ITSM - Organizer

I tested SysAid and found it offers traditional ITSM features with new AI tools that boost productivity

1:51 pm | May 22, 2025

SysAid is a complete IT Service Management (ITSM) solution. It focuses on ticket management and service delivery for mid-sized teams. Its standout feature is the new SysAid Copilot. This tool uses generative AI to automate tasks like ticket categorization, prioritization, and assignment. The software balances strong features with easy setup, letting IT teams start quickly without much configuration.

The platform excels in IT management, covering incident and problem management, asset tracking, and knowledge base functions. During testing, we liked the customizable workflows. They let us automate complex processes with little effort. The self-service portal was also helpful. It allowed end users to solve common issues independently, which reduced our ticket volume.

While SysAid offers great core features, some areas need improvement. The user interface feels outdated in sections like the admin portal and workflow management. The built-in remote control features are limited compared to specialized remote access tools, leading many users to prefer third-party integrations. Still, SysAid's strong customer support and regular updates show their commitment to improvement.

SysAid's pricing is flexible, with options ranging from basic ticketing to full ITSM features. The platform suits organizations aiming to enhance IT service delivery without added complexity. The implementation process is straightforward, supported by helpful resources and an easy configuration that gets teams operational quickly. Overall, SysAid is a strong ITSM solution that offers a good mix of functionality, usability, and value.

SysAid pricing request form — (Image credit: SysAid)

SysAid: Plans and pricing

SysAid has three main plans: Help Desk, ITSM, and Enterprise. Each plan fits different organizational needs and IT maturity levels.

The Help Desk plan is for small teams needing basic ticketing and asset management. The ITSM plan offers advanced IT service management features for mid-sized and mature organizations. The Enterprise plan is a complete package with no limits, ideal for larger teams or those needing full customization and advanced analytics.

Exact pricing is not publicly available. It varies based on the number of agents and the number of assets to manage, like workstations, servers, and mobile devices. You have to contact SysAid directly for a custom quote that meets your needs.

All plans come with cloud and on-premises annual licenses. A free trial is available so teams can test all features before deciding. Keep in mind that a one-time onboarding fee is not included in the plan pricing.

SysAid: Features

SysAid offers a complete ITSM platform. It covers everything from ticket management to advanced IT automation and AI-driven service delivery. Our tests showed the platform balances functionality and ease of use well. Recent AI upgrades genuinely boost productivity instead of just following trends.

Ticket management

The ticket management system is at the heart of SysAid. It features flexible categorization, automated routing, and customizable SLA management. Both admins and end-users found the interface intuitive. Users can create custom fields and workflows tailored to their processes. The AI-powered ticket categorization and prioritization are especially helpful. They accurately assign incoming requests and suggest knowledge base articles, which cut down resolution times.

Asset management

SysAid's asset management offers clear visibility into hardware and software across the organization. It uses automated discovery and inventory tracking. We were impressed by how it maps relationships between assets and services. This creates a clear view of how infrastructure supports business functions. The software license management features help identify compliance risks and optimization chances. Integration with the service desk links assets to related incidents smoothly.

Automation and workflows

SysAid lets IT teams create complex workflows without needing programming skills. This cuts down on manual work for routine tasks. The visual workflow designer is user-friendly, allowing us to set up approval processes, escalation rules, and notification systems quickly. We appreciated the ability to trigger automated actions based on certain conditions. For example, software licenses can be auto-provisioned when approved, and tickets can escalate if SLAs are at risk.

Self-service portal

The customizable self-service portal helps end-users find solutions on their own. It features an easy-to-navigate knowledge base and a streamlined service catalog. We found it easy to configure with our branding, enhancing user experience and encouraging adoption. The integration with the knowledge base is effective. The system suggests relevant articles based on user queries, often solving issues before tickets are submitted.

SysAid reporting tools — (Image credit: SysAid)

SysAid: Analytics

SysAid's reporting features give IT managers a clear view of key performance metrics. Users can customize dashboards and choose from pre-built report templates. Our evaluation showed that standard reports included vital metrics like ticket volume, resolution times, and SLA compliance. These reports offer solid insights into service desk performance. The option to schedule automated report delivery helps keep management updated without manual work.

While basic reporting meets needs, advanced analytics feel limited compared to dedicated BI tools. Although dashboard customization exists, it lacks some flexibility in visualization types and data manipulation that power users want.

Organizations needing detailed data analysis may have to export data to other tools. However, SysAid's recent updates indicate that enhancements in analytics are planned for the future.

SysAid interface — (Image credit: SysAid)

SysAid: Ease of use

SysAid has a user-friendly interface that's easy to adopt. The ticket management system helps with categorization, routing, and customization. The self-service portal is also very accessible. End-users can find solutions on their own, through a simple knowledge base and detailed service catalog. This really cuts down on ticket volume.

However, some parts of the interface, especially in the admin portal and workflow management, seem outdated and need updating.

