When it comes to running and managing a business, there are so many moving parts to keep your eye on. It can be difficult to know whether you’re making the right decisions for your organization, and we all know that good decisions usually lead to positive outcomes.

One way to feel more confident about the decisions being made is to base them on data. It’s tempting to go with your gut feeling or emulate what successful peers in your industry have done, but the truth is, if you’re not taking your specific organization and its metrics into consideration, then you’re bound to fall behind.

In the world of Managed Service Providers (MSPs), this rings especially true. Every MSP operates differently and services a unique set of clients, meaning that priorities shift from one MSP to another. It’s important to zero in on what moves the needle for your particular MSP, so that you can take appropriate and relevant action.

With so much data to track as an MSP, how can you ensure you’re focusing on what matters? The secret lies in setting, tracking, and measuring your key performance indicators (KPIs).

KPIs don’t have to be scary or intimidating. In fact, they can be exactly what puts you on the path towards success.

Where to get your data

As an MSP, you’re using a slew of tools to manage your client’s networks and systems, or even to get a handle on your own internal processes.

It’s highly likely you have a helpdesk or customer service department and that you’re using a PSA like Autotask to get you organized.

Your Autotask PSA can give you great insight into performance analytics for your team. Through it, you can track all your ticket statistics, projects, new and existing accounts, billable time, inventory, and even your employees.

Pretty great, right?

The issue is that your PSA is probably not the only tool you’re using to track your client’s data. Maybe you’re also using a finance tool like QuickBooks. Or a security tool like Webroot. Or an RMM like Continuum. So, this is where things can get a little daunting.

To avoid falling into a state of analysis paralysis, it’s important to get to the heart of what data matters the most to your business.

How to set the right KPIs

Going back to your Autotask PSA,  there are tons of different metrics you can get as it relates to your ticket statistics. Having access to all of them may not be as beneficial as it would be to focus in on a few key data points.

For example, your SLAs may be centered around providing quick, timely service to your clients. In that case, it would be valuable to make it a priority to monitor Average Time to First Response as one of your KPIs.

In general, your SLAs can pinpoint you in the right direction for choosing the KPIs you want to track. In your SLA, you and your client set expectations and outlined benchmarks for success, so tying metrics back to what is laid out in that contract will ensure that you’re prioritizing your client’s wants and needs.

Beyond that, the IDEAS framework can really help you formulate a process for setting KPIs. We introduce it below:

Once you’re familiar with this process and have gotten the hang of choosing KPIs that matter to you and your clients, you can better use your Autotask PSA to your advantage. You can streamline the data you track and focus on key points, rather than getting inundated with data.

Making KPI tracking even easier

Even though you’ve gained clarity around the KPI process and have a strategy for moving forward, wouldn’t it be great to see all your data - from all your tools - in one centralized location?

That’s where business intelligence comes in. A tool like BrightGauge simplifies the whole KPI process even further by compiling all the data that matters to you into dashboards and client reports.

With BrightGauge, you’d be able to see your Autotask data side-by-side with your Continuum data, and so on. Having real-time visibility into your KPIs makes it easier to be proactive and prevent anything from falling through the cracks.

Plus, the ability to create powerful Autotask reports for your clients helps establish a foundation of trust that fuels clients to stick around for the long-run.

BrightGauge integrates with over 40 popular datasources on the market. With each integration, your account comes pre-loaded with default KPIs, pre-built dashboards, and report templates, allowing you to get to your data immediately.

The Autotask + BrightGauge integration includes 9 dashboards (like Projects Overview and Service Ticket KPIs) and 8 report templates (like Daily Member Scorecard and Autotask Executive Summary Report).

Best of all, you get almost 200 Autotask KPIs as soon as you open an account. There are trackable metrics for every department within your organization, giving you the necessary visibility to keep team members motivated and aligned.

Just ahead, we break down the top 20 Autotask KPIs used by BrightGauge customers.

Top 20 Autotask KPIs

# of Opportunities on Sales Stage

Your sales team is critical to the success of your organization, as they have a direct influence on your monthly recurring revenue (MRR). Knowing what’s going on within your sales team empowers you to forecast performance and numbers, so you can make resource and strategy changes as needed.

This specific KPI allows you to see a list of opportunities per the sales stage that opportunity is currently in. This kind of insight can help you predict how many of those opportunities will close and how much revenue each will bring in.

Account Notes

Some interesting insights can be gained by tracking the notes made on your various accounts.

Account Notes are self-explanatory - they are notes that someone on your team makes in relation to a specific client, opportunity, lead, etc. so that other team members have context to refer to.

