Review: Absolute Software for Integrations

This independent review is part of our Integrations 2013 Group Test.

Integrations 2013 Group Test Overview and terms
Also participating – Absolute Software, BDNA, Bomgar, Cherwell, EasyVista, LANDesk, ManageEngine, Matrix42, Nexthink, ServiceNow

Executive Summary

Elevator Pitch	A restful and subtle interface with an inclusive service management solution that wraps around a comprehensive endpoint management solution.
Strengths	They offer a comprehensive set of connectors out of the box to a number of sources An element of true CMDB federation exists by way of their mapping in real time with wizard driven interfaces
Weaknesses	Like many vendors they are beginning to explore new areas of innovation – take-up can be slow within the customer base. They are finding a similar dilemma for other vendors in that it takes one enterprising organisation to start embracing an element for it to fly.
Primary Market Focus	Based on the information provided, Absolute Software typically sell to medium-large organizations.They are classified for this review as:Specialised Service Management Suite – Offering ITIL processes and proprietary discovery tooling and Data Integration Points

Commercial Summary

Vendor	Absolute Software
Product	Absolute Service
Version reviewed	8.0
Date of version release	September 10, 2013
Year founded	1993
Customers	~1,200
Pricing Structure	Pricing is based on the number of technicians
Competitive Differentiators	They offer a number of integrated functions within the tool including Remote Control and Chat functions They have focussed a lot of attention on a comprehensive Mobile Device Management strategy across Android and iOS They recognise that everyone has tools and to avoid “swivel-chair management” – they provide connectors to any third party data source.

Independent Review

Absolute come from a mature security endpoint management point of view and so for a company that made all its money through licencing, they have gained an ITSM partner, via acquisition and now have 10 ITIL 11 processes to their name and they use ITIL terminology on their Tabs.

The majority of their revenue is focussed on licencing, and the focus on the product is for ease of deployment and not as much reliance on selling the supporting services.

It is a refined looking interface with a subtle use of colours to make records standout and they provide a lot of integration out of the box – their ethos is very much focussed on getting the job done.

Their background is recovery, compliance and security and their coverage to manage endpoints covers all bases.

They partnered with and acquired the Livetime service management solution but in addition they developed their mobile device management.

As such they do offer the full package on a smaller scale than some of the big hitters and they offer everything you would expect.

Even though they have heavily integrated their own product suites into their service management solution, they recognise that they are competing in markets where a vast array of tools exist.

They offer the ability to connect to any third party data source, and focus on allowing that data to be manipulated, mapped and managed within Absolute. They offer possibly the truest federation of data in a CMDB and recommend using their wizard driven interface to manage the incoming data.

There is something to be said for the restful design of their service management interface. Somehow the subtle colour coding works effectively when compared to perhaps more vibrant displays.

Integration and specific recognised criteria

Absolute Service comes with the ability to integrate into many different systems using their proprietary Asset Management Integration Engine – this allows for real time transformation and mapping of the data.

They supply integration with all third party authentication and authorisation systems. LDAP/AD integration is built in to the product along with integration to single sing-on products.

They provide both inbound and outbound web-services including to their applications on the Android and iOS platforms.

Security Controls

Security controls are through role based authentication and privileges on the user record within the application.

Pre-Deployment Integration

Their administration system allows for out of the box connections for a great many systems to pull in the initial information – everything is controlled by switches and there is no coding required. It is all interface driven.

Their first step would be to connect to the LDAP directory, to map properties across. They do have the capability to take in CSV bulk-uploads but they recommend the wizard-driven mapping process.

Asset and Configuration Information

Their Asset Management Integration Engine connects to any third party source, extracts the information and maps it directly into the CMDB.

As they deal with multiple sources, the data builds in the CMDB to provide a true sense of data federation, and new mapping fields can be created on the fly.

Absolute also have their own discovery tools to find any device attached to an IP address across servers, workstations and mobile devices.

The information is visible in real time

Support Services Integration

Remote Control

Absolute Service has Remote Control capability embedded into the solution and is selectable from the endpoint record.

Major Incidents

They allow customers to have access to RSS feeds, which can be built into any view – whilst there might not be much take up for single instance customers, but is a useful feature where Managed Service Providers are working with multiple Absolute versions

Support Chats/Social Media

As with Remote Control, Chat is directly embedded into the application and users can authenticate against established social media applications such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

Resource Management Integration

As part of their mobile device management, Absolute can link to a location to allocate work to a local technician.

Within the Change Management application, a scheduling system shows a holistic view, including where people are on leave, and more importantly the workload of targeted individuals.

Additional Areas of Integration

Escalation to third parties

Their use of web services is a good example of where incidents can be written to a third party system (for example, where a service has been outsourced to an MSP).

Mobile Device Management

Often BYOD is not managed in a unified way and now with a potential mix of iOS and Android devices, they provide management through homogeneous profiles, which is then implemented within their service management solution, so that pulls of profiles can be device initiated.

Event Management

Where Absolute have installed their own software, they can monitor and manage devices in real time, and can use web services to also connect.

Absolute Service Customers

From the Absolute Service Brochure

An IT Service Management solution that combines people, process, information and technology so that IT services can align with the needs of the business.
With a data-driven view of the overall business, IT can assess the potential business impact of each service request.
Easily integrates with existing enterprise infrastructure for Asset Management, Authentication and Single Sign-On, Calendaring and Messaging

In Their Own Words:

With a data-driven view of the overall business, IT can assess the potential business impact of each service request. This is important since a simple hardware failure can have serious productivity and profitability implications to other parts of the business. With Absolute Service, IT has the necessary insight to respond appropriately.

With Absolute Service, IT is able to:

Satisfy service level agreements (SLAs)
Intuitively group and resolve multiple requests with a single solution
Identify and avoid costly business interruptions
Migrate to the latest version with a single click

With Absolute Service, organizations are able to:

Save over 80% by configuring the solution
Pay once, not forever
Avoid costly long term consulting expenses
Save development time and better reallocate resources

The intelligence of Absolute Service relies on the underlying CMDB. The CMDB federates data from multiple data sources already in place within the organization, including:

Most IT asset management systems such as Absolute Manage
Directory servers such as Open LDAP, Active Directory, Open Directory, and others
Single sign on and identity management services

Analyze the potential impact of each service request to pre-empt interruptions to productivity and profitability by focusing on those service requests that could be impactful to other areas of the business. Absolute Service provides IT with the intelligence they need to analyze the potential impact of each service request.