Overall, the platform balances functionality and ease of use well. IT teams can start operations quickly without needing a lot of configuration. During our testing, we liked the visual workflow designer. It was very intuitive and let us set up approval processes, escalation rules, and notifications quickly.

Yet while the main features are easy to use, some user reviews mention bugs. These include things like login errors and situations where ticket creation freezes when switching tabs.

SysAid community — (Image credit: SysAid)

SysAid: Support

SysAid's customer support is one of its best features. It offers several channels, including a helpful helpdesk, biweekly customer care chats, and thorough documentation. We found the support team to be very responsive and knowledgeable. They quickly addressed our questions and escalated complex issues to higher support tiers when needed.

The company also implements user feedback during product development. Many new features come from customer suggestions in the Feature Request Forum within the SysAid Community.

SysAid: Security

SysAid uses strong security measures throughout its platform. It meets strict international standards with ISO and SOC2 Type 2 certifications. Their data centers are also SOC2 and ISO 27001 compliant. The platform protects data with AES-256 encryption for data at rest. It uses secure network protocols with SSL/TLS encryption for data in transit. Advanced authentication options include password complexity rules, multi-factor authentication, and single sign-on with SAML 2.0.

For the AI-powered Copilot feature, SysAid takes extra security steps. They use Microsoft Azure OpenAI Services instead of consumer ChatGPT. This keeps all AI-related data in the customer’s SysAid database. They also use advanced PII removal tools to safeguard sensitive information.

SysAid: The Competition

The ITSM market has many strong alternatives to SysAid. ServiceNow, Jira Service Management, and Freshservice are the top competitors.

ServiceNow is an enterprise-grade solution with strong governance and compliance features. It suits highly regulated industries, but its complexity and higher cost may not fit smaller organizations.

Freshservice attracts those wanting automation and a customizable platform. However, some users find its reporting and analytics less effective compared to others.

Other notable options include ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus, SolarWinds Service Desk, TOPdesk, and BMC Helix ITSM. Each has its own strengths and weaknesses. SysAid provides a comprehensive ITSM solution at a competitive price. However, Jira Service Management may offer better integration with development tools. Freshservice is often praised for its modern interface and ease of use.

Ultimately, the choice depends on specific needs. Factors like scalability, integration capabilities, and pricing will play crucial roles in decision-making.

SysAid: Final Verdict

SysAid offers a complete ITSM solution that balances functionality, usability, and value. It excels in ticket management, asset tracking, and AI features that boost IT productivity.

We think the platform is ideal for mid-sized organizations. It helps improve IT service delivery without adding complexity. Plus, it has flexible deployment options and pricing that grow with the organization.

Still, some interface elements could use a refresh, and features like remote control have limits compared to dedicated tools. However, SysAid stands out with its excellent customer support, regular updates, and willingness to adapt based on user feedback.

We compiled a list of the best software asset management (SAM) tools.

I tested ServiceNow and found it offers a powerful and comprehensive ITSM platform ideal for larger organizations

1:27 pm | May 21, 2025

Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets Pro Software & Services | Tags: ITSM | Comments: Off

ServiceNow is a powerful cloud-based ITSM tool that streamlines workflows and service management in IT, HR, and customer service. During our testing, we were impressed with its ability to automate complex processes. This feature lets organizations swap manual tasks for advanced digital workflows without any coding knowledge. The platform's flexibility helps businesses define, design, and automate their service delivery, enhancing operational efficiency for larger enterprises.

ServiceNow connects easily with popular tools like Jira, DocuSign, Microsoft, Google, and Salesforce. We liked how the customization options allowed us to tailor it to our needs. However, this flexibility comes with a steeper learning curve than we expected. The self-service portals were particularly useful, letting end-users create tickets and report incidents easily.

While researching the platform, we noticed how many reviews mention that the user interface feels dated. While the recent upgrade to the Next Experience UI addresses much of these issues, some occasional clunkiness still remains. And the reporting and business intelligence features, while functional, were not as strong as some competing systems we looked at.

Still, ServiceNow's AI-powered intelligence is quite impressive. It automatically categorizes, prioritizes, and routes incoming tickets based on historical data, cutting response times. For large organizations with complex IT environments, ServiceNow provides great value due to its service management tools and automation features. However, smaller businesses might find the platform's complexity and high licensing costs challenging.

ServiceNow pricing — (Image credit: ServiceNow)

ServiceNow: Plans and pricing

ServiceNow uses a subscription-based pricing model. Prices vary based on modules, features, and the number of users. We found that the company does not share pricing publicly. Instead, potential customers must contact the sales team for a tailored quote based on their needs. That said, current users mention that annual contracts usually start at $75-$100 per user per month for companies with 50 to over 100 users.

The platform has several product lines, including IT Service Management, IT Operations Management, Customer Service Management, and HR Service Delivery. Each line has its own pricing structure. Most organizations begin with the IT Service Management (ITSM) package, with the option to add more modules later. ServiceNow also provides a limited free trial, which is helpful for testing basic functions, but it does not include all features available in paid subscriptions.

