ConnectWise Automate Reviews

Powerful but inexpensive IT service and control platform.

Comments: It's been positive. It is essential for supporting remote workes and in the times that are in it it's gotten more important. There is good functionality around software installs and we actually use it to build up our SOE when we have new machines. Ot deosnlt do anything other similar systems can;t do but it is very fit for purpose for a small IT team.

Pros:

There is a lot that it can do for a quite reasonable cost. IT is more suited for small or medium businesses as I don;t think it;s quite enterprise level but for control, scripting, monitoring and the like it is very good at what it does. It is also cloud based so can be accessed on any device with a browser.

Cons:

It is not very good at monitoring. I can easily find out if computers have issues by selecting them but not really being notified that there may be a probelm. Scripting works well when it works but it's difficult to figure out if it's not worked and why.

Favorite RMM platform

Comments: Very good product, probably our most important tool in our stack.

Pros:

Very customizable, we create a lot of our own scripts to do custom things for clients.

Cons:

Uses MySQL DB, would prefer MS SQL. MySQL can be a beast to manage.

Does the job but there are more modern options out there

Pros:

In terms what function Automate is capable of just about anything you'd want it to do.

Cons:

The functions it has all have there own quirks and nothing ever seems to work quite the way you'd want it to. Setup and configuration is daunting.

Connectwise Automate

Comments: Connectwise Automate is a critical part of my business that I use. I could not work without it and I really enjoy working with this tool!

Pros:

I really like the features that Connectwise Automate offers. The ability to remotely patch servers and endpoint devices is excellent.

Cons:

The only issue we have with this software is the customer support and occasional instability of the software.

Solid IT Tool

Comments: Overall, it gets the job done and it's a good product.

Pros:

Makes remote sessions with end-user computers and pushing scripts simple.

Cons:

The interface is pretty utilitarian and could use an update.

Should be call "Connectwise Autodraft"

Comments: The business is a con. They tell you they have a "guarantee" which they make impossible to obtain. will continue to bill you regardless fo whether the product works or not.

Pros:

The software has its pros (connectwise screenconnect is the only good thing). The automation will automatically restart services or auto-approve and apply windows update on a schedule. When it isn't crashing or causing servers to crash that is.

Cons:

It CONSTANTLY crashes. It will cause servers to crash. Only some automation features work. No support is ever avaaible to resolve issues. The ones that do respond don't know their own product.

So far so good

Pros:

It's a strong suite for Remote Management and helping end users. I can easily assist quickly for them.

Cons:

I haven't ran into issues yet. I'm still going through the trial and testing.

ConnectWise Automate helps me keep all my IT systems in check, saving time and hassle.

Pros:

Automated tasks, easy remote monitoring, and powerful scripting capabilities make my job easier.

Cons:

The user interface can be a bit overwhelming at first, and some features are not very intuitive.

Great tool for an MSP

Comments: We have been able to become much more efficient and organize our work much better.

Pros:

Allows for management of a wide view of devices across a variety of ecosystems. Easy to use and get up and running. Partner community is great.

Cons:

Support leaves a lot to be desired. When can get in touch, takes several attempts to resolve issue.

RMM to the stars

Comments: We used this tool when it was LabTech - and even in those days there was no comparing this to any other RMM platform. For years it had the edge in so many ways. To those willing to learn it this tool was capable of being the entirety of your platform for doing business!

Pros:

The feature set has been astounding from day one. With the big rebrand and integration with ConnectWise Manage the duo are now all that much better, complementing each others previous, non-focused features.

Cons:

Truly forward progress was the main issue. During the time we actively used LabTech/Automate was during the transition years of the name and aesthetic. Things are definitely driving into the right, unified direction for all of their tools and that is exciting to see! Learning the tool, like most ConnectWise products, can be daunting but there are lots of resources to pull from and well worth the investment. Again, I suspect due to the years of bringing the tools together, Automate seemed to somewhat stall/lag on added features for awhile. They certainly had the most initially so it wasn't a drastic fall-behind, but new tools were taking the slow moving to catch up and the market is certainly competitive again.

