In our last Service Operations Best Practices we discussed the definition of the 5 Most Important Service Ticket Statuses Every Team Needs To Manage but now let’s turn that into practical action on ...
In our last Service Operations Best Practices we discussed the definition of the 5 Most Important Service Ticket Statuses Every Team Needs To Manage but now let’s turn that into practical action on some tips on how to best a ticket that flows through each of the statuses and what it means. For those of you that are Connectwise Partners you can also use these statuses to manage your SLAs, to learn more please download this slide deck New => Assigned - the first step in the process should be to move into the Assigned status. Moving the ticket from New to Assigned allows you to respond to your customer acknowledging their request (SLA). This communication can (and should be) automated so they know you’re aware of their issue. Its important to track the time between New to Assigned or 1st Response. Below are two of the most popular examples of how you can track it, either with a Number Gauge (that changes colors based on thresholds) or if you want to see a longer term trend: Assigned => In Progress - once a team member is ready to work on a ticket they should change the status to In Progress. A small subset of customers will introduce an automated communication to their customer when this change happens. The challenge with this step is many times team members will push back saying they can’t keep “updating tickets” every time they start and stop working on an issue. The reality is this is true and therefore the data should be reviewed carefully. For those of you using Connectwise, below is a sample on how you can monitor the amount of time before a ticket gets worked on: Any Status => Resolved - Once the work has been fully completed on a request the ticket should be moved to a Resolved status indicating the work is complete. This is a great communication point to notify your customer that the work is completed and ask them for confirmation. Measuring the amount of time it takes to Resolve tickets is one of our most popular metrics and this is a metric you’ll want to monitor over the longer term as well (see screenshot of 30 day trending average). Any Status => Pending - A ticket should be in the pending status when its “pending” some other action and that action may be in the hands of the requester (waiting for feedback or for them to return) or from your team (waiting for help or escalation) or 3rd party (waiting for a part). If you are managing your team with SLAs then this status should “stop the clock” if its anything besides waiting on your team. Meaning if the pending is not controlled by your team then it should stop the clock. It’s important to be aware of this distinction and just know how your system is set up so you don’t run into issues. The most important part of this process is to make sure it’s documented and shared amongst the team so everyone is on the same page.
This is a the 2nd post in a series of posts based on our Best Practices for Service Ticket KPIs. You can read the first post here: Open & Closed In this post we’re going to dive into Ticket Statuses and how this critical component of a ticket can provide tremendous insight into how your team is performing and if there are any bottlenecks in the process. But first, let’s make sure we’re all on the same page regarding the different types of Ticket Statuses and what they each mean. With over 10 years of experience running customer support teams that have ranged from 1 person to 30+ people, I have found that the more simple your ticket statuses are the more value you will get from the data it provides. When I meet with customers and review their Service Team Metrics I’m shocked at the number of ticket statuses companies have. In my experience a ticket can only be in one of 5 statuses at any given time and the closer you keep the statuses to these 5 simple ones the easier it becomes to manage all the tickets (note, these status types are not just for service tickets it can cross over to any type of work). The 5 statuses are New, Assigned, In Progress, Pending, and Resolved. Every other status that you have on your tickets right now are simply sub-statuses from these main ones. New means the request has been submitted but your team has not responded (key for those that track SLAs) and most probably has not reviewed it either. Every request begins in this state. Assigned means the request has been reviewed and “assigned” to someone to begin working on it. This should be the first step in the request’s journey through your process and allows you to confirm with the customer that you are aware of their request (think response times for SLAs). In Progress means the request is actively being worked on by one of the team members. The number of “In Progress” tickets does not need to equal the number of team members, i.e. everyone is working on a single ticket, because the reality is team members may work on multiple tickets (that’s ideal). Pending means that the person working on the ticket is at a stopping point waiting for some action to occur before continuing working on the request. The most popular reasons for this status are (a) waiting for feedback from the requester (b) waiting for a 3rd party (i.e. vendor to ship a part) or (c) waiting for help from one of your team members like when escalating to someone else. Resolved means the request has been completed and no more work is required. Best practice is to confirm this with the requestor but more often than not it's unrealistic to expect this to happen. Each time I run into customers with over complicated statuses I remind them to get back to basics and focus on each of these main statuses to help ensure tickets are swiftly moving through the process and customer’s requests are getting addressed and resolved as quickly and as efficiently as possible. To learn more about how you can drive more Efficiency and Profitability thru Service Management, check out our webinar recording on the topic here: Download Webinar