ServiceNow: Features

ServiceNow offers a complete set of tools to improve workflows and service delivery across departments. In our tests, we were impressed by how well the platform automates complex processes. It also allows for easy customization. Here are the key features that stood out to us:

Workflow automation

ServiceNow's workflow automation is key to its offerings. It let us design, implement, and optimize complex workflows with little to no coding. We found the visual workflow editor easy for business analysts to use for basic processes. It also offers the depth developers need for complex automation. The platform triggers actions based on set conditions, cutting down manual work during testing. Automated escalations and notifications helped ensure nothing was missed.

Service catalog and request management

ServiceNow's service catalog can create a central marketplace for all your services. During our evaluation, we made a number of custom request forms. These forms had dynamic fields that changed based on user selections, making requests intuitive for end-users. The approval workflows were strong. They allowed multi-level approvals and delegation, ensuring business continuity even when key approvers were unavailable.

Knowledge management

The knowledge management system in ServiceNow offers strong tools to create, organize, and share information. We liked how the platform suggests relevant articles to service desk agents based on incident details. This feature greatly reduces resolution times. The knowledge base also has solid version control and review workflows that keep content accurate. Plus, the self-service portal helps users find solutions before submitting tickets.

Configuration management database (CMDB)

ServiceNow's CMDB gave us a clear view of the IT infrastructure and service links. This was crucial for change management and solving problems. During our review, we saw that the discovery tools mapped relationships between configuration items well. They created a visual map of how systems work together. The platform tracked changes to configuration items over time. This feature added important context for troubleshooting. And its integration with incident and problem management modules made managing IT services seamless.

ServiceNow reporting tool — (Image credit: ServiceNow)

ServiceNow: Analytics

ServiceNow's reporting and analytics tools give clear insights into service performance and operations. They offer both pre-built and customizable dashboards. We found the Performance Analytics module very helpful for tracking key performance indicators. We used it to monitor metrics like mean time to resolution, SLA compliance, and ticket volume trends over time. The platform also let us dig into specific metrics, helping us spot bottlenecks in service delivery and make informed decisions on resource use.

The platform includes predictive intelligence features. These use machine learning to find patterns and predict future service demands based on past data. We were impressed by how the system can automatically categorize and prioritize incoming requests. This significantly lessened the manual workload for any service desk team. However, creating custom reports sometimes needed more technical skills than we expected. Additionally, the visualization options were not as flexible as those in some dedicated business intelligence tools we have used.

ServiceNow interface — (Image credit: ServiceNow)

ServiceNow: Ease of use

ServiceNow offers a mixed experience with usability. Its comprehensive interface can be overwhelming for new users. Our testing revealed a steep learning curve, especially for administrators and developers. The navigation structure is logical, but it has many menus and options. End-users may sometimes struggle to find specific services in the portal.

The platform does include features that improve usability, like role-based views. These views show only relevant information and functions for each user type. We also liked the mobile app, which simplified approving requests and checking status updates. Recent updates have brought many UI improvements, but some parts of the system still feel like traditional enterprise software.

ServiceNow: Support

ServiceNow provides tiered support options based on subscription levels, including Standard, Enterprise, and Elite packages. During our evaluation, we found the knowledge base and active community forums helpful for troubleshooting common issues. This allowed us to solve problems without contacting official support.

But the Elite support package offers 24/7 assistance, with quicker response times for critical issues. But complex customization questions still sometimes needed escalation to specialized technical teams. ServiceNow also offers professional services for implementation and optimization. Smaller organizations with limited IT resources may find these helpful due to the platform's complexity.

ServiceNow: Security

ServiceNow has SOC 1, SOC 2, and ISO 27001 certifications for its cloud infrastructure. It also offers strong role-based access controls.

Apart from that, the platform provides detailed audit trails that record all system changes to make compliance reporting easy. ServiceNow's data encryption, both in transit and at rest, meets industry security standards. It also offers regular security updates and strong vulnerability management tools to keep pace with growing security threats.

ServiceNow: The Competition

The enterprise service management market has several alternatives to ServiceNow. Atlassian's Jira Service Management is a popular choice for organizations using the Atlassian ecosystem. In fact, Jira Service Management is easier for smaller teams and much cheaper. But it lacks some of ServiceNow's advanced workflow features.

BMC Helix is another strong competitor. It has similar enterprise functionality and a more modern user interface than ServiceNow. But, it requires a similar effort for implementation.

For those seeking simpler solutions, Freshservice stands out. It has an intuitive interface and a faster implementation timeline, making it great for mid-sized businesses with basic needs. Zendesk also competes in this space. Its service management offerings are excellent for customer service but lack depth in IT operations management compared to ServiceNow.

ServiceNow: Final Verdict

ServiceNow is a powerful platform that offers great value for large businesses ready to invest time and resources. During our testing, we were impressed by its customization options and strong workflow automation. But the learning curve is steep and the costs high. Hopefully, ServiceNow's added efficiency will make the price worthwhile for large-scale IT operations.

