST APIs for easy integration with other software products such as Microsoft Teams, Slack, and other SolarWinds products
Who's it for?
The IT Service Desk is a powerful product tailored to any small to medium-sized business who wants to streamline their incident management system and enhance IT service productivity.
SolarWinds Web Help Desk
SolarWinds Web Help Desk solution is ideal for clients who want to improve their customer support to provide their customers. The Web Help Desk simplifies ticket management thanks to automated solutions like ticket assignment and escalation. The solution includes features like email ticketing, dashboards, SLA reporting, software guides, incident reporting, and asset management.
- Streamlines customer support through improved
- Dashboards make it easier to have a global view of support operations
- Asset management makes managing, assigning, and monitoring software assets easy
- Web Help Desk may not be suitable for larger businesses who need more specialized support
- Ticket automation to streamline assignment, routing, and escalation
- Incident tracking software to manage and visualize the entire lifecycle of IT incidents from creation to escalation to completion
- SLA management to manage and configure agreements with clients
- Software asset management to help organize and optimize software assets in one place
- Integration with other operation management tools helps oversee capacity, planning, and performance of applications and servers
Who's it for?
The Web Help Desk is a product built for clients who need active support to enhance their customer support and ticket management. The tool automates ticketing, centralizes resources, tracks IT assets, and creates reports all with the end goal of improving work productivity.
SolarWinds Dameware Remote Everywhere
Dameware Remote Everywhere is a tool that was designed to help businesses provide on-demand remote support. Clients can utilize the tool to gain remote control of clients’ devices to fix any end-user issues.
- Advanced encryption protocols and multifactor authentication keep the remote connection secure
- Fast connection speeds averaging under 8 seconds helps speed up the process of resolving users’ issues
- Remote connection allows for quicker customer support and incident resolution
- Pricing structure may be prohibitive for smaller businesses or startups with limited budgets
- Remote access from Linux, Mac OS, and Windows to desktop and mobile devices makes solving end-user issues easier than ever
- Wake-on-LAN support allows users to connect to sleeping and powered off devices
- Session recording lets customer service providers record their support sessions for documentation, training, and risk purposes
Who's it for?
Dameware Remote Everywhere is the perfect SaaS tool for IT companies who need a specialized tool to help end users deal with IT issues. The tool is secure, user-friendly, and lightweight making it ideal for clients who want to be able to quickly resolve issues without unnecessary interaction from their users.
SolarWinds Dameware Remote Support
Dameware Remote Support is an on-premise solution that offers remote-access capabilities for easy troubleshooting and ticket management. The tool integrates well with SolarWinds’ Web Help Desk for streamlined technical support.
- Easy integration with other SolarWinds tools for more powerful customer support solutions
- Multi-platform support lets users connect to remote Windows, Mac, and Linux devices and devices within a LAN
- Real-time screen sharing improves communication and clarity with customers
- Learning curve for customer support technicians who haven’t used remote access technologies
- Remote Administration Tool allows support technicians to provide remote support without taking complete remote control
- Active Directory Management helps teams manage their client organization by adding, updating, and removing users, groups, and organization units
- Remote access lets technicians access and reboot servers, edit and copy files, start and stop services, and view logs
Who's it for?
Dameware Remote Support is a great tool for IT companies who want to be able to provide direct remote support to their customers. It’s also ideal for clients who want assistance managing active directories to remotely manage accounts and groups.
SolarWinds Dameware Mini Remote Control
Dameware Mini Remote Control is a scaled-back version of the other Dameware remote support products. This affordable remote control software allows customer support teams to perform non-invasive IT support via a remote connection.
- Multi-platform remote control access and sharing to ensure all clients’ systems can be supported
- Lightweight tool that allows for quick and efficient connections
- Multi-factor authentication ensures connections are always secure
- As a more lightweight solution, the Mini Remote Control tool may lack more advanced features that clients desire
- Permissions can be set up to limit who can use remote access control based on roles or the Active directory
- Remote access to sleeping and turned-off machines via Wake-on LAN, KVM Support, and AMT
- Custom packages can be created and deployed for the automatic installation of the mini remote control client agent service
Who's it for?
The Mini Remote Control product is designed for clients who want to be able to provide remote IT support but that don’t have the budget to spend on the other more advanced Dameware products.
SolarWinds Help Desk Essentials Pack
The Help Desk Essentials Pack is a bundle of products that SolarWinds put together to offer clients the best combination of tools for IT support services. The pack includes the Web Help Desk and the Dameware Remote Support tool.
- All-in-one package combines SolarWinds’ powerful tools to enhance efficiency and increase customer satisfaction
- Fast and secure connections improve ticket resolution time
- Remote connection available inside the LAN and over the internet
- Customers hoping for an all-in-one package may desire more advanced monitoring features that aren’t included like server and network monitoring
- Simplified IT support management as ticket management and remote support are combined into one package
- Track ticket resolution from creation to resolution
- Built-in admin tools to troubleshoot computers before setting up a remote control session
Who's it for?
The Help Desk Essentials Package is the perfect addition to any business who wants a ticket management and remote control software rolled into one. The combination of the two products makes IT customer support easy, efficient, and transparent.
SolarWinds Plans & Pricing
Service Desk
Service Desk plans start at just $39 per month. However, SolarWinds asks that clients get in touch to ask for a more tailored quote. Clients can receive a free 30-day trial.
Web Help Desk
SolarWinds prices the Web Help Desk product per tech. Prices start at $410 per tech and can differ based on requirements. Clients will need to get in touch for a quote. The Web Help Desk also comes with a 14-day free trial.
Dameware Remote Everywhere
Dameware Remote Everywhere plans start at $589 for 1-5 technicians and 500 endpoints. Prices increase as more technicians are added. Clients can also request a free 14-day trial.
Dameware Remote Support
The Remote Support tool costs $450 per license or installation. Clients who need more than one license will see prices drop per license as they add more licenses to their plan. Clients can also receive a free, fully-functional 14-day trial.
Dameware Mini Remote Control
Clients can expect to pay $320 per license supporting an unlimited amount of end users. As more licenses are added, the price per license decreases. Clients can test out the product for 14 days for free.
Help Desk Essentials Pack
Clients interested in the Help Desk Essentials Pack should reach out to SolarWinds to get a personalized quote. However, clients can expect to pay at a minimum $1271 for a year of maintenance.
Final Thoughts
SolarWinds offers several IT service management products that are sure to fit clients of all sizes with an array of budgets. The various products are created to streamline customer support processes, aid in ticket management and tracking, and improve internal operations for software asset tracking, reporting, and directory management. Potential customers should assess their needs and compare them to the features of SolarWinds’ products to decide what tool is best suited to their needs.