My two favorite gauges when it comes to support are Opened and Closed counts for a given time period. In the top left corner of every service dashboard I have ever had, which is where we instinctively first look, is the Open and Closed ticket count. Here’s a screenshot from our service dashboard right now: The number of Open and Closed tickets can give you a wealth of information in a split second. For the sake of this example, let’s assume the time period is “today” meaning we’re looking at tickets opened today and also tickets closed today. Count - The actual number is a great indication of the overall volume of tickets for the day. You know the time of day it is and as you get used to seeing the number you will naturally begin to know if the ticket count is high or low for the day based on the trends. That will help you determine if there has been a spike of activity or not. Comparison of the two Counts (i.e. Open vs Closed) - The dream of any service team is to close more tickets than are opened during a given time period, bringing the service backlog number down. So for this example, we would want to close more tickets than are open for a given day. However at any given time when you look at the two numbers and compare them that’s when you get a snapshot of whether the team keeping up. Below are two examples of Open and Closed Tickets that I took from our own internal service dashboard yesterday, as you can see from the first image from 2:30pm, we were behind: Then we had a quick huddle to figure out what was going on and how we were going to attack the problem. We got another team member assigned to help out for a few hours and here is how we closed out the day: If your team is not keeping up with the tickets being opened every day and that pattern continues you may put yourself in a position where the backlog of tickets becomes too large and difficult to recover. That’s why it’s important to regularly monitor your Service Backlog which is simply the difference between your Open and Closed tickets. Below is a screenshot of how that looks: Next time I’ll share some best practices we used to do at Compuquip and still do at BrightGauge to help with Service Backlog Management. In the mean time, to learn how you can Improve Your Business with KPIs on Dashboards please download out latest white paper:
Tracking external metrics such as leads, traffic, and conversion rates are pretty much a given. But what about internal metrics? There are many types of internal metrics with specific measurements you should be tracking to help ensure greater effectiveness, efficiency, and predictability for your team. The following are a few tips to optimize your internal metric reporting processes. Choosing the right metrics is critical to success. Identify metrics that the team can implement today, but which, ultimately, will affect the firm’s long-term goals. Most managers and employees work hard. The goal of a metrics system should be to make them work smarter. Involve the managers and employees. Those who are subject to the metrics systems should be part of the team that is responsible for developing them. Any metrics system which is simply imposed from above without participation from those it impacts is likely to encounter resistance. Metrics enable you to get the most out of your managers, employees, and current work processes, but they should not limit you. By considering your goals creatively you can develop new processes. Metrics alone are not enough. Insights are critical and necessary to drive action and shape strategy. Data and insights need to be democratized and shared company-wide, allowing for full transparency and a common language for the company to engage in. Common Mistakes Too much data - The metrics you choose to focus on should be relevant, actionable, timely, and measurable. Determine and define the metrics that are related to your particular needs and goals. Lack of reliable data - You should never obsess over numbers. Instead you should look at the big picture and how the whole system works. Nevertheless, metrics must reflect the purpose of the business. Measuring and collecting data, which is often part of process improvement initiatives, brings to light what is happening in all processes within your organization. Many organizations struggle with setting benchmarks, measuring progress toward goals and evaluating past performance. But by keeping the above tips in mind, internal metric reporting doesn't have to be difficult. To learn more about Internal Metrics That Matter for your MSP download our whitepaper.
