Feel Like a MASHed potato? Try the First Contact Resolution Report
As I write this, I am reminded of an email that on this date in 1983, the final episode of M*A*S*H aired. For those of you that have never seen the show, I encourage it. Part sitcom and part drama, the show is not about war but about the doctors, surgeons, and nurses working on the front lines in Korea who are there whether they like it or not.
MSPs have much in common with M*A*S*H
Much like a well-coordinated military unit, MSPs operate with precision, adaptability, and a commitment to safeguarding their clients’ interests. The military operates on principles of discipline, hierarchy, and readiness. Similarly, MSPs maintain order in the digital landscape. You proactively monitor networks, troubleshoot issues, and fortify defenses against cyber threats. Just as soldiers stand guard at the frontlines, MSPs stand vigilant, ensuring that IT systems remain operational and secure.
Remember the iconic mobile army surgical hospital depicted in the TV series? It was a whirlwind of chaos, humor, and camaraderie. Similarly, MSPs navigate a dynamic environment. You juggle multiple tasks, respond swiftly to emergencies, and collaborate seamlessly with clients. Whether it’s patching up wounded servers or defusing IT crises, good MSPs exhibit the same teamwork and resilience as the M*A*S*H crew. Note, I said good MSPs.
The TV show lasted many years longer than the actual Korean War it depicted. Many on the show talked about the never-ending war and just wanting to go home.
If you want a profitable MSP, Bite the bullet…
Tell me: Does your Team think and talk like that? Do they spend more time worrying about a laundry list of concerns? Concerns like:
Security
Unpredictable workloads
Legacy systems
Resource allocation
Communications breakdowns
Documentation challenges
Budget constraints
Whether their fellow Techs can be counted on
Plus having to constantly adapt, rather than actually working to improve the Client Experience
If you want a profitable MSP without Chaos, one that has raving fan Clients and a happy team full of that memorable humor and camaraderie, you need to bite the bullet, buckle down, and implement the policies, process, and standards that separates a great MSP from one that barely makes payroll and feels like they are constantly being shot at.
That is why Advanced Global was founded and that is why each and every week I welcome you Autotask warriors and the members of our Gladiator Community to this column. The goal is always to inform, educate, and provide the keys to the kingdom of a great MSP.
Some MSPs are DIY and like to implement their reporting, dashboards, widgets, WFRs, RMM integration, etc. themselves. Some like to purchase our Foundational Improvement program so we can work side by side. Either way, this column is for you.
This week we are back to discussing one of the important reports that every MSP should have in their Autotask: The First Contact Resolution Report.
First Contact Resolution (FCR): A Vital Metric
First Contact Resolution (FCR) is a crucial metric in the realm of customer support and IT services. FCR represents the percentage of incoming service calls or requests that are resolved during the first interaction with the customer. In other words, it measures how often an issue is resolved without the need for the customer or IT support to follow up with a second contact.
Importance:
Client Satisfaction: High FCR indicates efficient and effective support, leading to satisfied customers.
Cost Efficiency: Resolving issues promptly reduces the need for additional interactions, saving time and resources.
Operational Efficiency: Streamlining processes to achieve FCR improves overall service delivery.
Challenges:
Complex Issues: Some problems require multiple touchpoints, making FCR challenging.
Skill Levels: Tech expertise impacts FCR. Well-trained staff can handle more issues upfront.
Documentation: Accurate recording of interactions is essential for tracking FCR.
How many of those tickets are being closed out fast?
This report is to see how many tickets are being closed quickly. On this report, we are looking at any ticket that takes less than two time entries per tech. It should only be looking at completed incident tickets.
We don’t include Service Requests in this report because those by nature can take more than two-time entries. Those you will want to keep an eye on the hours spent. We will cover that in a later article.
Why are we looking at two time entries? Why not just one? We recommend that you look at the 2nd time entry as really being the first time the technician gets to talk to the client. Often, the technicians must leave a message the first time they reach out on a ticket. This is going to help you see if your technicians are having to play phone tag with the client to fix the issue. It will also help to know where a technician needs to get some more training.
Column C is a hidden column that is counting closed tickets for the past month for each technician.
Column D tells you how many time entries the technician has made for the past month on those tickets. The time entries are only for the completed tickets. This keeps the field level for all the techs. We are getting a percentage, and not comparing apples to oranges.
Column E shows how many of those tickets have more than two time entries per tech. This number you do want to keep low.
Column F tells you how many tickets that the resource has closed for the past month. Depending on the role of the technician, this number may vary widely - so you should not just look at closed tickets, but another metric that levels the field.
Column G gives you the percentage between Column C and Column E. This will help you to see how much time it takes to take care of your clients. You really want this number to be a high percentage because that means the incident tickets are moving through your system quickly.
The one thing you don’t want is your Clients sitting around for days with broken equipment, complaining to their co-workers on Slack and Teams…
Now that you have this information, what do you do with it?
First, you need to decide what percentage in Column G you are shooting for and what percentage you will be holding your Techs accountable for. Best in class is 90%. Our recommended target is 75%-85%.
Now that you have identified the Techs not meeting that percentage, you need to dig further. Carol calls this the fun part: This step takes a little more digging to find the answer.
You could do a ticket search to see what’s up with those tickets. Unfortunately, that won’t help much because a ticket search does not give you the column to choose time entry count.
This is where a detailed version of the FCR report will come in. This report is used to review one technician at a time and see what tickets they had that took more than 2-time entries. The detailed report will need to have:
Client
Ticket number
Ticket title
Number of work entries
The filter will be set to only report on tickets with more than two time entries. Another column might even be the ticket issue. This will allow you to quickly see where that technician might struggle to get the client working again.
Summary
First Contact Resolution (FCR) is a crucial metric in the realm of customer support and IT services. A good MSP needs to keep track of this to maintain Client satisfaction and to be efficient.
You want your MSP to run like a well-coordinated military unit with the humor and camaraderie of the M*A*S*H team - but without all the Chaos and fog of war. The First Contact Resolution report will help.
If you have questions about how to implement the report, you can post them in our Gladiator’s Community forums. If you’d like us to do it for you or would like to talk about our Service Delivery Foundational Improvement program, drop me a line at info@agmspcoaching.com.
See you next week!
Steve & Co