Best Small Business IT Management Tools & Buyer's Guide

If you’re a Small to Medium-Sized Business (SMB) looking to manage your IT resources, it’s likely that you don’t need an overly complex solution – but you still need the right one.

This guide is here to help you understand what you need, when you need it, and what the future may hold for your IT management needs.

PS: if you’re here from the IT Management Software article, you can skip straight down to the types of Small Business IT Management tool buyers.

10 Best Small Business IT Management Tools

Here’s a shortlist of the tools that I’ll cover in this article, with greater detail below.

• Splashtop: Best for remote access and support for efficient IT management tasks.
• Freshservice: Best for small businesses with intuitive IT ticketing and asset management.
• Device42: Best for efficient and centralized IT asset management and infrastructure documentation.
• Segment: Best for streamlined and centralized data management across multiple platforms and channels.
• Atera: Best for all-in-one IT management with remote monitoring, automation, and ticketing.
• HaloITSM: Best for IT service management with incident, problem, and change management.
• Zendesk: Best for customer support teams seeking omnichannel ticketing and automation.
• Datadog: Best for real-time monitoring and analytics of complex IT infrastructures.
• NinjaOne: Best for streamlined IT management with powerful automation and monitoring capabilities.
• SolarWinds: Best for network and system monitoring and management.

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Expert Pick

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What Are Small Business IT Management Tools?

You guessed it, small business IT management tools are software applications designed to help small businesses manage their IT infrastructure, assets, and operations more efficiently. These tools are used by small business owners, IT administrators, and IT service providers to simplify their daily business operations, increase productivity, and improve the overall performance of their IT systems.

Small business IT management tools are essential for businesses of all sizes that rely on technology to run their operations – which, at this point, is pretty much all of us. By using these tools, your small business can save time, reduce costs, and improve your overall IT operations, which can lead to successful business outcomes.

Types Of Small Business IT Management Tools

There are different types of small business IT management tools, each designed to address specific IT management needs. Here are some of the most common types:

IT Asset Management (ITAM) Tools: These tools help small businesses track and manage their hardware and software assets, including licenses, warranties, and maintenance schedules.

IT Service Management (ITSM) Tools: These tools are designed to help small businesses manage their IT service desk operations, including incident management, problem management, and change management. This can reduce the time it takes to maintain effective business administration.

Network Monitoring and Management Tools: These tools monitor and manage network traffic, bandwidth usage, and device performance to ensure smooth day-to-day operation and detect and troubleshoot issues.

Security Management Tools: These tools help small businesses protect their IT infrastructure and data from cyber threats, including antivirus, firewalls, intrusion detection, and vulnerability management.

Cloud Management Tools: These tools help small businesses manage their cloud-based infrastructure, including cloud servers, storage, and applications, and optimize their cloud costs.

Digital Asset Management (DAM) Tools: Digital asset management tools can help small business management by using information technology to store and secure the company’s digital assets. It automates workflows and can be tailored to specific business needs.

How To Choose Which Small Business IT Management Tools To Buy

First, you need to understand which type of buyer you are. Then, what you’re looking for. Finally, what else you need to consider. Let’s jump right in.

Which type of buyer are you?

These are some of the different types of customers who would need small business IT management tools along with the software products that would be the best fit for each:

Small Business Owners

Small business owners and startups that manage their own IT infrastructure would benefit from small business management tools that help them manage their fundamental IT assets, secure their data, and ensure success for their own businesses.

Best Fit Products: Freshservice and Solarwinds.

Freshservice offers a user-friendly ITSM tool that helps small business owners manage their IT service desk operations and can also work as task and project management software. Solarwinds offers a suite of network and system monitoring tools that help small business owners monitor their network performance and detect and troubleshoot issues by looking at the big picture.

IT Administrators

Often on an in-house island of 1, IT administrators are responsible for managing the IT infrastructure of small businesses. They need IT management tools that help them automate their tasks, monitor network performance, and ensure full-time compliance.

Best Fit Products: ManageEngine Endpoint Central and Kaseya VSA.

ManageEngine Endpoint Central offers a comprehensive endpoint security management tool that helps IT administrators detect and respond to security threats, while Kaseya VSA offers a remote monitoring and management tool that helps IT administrators automate their tasks and monitor their network and device performance.

External IT Service Providers

IT service providers offer IT support and management services to small businesses. They need IT management tools that help them remotely monitor and manage new businesses’ IT infrastructure, automate their tasks, and ensure service quality to align with their client's marketing strategy.

Best Fit Products: Cloud9 Solutions and HaloITSM.

Cloud9 Solutions offers a cloud-based development environment that helps IT service providers manage their clients’ IT infrastructure and applications in the cloud, while HaloITSM offers a user-friendly ITSM tool that helps IT service providers manage their clients’ IT service desk operations and ensure service quality. Depending on the scope of your engagement with your clients, there will be an obvious winner for you here.

