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Best Practices   |   Read

5 Ways to Improve Customer Service Using CloudApp

At BrightGauge, great customer service has always been at the core of our mission. We care a whole lot about our users and are willing to do what it takes to make sure every BrightGauge experience is ...
At BrightGauge, great customer service has always been at the core of our mission. We care a whole lot about our users and are willing to do what it takes to make sure every BrightGauge experience is a positive one. Over the years, our Support Team has become more robust and we try really hard to be available for as many hours as possible throughout the week. In addition to bulking up our team, we’ve picked up some tips and tricks along the way. Surprisingly, we’ve found that using CloudApp has made a positive impact on the way we offer support. Here, we cover 5 ways that we’ve improved customer service just by using CloudApp. What is CloudApp? CloudApp is a screen recorder that can be used on a Mac or a PC. If you’re a Mac user, you’re probably familiar with Command-Shift-4 as a way to grab a screenshot of whatever you’re viewing. CloudApp can do that and then some. When you install it on your computer, one click is all it takes to grab a still shot, a short GIF, or even a lengthier video. Your capture is automatically saved to the cloud (as you probably guessed) and it’s super easy to share a link or even download the file and save it to your computer. If you need to add context or conceal sensitive information, CloudApp’s annotation feature lets you do just that. We’ve just found that it’s the easiest way to visually share information. What our Support Team does with CloudApp Given that we have thousands of customers using our software on a daily basis, it’s no surprise that we see an influx of tickets coming in each and every day. Whether a user is having an issue building a complicated gauge or isn’t sure how to get their dashboards to sync more frequently, they naturally turn to us for guidance. While we’ve always been pretty quick about replying to tickets and giving in-depth answers, we got to thinking that there might be a better, more digestible way to offer our guidance. Sometimes things get lost in translation when you’re writing out a bunch of steps that a user needs to take, especially when using a data-intense product like BrightGauge. Screenshots (of the Command-Shift-4 variety) worked, but piling 10+ into a ticket response didn’t provide the friendliest of user experiences. So, when we learned about CloudApp, it felt like hitting the jackpot. As soon as we started using it to cover Support, things noticeably changed for the better. We make it personal. Our users are certain they’re not receiving canned responses because every response is tailored specifically to them. When you record a CloudApp GIF or video, you have the option to record audio as well. So users don’t rely on reading our words. They hear our voices. They know us by name. And we call them by their name, too. Videos show users exactly how to navigate. Whether using BrightGauge dashboards, reports, or goals, our customers have a lot of data to analyze. When writing instructions for our users, there’s no guarantee that they’ll follow our prompts the way we intended them to. But with video, that changes. Users see an exact visual of what we want them to experience and can replicate that journey on their own, empowering them to use BrightGauge better over time. Annotated screenshots give context. There are some BrightGauge features that just might be missed without specifically looking for it. This is especially true for our newer BrightGauge users. CloudApp lets you annotate captures with text, arrows, lines, or other shapes, so you can easily point something out. Plus, if your screenshot has sensitive info that you don’t want your end user to see, you can censor it through the annotation feature. Screen captures are easy to reference. Written responses to support tickets can, of course, be accessed at a later date if the end user needs to reference it. But this is done a lot better with video. First of all, you can save the file to your computer and access it whenever you want. But beyond that, video makes it a lot easier to learn on your own. Imagine a 5-minute video that shows how to build an advance gauge. You can pause/play at your own pace without losing your place. With written instructions, this would take so much longer. Ticket Response Time is better. We’ve noticed that our Ticket Response Time has improved since we started using CloudApp in our replies. When a ticket comes in, it can take a lot of time to evaluate the question, think about how to effectively communicate the response, type it out, send it back, and wait for further questions. With video, you can quickly visually communicate a response, which is really effective in terms of saving time and preventing further clarification from being needed. We love picking up tips from our peers in the industry, which is why we’re happy to share our own experiences, too. If there’s anything you want to ask us about, feel free to drop us a line. Don’t be surprised if you get a video in response!
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Culture   |   Read