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I tried SolarWinds Service Desk, and found it provides a robust ITSM solution that balances features with user-friendliness

6:30 pm | October 19, 2020

Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets Pro Software & Services | Tags: IT, ITSM | Comments: Off

SolarWinds Service Desk is a cloud-based IT service management (ITSM) solution. It combines incident management with strong IT asset management features. Designed per ITIL best practices, SolarWinds' AI-powered platform boosts productivity, speeds up resolutions, and enhances user and agent experiences. Everything your IT team needs is in one place, including service management, asset management, CMDB, and reporting.

Service Desk helps IT teams manage many tasks in a feature-rich setting. Its incident management system handles tickets with automated routing and problem management tools. Asset management allow teams to track hardware, software, contracts, licenses, and warranties. It also includes an easy-to-use employee service portal, a unified knowledge base, chat support for quick help, and reporting tools to display KPIs. Additionally, Service Desk offers automated workflows that lessen manual workloads.

From a business viewpoint, SolarWinds Service Desk provides value by creating long-term strategies to tackle IT issues. This approach goes beyond just addressing single tickets. Organizations see improved efficiency, lower support costs through self-service options, and better resource use thanks to automation. Integration with other SolarWinds products, such as Observability Self-Hosted, creates a complete solution that boosts troubleshooting and service quality for IT.

Service Desk is a good help desk tool for companies of any size with advanced IT needs. But it's mainly meant for those looking to provide excellent service to internal customers, like employees and contractors. Whether managing a small internal help desk or overseeing a large tech operation, Service Desk delivers the flexibility and functionality needed to improve service delivery and support experiences.

SolarWinds Service Desk: Plans and pricing

SolarWinds Service Desk has a tiered pricing structure for organizations of all sizes. It offers three main plans: Essentials, Advanced, and Premier. Each plan has more features than the last.

The Essentials plan costs $39 per technician per month. It suits growing teams and lays a solid foundation for service desk operations. Key features include incident management, a knowledge base, service portal, asset management, service catalog, change management, SLA management, and custom roles. It supports unlimited end-users, making it a good choice for smaller organizations or those new to IT service management. There’s an extra charge of $0.30 per month for each device managed.

Next is the Advanced plan, priced at $79 per technician per month. This plan is for organizations with more developed IT operations that need customization and automation. It includes all Essentials features and adds advanced options like custom fields, advanced automation, virtual agent support, network discovery, enterprise service management, contract management, license compliance, scheduled reports, and API access. The per-device fee is $0.50 per month, which is higher than the Essentials plan.

The Premier plan costs $99 per technician per month. It provides the full range of SolarWinds Service Desk features, including everything in the Advanced plan and more. Key additions are visual CMDB with automatic dependency mapping, up to 1,500 API calls per user per minute, a premier virtual agent, automated runbooks, and access to SolarWinds AI (available in US and EU data centers only). The per-device fee here is $0.70 per month, the highest, but it offers the most comprehensive features for complex IT needs.

All plans include a 30-day free trial. This trial allows organizations to explore the platform fully before subscribing. Users have full access to the Premier package during the trial, helping them test features to find the best fit. This risk-free trial is great for evaluating the platform’s compatibility with existing IT systems.

In terms of value, SolarWinds Service Desk’s pricing is competitive in the IT service management market. Each plan offers many features, and the unlimited end-user support adds scalability for growing organizations. However, higher per-device fees for advanced plans may concern those managing many assets. Overall, the pricing model helps organizations choose a plan that fits their needs and budget, with options to upgrade as requirements change.

SolarWinds Service Desk: Features

SolarWinds Service Desk provides a full range of ITSM tools to streamline internal support experiences for digital businesses. It combines strong incident management with IT asset management in an AI-driven cloud environment. It focuses equally on agent efficiency and end-user satisfaction. Now paired with a user-friendly interface, its design helps new users learn quickly.

The solution follows ITIL best practices, offering a structured approach to service management that grows with an organization's needs. From simple ticketing to advanced workflow automation to AI-assisted resolution, Service Desk supports IT teams as they enhance their service management skills. It integrates well with other SolarWinds products, especially Observability Self-Hosted. This creates a unified system that improves troubleshooting and gives a clear view of your IT environment.

Incident management

The incident management system is central to SolarWinds Service Desk. It helps IT teams track, manage, and resolve issues through various channels like email, phone, service portal, live chat, and in-person requests. The system uses smart routing and automated workflows to send tickets to the right technicians, cutting down resolution times and boosting service quality. AI features like virtual agents and guided resolution help speed up troubleshooting by finding solutions and monitoring ticket sentiment.

On average, SolarWinds customers report a 23% reduction in time spent resolving incidents and service requests. The multi-channel engagement features, including integrations with Microsoft Teams and Slack, ensure users can get support through their preferred communication methods.

