Don’t Lose the Big Game: Prioritize Client Requests
The Lack of Prioritizing Client Requests is the Root Cause of Chaos
How many of you like Chaos? Love it? Thrive on it? How many of you think your MSP is better running around putting out fires all the time? Do your Clients like Chaos?
Get Smart
When I think of Chaos and MSPs,it ishard not to think about that 1960’s TV show Get Smart andbumbling secret agent Maxwell Smart running around trying to fight the evil forces of KAOS (think James Bond’s SPECTRE). Yes, he wins in the end, butit’s not pretty. Ifyou haveever heard the phrase,"missed it bythat much,”it came from that show.Go Google the show and watch 5 minutes and tell me if your MSP looks like that to yourClients.
If you love living in Chaos and thinkthatisbest for your MSP, yourClients, and your Team, then you are dismissed to go back to your sports betting app andtryto win it big on Sunday’sgame.
If you are sick and tired of Chaos, or just want to improve and grow the MSP so your team gets vacations, your Clients are happy, and next year you can ACTUALLY BE SUPER and attend that game, then I welcome youAutotask Warriors to our little corner of the Internet where we talk about using the PSAutomation of Autotask to improve your life.
I am going to try and be brief and to the point this weekso you can getready for the Game (whether you like football or just the camera shots of Taylor).For those of you who aren’t into football,cheer up, asDaytona racing is upon us.
Huddle Up
Okay,huddle up andlet’s try and work ON your MSP business instead of worrying about the 137 tickets you need to clear beforetheEagles....well, anyway, I know you do Root Cause Analysis for Client issues, so let’s do one for MSP issues.
MSPs never prioritize Client Requests. Proof in point:Mosttickets come in with a Medium Priority and stay that way for the life of the Client Request Journey. Yes, some change to Critical if someone wants to create a noise and call attention to the request, orwetell the Client they are a low priorityso we can push the request out to its first birthday.
But why do we do this?The #1reason is that a PriorityLevel of Critical to Low does not meet our needs. It does not even meet our needs to Prioritize Incidents on an Urgency and Impact Matrix because it does notconsiderall the categoriesof Incident Client Requests:MSP Operational Transformation: The Best Path to Growth — Advanced Global
Beyond Critical to Low not meeting our Incident Severity Level needs, it also does not take into considerationall the other factors that go into knowing “What is the Right Next Ticket”:
Service Requests (I/M/A/Cs & Projects)
Client Relationship (Non-Managed, Bronze, Silver, Gold &Platinum)
Whereinthe journey from the Cradleto the Grave(New, Tech Engagement, Resolve)
So, the solution is to Prioritize the list of tickets assigned to the Techson a multi-dimensionallevel, AUTOMATICALY,and WITHOUTAI.
Leveraging the Power of Autotask
In 2015, the MSP I was working for decided to create its first remote support team. Crazy,right? All work for the past 30 yearshadbeen scheduled with an on-site visit.(Between you and me, what really happened isit was scheduled on-site, but the Techsfigured outthat most of the time they just needed to call the Client and engage remotely.)
What they did with all the excess non-used travel time,I have no idea–but the backlog of tickets was just as high as ever, so they were not repurposing the time for Client Engagementsas far aswe could tell.
Moving from scheduling on-site to using worklists (queue view or widgets) was not as easy as it sounds. How do you organize the worklists when so many things must be considered? For example:
Urgency and Impact (Incidents only)
Client Reasonable Expectations (Service Requests)
Contractual Obligations (MSAs)
Relationship with the Client (T&M or MS)
Whereinthe journey from Cradle to Grave was the Client’s request
IntroducingPillar #3
(Note: We started talking about the Pillars of Mindset Change3 weeks ago.)
For those of you that have been following along the last few weeks, this is Pillar (Mindset Change) #3:We need the Techs’ worklist prioritized on a multi-dimensional level. It just so happens that this prioritization can easily be automated with Autotask.
For the Techs to know what the Right Next Ticket is, an MSP needs to configure the PSAutomation to sort the tickets via:
Urgency and Impact
Relationship with the Client
T&M vs Managed Services
Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum
Where in the Journey from the Cradle to the Grave the Client Request is
(Did I mentionyou can do this inside Autotask without AI Automation?)
The How
How do you do it? Quite simply, you leverage all three clocks in the SLA automationbybuilding out SLAs for each Client Request Category, and a different SLA level forNon-Managed, Bronze, Silver, Gold & Platinum, and leverage the Next SLA Event Due Date to track the Journey from New to Complete.
Once the SLA Automation isconfigured, leverage the Next SLA Due DateField to Prioritize the Worklist, Queue Views, or Ready to Engage Widgetsthat the Techs are using.Ofcourse, atthe same time, do not forget toCategorizeClient Requests during the Intake (Triage) process and to schedule the four types of Client Requests that require scheduling the work in the Calendars.
By now the fog of Chaos should start clearing, but we have one more Pillar of Operational Optimization to get throughbefore things are Clear as Day.
Summary:
MSPs are not prioritizing Client Requests today, we just dump the tickets into the queue and askthe Techsto figure it out. Techs are using their grey matter to figure out the Right Next Ticket,butnot consideringUrgency and Impact, a Reasonable Client Expectation, the Relationship with the Client, and whereinthe journey from the Cradle to the Grave the Client Request is.
They have learned this information from Hard-Knocks-U, which creates a very stressful work environment, burning out the Techs before their time and creating Chaos until they learn to go into the Server Room, Shut the Door, and tell everyone to leave themthe he**alone(perhaps,that isahabit theycame to the MSP with, butyour ofLack ofPrioritizationisthe reason theycontinuethis bad habit).
So, back to myopeningquestion about Chaos and how much You, Your Team, and yourClientsenjoy Chaos. If you thrive on danger and excitement, go become a fire fighter or a Navy Seal. If youwant to go home at 5 o’clockevery day,solve problems whilemakinggood money, and enjoy seats on the 50-yard line, you need toget your Priorities in order.
For help Finding the Freedom to Grow by Categorizing, Allocating, and Prioritizing ClientRequests, Schedulea Callwith Steve– Free, No Sales, Strategy Call, I promise.Your Super Life starts with an email to [email protected].
Steve & Co
At Advanced Global MSP Consulting, we are committed to helping you grow your MSP business by improving your service delivery experience and eliminating Chaos. We understand the unique challenges you face in the MSP industry, including the mental health struggles that can come with the territory.