When tracking Account Notes, insights may be brought to light that wouldn’t have been clear otherwise. For example, you may find a correlation between number of notes added per resource and number of opportunities closed.

Tracking this KPI in BrightGauge simply shows a list of the account name, note, resource name, action type, and more.

Amount on Invoices 90 Days Past Due

For most MSPs - or any business for that matter - keeping track of your organization’s finances is part of your day-to-day. It’s important to know what’s coming in versus what’s going out in terms of cash flow.

With this KPI, a glance at your dashboard shows you the dollar amount on invoices that are 90 days or more past due, so that you’re instantly aware when you’ve reached a situation that needs course correction.

Details like client name, invoice number, due date, and total dollar amount are also available.

Average Time to First Response

When customers submit a support ticket to your helpdesk, they are expecting a timely and satisfactory response. This is even likely to be laid out in an SLA between you and your client.

To ensure you’re not breaching your SLAs, this KPI is a critical one to keep track of. It shows your Average Time to First Response across the board. Details like client name, ticket number, date created, time to first response, and more are also available.

A benefit to tracking this KPI in BrightGauge is that you can add a threshold (in the form of a color or an audible alarm) at a certain number, so that if your response time falls outside that number, you’ll immediately be alerted.

Average Time to Resolution

It’s not enough to simply respond to customer tickets. It’s important to see how long, on average, it’s taking your technicians to resolve tickets.

This KPI shows you that exact data. If you’re noticing that response time is taking longer than you’d like, it may indicate that additional resources or extra training for your technicians may be necessary.

By viewing this Autotask KPI in BrightGauge, you can also see details like client name, ticket number, technician assigned to the ticket, the date created vs. resolved, and the time to resolution in hours.

Breached SLA Summary Per Resource

When it comes down to it, your SLAs are essentially what you’re building your MSP on, so it’s really important to understand if SLAs are being met or breached. A breached SLA should be avoided as much as possible, which is why so many customers choose to track this Autotask KPI.

It lists out the number of Breached Responses, ResPlans, and Resolutions per each technician on your team. Clicking on those numbers will reveal details like the ticket number, client name, the date the ticket was created, and the Response/ResPlan/Resolution due dates.

If you have a technician that has a high number of breaches, it may be a good idea to speak to that person and assess whether he or she could use additional training or support.

Currently Open Projects

There are so many moving parts that come with running an efficient MSP and sometimes it can be overwhelming to keep all those parts organized. But that’s where consistent KPI tracking can be really helpful and valuable.

For example, this KPI shows you how many projects you currently have open so you can ensure that you’re prioritizing them as needed.

By viewing this Autotask KPI in BrightGauge, you also have access to details like client name, project title, project lead, project status and type, date created, and how many hours have been billed towards the project.

Customer Satisfaction This Month Leaderboard

What good is your business or team if you’re not meeting your customer’s expectations? After all, your customers are your bread and butter.

Tracking Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) helps you understand how well (or not) you’re satisfying your client’s needs, giving you the necessary insight to improve upon your service processes.

This KPI takes CSAT one step further by creating some healthy competition amongst your techs. It’s a leaderboard that lists out average survey ratings per each resource on your team.

Displaying this KPI on a dashboard for all to see can be highly incentivizing and can drive productivity up, since everyone gets pleasure out of seeing their name at the top!

Hours Today by Engineer

There are a few reasons to track the hours each of your engineers are billing, including knowing what they are working on and analyzing whether or not you’re staying on track with your SLAs.

This Autotask KPI shows each of your technicians and the sum of the hours they worked on a given day.

By tracking this KPI in BrightGauge, you’ll have access to more details about the work each tech has done, such as the ticket number worked on, client name, and ticket status.

Open Tickets Per Resource

A Service Desk Manager has many metrics to handle, especially as it relates to ticket statistics. Keeping an analytical eye on service desk processes allows for iterations on those processes to optimize how well that department is run.

One such metric to watch is the number of open tickets each resource on a service team currently has. If a resource has too many tickets in his queue, it may suggest that he needs additional training or that there may be an issue with how all resources are being allocated.

Tracking Open Tickets Per Resource in BrightGauge gives access to specific ticket details for each individual, such as the ticket number, client name, status, date the ticket was opened, and more.

Open vs Closed Tickets

One of the most common KPIs we hear our customers talking about is their Kill Rate Percentage. In other words, their ratio of opened versus closed tickets.

Ideally, a service team should be closing more tickets than are being opened, to avoid the backlog getting too jammed up. Having more closed than opened tickets also suggests that your resources are well-versed in how to properly resolve incoming tickets.