IT asset management

IT asset management gives organizations full visibility into their tech infrastructure. It automates the management of hardware, software, contracts, licenses, and warranties in one central place. Automated discovery keeps an updated inventory of IT assets, reducing manual tracking and the risk of compliance issues or unexpected costs. This thorough asset lifecycle management helps your team make better decisions about resource allocation, maintenance, and technology investments.

Linking asset data with service management processes makes support more efficient. Technicians can quickly access relevant details when resolving incidents. This enhances resource use, cuts downtime, and improves compliance management. Ultimately, it leads to better financial results and operational stability for your company.

Employee service portal

A user-friendly employee service portal changes how users interact with IT support. It offers a central hub for submitting tickets, tracking request status, accessing knowledge resources, and seeing company announcements. This self-service model empowers your employees to solve problems independently. It reduces basic support requests and lets IT staff handle more complex issues. The portal's design is simple, requiring minimal training and encouraging widespread use.

Organizations using Service Desk have seen a 21% improvement in user experience, with some reporting gains of up to 45%. This increase comes from quicker resolutions, clearer communication, and 24/7 access to support resources. The positive effects extend beyond IT metrics, boosting overall workforce productivity and reducing frustration linked to tech issues.

Knowledge management

Service Desk's knowledge management features help organizations create and maintain a repository of troubleshooting guides, FAQs, and best practices for both users and support staff. AI-driven features analyze support interactions to spot common issues and suggest new entries for the knowledge base. This keeps the resource current and useful. Proactive knowledge sharing fosters a learning environment where solutions are documented for everyone.

The impact of good knowledge management is significant. Fewer support requests lead to cost savings and better resource distribution. It also speeds up resolution times when issues arise. And the knowledge base grows more valuable over time, preserving important information and ensuring consistent service even with staff changes.

Configuration management database (CMDB)

Service Desk’s CMDB gives organizations a complete view of their tech infrastructure. It maps the relationships between IT assets and business-critical applications. This detailed insight helps with change management, impact analysis, and problem resolution by showing how components interact in the IT environment. CMDB is key for mature ITSM practices, supporting data-driven decisions across the organization.

Keeping an accurate view of the IT landscape provides significant business value. It leads to less downtime, better troubleshooting, and improved planning. You can better understand the impact of changes, spot single points of failure, and recognize service dependencies. This creates a more resilient tech environment that supports business continuity and growth.

SolarWinds Service Desk: Analytics

SolarWinds Service Desk has a strong set of reporting and analytics tools. These tools help IT organizations gain insights into their service desk operations.

The platform offers many ready-to-use reports. Teams can analyze key performance indicators (KPIs), overall health, and efficiency of the service desk. These reports cover various metrics like trend analysis, incident throughput, customer satisfaction (CSAT) scores, and Service Level Agreement (SLA) breaches. It allows IT managers to make data-driven decisions and spot areas for improvement quickly.

The analytics features in Service Desk are highly customizable. Organizations can create reports that fit their needs and goals. You can access templates, schedule automated reports, and change how data is displayed — switching from list views to tile layouts. This helps teams focus on the metrics that matter most. The platform also has a custom reporting feature for detailed reports on computer inventory, software inventory, risks, and contracts.

For those needing even more advanced analytics, SolarWinds Service Desk works well with Microsoft Power BI through its Power BI Connector. This integration allows for the easy import of incident data and asset records from Service Desk into Power BI. You can then use Power BI’s tools to visualize and analyze data in tables, graphs, and charts. This provides deep insights and supports complex data analysis.

Additionally, Service Desk features powerful benchmarking tools. These tools help organizations set and track performance benchmarks. IT teams can set goals, measure progress, and compare their performance against industry standards or internal targets.

SolarWinds Service Desk interface — (Image credit: SolarWinds)

SolarWinds Service Desk: Ease of use

SolarWinds Service Desk has a very clean interface that we found easy to navigate. Access to all of the main sections of the dashboard is hidden behind a hamburger menu icon in the top left corner of the window, but the menu itself is very responsive, and it’s easy to find what you’re looking for.

SolarWinds Service Desk: Support

SolarWinds offers varying levels of support to customers based on their subscription plan. If you choose the lowest 'Essentials' tier you benefit from 'Community Support', where other SolarWinds users can offer advice and assistance via a dedicated forum.

If you don't want to trust your business to other customers' goodwill, you'll be pleased to hear that both email and chat support are available via Service Desk 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

If you've signed up for either the 'Advanced' or 'Premier' plans then you'll also benefit from phone support, which is also available round the clock, 365 days a year. Advanced and Premier users can also avail themselves of a CSM (Customer Success Manager) ℅ Service Desk, who apparently can answer any question your company has about "using the solution". It's unclear what a CSM would offer over and above a regular Service Desk query but presumably, it's safer to have a dedicated Success Manager and not need one than need one and not have one.

We were blown away by SolarWinds' free online Resource Center, which includes brochures, white papers, helpful videos, datasheets and demos to name just a few. The pages are easy to navigate as you can filter down by subject category and/or resource type.

