IT Teams

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Top 7 Tools for Managed Service Providers (MSPs)

Rohit Rao

17th August, 2022

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MSPs heavily rely on software apps to manage their workload and monitor their client’s network performance. These tools enable them to communicate and collaborate with internal team members and clients, manage their projects and may be part of their offering as well.

When more businesses outsource their IT services to managed service providers (MSPs), it gets complex for them to manage the IT tasks of multiple organizations. The tools help them to minimize their workload and streamline it. Additionally, the software optimizes their overall ROI. 

A wide range of software is available to help managed service providers to enhance their offerings and stand up in the competitive market. This software covers everything from remote monitoring and management to project management. 

This article will discuss the top 7 tools for managed service providers that will streamline and manage the work.

But before we discuss the tools in detail, let us look at some of the benefits that these tools can bring to MSPs.

• The tools will help managed service providers to collect data from your network. This will assist them in making strategic purchase decisions.

• The tools will help MSPs manage different IT tasks and projects.

• It will assist them in keeping your data secured and stay compliant.

• The tools will help them offer you support or any assistance you need. 

• With the tools, they will be capable of monitoring and automating standard-managed IT functions. 

• Moreover, it will improve visibility into the business environment.

Now, let us discuss the tools required for managed service providers to streamline their workload.

7 Tools for Managed Service Providers

1. Zluri

Zluri, a SaaS management platform, helps managed service providers to manage the SaaS apps, monitor the app's usage, and more for businesses.

The visibility that Zluri provides to the MSPs facilitates the empowerment of the business units, can measure value, determine thresholds for centralized governance, and benchmark costs.

Zluri uses five discovery methods to find 100% of SaaS app licenses in your organization. This includes SSO, finance and expense management systems, direct integration through APIs, desktop agent (optional), and browser agent (optional).

With the strong discovery method, MSPs can discover and track software licenses and eliminate shadow IT. This includes license types, the number of licenses for each type, user role, and spending in one platform. In addition, it provides a clear view of the subscriptions, contracts, and perpetual licenses.

This view helps them gather information on unused and abandoned apps, rightsize the unused licenses, or downgrade to a suitable tier for your business.

Zluri alerts about upcoming payments and contract renewals. The MSPs will decide on your behalf to continue with the existing apps. For contracts, they get alerts 30 days, 15 days, and one day in advance. For payment, they get 7 days and 1-day alerts. This helps prioritize high-value contracts.

The usage monitoring feature of Zluri helps to optimize your SaaS stack, application efficiency, and licensing costs.

App Insights helps to improve SaaS governance by providing actionable cards on the overview of an application. It will assist MSPs in adding missing data, reviewing changes, and staying updated with SaaS usage & spend trends to track IT tasks better. 

With Zluri, MSPs can manage various vendors in a single platform. It will help to access metadata that allows to cut down the business's software spending and maximize ROI.

Zluri helps managed service providers to stay secure and compliant with ISO 27001, SOC 2, GDPR, etc. This helps them maintain SaaS compliance and make the business audit-ready. Also, gives visibility of the critical apps with high threat levels and risk scores.

Additionally, Zluri offers SaaS buying services that will minimize software license spending. This helps to save time and money and negotiate a better SaaS agreement.

Zluri has benchmark data on SaaS prices and brings data-backed insights with knowledge of fair pricing. It will provide the SaaS apps of your choice at the appropriate price. Further, supports you in keeping your business moving smoothly.

2. Nessus Professional

Nessus Professional is a network security tool. It can detect vulnerabilities like software bugs and general security problems in software applications, IT devices, and operating systems and manage them appropriately. 

Managed service providers can access numerous security plug-ins as well as develop their own. Further, the tool can scan individual devices as well as networks. As MSPs are responsible for managing your business network, this tool will scan cloud environments and prevent your business from cybersecurity threats.

The other network security tools available in the market include Nagios, Tor, Snort, and more that prevent devices and technologies from unauthorized data access.

3. ServiceNow ITSM

ServiceNow is a cloud-based IT service management tool that helps managed service providers to manage the IT infrastructure throughout their lifecycle. The tool helps both to resolve problems efficiently and to maximize ROI. 

ServiceNow includes request management, knowledge management, incident management, change management, and workforce and process optimization.

ServiceNow's multi-tenant platform architecture helps MSPs to quickly onboard clients and simplify administration. Their integration hub enables MSPs to connect to numerous critical business systems in minutes. 

Several other ITSM tools are available at competitive pricing, like Zendesk, Freshservice, ManageEngine, Salesforce, and many more.

4. Snow

Snow is an IT asset management solution that offers managed service providers to gain a view of the IT assets and manage them. It simplifies the discovery and inventory of all the technology assets of the clients.

The solution helps MSPs to save time and view all assets in one place. It supports tracking assets across their lifecycle and automatic detection, diagnosis, and healing of endpoint issues. 

ITAM is a practice that ensures the assets MSPs are accounted for, deployed, maintained, updated, and disposed of when the right time arrives.

Besides Snow, numerous ITAM solutions are available, like Sapphire, ManageEngine, SolarWinds, etc. The crucial part is to choose the proper solution and use it to simplify the workload and make the business efficient.

5. Stellar Data Recovery

Stellar is a data recovery tool with advanced and customized searches, a file library, and deep scanning capabilities. The tool has several scan options, so MSPs can scan for the specific type of data loss without requiring a full scan.

The software supports many data formats, including digital photos and videos, audio libraries, PDF and word documents, excel workbooks, email files, and more. 

With Stellar, managed service providers can avoid data loss and prevent the data of various organizations. This tool sends alerts in advance, which can recover files. 

The other data recovery tools include Recuva, Disk Drill, Wise Data Recovery, etc., simplifying the process of recovering lost data and eliminating data loss.

6. NinjaOne

NinjaOne is a remote monitoring and management tool that supports managed service providers in managing the IT systems of various businesses like desktops, laptops, mobile devices, and services. It helps to automate the standard managed IT functions, improve your machines' visibility, respond to threats, and streamline tasks.

The tool is essential for MSPs as it helps to monitor and support increasingly complex and distributed IT environments to ensure business continuity. 

NinjaOne modernizes IT operations with the ability to monitor, manage, and support all devices and their users. It offers comprehensive infrastructure monitoring with custom alerts, tickets, and data. Endpoint protection can be automated with a fully managed antivirus.

7. Trello

With Trello, managed service providers can plan and manage various projects and IT tasks. It will help them do their best and ensure who is doing what and when. It offers the freedom to organize the workload best for your business. 

The tool provides visibility to the various IT tasks that are running in your organization. As an MSP, if they can't view the projects, assigned tasks, due dates, and other essentials associated with the projects, it is difficult to streamline the work and make decisions for the betterment of the organization.

Moreover, the market is flooded with project management tools like Monday, Asana, Zoho Projects, Wrike, etc., that will provide visuals of what projects are new, in progress, reviewed, or complete. The need of the hour is to figure out the appropriate tool that will work best for the MSPs to optimize their offerings.

About the author

Rohit Rao

Rohit works in the Community and Marketing Team of Zluri and is a strong advocate of community led growth.