Tech Balanced Scorecard: The Service Managers Bazooka in the Fight to Bring Order to Chaos

Read this article & you’ll walk away with expert insight on:

  • Why your Service Manager needs a BIG bazooka.

  • When to fire your Service Manager.

  • Our #1 weapon against MSP Chaos.

  • One Advanced Autotask Live Report that Stands Out.

  • Case Study: 96-100% Tech Score.

  • 3 Key Ingredients to Improve Tech Performance.

  • Knife or bazooka? You decide.

 

Greetings, Autotask Warriors!

 

If the title of this column made you think of Bazooka Joe and his Gang, then double welcome! Back in the day, we chewed the same bubble gum and read the same comics.

I’m talking about a weapon that was made famous in World War 2 and named after a musical instrument from the ‘30s: the bazooka. The bazooka is an anti-tank weapon that puts big holes in things and can quickly solve big problems.

Did you know? Officially titled the M9A1 Rocket Launcher, the “bazooka” was “the first weapon of its kind,” meaning it was the first infantry weapon able to demolish a tank reliably. There’s your trivia for today.

Fast forward to a quick trip to 1987. Remember “The Untouchables”? In that film, we learn to never bring a knife to a gunfight.

 

Ok, enough reminiscing. Parachute into the real world of 2023 (you know, the one with lots of volatility, uncertainty & a “new normal” - whatever that means). …

 

That whole “Don’t bring a knife to a gunfight” mantra? Advanced Global agrees. Today, we equip our Clients with bazookas.

 

And your Service Manager needs a BIG bazooka because they are responsible for:

  1. Holding the Service Coordinator accountable for doing their job as expected

  2. Holding the Techs accountable for doing their job as expected

  3. Holding the Team accountable to meet profitability expectations

    1. Resource Utilization above 80%

    2. SLA Performance above

      1. Triage – 97%

      2. Tech Engagement – 95%

      3. Completion – 90%

    3. Reactive Hours per Endpoint per Month to less than 1 hour of work for every 4 Endpoints

If they are not taking ownership of those three things, you need to fire them (or at least get them some guidance on their Role and Responsibilities).

 

"WOW," I imagine you are saying, "That's a tall order." 

 

Yes, it is. But – if a Service Manager did step up and take responsibility for these three things, my goodness, the Service Delivery would:

  1. Meet expectations

  2. Maximize profitability

  3. Provide a Zen work-environment

If your MSP’s Service Delivery is more like a steaming pile of Chaos than those three things, this is the time to stop skimming and pay attention.

 

Our #1 weapon against MSP Chaos…

…is the Advanced Autotask Live Report. We use these to find the issues in an MSP and get the numbers where they should be. After all, if you can't measure it, you can't figure out what's wrong, and you can't fix it. 

 

However, there is one Advanced Autotask Live Report that supersedes ALL other reports: the Tech Balanced Scorecard. Actually, it is all Tech Performance Advanced Autotask Live Reports rolled up into one Graph-Driven Excel Dashboard.

 

Here is a link to a Sample - Tech Balance Scorecard - Trend.xlsx

 

Quick Ref: Tech Performance Reports You Need

Here is a list of the Tech Performance reports already covered in the series, and coincidentally the same list in the Tech Balanced Scorecard Advanced Autotask Live report:

  1. Advanced Resource Utilization Manage Your Techs Right to Improve Service Delivery (agmspcoaching.com)

  2. Advanced Real-Time Time Entry Why Autotask Reports Are a Service Manager's Best Friend (agmspcoaching.com)

  3. Advanced SLA Performance

  4. Advanced Estimated vs Actual Time per Tech

  5. Escalation Rate

  6. Reopen Rate

  7. First Contact Resolution (notice we did not say First Call Resolution – which is a huge difference)

  8. Client Survey Score per Tech

    Advanced Autotask Live Reports: Your #1 Weapon Against MSP Chaos (agmspcoaching.com)

 

By the way, I will be the first to assert that the Techs are not the problem. Their hearts are in the right place:  they want to help the Clients and meet all expectations. 

So, if the Techs want to deliver superior service to the Clients, then what is the problem, Toto? (name the 1939 movie)

The problem is that Service Managers are struggling to find a non-head-butting, positive coaching process to hold the Techs accountable.

 

Case Study: Tech score 96-100%:

If you were at DattoCon ’22, then you remember one of Fred V’s reasons for integrating tools was that "Techs are being utilized less than 50% of the time.”   But that is only one of 8 Tech performance metrics in a Tech Balance Scorecard. Based on the Clients leveraging the report, the Techs are not performing much better on the other 7 metrics. 

But it does not need to be that way. Several Advanced Global Clients use ‘the Tech Balanced Score Card report to coach and mentor Techs’ performance.  The results have been astounding:

  • One Client improved Tech performance from the mid-sixties to 96% within six months. 

  • Another has a Tech that scored 100 the last two months, and we are anticipating seeing if she can do it three months in a row. (View Andy F’s testimony towards the end of this article)

 

The bottom line: it is possible if you have the right tools to hold the Techs accountable.  

 

3 Key Ingredients to Improve Tech Performance

Improving Tech performance from poor to best in class takes three things:

  1. Fully leveraging the Autotask PSA tool to make it easier for the Techs to work smarter, not harder.

  2. Processes that are repeatable and easy to understand and follow.

  3. Advanced Reporting, like the Tech Balance Scorecard guides the Techs on where they need to improve and gives management the ability to hold them accountable.

 

For the Service Manager struggling to hold the Techs accountable, they do not need a 12-step program to dry out. They just need a positive, collaborative, coaching/mentoring 3-step program (our ‘bazooka’). You could have Advanced Global:

  1. write the report for you in your own Autotask database

  2. work with you to adjust the report to meet your needs

  3. coach you on how to leverage the report to mentor your Techs

This process sets the Service Manager up as a Hero. Here is how the conversation goes:

  • Hey, I know you are working hard, but this report is throwing you under the bus

  • What can I do to help you meet (kpi) expectations

  • When I was a Tech, (Personal Story) was my situation, and (Personal Adjustment) is what I did to improve

  • Reiterate the KPI expectation, the goal, and a reasonable timeline to achieve “Best in Class” performance

  • Encourage them to focus on this area of improvement without letting the other areas slip

  • Schedule a time to check back with them with fresh data

 

Check out a Tech Balance Scorecard Raving Fan Testimony by Andy F., Intermix

 

Every day your MSP team is out in the trenches fighting the war against Chaos, security threats, ignorant users, and, yes, even the sales war against your competitors. Don’t bring a knife to a gun fight – use a bazooka instead. Trust us, it works.

 

For more information on how to purchase Advanced Global's Tech Balance Scorecard report, email us at Info@AGMSPCoaching.com.

 

The elephant in the room:  

Who is Advanced Global, and why should we listen to them? 

1.     Advanced Global MSP Coaching is the Autotask Service Delivery Authority.

2.     We Guide MSPs to use more of the Autotask Software to drive Operational Improvements. 

3.     The first step is a FREE

 

Get started today. Waiting is costing you $600 per Tech per Week, and we can help you recoup that loss, Guaranteed or your Money Back. For more information, email us at info@AGMSPCoaching.com

 

Steve & Co 

Stephen Buyzemsp, Autotask, Live Report