Last fall, I was fortunate enough to have an opportunity to spend three days with the TruMethods Winner's Circle Members. The Winner's Circle is comprised of about 40 companies, divided into four groups, which meet three times a year to brainstorm, network, and problem solve. Personally, it was great to connect with several members of the group, some of whom are customers, and getting to know them. I had an opportunity to spend time with Gary Pica and Bob Penland, two innovators and leaders in the MSP field. Professionally, I presented my 6 Lessons Learned From Starting, Building, and Selling My MSP Practice slide deck which got a lot of conversation going. It was a phenomenal experience both personally and professional and here are a few reasons why the event was so fantastic: Everyone Was On The Same Page: All the members of the Winner's Circle are focused on growing their businesses, and are open to suggestions, ideas, and challenges from their peers. Although they had a good time together outside of the meetings, once they were seated at the table and in session, it was all business and everyone was laser focused. They Hold Each Other Accountable: Every participant had an opportunity to present their update in what is called the "Hot Seat". Although I couldn't sit in on the meetings, I saw everyone's reaction as they exited the "hot seat" session and it looked intense. These sessions are focused on feedback and holding each other accountable to their plans, strategies, and goals. Everyone Helps Raise The Bar: Gary and the TruMethods Team screens all their Winners Circle members and make sure they fit the criteria. If you start to fall behind or fail to pull your weight, you're out of the program, ensuring that everyone is on the same page. By being held to a high standard, the group has to elevate its performance, both collectively and individually. Small And Personal Is Unique: Today, everyone is trying to get as big as possible as quickly as possible. TruMethods takes a slower, more deliberate approach to growth. I asked Bob Penland why he didn't expand the groups, and he remarked that he liked the intimacy that comes with smaller groups. "I like that I know each of them, I know their business, their families, and their hobbies," he told me during dinner. Any MSP that is interested in growing their business, I would recommend reaching out to Gary and his team and get on the waiting list to join the Winner's Circle. You won't be sorry and your business will be better for it.
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Dashboards are the interfaces by which users encounter the numbers and graphics that are important to them. It's important that they be concise so that needed information can be found quickly. The making of effective dashboards is an art and science which has been the subject of several books. The typical complaint is that dashboards often provide more flash, dazzle and eye-candy entertainment than useful information. One author coined the term "dancing bear dashboards" to describe them. Cute displays lose their sparkle in a few days. An effective dashboard usefully summarizes real information. Simplicity is much preferred. The real goal of a dashboard is to communicate. The first challenge in designing an effective dashboard is to get the right information on it. The information has to fit the viewer's function. Sales staff may need a different information set than service managers, although all staff may find some kinds of information useful. The second challenge is to find ways to fit needed information on a single screen or easily managed sets of screens so the user can see what they need to see quickly. The third challenge is to get the information in a way that tells a story at a glance. Time dependent information in graphical form, designed to show progress or trends on key performance indicators, are very popular components of many dashboards. These graphs can be very confusing when data points are graphed in rough form. In order to smooth out confusing random variation, the data should be subjected to running averages to show the trends before the data is presented. Often data presentation has to enable the user to "drill down" into a graphed average to view its components or view regions of data points to analyze a trend or state of affairs in detail. Dashboards should also contain necessary warnings or caution signals. Deadlines and timelines should be included in easy to understand formats. Many times the most useful information is best presented simple tabular format. Often dashboards can integrate all or parts of the information employees use every day, like contact lists or time tables. These tables should be kept up to date and accessible. The end-user should be able to correct or modify the tabular information as they need to.
