As of the 4th of April 2017 we are releasing several new features and updates:
- Major content update for supporting the traditional MSP 1.0 infrastructure model
- Major updates to the Service Catalogue screen
- Major updates to the Quarterly Business Reviews
- Autotask integration
- Other minor updates and fixes
Let's take a look at each in more detail.
Major content update for supporting the traditional MSP 1.0 infrastructure model
70 new services
We added 70 new or heavily updated services to fully populate any Managed Services Catalogue. All services are clearly presented with description, deliverables and an informative graphic. The goal was to create a complete MSP offering which includes all services that 95% of managed service providers are performing today.
7 new service bundles
We distributed the 70 services to four main base offerings (Cloud only, Remote only, Basic and Professional) which clients can select as their baseline. We designed three add-on service bundles (Security Add-on, IT Leadership Add-on, Application management Add-on) which they can buy to supplement those base packages. We also created one bundle for collecting the optional services that clients can buy separately (Managed Print, Managed VoIP, Onsite support etc.). The idea was to make you able to:
- customize your offering for different client sizes, maturity, vertical and buying persona without sacrificing standardization,
- set boundaries for the infrastructure focused services, and stop doing them for free,
- clarify expectations around each service,
- create a platform for aligning employees, clients and management on what services their organization is offering,
- re-onboard old clients to the better presented professionally described service portfolio.A brand new Needs Assessment (ITCq)
We created a completely new questionnaire + report combo for these services, mapping 100% of the services to the questionnaire. The questionnaire has one or more "value statements" from each service, to gauge the need for or interest in them. The ideal use cases for this are sales, client alignment and internal use with the team. The questionnaire uses seven dimensions (IT Infrastructure, Risk Management, IT Security, IT Management, Applications, Service Desk, Cloud Services), with two building blocks each.
A brand new Periodic Service Review (QBR)
We also put together a matching QBR questionnaire + report combo for the 70 services. The goal here was to give you the opportunity to use a questionnaire focusing on evaluation and review of your services with the clients, on a regular basis. In order to work perfectly with the new scope, we've been updating the engine as well. The questionnaire is no longer quarterly, but instead can be used any time between reviews, and even ad-hoc reviews can be managed. The questionnaire leads your team and the client through the evaluation of the services, reflecting on the used service standards, operational metrics and even the scores from client executives.
Major updates to the Service Catalogue screen
As more MSPs are using the service module to design their own unique service catalog, we added some new functions to make the design process easier and faster.
- Drag and drop services from one category to another,
- Inline editing of the names/types and cycles of the services, for super quick customization,
- Inline editing of service categories to customize the structure more easily,
- Inline new service creation, which makes designing new services less time-consuming,
- Quick-add new services from the service template library directly from the screen,
- Service update function, in case the original template gets updated, to keep control on the updating of content.
Major Updates to the Quarterly Business Reviews
We started building the QBR engine as a questionnaire last year. The four quarterly reviews are more interactive, less mature, less structured and more tied to the service offering. That's why needed to add new functions to the QBR engine, for a better experience for both the service providers and the clients:
- Service reviews can be done for any cycle - monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, annually or even ad-hoc. The service reviews can be done separately and can be combined in the report section.
- Service reviews are 100% editable from the Report Overview screen, without even completing a questionnaire. This imparts greater flexibility for the technicians; even the previous review can be seen during the editing.
- Every role can have their own questionnaire link. Before, they had to choose a quarter and a role, but now they can just click the link and start completing their questionnaire right away. The need for customer education has been reduced.
- Each service in the service catalogue can be reviewed separately with text and a score, by the service provider, and all services they're not buying right now can be highlighted.
- Each service building block can be reviewed by the executives, so you can more accurately gauge their satisfaction.
- Each service can be reviewed based on its operational metrics (if there are any).
The current QBRs have already been converted to the new report format. Consider also trying out the new Quarterly Business Review engine built for your MSP 1.0 Infrastructure services.
Autotask integration
Now that we've made the Basecamp and Connectwise integrations, we're releasing the Autotask integration for beta. The goal was to be able to automate the Technical Account Management and vCIO services to allow seamless execution of services inside Autotask. The main functions are:
- Service deliverable elements can be sent to Autotask as Projects to enable productized ongoing services or projects to execute inside Autotask,
- Service contracts (multiple services bundled for a specific client) can be sent to Autotask as Projects to enable complex service agreements like Action Plans, Roadmaps, Annual Contracts, vCIO contracts or Technical Account Management activities executed inside Autotask,
- Autotask Projects can be viewed from inside our tool, to keep better track of the team's activities in relation to the contracts,
- Company and Contact import from Autotask makes administration easier.
Other minor updates and fixes
We've been fixing some minor issues, problems and bugs and are releasing them all at once:
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- emails can be edited by the users,
- names on the menus are simplified by using templates instead of public libraries in many instances,
- learning goals are marked completed by completing all projects within,
- you can directly send suggestions to improve the content of services and service bundles,
- adoption gauges get back to the main screen to give you an overview of what actions you need to take to encourage adoption,
- improvements on the multi-tenant environment (more vendors are leveraging our tool, creating content, services etc.),
- overhauled Connectwise company import functions,
- many other back end fixes for stability and improved user experience and security.