Natalia Paguaga Joins BrightGauge as Integration Developer

We’re excited to welcome Natalia Paguaga to our team as an Integration Developer! Join us in learning more about the newest member of our growing BrightGauge team… In the beginning So, where is Natalia from? We’ll give you one guess. If South Florida was your first thought, you’re right! Like the majority of us BrightGaugers, Natalia is a Miami native. Specifically, she grew up in Hialeah, surrounded by Cuban coffee and pastelitos. She takes pride in her community, noting that the people of Hialeah embody a resilient hustle that can’t be overlooked. That and the lingering scent of freshly baked Cuban bread makes her love her hometown. After graduating from Mater Academy Charter High School, Natalia earned a full scholarship to the University of Florida (go Gators!) where she appreciated being part of a community with so much school spirit. As she puts it, even certain birds on campus had blue and orange legs. Natalia graduated UF with a degree in English Literature and eventually found herself back in South Florida, working as a third grade teacher. It may sound surprising, but that job is what led her to her love of data. As a teacher, Natalia was responsible for making sure her class was ready for FSA testing, which required her to gather data on an FSA prep tool called I-Ready. The way she interpreted the data and used it to gauge her student’s exam readiness sparked something in her. She realized she had a passion for data and programming and the theory behind software development. So, Natalia joined Wyncode to explore her new love. Joining BrightGauge In her teaching days, Natalia always felt confident going into meetings with parents and faculty because the data she gathered allowed her to assemble necessary information and adequately prepare in advance. She feels that the way BrightGauge customers are able to gather data is something that helps them advance in their daily lives, and she loves that. As she puts it, “Building something that allows you to pull data needed to create an awesome dashboard is honestly so cool! The fact that it’s information that is helping others makes it much more exciting.” Furthermore, the passion she felt from the rest of the BrightGauge team struck a chord with her and made her feel that joining the team would be a tremendous blessing. Natalia can’t wait to get her hands on various APIs and datasources that will make a difference in customer’s lives. Out of office When Natalia’s not coding like a boss, you can find her spending lots of time with her family. She’s the oldest of 14 grandchildren and together they love playing board games and kickball and guessing the plots of holiday Hallmark movies. She’s an avid Disney fan and is constantly drawn back to their parks because of their special attention to small details, which always reminds her of the first time she ever went (a feeling that doesn’t age). Natalia also collects different versions of Pride & Prejudice, in multiple languages whenever possible, so wherever in the world she is, you can surely find her in a used bookstore, digging through the stacks, hoping to uncover a treasure. By the way, if you get a chance to meet Natalia, make sure to ask about her multiplication & division rap song!

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Product   |   Read

Integration Update: Webroot DNS Protection

We’d like to quickly let you know of an update we’ve made to our Webroot integration. If you’re using Webroot, we presume that you’re serious about data protection and cybersecurity. By integrating Webroot and BrightGauge, you’re able to manage and monitor devices that need attention, infection status, shield status, sites, and more. With our latest update, the level of protection you experience through proactive monitoring is taken one step further. Webroot DNS Protection Webroot recently introduced DNS Protection, and we’re now sharing KPIs for that functionality. A lot of you have requested this, so we’re happy to now offer it. With Webroot DNS Protection, you can monitor and report on blocked sites, see who was trying to access them, and get a summary of DNS traffic including risky and blocked traffic. This opens up an opportunity for you to offer your clients better services and show how you’re being proactive in preventing incidents from happening. BrightGauge KPIs for Webroot DNS Protection We’ve launched two datasets, from which multiple KPIs are available as default gauges. To make it easy for you to start monitoring this data, we’ve pre-built two dashboards that bring these KPIs together: DNS Protection Blocked Traffic - This dashboard allows you to see blocked requests by category, domain, and hostname for the last 30 days. DNSP Traffic Last 24 Hours - On this dashboard, a number of gauges show you total blocked and total risky requests in the last 24 hours, blocked and risky requests by site, and the percentage of risky and blocked requests by site. If you use Webroot DNS Protection already, then you should have access to these datasets and KPIs. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to our Support Team!
Customer Success   |   Read

