2022: THE Year of taking control of your Service Delivery Operation
Are you in control of your Service Delivery Operation - or is it controlling you?
Are your Service Delivery challenges the Barrier to real Growth?
How can you tell (besides that sinking feeling you have when a new client opportunity closes)?
Questions Your MSP Needs to Ask
Is your operation scalable? Meaning, you can add another client and know they will have a great onboarding and Managed Service support experience.
Is your Service Delivery smooth? This looks like: your techs know what to work on next, the Service Coordinator or Desk Manager knows which tickets need intervention, and clients always know where their requests are on the journey from New to Complete.
If the answer to either of these questions is NO, then your Service Delivery Operation is out of control, and Service Delivery is controlling you!
They say that "knowing is half the battle." So, now what? How do you get control of the Service Delivery Operation? What's the first step?
A Shift in Service Delivery Mindset is Needed
Let's break this down. But before we do, we need to take on an even bigger problem - or maybe, it's the root cause of everything else.
Before we start taking control of the Service Delivery Operation, we need to change from a Reactive, Break/Fix mentality to a Proactive, Data-Driven one, and we need to know what control looks like. And for both, we turn to the historical data hidden in the Autotask software.
Side note: My guess is the level of chaos reigning at your MSP is higher than you realize. We tolerate so much noise, disruption, inefficiency, etc., that we don't realize just how poor the service delivery operation's environment is.
We write it off as "We have external clients, and that is just part of being an MSP." But is that really true?
The Zen Service Delivery Environment Challenge
I challenge you to think about what a Zen Service Delivery environment would look like. I mean, if a hospital, auto service shop, sit-down restaurant, or even McDonald’s operated the way we do, they’d be out of business in no time at all. Even our governments – ok, strike that last one.
So, how do these other service operations drive the chaos out of their operation? It’s simple: By knowing in advance what to expect 95+% of the time. They look at the historical data and anticipate what today, tomorrow, next week, next month, etc., looks like. They stop acting like a Reactive, Break/Fix operation and start acting like a Proactive, Data-Driven operation. What a way to start the New Year!
Common MSP Challenges to Zen Service Delivery Ops
As MSPs, we have several challenges in taking control of our Service Delivery Operation and switching to a Proactive, Data-Driven Operation. Challenges like:
We need to find the data.
We need to know which ones are leading indicators - and which ones are lagging.
We need to pause and plan (not sure either of these mindset words is in our vocabulary).
Look, we’re great at what we do: Managed Service support. Something at our client’s location breaks; we are Johnny-on-the-spot to fix it. That’s our bread and butter, or to quote Jim Collins, "Our Economic Engine."
And we’re getting better and better at it. Four years ago, the average Tech Engagement was 1.72 Hours. Fast forward to today, and very few MSPs average over an hour; most are in the range of 30-45 minutes per request. And this is without all the tickets completed with 0 hours worked, also known as the noise.
But Wait…Managed Service Support Isn’t ALL We Do
So, what’s the problem? We’re a growing industry, great at what we do, and we’re making Dollars, Euros, Pesos, Pounds, Krónas, and Rands. Why aren’t we doing better when it comes to controlling the Service Delivery operation?
The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind and the fact that Break/Fix – Managed Service support is not all we do. ITIL and Autotask have set us up well to do Managed Service support. What they haven't done is helped us deal with the other “7 Types of Client Requests” we deal with every day.
Hospitals work hard with their Checklist Manifestos to know what type of medical challenge they’ll be dealing with today, tomorrow, and in the future. Auto repair shops have a buttoned-up intake process, manufacturer/vendor training, and a month-long waitlist - unless, of course, you have blown a gasket – then they can get you in this week.
A restaurant doesn’t hand you a blank paper, ask you to fill in what you’d like to eat, and then go to the grocery store to get the ingredients – nope, they anticipate what type of food they want to be known for and provide a menu that can be delivered in the timeframe you expect. When was the last time you sat down, ordered filet mignon, and 3 minutes later, a waiter handed you a paper bag with your order in it? (Then again, since Covid, I guess this is how filets are now actually served…) And don't get me started on McDonald's. They have more buttoned-up processes based on historical data to the point where they can hire 4-6 times more staff than they need year in and year out (fast food restaurant staff turnover is 4-6 times per year).
