Automation Helps MSP Manage Client Services
By Brian Albright, Field Technologies
A professional services automation (PSA) tool has helped this MSP improve visibility into client services and assets.
Managed services providers help their clients by taking on expensive or time-consuming operational or application-related tasks so that they can focus on their core competencies. But if handling those functions was too burdensome for one company, doing so for dozens or hundreds of clients can be a significant challenge for MSPs.
That’s where PSA tools come in. These software solutions provide a way for MSPs to centrally manage their service offerings across their client base, removing a lot of manual asset and labor tracking from the process and helping to improve their profitability for MSPs.
Tech Guru is a Minneapolis-based MSP that provides IT services, project management, and strategic consulting services for a wide range of clients. The company has deployed a PSA tool from Autotask, which the company uses to handle all inbound support ticket requests from clients, along with asset management. COO Micah Thor says the solution, in place for eight years, has made monitoring client systems much easier.
“It streamlines everything into one system,” Thor says. “I don’t have to have multiple windows open to get contact information or asset information. It’s a single pane of glass to work off of. Before using a PSA, it was hard to keep track of time entry, notes on tickets, and feedback from our clients.”
Moving Client Servers To The Cloud
The Autotask solution helps the company manage every aspect of a client deployment. For example, Tech Guru is providing a full suite of managed services for a large-format printing company, including remote support, on-site support, maintenance, monitoring, and strategic consulting. “They wanted a cloud strategy to be implemented and supported and did not have a solution they were happy with,” Thor says. “They reached out to us, and we proposed a solution they liked.”
Several other companies were vying for the contract, but Tech Guru’s strategic approach and the flexibility of the solution were key to winning the business. Using the PSA solution to manage all of these services has been critical to meeting the client’s expectations, Thor says.
The client company was saddled with an aging, failing server for its internal database and email applications. A key internal IT support employee left the company, computers were not up to date, and there was an unacceptable amount of downtime.
Tech Guru deployed Google Apps to replace the existing email infrastructure. Employees were able to keep their email addresses, mail, calendars, and contacts. Google Apps also provided a productivity boost compared to the previous Exchange system, since most of the downtime lag was eliminated.
The MSP also deployed Dropbox for file sharing and backup. Deleted files and previous versions are easier to restore without having to ask for assistance from IT, and the transition was handled with minimal training. In addition, the company moved the client’s order-entry system to Amazon Web Services.
By divesting themselves of the responsibility of managing servers, the company is able to work more efficiently. If there is a problem, the business can still be run from virtually anywhere via the cloud. The server is also backed up nightly and exists in a redundant, fault-tolerant hosting environment.
All preventative maintenance can be performed in the background. Tech Guru is able to find problems in the system before they cause downtime, and end users at the customer site don’t have to install updates on their own computers. “We also provide a strategic CIO strategy session each quarter and as needed, to meet with the leadership team, create budgets, and evaluate new pieces of technology,” Thor says.
The client wanted an ongoing strategy to keep the system up to date. Tech Guru provides regularly scheduled hardware replacement, upgrades, and recommendations for new software and hardware via the strategy sessions, which have proven to be a valuable tool for the client.
On the asset management side, Autotask also tracks hardware age and warranty statuses. The Autotask solution also helps manage the results of the strategy sessions. “There is a ticket associated with the quarterly strategy sessions, and if there is a report created, those notes are added for future reference,” Thor says. “Autotask plays a critical role in our strategic relationship with the client.”
That ongoing strategic relationship has helped generate new business as well. “We continue to add value for the client, and it has helped us uncover opportunities within that client’s existing environment,” Thor says. “With regularly scheduled hardware replacement and the strategy sessions, we have a venue where we can have conversations about sales opportunities.”