Managed Service Providers (MSPs) often rely on Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) platforms to remotely monitor and manage their clients IT infrastructure. Ideally, MSPs need a tool that'll proactively identify and resolve issues with their client's systems like network outages, software bugs, and security vulnerabilities. This tool should also automate routine maintenance tasks like installing software updates, which, in turn, helps you to minimize downtime and improve the overall security and reliability of the client's IT infrastructure. It's also good to have a tool that can provide detailed reporting and analytics, based on which MSPs like you can optimize your client's IT systems and improve their overall performance.
Datto Next-Gen RMM is a tool that fits the above description. But is it the right choice for your organization? Read on to know its features, benefits, limitations, and pricing to make an informed decision.
What is Datto Next-Gen RMM?
Datto is a cloud-based RMM that enables you to remotely secure and monitor the different endpoints in your client's infrastructure. It comes with many interesting features like remote access, monitoring, patch management, reporting, and more, all of which help to reduce costs and improve the overall quality of service delivery.
Next, let's look at some key features of this tool.
Features of Datto RMM
Datto RMM is a powerful tool for improving service delivery and maintaining the security and efficiency of your client's environment. Here's a look at some of its salient features.
Patch Management
Updating a product to fix a bug or weakness is essential to keep your client's devices secure. The good news with Datto RMM is that it comes with a built-in patch management tool that makes it easy for you to patch devices in your client's network, so you can protect them from the latest threats. You can even do this patch management remotely to save time.
Datto's RMM offers automated patching for many third-party tools, including Microsoft, with flexible parameters to customize the patching process for different client environments. Furthermore, its many features like policy-based approvals, compliance reporting, and local caching support large and complex networks as well.
Another highlight of Datto RMM's patch management is its reporting capabilities. The reports are not just extensive, but they are also easy to understand and provide complete visibility into the risky devices and sites. Such detailed information can help you to make appropriate recommendations to your client, that, in turn, can greatly boost your reputation as a service provider.
Automation
Another notable feature of Datto RMM is its automation capabilities. It supports the use of powerful RMM scripts and automated policies to improve the security and efficiency of your client's systems. Also, it saves a ton of time and effort for your employees as many of the routine tasks happen automatically without their intervention.
Datto's automation is powered by the policies that determine the flow of automation. As an administrator, you have complete control over these policies and can change them anytime you need. You can choose from a list of pre-configured policies or can even create your own policies and scripts, depending on your requirements. Datto also provides access to the ComStore which contains thousands of scripts for almost every situation, and you can leverage this existing knowledge base as well.
Remote Access
With Datto, your technicians can reduce the number of on-site visits, as most problems can be fixed remotely. Powered by a browser-based HTML5 remote control technology, Datto, helps to quickly troubleshoot client issues with just one-click remote access. The highlight is that this browser launches quickly and enables your technicians to get a desktop environment right away.
With Datto's remote access, your technicians can do a ton of things remotely. They can install important software like Microsoft 365, set up a VPN for access, deploy VoIP soft phones, update critical security patches, provide the required support for fixing issues, and more. All that's needed is the installation of pre-configured RMM agents on the client's devices. Note that these agents can also be uninstalled at any time.
Such tools ensure that any issues are addressed right away before they can impact the end users. Above everything, it provides a centralized approach to managing remote environments, and this can save time and effort for your technicians and can enable you to offer a top-notch quality of service.
Real-time Monitoring
Datto enables you to monitor all devices in real time and informs you of any events. It can even flag potential problems and provide the necessary context to empower you to fix them right away. Some devices that Datto can monitor in real time include servers, virtual machines, laptops, desktops, network devices, ESXi, and more.
You can even configure Datto to take auto-responses for some common problems, so they can be resolved quickly without your intervention. If detection is required, your technicians will have the complete contextual information for easy troubleshooting.
Detects Ransomware
Ransomware has become one of the biggest problems for today's enterprises. The good news with Datto is that it comes with ransomware detection capabilities that can send immediate alerts when any unauthorized access or ransomware is detected. It can also monitor endpoints for crypto-ransomware and can automatically isolate the infected devices to prevent them from shutting down the entire network.
Such early intervention and proactive detection can give your clients the upper hand when it comes to ransomware negotiations. Needless to say, it can even save them millions of dollars!
Efficiency Boosting Tools
Besides the above-mentioned capabilities, Datto also comes with many tools that enhance the efficiency of your operations and ensure that your client's systems work optimally at all times. A few such efficiency-enhancing tools are:
Network Topology Maps
Datto automatically discovers devices on your network and maps their connections to provide a visual representation of the network at a glance. With this tool, you're never in a blind spot again with the presence of unknown devices.
Flexible Reports
You can generate different reports that can help with your internal auditing and compliance. More importantly, you can use these reports to validate the suggestions you make to clients. All of these are sure to boost your credibility within the client's organizations.