One of the most consistent and popular questions we get from prospective customers centers around security, specifically the security of our customer's data. With hacking scandals, photo leaks, and breaches in consumers credit cards data making headlines almost weekly, it's not hard to see why this is such a big concern. We are committed to the security of your data, and outlined below are some of the innovative ways BrightGauge works to keep your information safe. Security Is A Daily Priority: We believe security is integral to the success of both our business and your business, so we have integrated it into our everyday operations. Therefore we are constantly reviewing our security and evaluating ways to improve our security. Security has been top of mind since day one since both of BrightGauge's co-founders have a background in information security, having worked at another Dosal Capital operating company, Compuquip Technologies which is a leader in the IT infrastructure security space. Leave Infrastructure Management To The Experts: When we founded BrightGauge, we decided to make software development our primary focus and core competency. It's what we were best at as a team. By focusing on development, we looked to an outside expert to help us with IT security, and we decided to host all our infrastructure, physical controls, and network security with Amazon Web Services (AWS) in their US East Region. AWS has a fleet of network security professionals who monitor and manage our infrastructure 24/7, allowing us to focus on software development and customer service. All of the AWS infrastructure adheres to the latest security compliance guidelines, and goes above and beyond what we could manage and provide on our own. You can learn more about AWS and security compliance here. You Control The Data We See: It's entirely up to you, as a BrightGauge customer, to determine what kind, how much, and what type of data our platform accesses. As part of the implementation process for on premise data sources, we request that you establish a database user to get access to the database. However, we require it to have "Read Only" access, so our team is unable to write to your database. Essentially, the "Read Only" database user allows our agent to pull the data we need to create our default datasets. The default datasets, comprised of the most efficient, effective, and popular benchmarks, allow you to get up and running without having to build your own queries. If you decide you want to change the data our team has access to, we can help you edit, expand, or streamline the default datasets to limit or expand what information is pulled. We Use Our Proprietary Agent To Query Your Database: As part of our on premise data source implementation process, you will download our BrightGauge Agent and load it to your local network. Using the access created by the database user, we can efficiently, effectively, and securely transmit your data and information. Our proprietary agent does only two things, take SQL queries from BrightGauge and query the database locally to grab data quickly, and encrypt that data and send it back to BrightGauge on regular intervals. Send Data Securely: Our proprietary agent creates a secure SSL Tunnel between itself and the BrightGauge web servers. In order to add another layer of security, we ask our customers to open up a port in their chosen firewall and lock it down to our IP addresses. We only provide the IP addresses to our customers. Once a customer locks down that port, we have a secure channel to communicate the encrypted data. Additionally, we have measures in place to ensure that the data transmission goes smoothly. If the query starts to deliver too much data, our system rejects the query and stops the connectivity before your database becomes vulnerable to any issues. Storing Your Data: We use two types of databases at BrightGauge, and they are very well protected. In an effort to minimize any extraneous information that could be compromised, we only store the data for reports you have sent (under your control) and data between refresh cycles. The data being refreshed is always visible to our customers and the default datasets can be added, removed, or edited at your discretion. If you or anyone on your team has any additional questions about security please feel free to contact us and we can set up a call with our team to discuss in detail. You can get in touch by visiting: Get In Touch About Security
Data-Driven Decision-Making, is trending in the business world. Organizations of every type, from school districts to banks, are implementing data-driven decision making to help increase efficiency. While data-driven decision making can help any business, it comes with its own set of challenges. Here are four common pitfalls in data-driven decision-making and how to avoid or overcome them in your business. Disparate Data Sources: Data comes in many forms, and not all of it looks the same. One team may have data stored in a remote monitoring and management (RMM) application, while another team has customer data in a PSA, and a different team has custom data stored in CSV files. To overcome the problem of disparate data sources, choose a data analysis tool that can import and organize data regardless of the source. Unclean Data: Your data analysis is only as good as your data. In many cases, unclean data comes from data entry errors, so occasionally audit your records to ensure they are high-quality. Additionally, make sure each variable you record is separate from other variables, and each record is uniquely identifiable - this is not a place you can take shortcuts! Poor Visualization: Do you know what your data actually looks like? Visualization is vital to using your data effectively. Free your data from the confines of spreadsheets and turn it into graphs, reports, and dashboards that your employees can use. Even better, allow your employees to create visualizations themselves for on-demand data analysis. Lack of Training: Data-driven decision-making is part of a company culture. In order for everyone involved in decision-making to get on board with data-driven decision making, they need to know how to use the data effectively and easily. Make sure to train your employees on using any software involved in your data-driven decision making process. Some of these pitfalls simply require care and forethought, while others require the right tool for the job. Be sure to carefully select the tools you use for your data-driven decision-making. If you need help with jumping into data-driven decision making, BrightGauge can help you take data from anywhere, visualize it on-demand, and train your employees on how to use it. To learn more about how you can use data to Improve Your Service Operations please click below or => Using Data To Improve Service Operations
KPI is shorthand for “key performance indicator”. Think of KPIs as your key business objectives, things like monthly sales goals, new customers or employee productivity outcomes. KPIs are a smart way for businesses to define their goals, to measure progress towards achieving them, and to make any necessary adjustments to those goals based on actual performance. Usually, KPIs are numbers, and generally those numbers are more or less complex depending on the size of your business. Simplifying Your Data and Improving Performance with Dashboards Most companies have multiple business objectives and to this extent manage a lot of data. KPI dashboards simplify all of that data into easy to read graphics, such as tables and charts. KPI dashboards are similar to other dashboards, like the one in your car that lets you quickly see important information like how fast you’re moving or how much gas is left in your tank. KPI dashboards are useful tools that help a business improve performance by providing key information to the stakeholders who need it, when they need it. Dashboards can be restricted to only those employees who need the information, allowing companies to manage their data while keeping proprietary information secure. One Size Doesn’t Fit All Because every business has a unique mission and set of business objectives, the software which fuels KPI dashboards can be customized to reflect the goals specific to your business and industry. For example, a real estate business will probably need dashboards which reflect aggregate sales, total sales for each agent, prevailing interest rates, and socioeconomic data, among others. A construction firm, on the other hand, might want to see dashboards which include job costing data, outstanding bids, and current clients. KPI dashboards are to some extent an educational tool, providing decision makers with the data that helps them understand their own business. More importantly, dashboards are an efficiency tool, allowing companies to better define their key objectives, monitor progress towards those goals and improve performance by making pinpoint strategic adjustments based on what they learn.
