Making sure MSP’s Techs know what to work on next is easy!!
Techs randomly picking tickets out of a hat (queue) is a problem, and one of the many common reasons why MSPs come to Advanced Global for guidance.
It isn’t just the hassle or poor Service to the Customer – the costs to the MSP can be staggering: Techs not knowing what to work on next can set an MSP back by as much as $31,200 per Tech per Year. Usually, Techs not knowing what to work on next is an alarm, and causes the MSP Owner to realize what a mess their Service Delivery operation is in.
This is due to:
The time the Tech wastes searching through a list of tickets trying to figure out what to work on next
Time wasted disrupting the rest of the Service Team asking them for their input on what to work on next
Time lost servicing squeaky wheel Clients that not knowing what to work on next enables
Time the Service Manager wastes apologizing to some Client because their request was not engaged on in a reasonable time frame
Leverage the Power of Autotask Dashboard to Tame the Chaos
The solution to managing this chaos is leveraging the power in Autotask’s Dynamic, Pro-Active Dashboards and Widgets. Moving the Tech’s mindset from the well-ingrained habit of searching lists of tickets to trusting the SLA Automation and Autotask’s dynamic, proactive dashboards takes four key elements:
All non-project tickets under a properly configured SLA Automation
Well designed and maintained dynamic, proactive dashboards
A good great Intake Process
Trust
Trust:
It is hard for a Tech to believe the PSA can be configured to know more than they know. Yet, it is also hard to also believe or expect that every Tech will know every relationship with every Client, especially as the MSP grows. Or that every Tech will be aware of every open ticket in the system - which is what it takes to know what to work on next.
Intake Process:
Techs are very good at what they do – resolving Incidents and completing Moves, Adds, and Changes. But they are not good at triaging new requests (they tend to think through what they need to know, but are reluctant to pass the info on by updating the documentation/ticket for the next gal/guy).
Nor are they stellar at maintaining their dashboards, because they are happy to skip over any ticket in the way, as the old "looking through a list of tickets" habits creep in. And it’s hard for them to continue working on old tickets when a new one comes in with a higher priority - not recognizing that a lower priority that has been hanging around for a while needs to be done first.
There is also the finesse of knowing when to assign a Client request to a Tech and when that Tech needs to be scheduled for a specific date and time to work on the ticket.
Most of the time, the Client's request is remote work that can be done at any time. Therefore, it can be reviewed and assigned to the Tech, letting them know it is ready to be engaged on at will. However, when the request is on-site, requires a fair amount of time to complete (> half of a day), or requires the Client to be part of the engagement, it needs to be scheduled.
Autotask Dynamic, Proactive Dashboards
Unless an MSP has a well-designed dynamic, proactive dashboard, this finesse of when to assign and when to schedule throws the Tech into a tailspin and causes them to not know what to work on next. Looking at a list of tickets and correlating with an Outlook calendar starts the Tech on a downward spiral that leads to confusion, uncertainty, stress and listening to squeaky wheel Clients.
However, getting beyond these challenges is a must if Service Delivery is to:
Stop being a barrier to growth
Provide a Raving Fan Client experience
Retain good Techs
The process of designing these Dashboards involved lots of asking questions and testing. It started back in the summer of 2019, when Advanced Global was asked by several MSPs to design a better Tech Dashboard.
Through the Lens of a Tech: Looking at Dashboard Widgets
We started by asking Techs which widgets on their dashboards they ignored – those were removed. Next, we asked which ones were used once in a while – these were moved to the bottom of the list. And finally, which widgets were always used; not surprisingly the answer was none of them as they preferred their queue views.
So, we then asked them what would help them organize their day. They said:
A list of tickets they could engage on at will
We added sorting them by Next SLA Event Due Date
When they were scheduled to work with the Clients without being distracted by looking at an Autotask, Teams, or Outlook calendar
All the other tickets they were responsible for, but were waiting for something
These three widgets were put at the top of the dashboard, and voilà, a dynamic, proactive dashboard that organizes the Techs' workday, was born.
Properly Configured SLA Automation:
Configuring Autotask dynamic, proactive dashboards takes more than just building widgets. It also takes Segmenting Requests into at least 11 workflows. It takes configuring the SLA Automation to manage all non-project tickets, including having the SLA control the Due Date in Tickets.
Now it sounds like once the dashboards are built, life becomes easy, but trust me, it is not.
Driving Chaos Out of Your MSP: A Quick Summary
First, it does take building a tool (dynamic, proactive dashboards) that the Techs can use and depend on.
Second, it takes an intake process that properly codes the ticket, puts the Clients' requests in the right workflow and properly assigns or schedules the requests.
It would be great if the work were done once these two things are in place, but from experience, there is more before life gets easy; but it is possible.
That brings us to the third step, which is to maintain the Techs' Ready to Engage widgets in fine working order. This means about 8 tickets (half a days’ worth of work), all with a future Next SLA Event Due Date.
Our experience is that the Techs are happy to work the tickets assigned to them, but they do not have the time to maintain the dashboard. To them, this is just busy work and returns no value to the Client. When in fact, it is the key to knowing what to work on next.
Now we’re ready for the fourth step in the path to enlightenment at your MSP: balancing the workload across all Techs and knowing when the Backlog List of Tickets (BLTs) needs managerial intervention. P.S. More than five Backlog Tickets per Tech is more than a Service Coordinator can help with. It takes a Service Manager pulling the whole team together.
Once these steps are in place, holding the Techs accountable to use the tools provided is easy. Remember, they want to meet expectations and they want to complete the engagements…they just don’t know what to work on next.
Reclaim All Those Wasted Billable Hours: Your Next Step
This is a lot to take in, we know. Not to mention, most of the bullet points would merit a blog article by themselves.
But remember, you are not alone. To help you sort it out, Advanced Global is standing by with FREE, No-Obligation help. The on-ramp to the highway of Techs knowing what to work on next and saving up to $31,200 PER tech PER year in wasted available billable hours, is a PSA Configuration Evaluation.
The FREE No-Obligation PSA Configuration Evaluation will provide all this:
Recommended Request Segmentation
Recommended SLA Automation configurations
Recommended Tech engagement/disengagement SOP
Tech and Service Coordinator dynamic, proactive dashboards
The cost of not investing in Techs knowing what to work on next
Help is one easy click away. Schedule an introductory call to learn more about Advanced Global and the FREE No-Obligation Autotask PSA Configuration Evaluation.
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 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
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 and Co