TIPS FOR SUCCESS
Leveraging IT Automation To Increase Profitability And Reduce Cost
4 Steps To Save Time ( And Money !) By Automating Common IT Tasks
“
Time is money .” It ’ s a centuries-old adage that first appeared in our lexicon when Benjamin Franklin penned the words in 1748 . This phrase is no truer today for any industry than for MSPs . You and your technicians only have so much time in a day , so minimizing tickets and the time spent on common IT tasks can help you gain time elsewhere , increasing your business ’ profitability and enabling you to scale .
In order for an MSP to grow , there must be a concentrated effort toward efficiency throughout your organization . The most valuable asset to your bottom line is time , and the No . 1 cost for any MSP is labor . Every penny spent on your IT tool stack should have a direct impact on not only driving profit but also on reducing your labor cost . To maximize your technicians ’ time and get the most out of your resources , you need to adopt heavy use of IT automation .
By streamlining the services your clients rely on , you free up your time to focus on the root cause analysis of recurring tickets , which can save you even more time and money , creating a perpetual cycle that can lead to an even stronger business . This is accomplished by removing downtime from the equation while also securing data and protecting infrastructure . By automating repeatable and routine tasks , you can provide a comprehensive IT management service at an affordable rate for your clients and can grow your business in ways you may have never thought possible .
When you work toward a sustainable system in which your technicians can focus on bigger , more valuable issues , you ’ ll find productivity increasing , operating costs decreasing , and a boost in profits and scalability . To get there , follow this four-step playbook for IT automation success .
Step 1 : Determine which functions to automate .
Begin with the obvious : processes that are ongoing and repetitive . Think of the routine tasks your technicians do day in and day out for clients — things they could do in their sleep ( and hey , maybe they have ). For example , IT documentation has always been a time-consuming but necessary task to keep your team functioning as a cohesive unit . With IT automation , it ’ s relatively simple to streamline your documentation , and the benefits of documentation are never lost . Instead , you continue to retain the valuable information that promotes continuity among technicians without wasting time on creation .
Other simple , yet important , examples include software updates and patches , regular disk cleanup and backups , customer-facing functions like reporting and ticketing , and compliance processes .
Step 2 : Adopt automation to deliver proactive services .
No matter your remote monitoring and management ( RMM ), professional services automation ( PSA ) or IT documentation tools preference , you can easily find the automation solutions you need to make it happen and begin implementing the process . Start with some of your easiest processes to offload ,
6 | MSPSUCCESS . COM