How to Send Client Reports: A Quick Guide

New BrightGauge users (or anyone looking for a quick refresher): this one's for you! Recently, we've had customers asking us why they should create client reports and how they can set them up. Let's take a quick look at the 4 W's of Client Reporting and How to pull them together. Who should I send executive reports to? - Based on our research and experience, we see our customers sending reports to their main point of contact who manages the relationship, but we also see many of them sending the report to that person’s manager (if they have one). When we probed about why reports are sent doubly, our users all said it's because this way if the contact person changes, a history of communication with their manager still exists. If asking yourself, "Who should I send this report to?", we think it's better to be safe than sorry. What should I include in client reports? - Choosing the right metrics for your client reports will depend on your integration (like Connectwise, Webroot, IT Glue, Autotask, Quickbooks, etc) and what is laid out in your SLA. A large portion of our users integrate with ConnectWise and use BrightGauge to create impactful ConnectWise reports based on their metrics. When creating client reports, use one of our pre-built templates or easily start from scratch; either way, reports are customizable. When should I send client reports? - We see 30,000+ reports that get sent out each month, and the standard default is for our customers to send reports on a monthly basis to their clients. This seems to be a natural rhythm when it comes to reporting, however, we also see a large number of our partners sending out weekly or even daily reports that are hyper-focused on whatever key metrics they care about. Perhaps they are interested in patch status for their workstations or a specific type of support request. The flexibility of our client reporting allows you to customize when to send them the information they want. Why should I send client reports? - You want to start building trust with clients as soon as possible because it’s the foundation of a long-term business relationship. Client reporting holds you accountable and keeps you transparent, both reputable qualities in client's eyes. So, “How” do you start earning their trust? How do I create a client report? - That’s the easy part! Below, we quickly outline the steps to get started with Client Reports. Step 1: Create a new report Step 2: Select your clients Step 3: Choose to start from scratch or use a template Step 4: Populate your report with gauges, a title, and your logo (or your client's) Step 5: Set the schedule and send it off! Yes, it is really that simple. To learn how Client Reporting can make a huge impact on your business, download our free webinar where we share why Client Reporting is a key pillar in the area of Customer Success.
Customer Success   |   Read

Customer Stories: Cards Technology Extends BrightGauge to their Customers

In business since 2000, Cards Technology started out as a computer repair shop and system builder. As the years went on and the IT industry continued to evolve, they made the switch to full IT Services provider. Today, they focus on infrastructures and database management. Joining BrightGauge Cards Technology first came across BrightGauge when they were looking for a way to supplement the work they started in Connectsmart. Within 30 minutes of getting connected, Sam Card, the CEO of Cards Technology, was able to create his first custom dashboard in BrightGauge. “When we first tried BrightGauge, our goal was to see our metrics in one place and to get our KPIs in front of our team. We were able to get started up with BrightGauge pretty quickly, and with ease. I have other employees who know nothing about database queries and they got in there with no trouble.“ After learning of BrightGauge’s connection to Kaseya and Quickbooks integrations, lots of lightbulbs went off for Sam and his team. They went deeper in their Advanced account, working with the data mashup between gauge layers to make their metrics and data do the work for them. They also use Smileback quite a bit. Each week, they run an analysis of service tickets and how much time they're spending on each. For example - 4 hrs on printer issues and 10hrs on workstations. They then ask themselves how to get those numbers down, and then measure the actions taken vs results of such. Cards Tech has 6 TVs spread across the office to track their KPIs and monitor tech performance. Each tech gets an extra boost in compensation based on their performance. Customizing BrightGauge for the Customer Since launching back in 2012, BrightGauge has mainly served IT and MSP companies. In recent years, some of our customers have started to ask, “how can we extend BrightGauge to our own customers?” Sam came to us to see how we could create a BrightGauge account for one of his clients who was using a datasource that had yet to be added to our list: Aptora. A software used by HVAC companies for tracking techs and managing their business, Aptora has a couple of products. BrightGauge integrates with Aptora’s Total Office Manager. Both Sam and his customer instantly saw the benefits of taking two otherwise disconnected systems, and creating dashboards and metrics to bridge the data points across their tech stacks. “With BrightGauge, we get better reporting and metrics out of PSA software that otherwise you can't easily filter for in other programs. It's great that you have filled that need.” Their Go-to Tracked Metrics Number of endpoints in Kaseya and divided by revenue logged in Quickbooks Measure agreement efficiency -- measure breakdown of agreement by client

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Culture, Customers, Product   |   Read

