For more than 15 years, Beheerd has used RMM systems to provide robust remote support experiences to its customers. This allows the company to efficiently deliver mainstream MSP solutions to more than 1,000 endpoints, primarily in the SMB, but also in the retail and event sectors. From the very beginning, Beheerd was driven to position itself as a modern and innovative player in the market. They stepped into the world of RMM software early on with N-Central. We spoke with Tonnie Puijk, Beheerd’s CPO: “With N-Central we have been very satisfied for years. Only you noticed that with the acquisition by SolarWinds, the development of the product simply stagnated. While the prices only increased.”
Several years ago, Beheerd decided to switch to ConnectWise Automate. This choice was made to have the same vendor as their PSA tool, Manage. The transition was not as smooth as initially hoped. “Automate gave us a big learning curve. Especially when a particular colleague with a lot of knowledge disappeared, we found that managing Automate became more labor intensive than it provided benefits.”
In January 2023, Beheerd made the decision to part ways with Automate early and switch to NinjaOne. They needed a system that could proactively detect and resolve problems while being easy for their colleagues to understand. “NinjaOne is really user-friendly and now everyone can work on it. We immediately noticed that automating and efficient maintenance greatly reduced our manual interventions, resulting in faster problem detection and prevention.”
The transition to NinjaOne: A new beginning
Initially, the relationship with N-Central was very solid, as it was a robust package that met all needs. However, after the acquisition by SolarWinds, product development suddenly came to an end, which eroded confidence in the supplier. Although Beheerd could still benefit from an old existing contract, it was gradually modified after the acquisition thus becoming increasingly unfavorable. “A drastic change took place; product development stagnated, communication with our account managers fell silent, and prices rose steadily. Therefore, we decided to look further into other options.”
They made the decision to switch to ConnectWise Automate as they also chose their PSA system in hopes of a seamless integration. At some point, an employee with in-depth knowledge of the system disappeared, and from that point on, managing Automate became significantly more time-consuming. Tonnie explained, “It took a considerable amount of effort for our staff, resulting in tasks being performed manually. This, of course, prevented us from taking full advantage of the benefits of our RMM system.” The company decided to revisit the market and explore other options.
Beheerd quickly faced a choice between NinjaOne and Datto. Beheerd was impressed with the considerable progress NinjaOne had made since the last time. In addition, they noted that clear answers came from the product managers to all their questions. This provided them with a wealth of information about current product development, and they also saw that leading figures in the IT community had now joined Ninja. This reinforced their confidence that, amidst a time when most companies are making acquisitions and seem to be standing still, Ninja is actually investing heavily in internal innovation. This led to the decision to partner with Ninja.
Empowering efficiency: Automation with NinjaOne
Tonnie relates that they were pleasantly surprised by using the NinjaOne RMM system. At Automate, the learning curve was so steep that it was still challenging to automate processes or react quickly, generally perceiving the software as not intuitive. “We are now clearly seeing that the issues we are detecting are leading to fewer failures that we can detect or prevent faster, thanks to improved automation and maintenance, which has resulted in significantly reduced manual interventions.”
A striking example, as Tonnie highlights, concerns the implementation of patches. In addition to the built-in functionality that comes with the software packages and is therefore quite simple, they now have the ability to apply scripts in a very accessible way. While possible in the past, automation often required more time than its manual execution. With Ninja, on the other hand, it becomes significantly more accessible to everyone. As Tonnie noted, “Previously we only had one person who could automate such tasks, but now anyone can do it themselves.”
Efficient onboarding and support
Furthermore, Beheerd is also extremely satisfied with the service they receive at NinjaOne. This satisfaction became noticeable even during the onboarding process. With the exception of a few specific cases, they managed to fully switch to NinjaOne within two months. Moreover, it takes them only a few hours to familiarize new employees with the platform. Compared to previous partners, which often required several days to use the program, this is a significant improvement. Tonnie joked, “Ninja offers unlimited free onboarding, but after just a few hours you understand the logic. You may have a question later and may need to make some adjustments, but once you’re settled in, you can just keep going and keep improving.” At Beheerd, they are similarly impressed with NinjaOne’s online community and available resources. Tonnie noted that Discord is extremely helpful, with them getting answers to their questions quickly. This, combined with the Dojo, customer service and Reddit, allows them to move on quickly when faced with a problem.
Beheerd’s success with NinjaOne
Since Beheerd started using NinjaOne, internal operations have run considerably smoother. “The user interface is intuitive, allowing our staff to get up and running quickly,” notes Tonnie. The simple automation of processes allows us to solve problems proactively and saves a lot of time by eliminating manual tasks.
Tonnie also highlights the valuable aspect of continuous innovation and evolution at NinjaOne, as opposed to traditional players who focus on acquisitions and become stagnant as a result. He says, “It’s remarkable to see NinjaOne’s continuous innovation and growth, whereas we haven’t seen that at its larger competitors in the past five years.”
