5 Steps to Help You Automate Your MSP Business for Profitability
Of all the assets MSPs must successfully manage to be profitable, the most important is time. To maximize your time, you need automation. Automation enables MSPs to increase productivity, reduce operating costs, and boost profitability—and it gives MSPs more time to focus on customer support and satisfaction to build strong client relationships and foster long-term customer loyalty.
With automation, you can:
• Reduce the time technicians spend handling routine, repetitive tasks
• Free up techs for revenue-generating activities
• Speed up service delivery and increase client satisfaction
• Cut the costs for service delivery
• Put time back in your day
1. Determine Which Functions to Automate
Obvious candidates for automation include internal processes that are ongoing and repetitive by nature.
Examples:
- Software updates and patches
- Regular disk cleanup and backups
- Customer-facing functions such as reporting and ticketing
2. Adopt Automation to Deliver Proactive Services
By adding automation tools and other support apps, MSPs can provide a wide range of proactive services to clients that demand only limited manpower.
Examples:
- Remote monitoring and management (RMM) tools enable MSPs to automatically perform a variety of diagnostic and preventive maintenance routines to identify potential difficulties before they become major problems.
- Professional services automation (PSA) tools make it easy for technicians to remotely enter their time when they complete onsite services, ensuring that work is accurately tracked and recorded—key for an MSP to calculate their true cost of delivering services.
- Integrated RMM and PSA platforms offer even greater automation, including immediate generation of tickets when alerts are detected.
3. Manage Dynamic Cloud-Based Solutions
RMM and PSA tools can also enable MSPs to seamlessly manage dynamic cloud-based solutions, freeing providers from the limitations of employing a fixed set of assets. Look for cloud-based solutions and services that integrate with your existing platforms.
Examples:
- Endpoint and network security
- Backup and business continuity solutions
- End user security awareness training
4. Automate Routine Tasks with APIs and Scripts
API and scripting tools enable admins to automate commands and processes on a more granular level.
Examples:
- Automating software deployment for on-boarding clients
- Creating customer billing statements
- Generating professional services reports
5. Automate Post-Sales Communications
Post-sales communications that target customers’ specific business challenges show them that their MSP is aware of—and actively engaged in solving—those challenges.
Examples:
- Customer satisfaction surveys
- Requests for feedback on specific solutions the MSP offers
- Newsletters that offer useful tips and advice on IT challenges clients may face
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