If you didn’t find your specific needs outlined in this section, keep reading to learn more about the details of Small Business IT Management tools.

Key features to look for

If you’re looking for a comprehensive solution, these are the specific technological features that the small business IT management tools you’re evaluating should have:

• Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM): This feature allows IT staff to monitor and manage IT systems remotely, reducing the need for on-site visits (a necessary option for many external IT service providers and remote teams). RMM can use new technology to help streamline issue detection and allow IT to respond more quickly to critical issues.

• Patch Management: Keeping software up-to-date is critical for maintaining system security. Patch management allows IT staff to deploy updates to software applications and operating systems across the organization, reducing the risk of cyber attacks.

• Asset Management: Duplicate spend: begone! This feature helps IT staff keep track of all IT assets, including hardware, software, and licenses. Asset management enables IT staff to track equipment usage, maintenance schedules, and warranties. By tracking their assets, owners can then have a clearer view of their business finances and cash flow while reducing downtime.

• Network Monitoring: This feature allows IT staff to monitor network traffic, bandwidth usage, and device performance. Network monitoring helps identify issues such as network congestion and bandwidth usage, enabling IT to optimize the network and improve performance.

• Help Desk/Ticketing System: A help desk and ticketing system enables users to submit IT requests and issues and allows IT staff to track and manage those requests. While perhaps not the most useful feature for a very small team, ensuring that a help desk/ticketing system is available in the tool you select could ensure that you’re ready for tools to grow alongside your business plans.

Functionality to look for

If you have demos booked with service providers, ask them about the following items to ensure that their tool can do what you need it to:

• Improved System Performance: IT management software can help you monitor your IT systems and detect and resolve issues that could impact system performance. This can help reduce downtime, improve employee performance, and increase customer satisfaction.

• Enhanced Security: IT management software can help you protect your systems and data from cyber threats. This can help prevent data breaches, avoid compliance violations, and – perhaps most importantly – protect your reputation.

• Efficient Resource Allocation: IT management software can help you identify areas in your business model where you can optimize your IT infrastructure, such as hardware upgrades, software updates, or network optimizations. This can with financial management by reducing costs.

• Increased Business Agility: IT management software can help you respond more quickly to changes in your business environment, such as new market opportunities or threats. This can help you stay ahead of your competition and achieve your business goals.

• Better Collaboration: Depending on the size of your organization, IT management software can help improve collaboration between IT teams and other departments, such as customer service or finance. This can help improve efficiency, reduce errors, and enhance customer satisfaction.

• More Effective Decision Making: IT management software can help you collect and analyze data from your IT systems, providing insights that can help inform strategic decisions. This can help you make better decisions and achieve better business outcomes.

Important purchase considerations

While you need it to have and do all the right things, you also need to make sure you can afford, you’ll actually use it, and other considerations before you buy. Here are some of the top things to look out for:

• Cost: Small businesses aren’t exactly known for having an abundance of spare cash laying around; thus the pricing of the software should be reasonable and within your pre-made budget. Consider not only the upfront cost but also ongoing costs such as licensing, maintenance, and support.

• Ease of Use: The software should be easy to use and understand, with a user-friendly interface and clear documentation. This is especially important for small businesses that may not have dedicated IT staff or business owners that are handling things themselves.

• Customization: The software should be customizable to meet the unique needs of your business, both today and a year from now. This can include the ability to configure alerts, reports, and workflows.

• Integration: The software should be able to integrate with other business applications and systems, such as customer relationship management (CRM) software or accounting software. This can help improve efficiency and reduce errors.

• Scalability: When you grow, you want to add more benefits, not more headaches. Your IT software should be able to scale as your business grows, with the ability to add more users or functionality as needed. This can help you avoid having to switch to a new system as your business expands.

• Support and Maintenance: The software vendor should provide ongoing support and maintenance to ensure that the software is up-to-date and functioning properly. This can include software updates, security patches, and technical support. Ask your rep about the tool’s update schedule and roadmap to make sure they’re thinking about this as often as you’d like.

• Reviews and Reputation: Research the software vendor’s reputation and read reviews from other users to get a sense of the software’s strengths and weaknesses. This can help you make an informed decision and avoid any potential issues.

Other IT & Security Software

• Backend/Database Software
• CMS Software
• Data Security Software

Key Takeaways

Small business IT management tools are designed to help businesses manage and monitor their IT infrastructure, including hardware, software, networks, and security.

There are different types of small business IT management tools, including remote monitoring and management (RMM), patch management, network management, and security management.

The most important features for small business IT management software include remote access and control, patch management, automated alerts and notifications, asset management, and reporting and analytics.

Small business IT management software can provide functional advantages such as improved system performance, enhanced security, efficient resource allocation, increased business agility, better collaboration, and more effective decision making.

Other important purchase considerations when evaluating small business IT management software include ease of use, customization, integration, scalability, support and maintenance, cost, and reputation of the vendor.

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