👋 Chat feature depreciation

gilgi · January 20

You may have received an email already (worth marking the success@atera.com ‘not spam’), and I wanted to ensure you’re updated, here is the message sent:
We’re writing to inform you that the Chat feature in Atera will be deprecated on March 1st, 2025. After this date, the feature will no longer be available.

We’re working on a new Teams integration that will replace this functionality, more about this to come!

This decision comes after a thorough review of our platform to ensure we’re prioritizing features that align with your evolving needs. By focusing our efforts on other key areas, we aim to deliver a better and more reliable experience across the platform.
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If you have any questions or concerns feel free to reach out. Additionally our support team is here to assist you with any questions or guidance you may need during this transition.

tanderson · January 20

I have a couple of concerns about the upcoming Teams integration and the removal of the built-in chat feature. First off, will the Teams integration be rolled out before March 1st? It’s important to have time to update and train clients before they lose access to a feature that some are actively using. If the integration isn’t ready by then, I’d strongly suggest keeping the current chat feature until there’s a working alternative in place.

Second, for users who don’t use Teams—whether it’s Atera customers or their end clients—this change feels like a step backward. Without a built-in chat, those users lose a key feature, and the only way to replace it is by paying extra for Teams or another solution. That means they’re paying the same for Atera while getting fewer features, which isn’t ideal. For those who need chat functionality but don’t already use Teams, this adds unexpected costs and complexity.

It’s not a great look from a customer satisfaction perspective, and honestly, it feels like a misstep in terms of sales strategy. Forcing users into additional expenses or third-party tools to regain lost functionality could make it harder to justify sticking with Atera. I hope the team takes this into consideration and either ensures a seamless integration before removing the current feature or rethinks this approach entirely.

cguerra · January 21

https://community.atera.com/discussion/comment/3323#Comment_3323

I like the idea of the teams integration. That's something I've asked about before. I do agree with all of you points and it makes me wonder, why not keep both functionalities? So the customer/clients can choose what best fits their use case.

gilgi · January 23

Thx both,

It's expected that the new integration will be added before the sunsetting of the chat.

For Teams - yes, it's a positive step forward. I'm aware that for MSPs in particular, having customers use Teams is not a trivial ask, and this has certainly been shared (=the replacement is, in fact, not a replacement, but a different offering).
But on a broader scale, we saw that there was very little use of the current chat feature, and expect that the new integration will lead to more extensive usability.

While it's not finalized and there is no ETA, the PMs have already circled additional integrations for other additions.

I have asked them to review this depreciation and have a meeting about this due to the community feedback, I'll keep you guys tuned!

tanderson · January 23

I think the development team is missing the point here

"But on a broader scale, we saw that there was very little use of the current chat feature, and expect that the new integration will lead to more extensive usability."

The feature did not work consistently, and this is probably the reason for not being widely used. The feature should be fixed not dropped. This my opinion of course and Atera can go in whatever direction they want. However, having a built-in chat feature is much more useful than a handful of alternative options. Not everyone uses those options, but every client would have Atera installed.

I am a big fan of more choice and appreciate adding other ways of chatting with clients, but removing the built-in way is a bad step forward in my opinion.

mbudke · January 23

Hey,

I am personally not using the chat-feature but fully support what @tanderson is saying.
As an MSP you might not always be able to control which office solution is used by a customer. If Microsoft teams is not in use at a customer then it is difficult to convince the customer to implement it for just getting IT support.
This as an MSP would mean you have multiple ways how customer can contact you and target of Atera is to streamline these ways.
I can 100% understand that having a MS teams integration for IT departments is more than usual as then you can either decide for a yes or no but as MSP this is not possible.

To be honest one of my personal main reasons to decide for Atera was that I have one software product which handles many parts I need in IT.
This is also the reason I hope to see MDM at some point in time in Atera :)

So even when I do not use the chat feature I would prefer to have it integrated in Atera than as extra piece of software.

tanderson · January 23

I have been waiting for the chat feature to be more consistent so we can use it. Our clients would much rather chat/email than call. Only half our clients have teams so now I will not ever be able to roll out a chat feature. Personally, I think Atera should give a discount on our bill if they are going to start removing features every other RMM has.

tsteele · January 28

Altera, please reconsider your direction here. Regardless if you are an MSP or running an IT Department you MUST remain diverse in what you support. Right now you only support Azure AD, so your customers struggle with standard AD, LDAP etc and have to be creative to use Altera. Now your going down the Teams rabbit hole pushing more subscription costs off on your customers. Just like Azure integration more costs. Every IT Department or MSP has a struggle to support a vast portfolio of applications, networks and environments forcing the RMM as well as primary management software to remove an existing feature and adopt one more costly one. Change management alone can skyrocket costs. Narrowing the scope of what Atera can do, or what it supports is the opposite of what this community needs. Please don't be like other cloud based software providers that become the software leg of your two largest clients. Help us recuperate time, and cost, don't add to both.

gilgi · January 29

Thanks @tsteele for the message, I understand and will add this to the feedback I've shared so far.

👋 Chat feature depreciation

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