Businesses of all sizes have incorporated business intelligence – the techniques and software used to transform an organization’s raw data into useful information – into successful strategic planning for decades. Now there’s a new player in town – business intelligence – and it’s sweeping the world. Forrester Research puts it this way… …The advent of smartphones and tablets has changed the dynamics of what mobility means in a business context. Whether it's executives or field engineers, knowledge workers or hospital staff, there is an increasing realization that extending business intelligence applications to mobile devices can transform entire business processes as well as individuals' work patterns. What Mobile Business Intelligence Means to an Organization Recent research suggests that 24 percent of businesses currently use or are in the process of adding mobile BI applications, while 37 percent are considering mobile BI in the near future. They understand that decision-making is not the responsibility of only a few select employees in organizations. The entire team makes decisions daily whether they’re in the field closing sales deals, traveling out of town on business, or moving product around a distribution center. Mobile BI enables organizations to: Boost employee and company performance Increase employee engagement Simplify operations Improve decision-making Whether you focus on a single group or implement it corporate-wide, mobile BI means connecting users anywhere around the world through mobile technology. No matter where you are, you can grab network patch status, server capacity, sales pipeline, and service team response times to gain a complete view of your customers. Ultimately, today’s workers need access to critical business information at a moment’s notice. As Boris Evelson, a principal analyst at Forrester Research, writes, “Information workers can no longer wait to make decisions until they get back to the office – that may be too late.” Sounds like it’s time for business intelligence to go mobile.
A key performance indicator is a measure of whether an employee, a team, or an organization's agreed-upon performance goals or results have been achieved or not. They are clear and quantifiable measures for the critical factors of success for an organization. KPIs typically include any combination of reports, spreadsheets, dashboards, and charts, and may include anything from personnel statistics and trends to supply management, and supply chain information. A key benefit of a KPI program is that is often motivates your entire team to meet goals. The following are a few simple tips to assist you in implementing a KPI program within your organization. Link to company objectives. Look at the key critical factors of your business. What are the things that make your business successful? Those are the things you need to make a part of your KPI. Spend your time where it matters most. Involve your colleagues. Making performance a team effort simply works better for achieving your objectives efficiently. This is a collaborative effort that includes everyone who is involved, with a focus on learning and growing employees. Less is more. You don't want too many key indicators. Focus on the most important and most relevant ones. Only collect data that is useful. Data that strays from the purpose of your performance measures will leave you with data you neither need nor use. Make them measurable. Don't get carried away here. Keep it simple. Go for the basics, just be sure they mean something to your business. If it's meaningful to you, then you will be able to make better decisions. Analyze with a human touch. Data and reports can only tell you so much. Be sure you try to understand how outcomes relate to behavior. Get a weekly report. You should have your team reporting to you on a weekly basis. Don't wait until the end of the month to look at these numbers. KPI programs are intended to improve accountability while being able to withstand organizational changes. With the above tips in mind, you can utilize your KPIs to monitor progress, set alerts if something is awry, and communicate the importance of reaching each goal. To learn more about what KPIs you should be using to manage your team better please check out our white paper: Internal Metrics That Matter For MSPs