Intuitive Dashboard
Datto's intuitive dashboard provides all the information you want in a single pane, and at the same time, you can click on different parts for a deep dive. The advantage is you get both a bird's eye view and a detailed look in the same pane. It just depends on what you're looking for.
Open Rest APIs
You can build custom integrations with Datto's open Rest APIs. Needless to say, these connections facilitate data sharing across applications.
All these tools can come in handy to enhance the quality of your offering.
Alerts and Notifications
Datto RMM sends relevant alerts and notifications when threshold values are breached in your client's systems. Such notifications enable you to take a proactive approach to troubleshoot, so you can identify and address threats before they turn into organization-wide issues.
Thus, these are some notable features of Datto. As you can see, they are elaborate and cover almost every aspect of remote monitoring and management. Next, let's see how these features translate to benefits for your organization
Benefits of Datto RMM
As an organization, why should you use Datto RMM? Well, here are some compelling reasons.
- Cloud-based One of the strengths of Datto RMM is its deployment model. Being 100% cloud-based, this tool doesn't require a ton of resources for deployment. Also, it's highly scalable and can be accessed from anywhere.
- Increased Efficiency Datto RMM empowers your employees to remotely monitor and manage a wide range of devices, including desktops, laptops, servers, and mobile devices. This way, your employees can identify and troubleshoot problems in your client's infrastructure and improve their uptime and performance. As all these actions can be done remotely, there's no need for on-site visits
- Automation of IT Tasks This RMM tool can be configured to automatically run software updates, backups, and other maintenance tasks on a regular schedule. Such automation can ensure that the client's IT systems are always up-to-date and running smoothly, while also reducing the amount of time and effort required to manage them.
- Highly Scalable Datto can work well for a hundred or a hundred thousand devices and requires no additional configuration time. This scalability can come in handy when you want to service different clients and keep their systems secure and operational.
- Improved Security Datto RMM comes with many security features to help protect clients' IT systems from threats. Some of its prominent features include antivirus and antimalware protection, as well as intrusion detection and prevention capabilities. In particular, its ransomware detector can isolate infected devices before they infect the entire network. Undoubtedly, this can save your client millions of dollars in ransom and can boost your image as a top-tier MSP.
- Detailed Reporting and Analytics Reporting and analytics are an essential part of infrastructure maintenance, and Datto RMM provides detailed information on system uptime, resource usage, and other key metrics, which can be used to identify potential issues and optimize performance.
- Integration with Other Software Datto RMM integrates well with PSA (Professional Services Automation), ticketing systems, and remote control tools, to streamline the workflow among them. Also, it can provide a unified view of the state and performance of the infrastructure.
- Saves Costs Advanced troubleshooting and remote monitoring capabilities enable your organization to save costs on on-site visits. Moreover, it helps to meet Service Level Agreements (SLAs), so you don't have to pay any associated penalties or costs. Lastly, it improves the overall productivity of your employees.
Overall, Datto RMM is a powerful and versatile software solution that can help MSPs to increase efficiency, automate IT tasks, improve security, and gain detailed insights into their client's IT systems. As a result, it reduces costs and improves the overall IT experience for your clients.
However, Datto also has some shortcomings, and knowing them is critical for making a balanced decision.
Limitations of Datto RMM
Though Datto RMM is a powerful and versatile software solution with many features that can help organizations to monitor, manage, and maintain their IT systems, there are also some limitations to consider:
- While Datto RMM is designed to be easy to use, it may still be complex for some organizations to set up and configure. This is particularly true if the organization has a large and complex IT infrastructure.
- There may be limitations to the level of customization available for certain features.
- It does not support all the platforms that may be used in your client's environment.
- Not scalable, and hence may not be suitable for larger organizations with a growing number of devices and users.
- There could be additional costs associated with setup, configuration, and maintenance.
The exact limitations may vary depending on the client's IT environment and specific requirements, so we recommend that you do a thorough evaluation of Datto's capabilities, limitations, and cost before implementing it.
Lastly, let's look at the pricing before heading to a final verdict.
Pricing
Datto RMM costs anywhere from about $5 to $10/device/month. Click here for a custom quote. In the meantime, feel free to schedule a demo as well.
Final Verdict
Now comes the big question – should you go for Datto Next-Gen RMM? As with everything, the answer depends on your organization's needs.
That said, Datto's many features can greatly benefit your organization. Besides saving time and costs, Datto can enhance your employees' productivity and improve the overall security of your client's infrastructures. More importantly, it can help you meet the agreed SLAs and build your company's reputation in the eyes of your clients. At the same time, the subscription costs of this RMM platform are also highly affordable.
Though there are a few shortcomings, they are not significant enough to impact your offerings as an MSP. However, if you're looking for specific features, consider checking with the support team to see if they can provide them for you.
In all, Datto is a good RMM tool for any MSP who's looking to offer excellent service to their clients.