Common Misconceptions: BrightGauge Feature Review

Do you know about the FUD factor? This is a common term that means fear, uncertainty, doubt and is often used as a popular sales tactic by some companies to put down their competitors. Recently we’ve been hearing some FUD noise in our sales process and we thought it might help if we cleared up the confusion around some inaccurate statements regarding our product. Most of these are inaccurate because they are outdated, not because of any malicious intent. We'd like our prospective buyers to have the right information handy, so they can make an informed decision that will help them run their business better. So here goes… BrightGauge Only Has 15 Min Sync Times (FALSE) – The standard dashboard sync time is every 5 minutes. For customers who want to bring that down even more, we also offer 2 minute sync times for those critical datasets that need to be monitored in more real time. As soon as a user logs into BrightGauge, it automatically kicks off a complete sync so that you have the freshest data. But don’t worry, if nobody logs in for a few days, we’ll still sync your data at least once a day to make sure we’re ready for you when you do log in. Read more about Dataset Syncing. BrightGauge Does Not Allow Deep Linking Back To Datasource (FALSE) - Wherever you've activated deep linking within the app, you can click the link and it will take you directly to your datasource and log you in (if you have set up the automatic log-in properly). For instance, you can drill into a gauge that pulls data from ConnectWise, click the activated link, and instantly be logged into your ConnectWise account. Here’s a link where you can learn more about the feature: Deep Linking Overview. BrightGauge Only Allows You To Pull 120 Days Worth Of Data (FALSE) – Did you know that 96% of our customers use BrightGauge as an operational tool to provide insights into today, yesterday, last week, last month, and even last quarter? Very rarely do customers need to have 12 months worth of data, and even less rare is the need to sync that data regularly. For our most commonly used datasets, we have a default limit of 120 days, but that’s just a starting point. If you'd like to increase that limit to longer, we can look into that for you, but be aware that the exact amount of history we can pull does depend on your datasource and amount of data. BrightGauge Does Not Have Advanced Calculations Functions (FALSE) – Many of our customers use our Calculated Metrics Feature which allows you to do basic formula operations with your data, such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. This allows you to see your data with cool metrics like Kill Rate and 1st Touch Resolution %. No Audible Alerts On Dashboard (FALSE) – Audible alerts can be set up only on number gauges and progress gauges. When you have a gauge with a threshold on a dashboard and that threshold is met, a DING will sound, alerting you to an issue that needs your attention. Just make sure you've selected 'Play Dashboard Alert' when you set up the threshold. Read more about Dashboard Sound Alerts. No Dashboard Background Customization Available (FALSE) – A lot of our customers have requested dashboard customization, so we recently made this feature available. Now, in any dashboard, you can add text and image modules to your liking. For example, if you have a client coming in for an office visit, put their logo on the dashboard where you monitor their metrics and watch how impressed they'll be. Read more about Dashboard Images. No Integration with Maps or Weather Data (True) – This is something we hear from time to time and we have discussed including in our future dashboards. Hopefully this helps clear up some of the confusion out there and offers a more accurate picture of where our product stands today. We're constantly updating our features, so stay tuned. If you've got a question or want to see BrightGauge in action, please contact us today.
Product, Best Practices   |   Read