Tracking this Autotask KPI in BrightGauge allows for a quick way to see how the service team is performing and gives access to specific ticket details like number, client name, and status.

Opportunities Created Today

Depending on the way you track sales team progress, you may find it useful to understand the number of opportunities that are being created on a daily basis. These insights may be used to forecast incoming revenue, upcoming hiring needs, new product releases, and more.

The Autotask KPI Opportunities Created Today shows the results of a given day’s CRM efforts.

By tracking this KPI within BrightGauge, users also have access to details like client name, title, sales rep associated with the opportunity, status, and the potential revenue amount that opportunity could bring in.

Project Phases - Current Month

This Autotask KPI provides an excellent way to get granular details about the projects your team is working on.

It breaks down project information based on the phase the project is currently in. When tracking this KPI in BrightGauge, you’ll see a list of the client name, project title, who is leading the project, who created the project, the phase the project is in, the phase start date, estimated hours for that phase, and due date for that phase.

Keeping an eye on this KPI can help you make sure projects are moving through their phases in a timely manner and are meeting your SLA in terms of hours.

Revenue Won by Sales Rep Last 30 Days

A favorite amongst finance-minded folks who are eager to keep track of all data pertaining to cash flow.

This particular Autotask KPI shows revenue brought in by each sales rep on your team within the last 30 days. In addition to helping track sales activity, this KPI gives an opportunity to reward high-performing reps for their efforts.

When viewing this data in BrightGauge, you also have access to the details of each reps’ revenue gains, such as the client the revenue is coming from and the dollar amount associated with the win.

Service Summary

Although Service Desk Managers have lots of moving parts to stay on top of, they don’t always have the time to take a really detailed look into ticket statistics. In these cases, summaries can be very valuable.

The Service Summary KPI provides an overview of client activity by showing currently open tickets vs. tickets opened last month vs. tickets closed last month per each client on your roster.

This type of data gives insight into which of your clients are noisier than others, if there’s a backlog issue you should be concerned about, or even if you have a client who could benefit from a deeper training of your product or service.

Stale Tickets Per Resource

When it comes to tickets coming through your queue, the goal is to keep them moving and get them properly resolved in a satisfactory time frame. Ideally, tickets will refrain from becoming stale (a.k.a., no activity).

This Autotask KPI shows you how many stale tickets each resource on your team has. If one of your techs has a high number of stale tickets, that could be a red flag.

To further analyze what’s going on with those stale tickets, BrightGauge gives easy access to details like client name, ticket number, a link to the ticket, the status of the ticket, and when it was last updated.

Tickets Assigned by Tech

Knowing what each tech on your team has on his or her plate is helpful when allocating resources, shifting priorities around, or choosing someone to handle an emergency situation. Plus, in general, it’s great to be able to glance at a dashboard and see who is talking to which client.

The Tickets Assigned by Tech KPI shows each tech on your team with a corresponding bar of ticket count. To get even more detailed, that bar is color coded by the client belonging to each ticket in that tech’s queue.

If you have a new client who can benefit from talking to one of your more experienced reps, glancing at this gauge can help you ensure that client’s ticket falls into the right hands.

Tickets Completed This Week Leaderboard

We’re all for a little healthy competition, as it’s a pretty powerful way to keep your team members motivated and focused on an important goal.

The Tickets Completed This Week Leaderboard lists out each of your techs in order of who has completed the most tickets this week.

Keeping this KPI on display can incentivize your techs to do their best to properly resolve incoming tickets (perhaps each week’s top performer wins a gift card or a free dinner?).

Tickets Opened by Priority

Not all tickets are created equally. Some tickets need to be addressed more urgently than others. For instance, a client whose servers are offline may need to be tended to more quickly than a client who has a general support question.

The Tickets Open by Priority KPI shows how many currently open tickets fall into each of your priority categories (i.e., Critical, High, Low, or Medium).

This is really valuable when it comes to allocating and shifting around resources - such as putting your Tier 1 Techs on Critical tickets only if you see that queue start to stack up.

Viewing this KPI in BrightGauge allows for quick access to all ticket details, including a link to the ticket itself, a summary of the ticket, the tech assigned to the ticket, and so on.

Tickets by Issue Type

Another way to analyze and keep an eye on incoming tickets is to understand the tickets by their issue type.

Tracking this over time can reveal any trends across your helpdesk - maybe the majority of your tickets are related to workstation issues, or perhaps a good chunk fall into problems with installed software. Knowing the issues that pop up consistently can help you develop processes to mitigate those issues before they come up.

This Autotask KPI shows a breakdown of your currently open tickets by the issue category they fall into, making it easier to analyze.