“We use ConnectWise to the fullest—lots of workflows, and processes, and templates…you don’t have to rebuild that when you go to the cloud. The ConnectWise team will take a snapshot of your database and migrate it for you! You don’t lose anything, and you don’t have to rebuild.”
“Switching [back] to cloud PSA has saved us time, but more importantly, it has improved our quality of life”
When deciding to switch from on-premise ConnectWise PSA™ to the cloud, Atlas Professional Services was hoping to increase their efficiency and decrease necessary internal systems. “We were looking to reduce the infrastructure in-house, which came with the direct benefit of having less to manage,” said Linda Kraft, Director of Systems Architecture for Atlas Professional Services.
Since its inception in 2006, Atlas Professional Services has been providing IT solutions and services for businesses of all sizes in and around the Tampa Bay, Florida area. As part of its long-term partnership with ConnectWise, Atlas has taken advantage of many solutions to increase efficiency, improve security, and save time. Their initial ConnectWise PSA instance was on the cloud, but they switched to an on-premises instance, hoping to see further benefits. Now, they’ve gone back to the cloud.
“We were originally on the cloud when we started, but then we went to on-prem because we thought there might be more customization opportunities. But we’ve found that with the ODBC connection, there really wasn’t a benefit,” says Kraft.
Cloud PSA offers the same level of performance with less hassle
“Switching [back] to cloud PSA has saved us time, but more importantly, it has improved our quality of life—if something goes down during updates [with on-premise PSA], you’ll have to do it after hours and keep an eye on it. That’s no longer a concern being on the cloud,” says Kraft. With cloud PSA, ConnectWise runs the updates. Not only does this save in-house technicians from working after-hours, but it also means there’s no need to submit a ticket and wait for a resolution if there’s an issue—with cloud PSA, ConnectWise addresses issues right as they come up.
Kraft notes, “Once in a while, there’s a bug—but it seems those are fixed immediately, and we haven’t seen anything show-stopping [since moving to the cloud].”
And when it comes to security, Atlas Professional Services knows cloud PSA keeps their data well-protected. “We have no concerns about security—one of the big things for PSA is that if there’s an account without MFA, they still need to do the email confirmation, which helps keep us secure.”
Migrating to the cloud doesn’t mean you can’t maintain what you’ve already built
While they had initial concerns about losing visibility or customizations before switching back to the cloud, Kraft asserts that they experienced a seamless transition. “We use ConnectWise to the fullest—lots of workflows, and processes, and templates…you don’t have to rebuild that when you go to the cloud. The ConnectWise team will take a snapshot of your database and migrate it for you! You don’t lose anything, and you don’t have to rebuild.” She adds, “If you get the SQL add-in (OBDC connection), you’re not losing anything. You’re gaining the ability to not have to invest the time into server maintenance—there’s no downfall.”
Partnering with ConnectWise has streamlined business operations
Atlas Professional Services is an all ConnectWise shop—meaning all of the solutions they offer come from ConnectWise. Other than PSA, they use cloud ConnectWise CPQ™ and ConnectWise Automate™, as well as ITBoost™ and BrightGauge™, ConnectWise solutions. For Atlas Professional Services, having all of their technology stack from a single vendor allows for increased efficiency and a deeper level of integration.
“All of our software is in the same stack, from the same vendor. Yes, ConnectWise integrates outside of itself, but when everything is all in-house, you have more motivation to get things fixed faster…and experience less vendor fatigue because it’s easier to work with one source of contacts,” says Kraft.
And when it comes to their favorite ConnectWise solution, Kraft shares that they’ve found the most value in BrightGauge. “The fact that you can take info from different systems, pull it into BrightGauge, and turn that into a report for the customer or an internal report…it’s huge.” She adds, “BrightGauge greatly simplifies that process through integration and centralization.”
For current and potential ConnectWise partners, Kraft recommends making sure you’re getting the most out of your products and solutions. “Many people think that service boards are for customer-facing help tickets, but that’s not the case. They can use service boards for tracking information that’s more subjective, like when techs call out, so they can plan to have proper coverage.”
If you want to be sure you’re getting the most out of your solutions or you’re curious how ConnectWise can help streamline your business operations, talk to one of our experts today. There’s no end to the potential benefits for IT solution providers—just take it from Kraft, who, when asked about tangible results from Atlas Professional Services partnering with ConnectWise, simply responded, “There are too many to count.”
