The customization of the service desk. We set it up for use by different departments that had specific tracking needs and were able to meet those needs.
Research Associate at a media company with 51-200 employees
We set it up for use by different departments that had specific tracking needs and were able to meet those needs. It couldn't scale for our company.
What is most valuable?
What needs improvement?
The issue that we had, that caused us to stop using Spiceworks, was that it didn’t seem designed for a help desk of our scale, and we're a company with over 2500 employees.
For how long have I used the solution?
It was used for about a year or a year and a half, I think.
What was my experience with deployment of the solution?
We had no deployment issues.
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I don’t know the technical details, but I know that stability became a huge issue after about eight months especially as we began to become more sophisticated in how we used the system.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We had issues with scaling it for our company of over 2500 people.
How are customer service and support?
Customer Service:
I never really interacted with them.
Technical Support:I never really interacted with them.
How was the initial setup?
I can’t speak about the technical side of the set-up, but the initial customizations were fairly straightforward.
What about the implementation team?
We didn't use it in-house.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The major “selling” point for Spiceworks was that it was free.
What other advice do I have?
It worked for what we needed it to do (short term at least) and had good customization, but in the end it wasn't the right fit for our organization. Perform a lot of testing.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Network Administrator at a construction company with 501-1,000 employees
It has allowed a free option of scanning our networks to provide an inventory. It still lacks some basic features that other systems have such as limiting the view of queues to certain techs.
Valuable Features
Network inventory
Improvements to My Organization
Spiceworks has allowed a free option of scanning our networks to provide an inventory. Though it’s not the absolute best product for this, for something that is free it produces pretty positive results.
Room for Improvement
It would be great to see them improve on the ticketing aspect. It still lacks some basic features that other systems have such as limiting the view of queues to certain techs. It could also use a better end-user interface.
Use of Solution
We've used it for over six months.
Deployment Issues
No issues encountered.
Stability Issues
No issues encountered.
Scalability Issues
No issues encountered.
Customer Service and Technical Support
Customer Service:
8/10
Technical Support:8/10
Initial Setup
Set-up was very easy to complete.
Implementation Team
In-house implementation.
Pricing, Setup Cost and Licensing
We currently use OTRS as well for ticketing though we are considering other options.
Other Solutions Considered
We currently use OTRS as well for ticketing though we are considering other options.
Other Advice
This product is definitely a great start for a ticketing system at an organization, particular for small to medium size teams. I would not consider Spiceworks as enterprise level yet though as a ticketing solution
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Spiceworks
November 2024
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816,636 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Infrastructure Engineer at a non-profit with 501-1,000 employees
The feature we use the most is the help desk portal.
Valuable Features
The feature we use the most is the help desk portal. Mostly this is a cost effective way to have a ticketing system for us. The inventory pulls are not entirely accurate all the time depending on what time it was pulled, so we use Dell Kace for that.
Improvements to My Organization
Our CIO can run reports on our human utilization on the help desk and what types of calls come in. Very good for reporting.
Room for Improvement
I would not recommend running Spiceworks on a desktop machine for long, I have had to reboot the services more often than I would like. The inventory information could be more frequently updated. The modules available to incorporate tasks to an asset would could also stand to grow, they could also make it easier to incorporate them into the interface; examples (Dameware, Wake on Lan needs work, etc).
Customer Service and Technical Support
Utilize the community heavily because that is where your support will come from.
Pricing, Setup Cost and Licensing
This is kind of an open source solution.
Other Advice
Spiceworks is very easy to install and configure generally. I would advise giving it space on a server to do its thing. Running the service as local system on the server is also better than giving it its own dedicated account.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Network Engineer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
It's easy to set-up in house. I would like to see the help desk product be more stable.
What is most valuable?
Helpdesk & network scanning
How has it helped my organization?
We have set-up our clients via the help desk system and installed the Spiceworks administration tool on all clients servers to keep track of server activity and to log calls.
What needs improvement?
I would like to see the help desk product be more stable.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've used it for two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Regarding the network scanning you might find it will slow down network performance but with correct schedules this was resolved.
How are customer service and technical support?
The Spicework Community forums are fantastic, regards to technical support from Spiceworks for their product cannot say for never required it.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
This was a solution I implemented to improve customer relations and to meet SLA’s. Previously, this was done via email.
How was the initial setup?
The initial set-up on the clients server takes a while to set-up but once configured it runs without any errors.
What about the implementation team?
This application was setup by colleagues who work at the company.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I’m only a technical consultant and don’t know this information, this system is good to use because it’s free.
What other advice do I have?
It’s fantastic because its free to use and easy to set-up in house, but it’s quite sluggish on the administrator end, but considering its free you cannot complain.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Technical Analyst at a real estate/law firm with 501-1,000 employees
Using it as a basic ticketing system has helped us organize issues and prioritize, but it could be more robust.
What is most valuable?
- Ticketing system
- Freeware
- Network scanning
How has it helped my organization?
We use it as a basic ticketing system, which has helped us organize issues and prioritize. Also, it has helped in assigning tickets and tracing accountability.
What needs improvement?
The ticketing system could be more robust, more like a service desk.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've used it for two to three years.
What was my experience with deployment of the solution?
No issues encountered.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
No issues encountered. It runs in minimal resources.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
There are slight issues, but it scales well for the most part.
How are customer service and technical support?
I've not needed to contact customer service, but the community is amazing in assisting with issues and questions.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
No previous solution was used.
How was the initial setup?
The setup is simple and straightforward.
What about the implementation team?
We did it in-house.
What was our ROI?
The ROI is high as we only divert one small VM server that needs little maintenance and is worry free.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Try the free version and do a test run.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We previously used Zendesk.
What other advice do I have?
Try installing it in a small virtual environment or on a virtual box. It has a ton of useful features and keeps getting better.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Systems and Messaging Administrator at a wholesaler/distributor with 1,001-5,000 employees
It keeps our tickets and workflow in order.
What is most valuable?
The ticketing system.
How has it helped my organization?
Keeps our tickets and workflow in order.
What needs improvement?
Can’t think of any off the top of my head. Product works well as is.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've used it for five years.
What was my experience with deployment of the solution?
No issues yet.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
No issues yet.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
No issues yet.
How are customer service and technical support?
I haven’t needed any customer service.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
This was the first product we used.
How was the initial setup?
I wasn't involved in the setup.
What about the implementation team?
It was implemented in house.
What other advice do I have?
I can tell you it works well and its stable. No issues to report.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
IT Security Professional at a tech company with 51-200 employees
Great service desk with a strong community of users, but its monitoring tools could be better.
Valuable Features:
This is a great service desk product for SMB's. It's free and easy to get going so it is perfect for companies that haven't got anything in place to handle inventory and helpdesk. It is supported by a strong community of users that give you a built-in expert network and IT knowledgebase.
Room for Improvement:
I think its monitoring tools could use some improvement. Clearly it wasn't designed as a monitoring application from the start and it still seems a bit weak compared to other, more fully featured, monitoring products.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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I agree with the comment about having to stop the network scans due to it slowing down the helpdesk side.
However since the recent update this seems to happen a lot less.
Steve