What is our primary use case?
We use SysAid for all of our internal user requests from all departments, from all areas or offices for the whole IT Department as well as for finance and for marketing. Any user request will go through SysAid to be dealt with.
We are on the latest version. We are just about to upgrade to the full version where you have access to the newest features.
How has it helped my organization?
After we introduced SysAid, especially in the back office team in IT where we started with it, we had the option to report the workload of the team. We increased the team afterward because we could see and prove the workload of every single member. Additionally, we implemented SLAs. It's open to everyone. When you request or send a request and we have an SLA based on it, then we can see the status of the ticket, who's working on it, how it is against the SLA, if we are within the SLAs, or if we are above the SLAs. That's from an end-user point of view.
Additionally, the admin point of view or my point of view is with the reporting function to see where we have SLAs and to see if they are or aren't working and where we need to improve. We can see who is taking the most time to close a ticket and if we then need training improvement.
The automation capabilities save us time. Before, whenever we had to set up any database systems, any new clients, or any new suppliers we work with, we got an email. Everything was typed manually from the requesting user. Everything had to be then done by copy and paste into the right systems and then write back that it's done or that it's not done. Now, with automation, an end-user is created as a new lead in the CRM. This gets automated into the database and creates a ticket in the system so that we can check or double-check. That's it. That saves quite a lot of time and is a resource system.
On a weekly basis, we save between five and eight hours per team. We need to get more done with what we are working on together with the SysAid implementation team. This will then save even more time.
What is most valuable?
The self-service portal for the users as well as the reporting functionalities in SysAid to report any requests and tickets coming in are the most valuable features. Overall, the whole workflow system, how it works, the setup, how you can integrate it into other applications is valuable.
I find the self-service portal valuable because if a user wants to enter the ticket and start typing in, they will already get suggestions about how to resolve the issue, which is very helpful and reduces the number of requests.
In regards to the workflow on the ticketing system, it's absolutely flexible. You can integrate it everywhere. You can use it everywhere. It's very easy for every end-user. Reporting functionalities, especially for me, as I am leading the department to see how the workload of the different members in my department is, where we get more requests, and where we get fewer requests. I can see the workload and I see which departments we get more requests from.
The service desk automation and orchestration are very good. We are implementing it at the moment. We implemented it for two of our applications already for our CRM. Whenever there's a change in the CRM, it will automate them into SysAid as well. We have two workflows from our CRM into SysAid, which is very helpful. Overall, we're very happy with the workflow.
From the admin side, the user interface is easy to use. There is a good overview. It's quick to deal with to get your requests and to deal with them, to change the status and work on them. From an end-user perspective, it's easy to create the ticket. You log in with a single sign-on. You don't need to log in or type in your login details. When you start to type in your ticket, you already get the self-service options to resolve it. If not, then with the categories, you get directly to the right person who will then come back to you very quickly. That's how I see it from an end-user and from an admin perspective.
SysAid provides us with multilayered service management and all of our support pieces integrated into one system. Our service and support systems are much more transparent for everyone in the business to see what the support function is doing and how they're doing to gain even more understanding and recognition. Secondly, having one system for all support operations, helps us to deal with resources and we can swap resources quite easily if we notice that we are behind or we have a higher workload than on others. It makes us more flexible and more transparent.
What needs improvement?
We had quite a few requests in the past that were taken care of with the latest version that we're implementing at the moment. There are not so many left.
On the old version we only had the option to introduce one helpdesk email address, so weÍ couldn't have more email addresses for various departments, IT and marketing, and finance, it was one email address. Now, we can add more. With the workflows and automation, weÍ can integrate into even more applications but we are on the implementation phase at the moment.
So far, we're very happy with the new integration. The only thing that I would like to see is for them to improve asset management so that it's more usable. We looked at it once and we didn't find it quite usable for us. That's why we didn't use it. We haven't looked into the new one yet but the asset management is something that can be improved even more and patch management is not as good as it could be.
For how long have I used the solution?