How to Use Client Reporting to Track Goals

Client reports are a must for building long-term relationships founded on trust and for tracking whether or not you are adhering to your service level agreements (SLAs). If you’re a BrightGauge user, then you know how easy it is to create custom, interactive client reports in just a few steps. While the task is simple, the payoff is huge. Full transparency in the form of client reports is always a business best practice. Did you know that you can use client reports to track goals? Implementing this process can lead to great rewards, such as higher productivity and efficiency. With BrightGauge, it’s a no-brainer. Why should I track goals? If you aren’t setting goals with your internal teams or with your clients, how do you know which direction to go in to achieve success? Goals help you determine an endpoint and figure out the steps needed to get there. Goal-setting is also a really powerful way to establish a culture of accountability and motivation within your team. When individuals are assigned goals and encouraged to track them on a regular basis, there’s no hiding from their responsibility. Either they are working towards their goal or they aren’t. As humans, we inherently dislike failure, so having an established goal sparks a motivation to want to do our best work and do it efficiently. Converting data into goals Let’s use a common scenario. You are an MSP tasked with monitoring the networks and devices of a trusted client. You likely use an RMM such as ConnectWise Automate (formerly LabTech), integrated with BrightGauge. Through BrightGauge dashboards and reports, you’re tracking ConnectWise metrics like drive disk space used, machine patch status, workstation AV protection status, and more. Based on your SLAs with each individual client, you set up custom client reports that show progress on important tasks. You make it a point to walk your clients through their custom ConnectWise reports every week because you believe in the power of full transparency. In one of your conversations, your client mentions that they’d love to see their overall server health score above 65% on a weekly basis. Right there, you’ve had a new goal conveniently placed in your lap. Using BrightGauge Goals, you can convert your ConnectWise gauge data (overall server health percentage) into visibly trackable goals. Here’s how: From your BrightGauge homepage, click on ‘New Goal List’ under Goal Management Name your goal list Select ‘Create New Goal’ Choose between an Outcome Goal or a Process Goal (an overall server health score above 65% would be an Outcome Goal; something like ‘monitor servers twice daily’ would be a Process Goal) Opt to power your goal through a ConnectWise gauge; in this instance ‘Overall Server Health %’ (doing this will show you a drop down menu of available gauges based on datasources you’re integrating with; your goal will actually be connected to the data being pulled in to that specific gauge) Input your target number - per your client, this would be >65% Assign your goal to an individual or a team Click ‘Add Goal’ Now, you have a goal that is tied to your ConnectWise gauge. Each week, this goal will be populated with data that is being pulled from that gauge, so there’s no room for manipulating the number or not being accountable to your target. This is great for internal visibility. How do you show your clients that you’re working hard to meet their desired target? In your weekly client reporting, be sure to always include the ConnectWise Automate gauge ‘Overall Health Score %’ so your client can see a weekly snapshot of this metric. Reports sync 10 minutes prior to being sent out, so they’ll always be viewing up-to-date data. You can reinforce this by adding your client as a BrightGauge Viewer (all BrightGauge subscriptions allow for unlimited Viewer licenses at no additional cost; Viewers have read-only access to BrightGauge data but can’t build gauges or make edits), adding them to your goal list, and scheduling a summary email to be sent at a certain date and time each week. Your clients will appreciate that you’re serious about adhering to goals and are proactive in making sure that you’re working towards your target. For internal teams The BrightGauge client reporting feature allows you to create reports for your own company, too. Ideally, you are already setting and tracking goals for each of your team members. Sending them regular reports with data tied to each goal ensures that everyone is aligned and feels a sense of ownership over your business. Give it a shot and see how productivity increases over time. Automated tasks, big results It may seem daunting to think about adding another task to your daily list of to-dos, but it’s a lot simpler than you may think. With BrightGauge client reports, you can set up a custom report template and then schedule it to go out on a recurring basis on the date and time you choose. As mentioned earlier, reports sync 10 minutes prior to going out, so they’ll always be up to date. This means that you’ll just have to spend a few minutes setting up your goals-based reports one time, but you’ll reap the benefits each and every week. Tracking goals and sending custom client reports will help your business in the long run. Your clients will notice your transparency, their sense of trust in you will grow stronger, they’ll be happier with your work, and your risk of churn will decrease. In our opinion, not putting in this effort is a risk we’re unwilling to take! To learn more the importance of goal-setting, check out our free whitepaper, ‘The Right Way to Set Business Goals’.
Culture   |   Read

New Job Opening: Sales Development Rep

BrightGauge is looking for a rockstar outbound Sales Development Rep to join our rapidly growing team! As a Sales Development Rep (SDR), you will be part of our Sales Team. At BrightGauge, we make an awesome Software as a Service (SaaS) product that helps customers grow their business by understanding their data. You can also describe our product as a business intelligence platform that focuses on the global IT Service Provider and Managed Service Provider (MSP) industry. It’s important to also understand our office environment. We’re not the type of company to dictate a buttoned-up dress code, throw around busy work or put up with overbearing personalities. But we are the type of company where you’ll have hands-on access to the whole team – including the folks who manage our marketing, sales, software development, data customization, customer success, and everything in between. You’ll not only play your specific part on our team but we’ll also expect you to contribute to anything that can be improved. No egos here, we’re all learners and hard workers. We pride ourselves on being a very close-knit team. We spend a lot of time having fun at weekly happy hours (if you’re 21 or older, of course), team lunches, brewing beer together, visiting food festivals, and exploring all that South Florida has to offer. Need more proof? Check us out on Twitter, and Insta, We love to let loose just as much as we love growing the incredible software platform we build each day. The right candidate will: Absorb the onboarding manual and be ready to start contacting new prospects 10 days from start date. Become an expert at using lead generation tools to routinely extract contacts and create accurate and targeted lists of prospects. Conduct sales development best practices with email, phone, and social drips using Hubspot CRM to connect with new prospects. Utilize smart, targeted questions to speak knowledgeably with decision makers. Skillfully build interest and create opportunities with new prospects. Coordinate consultations on account executive’s calendar and log activities in our CRM. Make 50 dials a day. Exceed quota of qualified appointments on second full-time month. Top characteristics and traits consistent with success in this position: Sincere customer empathy Strong written communication, phone, presentation, and interpersonal skills Experience selling technology and/or software Highly organized and strong time management skills Ability to work in fast paced, changing environment with minimal direction Hustle and persistence Here’s what we can offer: Awesome commission structure with no cap (based on performance) Competitive salary based on experience with full benefits / 401K / etc A beautiful office in the heart of downtown Coral Gables A strong support system of passionate co-workers who are driven to succeed Tremendous opportunity to expand your role and grow within the most innovative movement in Business Intelligence Are you ready to join our team and help take our company to the next level? Apply now. We are proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer and are committed to a workplace environment that encourages growth and respect for all current and prospective employees based upon job-related factors such as their educational background, work experience, and ability to perform the essential functions of a particular job. It is our policy and practice to prohibit any form of discrimination or harassment based on race, color, age, national origin, religion, sex, military or veteran status, disability, pregnancy, pregnancy-related condition, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, or any other status protected under applicable federal, state or local law.
Product   |   Read

