Top 10 Best Practices for Increasing MSP Profitability

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Top 10 Best Practices for Increasing MSP
Profitability

• Jake Carroll, VP Channel Sales

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Whats standing in between you your profits

• Youre not capturing all your billable time
• Client commitments fall through the cracks
• Service tickets and techs arent managed
  efficiently
• Trouble justifying your invoices to customers
• You think you know which clients are
  profitable, but youre not sure
• It takes forever to run your billing

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Unique Ability to Collect Best Practices

• Collecting information since 2001 about
  businesses practices
• Focus on VARs, IT Solution Providers and MSPs
• Current trends gathered from 15,000 active IT
  professionals across all business functions
  through surveys and our online community
• Validated through close partnerships with key
  members of the MSP ecosystem

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But if you want to play tomorrow, you need to
prepare your business today!
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The problems behind the business issues

• The same information gets put in multiple systems
• Issues fall through the cracks
• Multiple contract types to manage
• Billing takes too long, and work goes unbilled
• Poor resource utilization and scheduling
• No effective way to track time or profitability
• Difficulty managing managed services
• Customers dont appreciate your value

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The root cause of these problems
Multiple Disconnected Systems
Remote Monitoring and Management
Project Software
Service Desk
Whiteboards
CRM
Scheduling Dispatch
Spreadsheets
Time Tracking Software
Home-grown apps
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Seismic Case Study InterTech
Jared Mills Director of Service Operations
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Background on Jared Mills

• 12 years experience in high-level IT service
  management
• Manages 24 employees in three territories
• Oversees Managed Services division, 28 current
  subscribers
• Recognized in as MSP leader by Ingram Channel
  Advisor

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Background on InterTech

• Dedicated to providing reliable, high quality
  management and support of technology
  infrastructures consisting of LAN/WAN for many
  types of businesses.
• Provides network, desktop support, help desk,
  hardware maintenance, product procurement,
  cabling and telecommunications services for
  businesses.
• Specialize in onsite computer repair and
  consulting in Arizona, Nevada, Utah and
  throughout the country

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Challenges InterTech faced

• Seven distinct IT departments, each with its own
  process and style
• All the managed services info got lost in the
  mix
• 70 employees total, more data entry points
• Manual billing processes took forever
• Need to bring the organization together on a
  single operational system

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Before Autotask

• Billing, service orders work orders were all
  paper
• Information was out of sightout of mindand
  unfortunatelyout of the bill
• Used to schedule four hours of down time per
  tech, per week to come in the office and do their
  paperwork for billing
• Service ticket to invoice time took about a week

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The transition

• Up and running on Autotask for two months
• Half the company using now, other half migrating
• Autotask has closed the communication gap, and
  become our central repository for info and
  billing
• Everyone is now on the same page, accessing the
  same info
• Beginning integration with Level Platforms

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The culture change

• Recurring contracts now consistent
• Drastically different process, so some
  difficulty, however
• The more we transition, the more benefit we
  recognized
• Single, consistent processes, agreements, and
  billing
• No more email glut
• Every account issue used to result in tons of
  email
• Now, issues are handled with account notes,
  contacts are pre-established, so you just send it
  and the right people get it
• Email traffic has diminished considerably

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The culture change

• Getting more done in the field and loving it
• Techs used to have to come into the office to do
  paperwork
• With LiveMobile? enter time onsite, check calls
  while boarding a flightits great!

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The pay-back

• We have become a nearly paperless operation
• Time from service ticket to billing was one week,
  now one day (daily batch increasing
  exponentially)
• Eliminated 4 hrs/tech, per week for paperwork
• Translation?
• 4 hrs x 26 techs x 48 weeks per year
  (conservative)
• Eliminated 4,992 hours of down-time!
• If only 25 of that became billable at 100/hr
• That would be 4,992 x .25 x 100 124,800!

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The 10 ProcessesIT Service Providers MSPs Must
Automate to Improve Profits
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Solution Provider Heal Thyself

• Plan for Business Process Optimization
• Typical customers reduce data entry by 20
• Collaboration tools are the best investment you
  can make to Increase Productivity
• Typical customers increase billable hours by 15
• Gains in efficiency and billable hours mean
• Typical customers see 100 ROI on their
  investment in Autotask

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Integrate Streamline Managed Services Lifecycle
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Remote Support
Remote Monitoring System
Alerts
Assignment
OR
Assets
On-Site Support
Time Entry
PSA System
Invoices and Reports
Recurring Service Contract
Billing and Reporting
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Automate creation and processing of service
tickets
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Client Access
Emails
Monitoring Alerts
Web Services
Automated Workflow
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Organize using Queues, Status and Workflow
Policies
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Client Access
Workflow Rules
If X is ___and Y is _____then Do ______
Service Tickets
Monitoring Alerts
For Dispatch
Critical Issues
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Piggy-back routine tickets onto service calls
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Record all the time - at the time work is done
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• Bill time entry to the customer
• Accurate Information captured
• Nothing falls through the cracks
• Automation
• Personal task lists
• Use a mobile device
• Speed codes
• Notification
• Andforget utilization rates Focus on revenue
  per employee

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Streamline sales service through VOIP
integration
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• Incoming Phone Number sends HTTP call to
  automatically open screens
• Key on phone number or prompt for ticket number

Pops Open theAccount orTicket Screen
Incoming Call
IT Solution Provider
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Mine your service history to uncover opportunities
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• Reduce the labor to keep fixing problem equipment
  on contract
• Opportunity to sell an upgrade or replacement
• Uncover new consulting projects

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Accurately track analyze MSP contract
profitability
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Across Your Portfolio
And By Client
Without a PSA systemI cant do this!
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Bill more frequently and with more control
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• PSA will capture billing detail and allow you to
  approve all work
• More accurate information captured
• Find lost billable hours
• Differentiate between services under contract and
  the extras!
• Improve cash flow with faster turnaround

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Justify your VALUE to your customer!
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Your Customers need to know what you are doing
for them on a regular basis.
Billing Detail
Invoice
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Centralize Information with a PSA Platform
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Making the Transition

• Make a list of your key business issues
• Take an objective look they way you are running
  your business and be open to change
• Make a commitment to Automation
• Training. Processes. Buy-in. Best Practices.
• Budget. Now It is easy affordable for everyone!

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