SolarWinds Service Desk: Security

As with most providers of helpdesk software, SolarWinds takes a rigorous approach to security, which applies to the various layers that go into developing web apps.

Employees sign confidentiality agreements and undergo specific security training. World-class data centers are used, protected by fire suppression systems and security guards. All changes are logged and regular audits are carried out. Networks are protected by firewalls and malicious code protection, and disaster recovery systems are in place.

SolarWinds confirms all of the above on its dedicated 'Information Security' page, which includes a link to the company's 'Security Statement'. In this, SolarWinds confirms that it follows the voluntary NIST Cybersecurity Framework, which is designed for companies that form part of the critical infrastructure of the USA.

Unfortunately, if you're looking for specific examples of how th company employs data encryption during transmission and in transit e.g. TLS and AES, then you'll need to contact SolarWinds directly to ask how this is being done.

On the plus side, if you're an administrator configuring the SolarWinds platform, there's an extensive 'best practices' guide on how to secure it, including:

A recommendation to use at least 2048 Bit RSA encryption for SSL certificates.
Confirmation that SolarWinds supports encrypted database connections via SSL.
Support for TLS cipher suites and certificate validation.
Lockout of accounts after 10 failed login attempts.

SolarWinds also has an extensive policy on data protection requirements for their vendors and affiliates, which include provisions banning shared user accounts and requiring encryption of customer data in transit and at rest.

SolarWinds Service Desk: The Competition

The ITSM market is smaller than the overall helpdesk software market, but there are still some competitors worth considering, like Freshservice by Freshworks and Jira Service Desk by Atlassian.

FreshService has a very similar feature list to SolarWinds Service Desk and also has a choice of four plans that go from $19/month/agent up to $119/month/agent if you're willing to pay annually. There's even a 21-day free trial period and you can book a live demo of the service if you want to try before subscribing.

Jira Service Desk has a different (and rather more complicated) pricing structure, including a free plan, and offers both cloud and self-managed versions of its software. The Standard plan is $21 per month per agent. You can also pay $600/year for up to three agents but this then increases to $1050 per year for up to 5 agents.

SolarWinds Service Desk: Final Verdict

SolarWinds Service Desk is ideally suited to companies with large IT departments that are looking to provide high levels of service for their own employees and internal customers. It is reasonably priced and comes with a generous free trial so you have enough time to evaluate its capabilities.

While we did find the web app to be a bit slow sometimes, in general, we were impressed by how easy SolarWinds Service Desk is to use and the level of control offered over how data was presented and updated.

The Resource Center is magnificent and we were impressed to see that even customers on the lowest pricing tier can benefit from 24/7 email and chat support. The forum also contains some excellent resources on getting started and customizing the platform for your needs. For the most part, other documentation is extremely helpful and detailed. The one exception to this is the SolarWinds 'Security Statement', where we would have appreciated more specific information on the type of protections in place, such as how data in transit is secured.

There is no 'free' tier, but it's not likely an SME would need to sign up for so extensive an ITSM anyway, since the range of resources and data customization is better suited to larger organizations.

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I tested Jira Service Management, an ITSM platform with powerful service management capabilities, excellent workflow automation, and request tracking

10:38 pm | September 12, 2019

Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets Pro Software & Services | Tags: ITSM | Comments: Off

Jira Service Desk is an IT support platform from Atlassian. It has now evolved into Jira Service Management. This software serves as a hub for customers and employees to report issues, request help, and access knowledge articles through a simple portal. Atlassian created it in 2013 after discovering that about 40% of their customers used Jira for service requests. In 2020, they expanded it into a separate suite with lots of new features

With Jira Service Management, you can manage and track incoming requests from many sources. These include email, chat tools like Slack and Microsoft Teams, and customizable customer portals. The platform organizes tickets into queues, sets up automated workflows, and establishes Service Level Agreements (SLAs) for timely responses. This helps your team prioritize work, reduce manual effort, and ensure important issues are addressed.

Jira Service Management is great for IT departments, but it also supports HR, legal, and finance teams. Over 5,900 companies worldwide use the software, mainly in the United States and the United Kingdom. It’s popular among medium-sized businesses with 50-200 employees, but it also serves startups and large enterprises. The platform's customizable templates and automation make it easy to adapt to each team’s needs without extensive setup.

As a technically-minded help desk tool, Jira offers real-time reporting and analytics to track performance metrics like resolution time and customer satisfaction. Its knowledge base integration provides self-service options, allowing customers to find answers on their own. Whether you manage internal tech support or customer service, Jira's tools help you deliver great service experiences.

Jira Service Management pricing — (Image credit: Jira/Atlassian)

Jira Service Management: Plans and pricing

Jira Service Management has a tiered pricing structure for all organizations, from small teams to large enterprises. It offers four main plans: Free, Standard, Premium, and Enterprise. Each plan provides more functionality and support than the last.

The Free plan costs $0 per agent per month. It supports up to three agents with 2GB of storage. This plan is great for small teams or those testing the platform. It includes multi-channel support, customizable forms, workflows, queues, an embedded knowledge base, and incident and problem management.

