Your Managed Service Providers ticketing systems allow them to take your IT support to the next level! Let’s face it; technology has forced companies to move at such a rapid pace that it is impossible to be competitive without it. And no one should be more familiar with this fact than your MSP.
The Pressure of a Managed Service Provider (MSP) to Perform
Many independent contractors and small IT departments track customer requests and orders manually. However, it doesnt take long for them to realize they need specific software to track tickets. A ticketing system helps the MSP be more efficient and maintain control over thousands of tickets and processes.
What Does the Ticketing System Measure?
Ticketing systems measure the key performance indicators (KPIs) against industry benchmarks. As a result, KPIs can help a company determine policies and standardization for continuous improvement.
Some of the more common KPIs measured in IT include:
- Ticket resolution time
- Response time
- Timeslip lag
- Average wait time
- Peak times
- Abandoned call detail
- High volume users
- Incident source – web, email, or phone
- Escalation frequency
- Meantime to resolution
However, an MSP must have a robust ticketing system if they are going to support hundreds or thousands of client environments across multiple industries.
Why is a Ticketing System So Important?
IT departments that do not have a robust ticketing system are inefficient at best. For instance, I have worked with many companies that had an internal IT department. Many times, their ticketing system couldn’t even produce the most basic report, such as:
- How many calls per month?
- Peak times
- Most common types of issues?
This basic information helps determine the maturity level of the organization, areas of improvement, future work, and staffing needs.
Now imagine if an MSP ticketing system was just as limited. How could they improve the delivery for you? That’s why it is vital that you make sure the provider has invested in the right tools to sufficiently service your account.
Going the Cheap Route
Many MSPs start with a single engineer who has gone out on their own. Unfortunately, it can take several years before an MSP is profitable enough to do things correctly. As a result, many small MSPs can’t afford a quality ticketing system because it is expensive to license, set up, and maintain. Therefore, they go with a cheaper option and lose most efficiencies in the process.
(Note: This is an excellent reason you shouldn’t follow your favorite IT guy when he goes independent. You will lose service quality.)
Why should you pay the same hourly rate for an MSP who does not have the right tools? Instead, wouldn’t it be best to hire a company that has invested wisely in its technology to service you?
I recommend you ensure your provider’s ticketing system can track the information mentioned above so they will continuously improve their performance for you and their other clients.
INSI Uses the Best MSP Ticketing Systems on the Market
There are several ticketing systems on the market specifically designed for MSPs. They range from free to thousands of dollars in licensing annually. Consequently, the free ones lack security and the necessary reporting capabilities to continuously improve their own performance. In contrast, the more expensive ones have all the bells and whistles, including monitoring software and asset tracking.
After reviewing multiple ticketing platforms, INSI chose ConnectWise. We feel ConnectWise does the best job of eliminating time-intensive and repetitive maintenance tasks. Further, we found it to be the cleanest and most intuitive ticketing system on the market. Last, this platform provides a full solution with asset tracking and remote management monitoring. Most important, we can allow our clients with internal IT people to use the system on their accounts!
About INSI – The Best MSP in Atlanta!
INSI is the Top Managed Service Provider in Atlanta. We offer both complete IT support packages for clients with no internal IT and a la carte customized packages for small IT departments. Most importantly, we only charge the client for the exact service and level they actually need. Contact INSI: 770-387-2424, option 2.
About the Author
Deborah Frazier is the author of IT Outsourcing Secrets – A Small Business Guide to Compare IT Support Companies. With nearly 20 years of experience consulting small and medium-sized businesses on their IT support needs, she brings a wealth of knowledge to INSI as Head of Marketing and Sales. If you like this article and would like to get notified when a new article is posted, click here.
