Stakeholders are the #1 Reason
Key Takeaways:
Why Optimize Service Delivery?
The Backbone of Every MSP is…
Benefits to Every Stakeholder Involved
Service Delivery: Worth Your Investment
Stakeholder? What the heck is a Stakeholder?
When an Owner of an MSP using the Autotask software invests in Service Delivery Improvements, everyone impacted by Service Delivery (Stakeholders) are positively impacted by the Owner’s decision benefits. The list includes:
Techs
Service Coordinators and Managers
Clients and their Employees
Customers
Other Departments within the MSP organization
…and the Owner, of course
The Service Delivery Team, is the backbone of any MSP Organization.
When the Service Delivery Team is happy, everyone is happy. When Service Delivery is not working well, efficiently, or meeting expectations, it causes grief. This grief cascades into the Client’s organization and down to the Client’s Customer’s organization.
Optimizing Service Delivery is a big deal and goes way beyond profits. In a time when Employee turnover and applicant ghosting are at an all-time high, investing in Service Delivery Improvements provides an MSP with the Top-Graded talent it needs to attract or retain.
(Note: we know many of you use the terms TSP, VAR, or similar to describe your business. If you provide any type of Managed Services to your clients, you fall under what we call an MSP. That means Autotask software and our Service Delivery Improvement system will work well for you).
Techs:
Techs like to know what to work on next. They like to complete Client requests within expectations. They even like good documentation and to get paid well. What they do not like is being unable to do their job. They do not like Clients barking at them. And no one likes getting thrown under the bus by some report that nobody understands. We know because, in our former lives, some of us were Techs.
Service Coordinators:
Service Coordinators want to be part of the Team. They want to know they can contribute to the core competencies of the business. They want to be the hub of the company, and when the chips are down, they want to be the go-to person to “get it done.” They do not like being thrown into situations they do not understand, or expected to know technical jargon, or tasked with hundreds of open tickets and no tools to tell one from another. We know because, in our former lives, some of us were Service Coordinators.
Service Manager:
Service Managers want to coach Techs (keep in mind, most Service Managers are lead Techs that have been promoted into their position) in a positive, collaborative, and result-oriented environment. They want to be the coach/manager they wish they had when they were a Tech. They do not like being left holding the bag - by being held responsible for the Team performance without any tools to get the job done EXCEPT raising their voice and treating the Techs just they were treated. We know because, in our former lives, some of us promoted Techs to Service Managers.
Clients & Client Employees:
I know all marketing communicates “We care about our Customers” and “our Client experience is our #1 priority”, but when it comes to the decision to invest in Service Delivery improvements, they are #2 after the Employees.
Investing in Service Delivery improvements benefits the Client experience in several ways:
Response, engagement, and completion times are within reasonable expectations
Clients are updated and communicated in a timely fashion
Communication is clear and concise
At the end of the day, the Client only cares about one thing: “When will my stuff be fixed?” This is true in general, but not for the Managed Service Liaison. You know, the one who has to listen to all the end-users complain about not being able to work. For them (the voice of the decision-maker at renewal time), you must take good care of the end-users also. We know because all of us (including you) are Clients of some MSP organization.
Which brings up the age-old debate: Should the intake person be technical or non-technical (and what we are really saying is billable or non-billable)?
The answer is both. To provide a great Client Experience, you need someone to guide you through building a hybrid intake process that uses billable and non-billable resources at the appropriate times to provide the best Client Experience. Hint: Managed Service End-Users should get direct access to the Help Desk, all the rest should go thru a Service Coordinator.
Client Customers:
You will never hear or receive a testimony from your Client’s Customer. But we should take pride, in knowing that each time we help a Client Team Member to get back to work, somewhere, there is a Client’s Customer receiving the benefit of our work.
Think about it: if each of your Techs completes 12 Tickets a day, that means the Client’s Employees are now capable of completing 12 of their Customer’s requests. So each Employee is indirectly impacting 144 Employees.
And what about the Client’s Customer’s Clients – does that mean 144 squared (20,736)? And if this is true for one of your Techs, what about the others? In a short time, your investment in Service Delivery Improvements is saving the world.
Other Departments:
What about the other Teams like Sales, Finance, Marketing, HR, and PM? (I know this may all be the same person, but humor me for a minute.) Would they not appreciate an investment in Service Delivery improvements if the engagement was guaranteed to bring positive results?
Imagine…Positive results such as stuff getting done:
on time and on budget
as the Client expects
with all the proper documentation, time entries, and summary notes
as promised to the target audience, prospects, and Clients
is such a way as the Clients tell other potential Clients (woohoo – good referrals)
in such a way that you are alerted to what is going right and what is going wrong, or what should be going on with the Client’s networks
If that is what Service Delivery improvements can do, I am sure the other departments would chip in some of their budgets to get’er done.
Owner:
At the end of the day, investing in Service Delivery Improvements is not about profits. It is about you taking ownership of the business and having the business stop owning you (this is where your quality-of-life improvement comes in).
It means the Team is in a position to deliver service without your constant intervention. It means the Clients talk with you, not yell at you. And it means when you leave your office (at noon), you can walk away easily without worrying about what you are going to come back to tomorrow – or even worse, leaving physically, but still tethered every moment that you are away.
But what about profit? Surely, that’s important, right? Of course, it is. With profits, the lights stay on, and the doors stay open, so you can do it again tomorrow.
As a matter of fact, you can do more of it tomorrow with Service Delivery Improvements and scaling. And what about service to the Community? I know the Government would like for you to be more profitable, but what about those charities that are so grateful for your support? So, really, Service Delivery Improvements and profits go hand in hand, allowing for continuous improvement.
Summary:
For the good of an MSP’s Clients and Employees, Service Delivery Improvements are worth every penny of the investment, and the increase in profits more than covers the cost of the investment.
Excellent Service Delivery brings the gratitude of the Techs, Service Coordinators and Managers, Clients and their Employees and Customers, other Departments, and, of course, yourself, “The Owner”. That is the gratitude we work hard for and which spurs us to continue to invest in Service Delivery Improvements.
The elephant in the room:
Who is Advanced Global, and why should we listen to them?
Recently someone we’ve been in communication with since DattoCon 2018, who was faithfully reading our articles, commented that up until a few months ago, “I really did not know what Advanced Global does.” So here are a few bullet points to let anyone interested know who we are and what we do:
1) We Are – the Autotask Global Service Delivery Authority
2) We Help – MSPs thrive
3) We Solve – Service Delivery issues, inefficiencies, and challenges by making sure:
a. techs know what to work on next
b. someone is managing all open tickets and driving them to completion
c. the staffing levels are correct, and the workload is balanced
d. Real-Time Time Entry is a cultural habit
e. the Client has a great client experience
f. profit is maximized
g. Autotask is being fully leveraged
h. the historical data that is in the Autotask software is accessible to benchmark, track & USE effectively
i. the Service Delivery operations can scale
j. projects are completed On-Time and On-Budget
k. the company can grow
l. MSPs know what they don’t know
4) Our Tools:
a. Autotask “Best in Class” standard build
b. Our MSP robust Service Delivery SOP library
c. Advanced Autotask Live Reports
d. Expertise in providing a transformational educational experience
Note: We are not philosophers; we are doers with 31+ years of Service Delivery experience, bringing real Service Delivery Improvement change, profitability, and Best in Class performance.
We start by offering a
FREE No-Obligation PSA Configuration Evaluation
Until next time – stay profitable, my friends.
