General Consultant Discussion

I'm interested in getting a feel for what everyone uses for (a) **Remote Support** and (b) **Tracking trouble tickets (**if anything) Would you list below what you presently use ? Please no comments yet - I want to first figure out what everyone is using by numbers (I'm afraid if we start commenting the whole message goes off-track) TIA Answer below if you could: 1. Using for remote support + length of time using this: 2. Using for trouble ticket tracking + length of time using this:

Our help desk has been using Go To Assist for many years. I think we have a 3 or 5 user license for that. @BrettZimmerman would know for sure how many licenses we have. For trouble ticket tracking we use a feature of Changepoint that generates support ""requests"". We've also been using this for quite some time.

Go To Assist 10 + years. Nothing per se for trouble tickets. I used to install an Excel spreadsheet on clients server and instructed client to fill it out and then email that they had completed a request. Worked for a while. Requires discipline.

1. Goto Assist for 10+ years - overall happy 2. Evernote with separate notebooks for each customer - this works fairly well, found customers want to do the minimum possible to open trouble tickets so 99% of the time they just want to email you ""help"".

WebEx support - about 2 years. We have a history of bouncing back and forth between WebEx and GoTo based on pricing and voice quality. For tickets, we currently use SalesLogix but are about to transition to Acumatica. Customers can call, email, or submit via a web page. Today, website creates email and all tickets are entered by hand. With Acumatica, email and website entries will automatically create cases and route by product.

GoToAssist but thought we should look at Connect Wise, that a few on here used, when we come up for renewal next summer. GTA just announced their new web based GTARescue. But, a tool that has cases and lets you schedule in Outlook and exports as time entries would make life so easy. But I don't see us ever paying for it.

GoToAssist for remote although we are probably moving to ScreenConnect soon. ConnectWise for CRM, ticket tracking and billing.

GoToAssist for many years. Nothing for support tickets yet.

For Remote Support: ConnectWise Control (formerly known as ScreenConnect) since 2014. I have unmentionable loving feelings for this software and would recommend it for any MSP/VAR. For Tickets: ConnectWise Manage, since 2010. It's great for tickets; our MSP division loves that it integrates with our RMM and Backup agents. The CRM pieces are OK, the Billing is awful. My long-term plan is to replace this with Acumatica Support Cases, but I've been saying that since 2014...

ConnectWise / ScreenConnect - I have been using it for 4 months. Previously using GoToAssist for 10+ years. The ease of use of ConnectWise is great. Inexpensive and better than other solutions I have used including GoToAssist, Teamviewer, LogMeIn, etc.

TeamViewer for Remote desktop support, and Sage CRM with ""events"" for support cases, which are then exported to Sage 100 for billing. Our Sage Invoices have complete details from the CRM system, including case #, Support Technician, Contact name that was given the support, what the issue was, and the resolution. (Our billings are quite lengthy!) We used GoToAssist for at least 10 years (and maybe more) but our IT staff had conflicts with it, with some of the other programs they use to support clients.

ScreenConnect for 7 or 8 years. Originally on an internal server but for about a year on a Linode $5/month VM - works great. I use Toggl for recording support.

Summary of above responses: REMOTE CONNECT: Goto Assist - 6 Web Ex - 1 Connectwise (ScreenConnect) - 3 Teamviewer - 2 SUPPORT TICKETS: Changepoint - 1 Connectwise Manage - 2 Spreadsheet/Evernote - 2 Saleslogix - 1 Sage CRM - 1

We use Sage CRM here as well. GoTo Assist for support. Sometimes our customers have their own support tool which is a bit inefficient for us to have to learn a new tool but ... it happens.

We use teamviewer for unattended remote support and Connectwise for operations, most accounting and ticketing.

GoToAssist for remote support. Acumatica for support tickets - 2.5 years

ScreenConnect Connectwise for several years, very happy. Still searching for the perfect ticket system.

We use GoToAssist and are very happy with it.

GoToAssist

ConnectWise

service tracking: SherpaDesk 1 year.

Teamviewer

Love using Go To Assist, especially the unattended sessions.

We use a variety - Go To Assist - Bomgar - Teamviewer - RDP's and VPNs (if this is what the client requests). Recently added Remote Desktop Manager to pull them all together in one location for auto login as needed. For tracking tickets we currently use SageCRM and the Cases. They are assigned to our support desk. All open support tickets are visible to under the Team Support. If they need to be shifted to a consultant they are reassigned. We also use TimeLinx with SageCRM so the time is logged to the case making it all very visible.

We have used Go To Assist for remote access a few years and MS (Dynamics) CRM for cases a few years

One more vote for GoToAssist for remote support! Tickets are tracked using SalesForce.

@WayneSchulz What is the purpose of this survey?

I recently noticed that GotoAssist was introducing their next generation Rescue Assist. While it seemed like an interesting solution it also appeared likely that I would need to re-establish all my remote unattended sessions. It seemed like a good opportunity to take stock of what others were using for remote support in order to decide whether to migrate to Rescue Assist when the time came or look for another solution. This inquiry was to help form a list of possible other solutions to review.

Thanks Wayne. I was curious if you were writing an article or if you were looking for a solution for yourself or some other reason for the survey. I am not a fan of the way Sage uses voting to determine the software changes it is going to make. If a business was looking for a new computer in 1983 and did a survey, they would get a VAX 11/780 time share as the winner. The IBM PC would have been last. If you were looking for personal transportation in 1900 the horse would have been the survey winner and the automobile would have been somewhere down the list. The winner of the popular vote doesn't necessarily equate to the best choice.

We have used Go To Assist for remote access since 2011 but recently are noticing some performance and connecting issues. When we learned about the change to Rescue Assist and the fact that no direct migration path exists we started looking at options. We really like Slapshot SOS, it has more features than GTA, survived some thorough testing by our IT group and is less than half the cost. I'm not sure we can get out of our GTA contract until it renews but we are planning to switch as soon as we are able. We use Autotask for trouble ticket tracking and billing with an import to Sage 100 of the completed invoices. Our IT group started using it and after seeing how it worked we switched our Sage team over. It's not perfect but overall it works well for our combined group.