Top 25 IT Service Management and Ticketing Cloud Apps -

When it comes to IT service management and ticketing software, most MSPs and VARs are familiar with PSA (professional services automation) and RMM (remote monitoring and management) solutions. Still, there are dozens of IT service management and ticketing platforms from which to choose. And many of them are now available as SaaS-based cloud services. But which options rank among the best? GetApp, owned by Gartner, is attempting to provide the answer. Each quarter, GetApp ranks IT service management apps using five factors, worth 20 points each, for a total possible score out of 100. These factors include user reviews, integrations, mobile app availability, media presence, and security, the company says.

Words of Caution

I certainly don' think the rankings are perfect. After all, many offerings were overlooked entirely. Others perhaps didn't generate enough user reviews to accurately reflect the platform's value. Also, many of the top 25 platforms are positioned for end-user IT departments rather than IT service providers, MSPs and VARs. Still, readers are always asking ChannelE2E about ITSM platforms out in the market. So here are the Top 25 IT Service Management Apps for Q3 2016, according to GetApp. (Score rankings from 1 to 100 are in parenthesis after the company name.) ChannelE2E's comments about each company follow the ranking. As you navigate the GetApp rankings, I'd think of it as a list of potential options rather than a best-of-the-best since so many vendors weren't even covered.

Top 25 IT Service Management Apps

25. GridVision (2): Focused on SMBs with an apparent MSP push on the way. 24. Vivantio ITSM (2): It looks like a push toward MSPs is emerging. 23. C2 ATOM (4): We're not sure of company size. Website has extremely limited information. 22. ControlNow (5): Actually, this is now partner of LogicNow -- which SolarWinds recently acquired. 21. Track-It! (7): Owned by BMC since 2012, Track-It! is positioned for midmarket IT departments. 20. BigPanda.io (8): Check out the URL and the .io tips you off that this is a recent startup. But some big service providers are running the platform... 19. IT Pro Dashboard (9): From Karasoft, positioned as a PSA platform. 18. Agiloft (12): Another corporate IT platform, though there is a partner program for resellers. 17. CloudMonix (13): Positioned mainly as a cloud monitoring tool for Azure. 16. ITRP (15): The vast majority of customers seem to be corporate IT users, though there is a partner program to help end-customers find support. Go to page 2 for companies ranked 15 to 6 Welcome to page 2, featuring companies ranked 15 to 6 in the Top 25 IT Service Management Apps 15. Vivantio Pro (16): The company has "hundreds" of customers, and some are service providers. But we don't know if this is a true multi-tenant system for MSPs. 14. HelpMaster (16): The niche company has resellers but we don't know if service providers consume the platform. 13 Oxygen Help Desk (18): A potential red flag within the rankings... ChannelE2E isn't sure if this company even exits anymore. 12. BPM Service Desk (19): Yet another option that's designed more for corporate IT environments. 11. HP Performance Anywhere (20): Actually, we think this has been rebranded as HPE AppPulse. 10. InvGate Service Desk (25): Customers include big name blue chip corporate brands like GE and Nike. 9. SupaTools (28): Most adopters appear to be corporate IT departments. 8. Symphony SUMMIT (28): The company has been building out partner programs for resellers, VARs and MSPs. 7. ManageEngine Service Desk Plus (45): A longstanding player in the corporate IT and IT service provider market. 6. JIRA Service Desk (49): From Atlassian, JIRA Service Desk has about 15,000 IT teams as users worldwide. But most of them are corporate IT employees rather than service providers, ChannelE2E believes. Go to page 3 for companies ranked 5 to 1 plus a special graphic summarizing the overall rankings. Welcome to page 3, featuring companies ranked 5 to 1 in the Top 25 IT Service Management Apps 5. Kaseya VSA (51): One of the better-known platforms in the RMM (remote monitoring and management) category for MSPs. 4. Freshservice Service (52): From FreshDesk, the company has a reseller program but we don't know how many channel partners actually consume the service on their own. 3. ServiceNow (60): One of the world's fastest-growing SaaS software providers. ServiceNow also is building a service provider partner program. 2. SysAid (72): Founded in 2002, SysAid now serves over 10,000 customers across 140 countries, spanning all industries and sizes, from SMBs to Fortune 500 corporations. But we couldn't find any potential partner program or MSP information for the company. 1. Samanage (84): The Cary, N.C., company grew its customer base 58 percent in 2015 vs. 2014, but most adopters were corporate IT departments -- including Perry Ellis International, Make-A-Wish Foundation, Six Flags, Pandora, Butterball, Mothercare, Select Comfort, Getty Images, LogMeIn and Punch Taverns, the company says.