The Standard plan costs $17.65 per agent per month (or $19.04 for 75 users). It includes everything in the Free plan along with a custom-branded help center, alerts, on-call schedules, incident escalation, unlimited email notifications, audit logs, and multi-region data residency. This plan supports up to 20,000 agents and unlimited customers, making it ideal for growing organizations.

For teams needing advanced features, the Premium plan costs $44.27 per agent per month (or $47.82 for 75 users). It adds AI-powered service, a virtual agent for support, asset and configuration management, deployment gating with CI/CD tools, advanced alert integrations, real-time incident monitoring, and a 99.9% uptime SLA.

The Enterprise plan requires contacting sales for pricing. It offers the most features, including cross-product insights with Atlassian Analytics and Data Lake, advanced admin controls, enterprise-grade identity and access management, unlimited automations, multiple instances (up to 150), and a 99.95% uptime SLA.

Jira's ITSM has both monthly and annual billing options. The annual plan provides cost savings of up to 17%. For those wanting to try paid plans, Atlassian offers a 7-day free trial for the Standard or Premium plans. You can extend this to a maximum of 30 days upon request. This flexible pricing structure helps organizations choose a plan that fits their needs and budget while supporting growth as requirements change.

Jira Service Management: Features

Jira Service Desk, now called Jira Service Management, offers a full range of features for managing service requests. It combines ticketing, automation, knowledge management, and reporting tools, helping teams provide excellent service. Since its evolution into Jira Service Management in 2020, the platform has added many advanced ITSM capabilities for IT, HR, legal, finance, and other service teams.

Jira serves as a central hub for managing requests from various channels. Your users can submit requests via email, chat tools like Slack and Microsoft Teams, or through customizable portals. Meanwhile, you can set up custom workflows and automation rules tailored to their needs. Whether handling simple support tickets or complex change requests, Jira Service Management offers the tools needed to standardize and optimize service delivery.

Service hub

The service portal is the main contact point where customers and employees can ask for help. This customizable interface offers a straightforward way to submit requests, track their status, and access self-service resources. Organizations can adjust the portal to highlight different services, making it easy for users to find the right request type and get assistance quickly.

With a well-designed service portal, your team can reduce the time that users spend looking for help. Guided forms enhance request accuracy, leading to a better service experience. The global Help Center allows users to search across all service desks they can access, with machine learning improving search results based on past interactions.

Request management

Jira's request management features allow teams to collect requests from various sources into organized queues. Teams can classify service requests, incidents, problems, and changes, directing them to the right agents based on expertise or workload. The platform also enables cross-team collaboration, allowing requests to move easily between projects.

This structured approach helps organizations standardize service delivery and reduce response times. By managing requests effectively, teams can prioritize their work, balance workloads, and boost both employee productivity and customer satisfaction.

Self-Service knowledge base

The self-service knowledge base works with Confluence, letting organizations create and share articles, guides, and FAQs. As customers enter requests into the portal, the system suggests relevant knowledge articles that may help before they submit a ticket.

All of this cuts down on repetitive requests, allowing service teams to focus on complex issues. In the meantime, organizations can measure the effectiveness of their knowledge base through different metrics and user feedback, continuously improving content.

Service level agreements (SLAs)

SLA management features let teams create and track service agreements. They can set multiple SLA policies based on severity levels, issue types, and other factors. This helps teams monitor deadlines and prioritize requests, using automated escalation rules to avoid breaches.

By managing SLAs well, your support team can ensure consistent service delivery and meet customer expectations. Different reports also provide insights into team performance and service quality. This helps managers identify bottlenecks, allocate resources better, and maintain compliance with service commitments.

Automation

Jira Service Management’s automation features help teams simplify repetitive tasks like ticket creation, routing, and notifications. A no-code automation builder allows teams to create custom rules and workflows without needing technical expertise, making it easy for all service teams to use.

By automating routine tasks, organizations can cut down on manual effort, reduce errors, and speed up response times. This boosts team efficiency and improves the customer experience through faster, more reliable service. Automation also standardizes processes across teams, ensuring that all requests adhere to established best practices and compliance standards.

Jira Service Management reports — (Image credit: Jira/Atlassian)

Jira Service Management: Analytics

Jira Service Management provides a full set of analytics tools to help teams make data-driven choices and improve service delivery. The platform features ready-made dashboards that track request management, incidents, changes, and service performance. This gives teams quick insights into their operations. With pre-configured reports, service teams can monitor key metrics like average resolution time, SLA compliance, and CSAT easily.

For organizations that need deeper insights, Atlassian Analytics (for Cloud Enterprise customers) offers a flexible way to visualize data from Atlassian products and other sources. Built on the Atlassian Data Lake, it combines data from development and operations tools. It gives teams a complete view of the work happening across support, development, and IT. The interactive visualSQL builder helps teams create custom reports and dashboards that fit their needs, leading to richer insights and faster decision-making.

