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Poll Question
To serve their customers, attract new ones, and achieve growth targets in an increasingly competitive environment, Managed Service Providers (MSPs) need an effective remote monitoring and management (RMM) solution.
But, what does an “effective” RMM solution actually look like and offer? That is what we aimed to discover with the November poll question, which asked MSPs to list their top 3 features in a RMM solution.
Our excellent and intelligent community members shared (as one would expect) excellent and intelligent information; especially over at our Spiceworks page. Here is a recap of the responses:
The Big 3
IT pros often disagree on all kinds of vital, life-changing issues, like Star Trek vs. Star Wars, Call of Duty vs. Battlefield, PC vs. console, Apple vs. Android, and DC vs. Marvel.
But when it comes to what the MSPs in our community want in an RMM solution, there is clear a consensus on 3 must-have features:
- Patch management
- Remote access
- Scripting and automation
Let’s take a closer look at each of these:
Patch Management
Manual patch management is a time-consuming, tedious process that must be undertaken device by device. It also leads to downtime if systems must be rebooted. And although the “best practice” for patching is every 30 days, research has found that the average mean time to patch (MTTP) is between 60 and 150 days — which puts organizations at risk of cyberattack, compliance violation, or broken software. In light of this, it is not surprising that patch management is among the 3 most important features in an RMM solution.
Remote Access
One of the key performance metrics that MSPs must monitor and optimize is time-to-resolution (TTR) — which is why complete remote access in an RMM solution is vital. “Complete” in this context means: easy-to-use (ideally one-click), access to both attended and unattended endpoints, TLS + 256-bit encryption, and a single pane of glass.
Scripting and Automation
Scripting and automation in an RMM solution enables MSPs to carry out a variety of repetitive maintenance and remediation tasks on devices such as installing apps, desktop management functions, AD management, Windows Server management, and so on. Most comprehensive RMM solutions have a suite of template scripts to help MSPs get a head start.
Other Important Features
There were also a few notable RMM features that didn’t crack the top 3 in terms of popularity, but were still mentioned multiple times:
- Asset tracking and management
- Performance monitoring all devices and endpoints across platforms
- Integration with other tools/systems in the environment
- Security management
- Policy compliance scanning and governance (e.g. ITIL)
- Ticketing
Rounding Out the Responses
Here is the remainder of the list of features that were mentioned once (but it is likely that many MSPs will agree that they are important, or perhaps even essential):
- Support for all types of devices
- Dark mode
- Device discovery
- Ease-of-use
- Clean look and dashboard
- Fault management
- Easy onboarding for new customers and endpoints
- Alerting (via email or external integrations)
RMM Solutions
We also asked MSPs in our community to share the RMM solution they are using (including tools that are not standalone RMM solutions, but are components of an overall RMM solution).
Here is the list below in alphabetical order (we also included what respondents liked about a particular solution/tool if that information was provided).
- ATERA (good license model and strong functionality)
- CloudRadar (“pay per use” price plan)
- ConnectWise Automate
- Elastic Stack
- Grafana
- Kaseya (clean look and dashboard, easy visibility of patch status, scripting automation)
- Kibana
- LogicMonitor
- NinjaOne (all-in-one)
- NetSupport Manager
- PDQ Deploy
- PRTG
- Radmin
- Remote Desktop Manager (Swiss Army knife of remote connections and automations)
- SolarWinds N-sight
- Splashtop
- TeamViewer
The Winners Are…
To start with: you’re ALL winners, because MSPs provide organizations with the critical services they need to drive operations, asset management, IT security (including cybersecurity), compliance, and end-user administration. With so much value to offer, it is not surprising that by 2025 it is anticipated that 6 in 10 organizations will depend on an MSP to some extent.
Now, let us reveal the two randomly-selected poll participants who will each win a $25 Amazon gift card. Congratulations to daveguenther and spicehead-rry9o! Please email lcadieux@devolutions.net to claim your prize.
Stay Tuned
Thank you again for everyone who participated in the November poll question. And please stay tuned for our fun holiday-themed December poll question, which will be available very soon!
