Social IT management application developer Spiceworks announced the release
of a feature called People View for its free IT management software that allows
IT professionals in small to medium-size businesses to monitor, provision and
care for networked technology devices, systems and cloud services based on the
people who use them within the organization. The feature gives users the
ability to view everything IT through the lens of the employees within an
organization.
This includes a new IT Profile page that brings together all the technology
assets, cloud services, account details and business information related to
each employee in one place. In addition, IT professionals can switch between
the People View and the traditional device-centric view of managing network
resources. The feature is available in the latest beta version of Spiceworks
5.0, which can be downloaded via the company’s Website, a Spiceworks release
noted.
“Social networks and consumer applications allow people to keep track of the
activities and interests of each of their friends in a fun and visually rich
way. We’re applying the same principle to IT management by allowing network
administrators to monitor and manage the computers and cloud-based services
associated with each person in their company,” said Scott Abel, co-founder and CEO
of Spiceworks. “It’s another example of how we’re simplifying everything IT for
small and mid-sized businesses worldwide.”
Features include Active Directory integration, which provides Active Directory
management capabilities via integration with Microsoft Active Directory, which
displays employee profile and account information directly in Spiceworks, and
people-centric view, which enables IT departments to see the computers,
software, help desk requests and cloud services by employee or departments
within their organizations. The IT department can also identify a user’s
personal machine, Rackspace log-in or recently requested purchases.
All the features of People View are integrated into the various Spiceworks
views. IT specialists can also switch between the new People View interface and
any other Spiceworks interface, including inventory, monitoring, help desk and
network mapping. All of the user profile and account information automatically
shows up where appropriate, and IT departments also have the ability to conduct
a one-click password reset for employee passwords.
“The new People View feature is another example of how Spiceworks is
bringing the benefits of consumer applications to traditional network
management software,” said Jim Kubicek, IT manager for collection agency Luebke
Baker & Associates. “As more applications and technology are delivered as
services, this novel approach to IT management will help us ensure a better
experience for our employees.”
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