Optimizing IT Service Delivery
You may think it’s just about the money, but in reality, there is so much more value to IT Service Delivery Optimization than simply boosting profits for the company.
[su_box title="IT Service Delivery Roadmap " style="glass" box_color="#8e1721"]From our perspective the most important IT Service Delivery metrics are always:- Resource Utilization- Service Level Agreements (SLA’s)- Mean Time to Resolve (MTTR)- Reactive Hours per Endpoint per Month (RHEM)For a glimpse at how you can leverage these four metrics, subscribe and download our IT Service Delivery Optimization Roadmap right here. [/su_box]There are many other benefits to why you should Optimize your IT Service Delivery, including:
Greater Quality of Work-Life for all Employees**
Improved Customer Satisfaction**
A Competitive Advantage in Sales
Being a Good Community Citizen
Freeing up Ownership and Management to focus on more important things
Becoming a Giver rather than a Receiver
Pride
**At SDB-Consulting, we feel so passionately about reasons 1 & 2 that we’ve even included them in our mission statement. Yes, they’re that important. With that being said, let’s dive in…
What does Optimization mean to you?
When Service Delivery is optimized, customer requests flow through from the cradle to the grave, effortlessly. This means the Technicians and Engineers:
Know what to work on next
Have the skills to knock the request out of the park
Look forward to coming in and relieving the customer’s pain
Or, (at least) upgrade the network with the latest technology
For the Customer, when Service Delivery is optimized based on their experience:
Their trust level in the Managed Service Provider is higher
The noise they cause is low
They are comfortable with their level of contribution to the Service Delivery process
They know where their request is at in the process
They know what the next steps are – in other words, they feel the love
Which leads to very sticky Customers. And who doesn’t want that?!
How is an optimized IT Service Delivery a competitive advantage?
Let’s see, where do I even start? Well for one, happy Employees are a joy to work with, and if you take care of your Employees, they will take care of your Customers. Happy Customers then refer you to other potential Customers. Eighty percent of referrals convert to a new Customer, making it the most efficient way to grow the business. Oh yeah, and with better profit margins, you have the flexibility to give back to the local community. Part of that community is your own Employees who enjoy you growing their careers and obtaining better and more robust tools. That sounds like a win-win to me! Being a good Community Citizen is also about being frugal with the resources provided. Frugality does imply efficiency, but it goes far beyond just that. It also allows the company to leave resources for the next guy, which empowers Supply and Demand to bring the cost down. This, in turn, can enable a low margin business to thrive in the community. The alternative is to not be a good citizen - and then what happens? It allows the capitalist economic natures to select out the weakest of the species.
If I Were an Owner of an IT MSP Today...
If I were an owner, and the data indicated that IT Service Delivery was running as well as possible, my focus would be redirected to growing the Company and hiring smarter. If those were also under control and running well – then there’d be time to improve my golf handicap. Optimized IT Service Delivery at an MSP gives insight on what works well, along with how to optimize and stay optimized, rather than needing to hire Consultants to coach and teach Optimization. If I were an Owner, Operations Director, Service Manager, Service Coordinator or IT Support Team member, I could point to hard evidence that we were doing well. I would take great pride in the accomplishment. I’d also be looking for opportunities to share the knowledge. And I could work on growing other areas of the business.
SO, what are the numbers? The $ benefit of Optimization
We previously mentioned the relationship between optimization and profit, so let’s take a closer look at that now. Optimization of any business process usually implies making more money for the company. However, when it comes to a Managed Service Provider’s IT Service Delivery optimization, how much more are we talking about? After all, the request comes in, we fix the problem, and close the ticket - all in a day’s work…right? There’s more to it than that...
Here are some real-world examples of what you can expect from optimization in my experience:
Case Study 1: Recently, an MSP Service Manager was looking at their Support Team’s Resource Utilization report and discovered that across 6 Techs, there were 17 hours of non-billable time per week. As we studied the numbers, 11 of the hours were found to be spent following up with the Customer to ask if they were happy, so that they could close out the ticket (feel free to substitute password reset here from a different real-world experience). By implementing a three-step automated Customer-facing communications process, this elevated 11 hours of non-billable time per week or (if the billable rate is $150 per hour) $1,650 per week / $85,800 per year in more money for the company. Pretty impressive, huh? Case Study 2: We currently deliver a Resource Utilization Automation System found on our website. We found that while we were building the system, five MSP’s out of the pilot group were able to increase their utilization by more than 10% - or $30K per year, per tech. Case Study 3: I would advise you to focus proactively on reducing the cost of Managed Service Agreement support from 6 Techs per 1,000 endpoints, to just 2 Techs. This, in turn, increases capacity by $1.25M per year. Now we’re talking! Remember: Increasing capacity only works if Sales are also happening. The side benefit of Optimization is that 30% of Managed Service Agreement dollars are returned as project work, Customer satisfaction returns are referrals, and then...the magic happens! The MSP now has room to take on 2,000 more endpoints without having to hire anyone. Summary: In the end, for a Managed Service Provider, IT Service Delivery Optimization is a benefit for everyone:
Employees
Customers
and oh yeah, the Company’s bottom-line
We are dedicated to helping your MSP optimize IT Service Delivery. Learn more by:
Continuing to follow this series
Checking out our Complimentary Resources at SBuyze.com
Asking us to help as your Trusted Advisors