We started to do introduce the free version in 2014 so we've been using it for roughly six years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It's absolutely stable. We have no issues.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Scalability is very easy. It's very easy to scale in regards to scaling up with more administrators and so on. It's very easy. If you want to add more assets, it's one email and it's just an amended license. There is no issue with anything in regards to scalability from growing. When we started with SysAid I was the only one working on SysAid. Since then, we are now 30 people working on SysAid. The scalability from one to 30 happened without any problems.
The majority of the users are from the IT department and there are a few from finance and marketing. At the moment, we have 30 administrators and we have 18 from IT, seven from finance, and five from marketing.
How are customer service and technical support?
The quality of the support depends. I would give the first level of support a three out of five (on a scale from 1-5, with one being the best). The second level of support would get a one out of five. The professional services are amazing. They know the system. They find solutions for whatever you want to implement that are easy and quick.
We are absolutely happy with the second level of support but not so happy with the first level. It depends on the agent that you get.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was quite complex and when we started we started with the free version as a test. It was a trial. Over the months and years, we noticed that there are quite a few things that were not really thought through at the beginning, from our side. This means we had to redo or find a workaround to work with on the actual version. When you use the free version, there aren't many guidelines in regards to the various modules, how to set them up, and what's the thought behind it to set them up the right way. It's a bit of a learning process and you get used to it over the years. You will figure out what you did wrong in the beginning because you were not aware.
The overall setup itself is quite easy and straightforward. There is nothing that is an issue.
The deployment itself took us two to three days. It was more of a setup to get everything set up in the right way. Currently, it was a test system. I was working on my own on these apart from dealing with all other requests for the time being. It took me a few months to get it implemented. This was due to the additional workload. If you really concentrate on it and work on it, then I would say, it takes you two to three weeks to set up.
Our strategy was to monitor the workload of the IT department because we had the impression that the staff was overwhelmed by the workload, but we couldn't monitor it and we couldn't prove it. Then we wanted more end-user transparency to show them that a request they worked on is finished. The ticket is either closed or we have to deal with it with an external supplier.
What about the implementation team?
I did the deployment myself. We didn't use the professional service. We use it now for the new implementation because we learned what we did wrong at the beginning.
If you want to implement it the right way and understand the thinking around it and all the details, then you should use the professional services we implemented in order to have it right from the beginning.
What was our ROI?
In terms of ROI, on one side, we have fewer people than we would have seen on the other side. It's not a real return of investment. It's more a return of acknowledgment in the whole business to have more transparency and more trust in the support functions. It's not a real return of investment but it helps you to get people more satisfied and get staff more satisfied with it. There is no monetary return on investment but we reduced headcount by two people.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The pricing is really not expensive compared to other solutions and what you get out of the licenses in regards to how many licenses. You can easily upgrade the license number for the administrators. I would start with a small number and grow whenever needed and not get a huge package already at the beginning.
You have unlimited end-users. There's licensing for assets, reporting, and for administrators. but you can add on whatever you want.
You have to contact the salesperson. It's only an email. You get the offer back. As soon as it's paid, then you get the license key and implement the license key and that's it.
The system is there already. Just free up additional functionalities or additional administrators with the different license keys.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We did evaluate other solutions but we decided to go for SysAid as it was the easiest to implement and in the beginning, it was the cheapest. We could implement it on-premise, we could already implement all of our email systems so we can use all our internal email systems from the very beginning. It was easy to set up for the initial test use.
What other advice do I have?
We haven't seen money savings via automation capabilities yet but going forward, as we are introducing it at the moment and as we are in these circumstances with the pandemic and with tourism, we will have a smaller team. We will be able to do the same work with a smaller team. We will have savings going forward with the automation, which we need to have implemented.
With the openness and transparency, the first thing I learned was, people are really looking into it and you need to be up-to-date with the system. It has nothing if you have tickets and you don't have to change any stages or you just deal with it. It has to be transparent and used. You need to get used to it. You need to bring down barriers from departments that should use SysAid with every ticketing system. It takes them more time to send the ticket than picking up a phone or just dropping an email. On the other side, they have the transparency and the knowledge where the ticket is.
I would rate SysAid an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
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