Years of Autotask Expertise & Conquering Service Delivery Problems
For years (since April 2018), to be exact, we’ve been writing about Autotask configurations and Service Delivery Improvements. Advanced Global has over 31 years of experience conquering Service Delivery issues leveraging the Autotask software. Issues like:
Owners not having enough time to sell, because they’re being dragged into Service Delivery conversations
Techs don't know what to work on next
No one knows which tickets need intervention
Clients don't know the status of their requests
Documentation and accurate time entries are unknown
Profitability is unknown
MSPs don't know how to fully leverage Autotask
Service Managers don’t know the performance of the techs or team
Ops managers don't know which processes are working and which are not
Project managers don't know:
Remaining hours per Task or per Project
Resource availability
Earned value
If the Project is on-time and on-budget
Knowing what you don’t know about Autotask because it’s not intuitive to use
“Best Practice” configurations because Autotask is not pre-configured for MSP use
Leveraging Ticket, Task, Opportunities, Configurations, and Account Categories as they’re customizable allows us to bury seldom, or never-used, fields to the bottom or hide them altogether
Lack of default visibility into profitability
We have this "ITIL" term chucked at us, and you're trying to learn about Service Requests versus Incidents and what's a problem ticket...aarrgh
Never implemented the closed-loop workflow rules (WFR), and there are a billion tickets in RMM
Keeping track of all the tickets…simple right?
Owners needing properly-configured dashboards and reports showing them the needed information in the right way, with as little information load as possible.
Herding cats. Owners have a massive pain point handling the business affairs while tracking all the tickets, watching SLAs, and handling all the changes AT makes which means you spend 20 minutes trying to find that setting.
<Insert your pain points here>
I could go on with the list, but you get the point. Nothing is going to change without taking action.
MSPs, This is THE Question You Need to Ask…
So, the big question: is 2022 the year you do something about your Service Delivery Operation?
Trust me - this is not a people problem. Techs want to meet expectations, do the job right the first time, and walk away knowing the client has been well taken care of. Service Coordinators want to know (NEED to know, in fact) the status of every ticket and tech at all times, and they want to intervene where their non-technical skills can help. As owners, you want the clients well taken care of so they turn into raving fans.
The road to a Zen Service Delivery Operation for an MSP can take years to achieve (it was 7 years for me, and up to 10 years for others). And while the road may be different from one MSP to another, they all start from the same place – a FREE No-Obligation Autotask PSA Configuration Evaluation.
If you’re ready to have a great 2022, a year when you FINALLY take control of your Service Delivery Operation, click here for more information on a Free No-Obligation Autotask PSA Configuration Evaluation as the best way to get on the road to taking control in 2022
The Elephant in the Room: Who is Advanced Global and why should we listen to them?
Recently someone we have been in communication with since DattoCon 2018, and 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:
We Are - the Autotask Global Service Delivery Authority
We Help - MSPs thrive
We Solve - Service Delivery issues, inefficiencies, and challenges by:
a. Making sure techs know what to work on next
b. Making sure someone is managing all open tickets and driving them to completion
c. Making sure the staffing levels are correct, and the workload is balanced
d. Making sure Real-Time Time Entry is a cultural habit
e. Making sure the Client has a great Client experience
f. Making sure profit is maximized
g. Making sure Autotask is being fully leveraged
h. Finding, benchmarking, tracking, and using the historical data that is in the Autotask software
i. Making sure the Service Delivery operations can scale
j. Making sure Projects are completed On-Time and On-Budget
k. Making sure the company can grow
l. Making sure MSPs know what they don't know
Our Tools:
a. Autotask "Best in Class" standard build
b. MSP Service Delivery Robust SOP library
c. Advanced Live Reports
d. Expertise in providing a transformational 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
-Steve & Co