RMM Essentials—What is it and why do you need one?

RMM stands for Remote Monitoring and Management and is a software platform used to remotely manage desktops, servers, and mobile devices within your networks.

Install a small piece of software called an Agent onto each device on a network and it will gather a whole range of information about any hardware and software being used on that device. The agent then uploads this information to a cloud portal where it can be accessed remotely by helpdesk technicians.

An RMM platform is crucial for professionally maintaining a healthy network, allowing technicians to securely connect to PCs and servers at the click of a button. They are also essential for IT support businesses looking to move to Managed Service Provider (MSP) status.

Features of RMM Systems

Good RMM solutions have a wide range of features, which will allow you to better manage your networks. These include:

• Remote Access / Screen Sharing
  This allows technicians to remotely connect to Windows^®, Mac^®, and Unix^®-based systems at the click of a button without any input from the end user. Giving engineers quick remote access via access to devices allows for faster response times and makes life easier for non-technical end users.

• Patch Management
  This enables you to roll out patches automatically based on policy settings. Want critical updates and service packs to install every Friday even for new devices added to the network? Set the policy and it will apply to the whole network. Don’t leave it to chance and hope they install correctly. A solid RMM tool will automatically log a support ticket with your helpdesk via email alerting them if any issues arise that need resolving.
• Layered Security
  With the rapid rise in cybersecurity threats, we need a growing tool set to be able to effectively fight against cyberattacks. An RMM solution should provide you with not only standard antivirus, but also endpoint detection and response (EDR), which offers a step up in terms of protection. It should also provide—or at least have the ability to integrate—a password management service, and mail protection as well as things like DNS filtering. And of course a solid backup functionality.
• Remote Software Installation
  No need to always connect to each device to install software. An RMM platform enables you to simply setup a script and deploy software silently to one device or one thousand with ease.
• Hardware Failure
  Don’t wait for your next onsite visit to discover a server hard drive has failed or a UPS battery needs replacing. These issues need dealing with quickly before they cause you real problems. The RMM agent will constantly monitor the health of all hardware attached to the network to detect failures and automatically alert your engineers. Many RMM solutions also support IT automation in the RMM, so that if an alert is generated scripts can be triggered to mitigate your most common issues without the need for any human intervention.
• Unattended Scheduled Reboots
  Setup a server or desktop reboot during office hours and have that device reboot overnight automatically. You no longer need to connect to the device to setup a scheduled task or even manually reboot them during business hours. Configure an unattended reboot from the RMM portal with a few clicks and say good bye to late nights doing little jobs like this.
• Hardware and Software Auditing
  Auditing hardware and software is such a chore, but having an RMM agent deployed to all devices on your network means it’s already gathered the part and serial numbers of servers and workstations for you. Want to run out a list of all devices, or check the warranty status of all devices? You can run an auditing report and collate all this information and more with ease.

It’s important to note that if you’re looking for or appraising a potential solution you need to ensure that the RMM can support both Windows and Apple devices. Historically, a lot of service providers focus their skill set on supporting Windows devices and exclude Apple, however with the growing numbers of Apple devices being used on customer networks you cannot ignore them. If these devices are left unpatched they can represent a serious vulnerability on the network. A good RMM platform will provide you with the same manage capabilities for Apple and for Windows, this will help you manage both platforms and make it easy for technicians to adapt their skills to what is often a new environment for them.

Using RMM to scale your business

Most young IT support businesses start out offering break/fix to quickly grow a client base. Once you start to grow and take on engineers you need tools to help everyone in the team manage customer issues.

At this stage, efficiency starts to become an issue. If you are using a remote connection tool which requires the end user to initiate the connection by going to a website and downloading a connection tool, it wastes time and clients don’t like doing it.

With a professional RMM tool you can instantly connect to any desktop or server in any of your networks without any interaction from the end user. This allows engineers to cut what could easily be a 20-minute call down to 10 minutes or less. The time saving starts to mount up quickly meaning engineers can close out more tickets each day holding off the need for you to employ additional staff.

Once you hit a certain size you can no longer keep all the information about your clients and their networks in your head, so you need a tool that allows engineers to quickly find the information about the systems they support. An RMM tool helps by standardizing where information is stored and the policies and settings used across your client base. Configuring standard antivirus and patch management policies that can be applied globally to endpoints allows for rapid adjustments to settings without having to touch the systems themselves. Now, it’s all done remotely from a single portal.

Using an RMM tool allows you to standardize on antivirus systems. You will no longer have to manage several different vendors because any client you manage from your RMM tool can be configured to use its own antivirus. This reduces the amount of training engineers require and new ones can more quickly get up to speed. You can now concentrate your time on becoming an expert in one system rather than knowing a little about each.

Conclusion

You can only properly manage large numbers of devices using a professional RMM tool. If you’re not using one now and you want to scale your business or get more insights into your network, start now and you will soon wonder how you coped without one.

Giving your engineers the best tools available will also allow them to deliver a superior level of support to your customers. Detect issues before they occur, perform more work remotely, and save you time.

If you’re serious about professionally managing your networks or scaling your IT service business, an RMM tool is your next step.

Ian Waters is a senior partner at MSP Southern IT Networks Ltd

N‑able offers two RMM platforms that cater for MSPs and IT departments of all sizes, helping them manage their IT infrastructures. N‑able N‑sight  is created to help give emerging MSPs and IT departments everything they need to get up and running managing their networks as quickly as possible. N‑able N‑central offers the flexibility and scalability to help service providers manage larger networks.