MSPs Believe Most Remote Monitoring and Management Systems End Up as ‘Shelfware’
June 2009 survey highlights what MSPs see as deficiencies in RMM systems.
It’s difficult to implement remote monitoring and management (RMM) systems, say 47 percent of MSPs, so they never end up using large parts of their RMM systems due to complexity. That’s a key finding of a new survey by GFI Software, a software developer and managed services platform provider in Cary, N.C.
The June 2009 online survey of more than 200 MSPs, VARs, and solution providers worldwide also found that 45 percent of respondents feel the initial investment in RMM software is too high, and 42 percent indicate that ROI has not met their expectations. Interestingly, 53 percent of those surveyed say they paid for parts of their RMM system that they don’t even use, while 56 percent use only half the available functions of the system.
More than half of respondents (56 percent) admit that their engineers do not have time to learn the whole RMM system. Of those who do try to understand the full system, 40 percent say they think their technical teams get too buried in the details of RMM tool deployment and lose focus on customers.
On a more positive note, the most valued features of RMM, according to respondents, are server monitoring, LAN and Windows monitoring, patch management, and remote support. The top two reasons for using RMM are to offer a faster fix response time and preventative maintenance.
The full survey report is available for download at www.gfi.com/documents/max_survey.pdf.