Jira Service Management's reporting also covers areas like asset management. Here, teams can analyze their objects and data stored in Assets. These reports provide key insights for inventory management, lifecycle management, and employee productivity. The platform includes service project reports that help teams track trends in their projects, such as workload distribution, customer satisfaction ratings, and knowledge base effectiveness.

Real-time reporting is a key feature of Jira Service Management's analytics. It allows teams to spot and fix bottlenecks quickly, make better decisions on resource allocation and staffing, and monitor the business's status. The platform's dashboards can be customized for different stakeholders and embedded in Confluence pages, Atlas tickets, and Trello cards. This makes it easy to share information with various audiences.

Jira Service Management interface — (Image credit: Jira/Atlassian)

Jira Service Management: Ease of use

Jira has a very clean and attractive interface that takes the well-worn path of having hierarchical menus on the left and the contents on the right. It’s generally very easy to follow, even if those who aren’t familiar with it might encounter a few idiosyncrasies here and there.

However, working with Jira Service Management, you will occasionally need to access settings or features that exist as part of the larger service called Jira Cloud. But these can take you to a web page where there is no obvious way back to the top-level menu, disrupting the workflow. These other sections can also have a very different visual style, confusing new users.

Still, we appreciate how the administration login allows the look and feel of the product to be changed — adding colours, logos, and icons to fit whatever style your company uses. Jira's interface is nothing revolutionary, but it gets the job done.

Jira Service Management: Security

When anyone assesses security, they have a list of features that they’d like to see offered. As an ITSM platform, Jira Service desk has most of those important features covered. However, what you don’t get is SAML single sign-on, 2-step verification, password policies, and user provisioning as standard.

To get any of those, you need a license subscription to Atlassian Access. It costs $30 per month for the first 10 users, then it works out at around $3/agent. This service controls access and security across all the Atlassian Cloud services, plus it can be linked to Okta, Idaptive, Google Cloud Identity, Azure AD, Onelogin and ADFS.

There aren’t any tiers separating the enterprise-grade security controls of Atlassian Access. So, you are forced to pay for the entire suite of security upgrades even if you only want 2FA. This adds more complexity to scaling the solution, because the costs can add up quickly as you expand.

Jira Service Management: Support

Much like other Atlassian products, Jira Service Management offers different levels of customer support based on the selected plan.

The Free plan provides basic support via the Atlassian Community. Users can ask questions and receive help from other users and Atlassian experts. This community support is good for teams with simple needs or those just starting with the platform.

Standard plan subscribers enjoy 9/5 regional support. This means support is available from 8 AM to 5 PM, Monday to Friday, in the customer's local timezone. Initial response times are 2 business hours for critical "Application Down" issues, 6 business hours for serious degradation issues, 1 business day for moderate issues, and 2 business days for low-impact inquiries.

Premium plan customers get enhanced support with 24/7 coverage for high-impact issues. Critical issues receive a response within 1 hour. This level of support is vital for organizations that depend on Jira Service Management and cannot afford extended downtime.

The Enterprise plan provides the most comprehensive support. It includes 24/7 help for all technical issues, a dedicated senior support team, and the fastest response times (30 minutes for critical issues). Enterprise customers also have a dedicated phone support number. They benefit from named contacts who can reach Atlassian's top engineers directly, ensuring expert assistance is readily available.

Atlassian's support covers incident assistance, root cause analysis, help with installation and upgrades, bug reporting, implementation guidance, and integration support with other Atlassian products. However, support does not cover end-of-life or beta releases, customized versions, development questions, third-party integrations, end-user support, product training, or system performance tuning. For these needs, customers should reach out to the Atlassian Community or contact Atlassian Partners who offer various additional services.

Jira Service Management: The Competition

ServiceNow is the main competitor of Jira Service Management, especially for large organizations requiring extensive ITIL. But, Jira Service Management connects well with Atlassian's tools with a lower starting price.

Freshservice is a user-friendly option with an easy-to-use interface. It requires less time to set up, while still covering key areas like incident management and change management at a competitive price.

Finally, Zendesk Service is a strong choice for companies focused on customer support only. It excels in omnichannel support, helping manage customer interactions via email, chat, phone, and social media.

For smaller teams or those on a tight budget, options like osTicket or Zoho Desk might also offer affordable solutions. These platforms provide basic ticketing and support at a lower cost, but they don't benefit from the same advanced automation and reporting features.

Jira Service Management: Final Verdict

Despite a convoluted pricing structure, Jira users typically swear by its ITSM platform thanks to its strong feature set and seamless integation. Still, we’d recommend proper cost planning before you deploy any time and resources into implementing this suite.

For those looking to use other Jira/Atlassian products and services, Jira Service Management is the obvious choice since it interlocks with Confluence and Jira Core perfectly.

Even when used in isolation, this is still a decent solution that's reasonably priced for a standalone tool. But you don’t get to reap the benefits of integrating with other Atlassian products. Plus, there are cheaper solutions in the market if that's all you're looking for.

Check out our list of the best IT management tools.