Not a terrible solution for management and monitoring.

Pros:

The top-down overall management give one pane of glass to all the client's machines.

Cons:

Since ConnectWise was recently sold the support service has gone downhill. The overall program is outdated compared to other alternatives.

I utilize this software daily to perform my job duties, managing all aspects of over 6,000 endpoints

Pros:

Clients and Locations are organized in an easy-to-view tree, which allows easy access to a customer's inventory. Several dataviews are available from a Client or Location to quickly gather information of an environment. For example, a list of 'scheduled tasks' configured on every system can be gathered from all systems to determine why a particular event occurs every Saturday at 4am. Remote Control of a system can be envoked with standard tools such as VNC or RDP, as well as ConnectWise Control (formerly Screen Connect). Reports of client environments are just a click away, whether a question regarding system health is of issue, or if all systems have the latest patches and Anti-Virus updated.

Cons:

Software runs on a MySQL backend, but only on Windows. Keeping MySQL tuned properly for environment size can be chore, whereas DB Engines such as MSSQL are a bit more automated and forgiving. As you bring more agents into the system, it's a good idea to run performance metrics on the MySQL server to see if any adjustments are necessary to maintain best performance of the system. Telephone Support for the MySQL backend tends to yield different answers from each representative you talk to, and in my experience it was best to use general MySQL tuning documents that are available from Oracle.

Connectwise Automate - one of the most powerful RMMs out there

Comments: I still love the product and it would be hard to switch but some of the issues we run into lately are making it harder to remain with it as well.

Pros:

Automate allows you to pretty much do anything you need for an RMM. It allows tons of customization and enhancement to increase its power. There are also tons of free and paid integrations that even make it work better. You can also script pretty much anything throughout the product.

Cons:

In order to get the full power you really need to dedicate the time and resources to add what you want to it. Reporting is abhorant and got even worse with the new reporting engine. There seems to be more increasing bugs in later releases and all new patches focus on bug fixes rather than any enhancements so the functionality of the product really isn't improving. The quality of first level support has also slipped. They used to be able to address most issues, now it tends to be limited what they can help with.

The best tool I've used in desktop support.

Comments: With this software we are able to not only sort users by client, but also location. The network scans and ability to distribute software is killer. When working I am able to easily assist multiple people because of the features of this product. I can remotely connect to a computer, run command line scripts, create custom scripts, and check general health. That's all in the console view. If you want to setup the alerts to prompt you for specific actions, it's all there.

Pros:

The amount of features that you have at your fingertips to remotely assist users is phenomenal. I can't count how many times this software has made life so much easier.

Cons:

When the app is slow to load, it's slow to load. It's the only downside I've had with this application.

Automate - IT automation software for IT Service Providers

Comments: I work for an MSP, and we have the luxury of having a full time guy that is our Automate administrator. He's amazing, and has made this software do some really incredible stuff for us. It had good functionality out of the box, but we've been adding scripts and automation to it for 5 years at this point. The sky is the limit on what you can do, but you will need to invest the time and energy into doing it.

Pros:

We love Automate. We use it to manage patches and updates across thousands of computers. We also use it for customized monitoring and alerting on workstations and servers. Monitoring is really robust and granular. It does a great job of gathering a TON of data about the network, and that data is searchable. There are a bunch of different reports built in. Integrates with Manage, Control, and other applications. It does a ton of stuff out of the box, and has endless customization options.

Cons:

It may not do quite as much as you want right out of the box, and it will take some work to set it up. You'll need someone on your team willing to invest the time and energy into making this software do everything you want.

For managing your IT components no matter where

Pros:

After using a lot management tooling, I'm now using ConnectWise Automate (former Labtech). Monitoring, manage, implement manually or thru scripts, almost everything is possible with this software.

