When I first started using LT, I was working for a small computer repair shop. We had been founded on a break/fix model for support. We attempted to transition into the MSP world by using Kaseya. As our experience with Kaseya grew, we soon realized that some of the features, options, and performance were lacking. We were further discouraged from it by the lack of response from support and painfully slow development of the product. After a number of recommendations from colleagues, we tried Labtech. I was put in charge of provisioning a new server for use with Labtech and transitioning away from Kaseya. With guidance from LT support, the install was straightforward and issue free. Over the next couple years, we signed on a few MSP clients and found the automation of maintenance tasks alone, were invaluable. In these “Early LT” years, my learning curve for LT was steep. Documentation for the product at this time was minimal and often outdated. Thankfully the support staff was not. They often guided me thru configurations, customizations, and best practice philosophies. If a solution was not immediately known for an issue, it was always persistently researched until the solution was found. Although we had built a solid MSP framework using LT, we were never able to fully transition to a pure MSP model for several unrelated reasons.
I am now the sole IT Manager for a local construction company with approximately 96 workstations and 4 servers under my administration. Almost half of the client machines are scattered around NY and PA at various job sites. Shortly after I was hired, It became quickly obvious to me, that keeping an accurate inventory, up-to date patching, remote support, and error alerting was going to be a near impossibility to do long hand (i.e. spreadsheets, Access databases, RDP). After looking at a number of RMM tools and Remote Access tool sets, I was able to convince my employers that Labtech would be an incredible asset and easily pay for itself in time savings for support alone. I contacted my old LT sales rep and was quickly setup with my own Web Hosted Ignite LT server. After having built and maintained my own LT server, I was very pleased to have a hosted solution (one less thing to worry about). I was excited to see all the new features of the LT Ignite product. Right from the start the framework of best practices, common management scripts, groups, schedules, templates, and alerts made start-up a breeze. Even though, I ended up disabling a number of its canned features, that didn’t pertain to my single company (client) scenario, it was much quicker than building the tools I do use from scratch. I would have loved to have had Ignite back in my MSP days. Each month I enjoy running a tech report just to see the time savings that LT has provided me in everyday maintenance. It continues to pay for itself, just by running maintenance alone. By automating these mundane tasks and having update to date client/server information, LT allows me to concentrate on developing and deploying technology to keep my company ahead of its competition.
As, my experience with LT continues to grow, I still able to rely on support to assist with customizations or questions I have regarding the product. I get to experience new feature sets and add-ons that get automatically applied to my cloud server by LT support when released. I regularly attend their free support webinars that I find helpful. Although I find my LT experience an unusual one, first as an employee of a repair facility migrating to a MSP, then as a Manager of a single group of workstations and servers, I have seen firsthand the value of owning/using such an RMM tool. I don’t believe there is a perfect RMM tool for everyone, but what sets LT apart from the others is they strive to be. Keep up the good work Labtech!