IT Glue has added integrations with Microsoft Office 365 and Cisco Meraki to its managed services documentation solution, and plans to add support for software from Auvik Networks Inc. as well.
The Vancouver, B.C.-based vendor made those announcements and others this morning at its GlueCon 2018 partner conference, which is current taking place in Scottsdale, Ariz.
Other enhancements introduced today include the ability to preview Microsoft Office files directly inside the IT Glue interface and to store a variety of files inside the IT Glue data store, rather than as attachments to documents.
A new training resource called IT Glue Academy and a new IT Glue Certified Professional designation also debuted today.
The Office 365 integration allows MSPs to synchronize contacts in their IT Glue deployment with Office 365 user records and automatically import data about mailboxes and email addresses, among other items. Technicians had to add that information to the system manually in the past.
“Now you just turn on the integration and all this data comes in,” said Luis Giraldo, IT Glue’s vice president of product, in an interview with ChannelPro yesterday.
At present, IT Glue collects organization and user information only from Office 365. The system will begin importing asset information as well within the next few weeks.
“You’ll be able to go into a customer organization in IT Glue, for instance, and be able to see a summary of all the licenses that they have,” Giraldo says.
The system will also show how many purchased licenses aren’t being utilized yet.†”In many cases, the MSPs are actually the ones selling the [Office] 365 licensing to customers, so it’s in their interest to have visibility over what’s actually not being used so they can adjust, lower the counts, and save money ultimately,” Giraldo says.
Users must have delegated administrator rights to a customer’s Office 365 account to utilize the new functionality, and also go through a one-time setup process that involves creating and running a small application in Microsoft Azure.
“It’s one of the more complex integrations we’ve launched,” Giraldo says, citing the intricacies of Microsoft’s backend infrastructure as the cause. IT Glue has published a knowledge base article designed to walk users through the steps they must perform to connect with Office 365 accounts.
The Cisco Meraki integration collects user and organization data, plus detailed information about access points, firewalls, routers, and switches such as serial numbers and MAC addresses.†”All those devices are imported automatically and kept updated, very much like an RMM integration,” Giraldo says.
Technicians must have administrator access to all of their Cisco Meraki customers to use the new feature.
The Auvik integration will provide access to information inside the Waterloo, Ont.-based company’s flagship network management solution.†”We are still working together to bring this to its final stages,” says Giraldo, noting that the functionality relies on an API that Auvik is currently completing.
That interface will begin shipping next month, according to Patrick Albert, Auvik’s associate vice president of product.†”We have a lot of great information in our product,” he says. “Putting that into a documentation platform has been a very, very highly requested feature for a while.”
According to Giraldo, IT Glue will add further integrations with software from Naverisk, Synchro MSP, RG System, FreshService, and LogMeIn within the next few weeks.†”It just reinforces our play to be that centralized place for people to aggregate their data,” Giraldo says.
Other new features unveiled today include the ability to open Word, PowerPoint, and Visio attachments directly inside the IT Glue interface, even on devices that aren’t equipped with the relevant Office application. In the past, users had to download such files to a local workstation before viewing them.
“You can’t edit them in IT Glue but at least you can preview them,” Giraldo says.
Developers working in real time at GlueCon from within a glass box (pictured) are equipping the IT Glue platform with expanded support for third-party files as well. A new feature called Glue Files will allow users to upload virtually any kind of file to IT Glue for later reference without attaching them to a document.
“Our long-term view of this is to become a storage platform for everything,” Giraldo says.
Also announced during this morning’s keynote was a new flagging feature that lets users tag documents that require follow-up, are incomplete, or share other traits in common.
IT Glue bases its pricing on how many data sources a user connects with. Giraldo expects the new integrations added today to inspire at least some customers to upgrade to the solution’s enterprise edition, which supports unlimited sources.
To further inspire enterprise edition adoption, IT Glue is offering a promotion through Friday that allows users to both upgrade to enterprise and add 10 seats for $150 above whatever they’re paying now.
“In some cases, that amounts to a 70 percent discount,” Giraldo says.
A separate promotion allows users to purchase unlimited quantities of MyGlue, the password management solution for end users that IT Glue introduced in February, for $195 a month. Though the offer expires Friday, the price applies permanently.
Available for use now free of charge, IT Glue Academy offers online technical instruction. Technicians who complete required coursework can earn the IT Glue Certified Professional credential. Giraldo hopes the new certification will promote a greater sense of community among IT Glue users. Becoming certified could make technicians more employable as well, he adds.
“If they can demonstrate that they know the platform already, or they have the certification, they may become a more attractive candidate for that MSP as a result,” Giraldo says.
GlueCon 2018 concludes today. During yesterday’s general session, IT Glue CEO Chris Day and a panel of fellow CEOs from ConnectWise, Continuum, Datto Inc., and Kaseya Ltd. discussed the defining characteristics of best-in-class MSPs.