Cons:

Setup is easy with their support, but getting completely up and running is a differnt story. Especially in small IT companies where maintaining this software is just very small part of your job it sometimes getting complicated. Adjusting reports can be improved. A simple report where you select the begin and end date in the past is not possible.

A great tool for VARs and MSPs

Comments: Overall connect-wise automate is a great tool for our environment to monitor our customers systems.

Pros:

What I really like the is the granularity of alerts that can be set up for customers systems. Also being able to group similar systems together makes it easy once you do the initial setup.

Cons:

Omce the software is great overall The main issue we had is the learning curve curve for employees.

Review of ConnectWise Automate

Comments: My overall experience with this product is fantastic! I wouldn't be able to help my employees the same way without this product.

Pros:

What I like the most about this software is that I can remotely login and help my employees with any issues they are having on their computer from anywhere. This is extremely helpful because I look over 11 stores and I am not always at the location that needs help. I can just remote in and help them!

Cons:

What I like the least about this product is that I have to have a two factor authentication key emailed to me every time I login to use this product. I understand that this is a necessary security measure, but it slows me down when I'm in a hurry. Other than that minor annoyance, I have not had any issues using this product.

Fantastic system for remote management, scripting and much more

Comments: Used Kaseya before switching and love the overall layout, features and in-depth information you can retrieve very easily. Wish I could set a few things with some customization, which might be possible by working with connectwise engineers but that would be above my paygrade.

Pros:

Set up monitoring alerts, script automated processes, control end user and servers remotely with a couple clicks. Ad-hoc sessions allow admin access remotely, even if the user does not have rights. Fantastic experience overall and only have minor pieces I wish I could see

Cons:

Wish there was some more customization is some of the views. Would like to see some more basic information on the main screens, as opposed to having to dive into the properties to find. Seems that it can get a bit slow and unresponsive with certain actions. Not sure if this is our server or the software though.

This product makes my work life better.

Comments: It has allowed me to accomplish more during a work day.

Pros:

How it is able to connect so well regardless of bandwidth constraints, Able to manage updates, antivirus with ease. Scripting is extremely easy.

Cons:

The software removal process often will not work as it sometimes requires accessing the PC. Sometimes registering new machines can be a trying experience without admin level access.

Must have for MSP

Comments: Have been using it for years, love it.. Price is a bit steep for someone just starting out, but otherwise it offers alot of function, and ease of use once everything is setup and you know how to use it.

Pros:

For a small to midsized MSP, connectwise makes a few must-have's. Connectwise Automate makes it easy to monitor, and perform tasks on remote systems, as well as offers a decent out of the box ticketing system, with end user ease.

Cons:

Many Many options, Which is good, but a pain to setup and have working how you want it. Should have more out of box preset configs to get up and running quicker.

Automate formerly labtech

Pros:

Let’s me remote in and run scripts easily enough.

Cons:

Scripts can be hit or miss. There’s a lot of “gotchas” when running them

Best remote manage tool

Comments: We reduce the amount of connections to the users devices interrupting their job. With this tool we can work in background and automate common fixes.

Pros:

It's a great tool for remote management. You can get so so many information from their connected devices. Also the reports you can get from the dataviews are Excelent

Cons:

The new interface version is slower than the previous one. Seems simpler but you spend more time trying to find the features and commands

Has almost all the functions and features, but not support and hard to use

Comments: We wanted a product to streamline the process. This is anything but that. We only contact support when its impacting customers, and have to wait days to get assistance from a live body.

Pros:

The product has a lot of potential and from a sales standpoint the have the features that you would want..

Cons:

They provide you with no support and as a MSP you can not even talk to someone on the phone. Count on issues taking you days to weeks to get support to address. Third party vendors and products take twice as long.

Great RMM Tool

Comments: Connectwise Automate has helped my team manage our clients environment with ease.

Pros:

Automate is feature rich and great for managing our clients desktops and servers. We love the ability to do patch management with this tool.

Cons:

The learning curve to learn the tools and setup alerts does take some time. We had support hours with Automate to help use get up the speed and that helped.