The ConnectWise Alternative Built for Australian MSPs
ConnectWise Manage costs $6,600 to $19,500 per year for a small MSP. Autotask is similar. Both are US-centric and neither runs on your own hardware.
BBN Helpdesk delivers the same ITSM + PSA capability — SLA engine, CAB-approved change management, problem management with RCA, risk register, asset CMDB, contract billing, and RMM integration — for $199 AUD/mo, Australian-built, available on-premise.
The full MSP / PSA stack — nothing missing
SLA engine that actually works
Define policies per team, per priority, per ticket type. First-response and resolution targets in working hours via resource.calendar. SLA clock pauses automatically on "Awaiting Customer" and resumes on reply. Configurable warning threshold turns amber before breach. Cron checks every 15 minutes — no missed breaches.
Change Management with CAB approval
Three change types (Standard / Normal / Emergency). Multi-reviewer Change Advisory Board workflow. Risk and impact assessment. Implementation, rollback, and test plans. Post-implementation review. Maintenance window tracking. Links to the Risk Register and CMDB so impact analysis isn't guesswork.
Problem Management with Known Error Database
Problems link to multiple incidents. Root cause analysis, workaround documentation, resolution tracking. Known Error DB prevents re-discovering the same solution three times. Continual Improvement Register captures lessons learned from SLA breaches, CSAT feedback, and audits.
RMM integration — Tactical RMM + Atera
Asset status, patch status, hardware specs, and agent uptime sync from your RMM into the BBN CMDB. Scripts can be triggered on assets from the ticket view. Collision detection warns when two techs open the same ticket. Essential Eight assessment pulls evidence from RMM audit scripts automatically.
Customer portal — no Odoo login required
Customers submit tickets at /my/tickets/submit, view open and closed tickets, and reply directly. Agents see replies in Odoo chatter instantly. Branded to your company, not Odoo. Mobile-friendly.
Real-time OWL dashboard
Drag-drop tickets across lanes (New → In Progress → Resolved → Closed). Live SLA countdowns. Team switching. Filter by priority, SLA status, agent, type, tags, date, or full-text. Analytics tab: open count, avg response, avg resolution, SLA %, CSAT, agent workload — all computed live from the database.
Contract billing + time-to-invoice automation
Track fixed-fee, hourly, and project work per customer. Hour-bank drawdown with rollover logic. Billable time entries flow directly to invoices in BBN Accounting — no copy-paste, no end-of-month chase, no revenue leak.
ConnectWise vs Autotask vs BBN Helpdesk
| Feature | ConnectWise Manage | Autotask | BBN Helpdesk |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starting price (small MSP) | ~$550/user/mo | ~$500/user/mo | $199 AUD/mo unlimited users |
| Built for Australian MSPs | US-centric | US-centric | Yes |
| SLA engine | Yes | Yes | Yes (working-hours aware, auto-pause) |
| Change Management with CAB | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Problem Management + KEDB | Limited | Yes | Yes |
| Risk Register | Add-on | Add-on | Built in |
| Asset CMDB | Yes | Yes | Yes (with relationships) |
| Tactical RMM integration | No | No | Native |
| Atera integration | Limited | Limited | Yes |
| Contract billing | Yes (Manage) | Yes | Yes |
| Invoice from time entries | Manual export | Yes | Direct (shared DB) |
| Essential Eight assessment | No | No | Built in |
| Customer portal | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| On-premise deployment | No | No | Yes |
| Data residency control | Limited | Limited | Full |
ITIL 4 alignment
BBN Helpdesk is ITIL 4-aligned and ISO/IEC 20000-aligned. The following ITIL 4 practices are implemented as first-class workflows:
- Incident Management — ticket lifecycle with categorisation, priority, SLA, escalation, and resolution tracking
- Service Request Management — ticket types separate requests from incidents with different SLAs
- Change Enablement — CAB workflow for Normal + Emergency changes, Standard pre-approved
- Problem Management — RCA, Known Error Database, linkage to incidents
- Risk Management — 5×5 matrix Risk Register with inherent + residual, treatment tracking
- Continual Improvement — improvement register fed by SLA breaches, CSAT, audits, staff input
- Service Configuration Management — CMDB with asset relationships (parent/child, depends-on, connected-to)
- Service Level Management — per-team, per-priority, per-type SLA policies with auto-escalation
See our security and compliance page for the honest breakdown of what's certified vs aligned.
Frequently asked questions
Does BBN Helpdesk integrate with Tactical RMM?
Yes. BBN Helpdesk integrates with Tactical RMM via its REST API — agent status, patch status, and asset details sync automatically. Atera is also supported.
Is BBN Helpdesk ITIL 4 compliant?
BBN Helpdesk is ITIL 4-aligned. It implements the ITIL 4 process model for Incident, Change (with CAB), Problem, and Continual Improvement. ITIL certification is of the implementing organisation, not the software.
Can we self-host BBN Helpdesk?
Yes. BBN Helpdesk can be deployed on your own server, your colocation, or BBN Digital's Australian cloud. Perpetual on-premise licences start at $25,000 AUD.
Does BBN Helpdesk include the Essential Eight assessment?
Yes. BBN Helpdesk includes an Essential Eight Maturity Assessment module that gathers evidence from Tactical RMM / Atera and produces audit-ready reports scoring each of the eight mitigations 0-3.
How does the CAB approval workflow work?
Normal and Emergency changes require CAB approval. Multi-reviewer: any configured CAB member can approve or reject, all approvals tracked on the change record. Standard changes are pre-approved and skip the CAB. Calendar view shows maintenance windows across all active changes.
What happens during a ticket collision?
When two agents open the same ticket, the second agent sees a warning banner showing who else is viewing. Both can still edit but are notified in real-time via the Odoo bus.
Ready to leave ConnectWise?
Book a demo. Bring your most complex SLA scenario and your favourite change-management horror story. We'll show you how BBN handles them.
Book a 20-minute demo See pricing