Product Update! New look to Client Mappings

Today, we released a major facelift to the way you use BrightGauge's client mappings tool. For those who work deep in putting together BrightGauge Client Reports, the client mapping tool is a huge time saver. When to use client mappings You may wish to use client mapping when you have multiple datasources where a clients name may appear slightly different across each of them. Client mappings help tell your data how to parse your information based on each client. This is especially helpful for when you're putting together client reports and need to dictate who receives what reports. How to set up client mappings Once logged into BrightGauge, click on "Data" on the top right corner and select "Client Mappings" from the drop down menu. Adding Client mapping To add a new client, click “Add a Client" Use the auto mapping search bar The client mapping process now happens in 1 modal instead of 3 separate screens. When the modal opens, you can name the mapping and search for the client using the search input. This will search through your featured integrations. Single mappings (client pill) If the search finds a match, it will show as a client pill similar to the linked filter pill. If it matches incorrectly you can remove the pill by clicking the "x" icon. Single Datasource Search If the auto mapping search does not provide a result or an incorrect mapping click the "+" icon on the datasource row. In the search bar, proceed to enter the name for this client EXACTLY as it appears in the corresponding datasource database. It will search again and you can select the appropriate one from the drop down list. If a client has multiple names for the same datasource (bundling child accounts into a parent account or multiple sites into one account), you can use this method to combine all of them. Make sure to check the names across all datasources. If you are mapping multiple accounts into the same client, you’ll have to search in each datasource. Once all selections are made, make sure to save the edits by clicking on the "Save" button at the bottom. Editing/Deleting Once a client mapping is created you can edit or delete it using the 3 ellipses (more options) menu on the right. Add new or existing client recipients The next step is to assign recipients (contacts) for this client. This is only needed in order to have reports emailed directly to them. Use the ellipses (more options) menu on the right and click on "Client recipients" to launch the modal. Start by typing the client’s name or email address. If you already have them as a recipient or contact in your account, then it will show those results. If you want to add a user that's not listed, use the form below the user listing window. You can add as many recipients as you would like. You have unlimited viewer licenses that may be used. If you'd like more help setting up client mappings for your BrightGauge and clients, send us a note here.
Product, Best Practices   |   Read

How to Make 1:1s More Productive Using Data Dashboards

If you’ve got direct reports, you likely have regular check-ins to discuss projects, strategies, and goals. It can be challenging to maximize time and productivity during these 1:1s and you might find that you’re spending too many hours each week prepping for these meetings or keeping them within a 30-minute or 1-hour constraint. Data dashboards can help. This simple work hack can help you stay focused and get the most out of your scheduled time with each of your team members. Creating customizable data dashboards through BrightGauge is really easy to do and the payoff is great. Creating data dashboards in just a few steps BrightGauge connects with plenty of popular business tools that you’re likely already using, like ConnectWise Manage and Automate, Webroot, IT Glue, Quickbooks, Salesforce, and more. Based on the data you’re monitoring through your PSA, RMM, or other tools, BrightGauge creates impactful data dashboards and client reports that provide insights needed to make smart business decisions. We want every BrightGauge customer to start using their data as soon as they become a customer, so we’ve spoken to many business leaders like you to determine the common KPIs that matter most. Armed with that knowledge, we’ve pre-built default gauges, dashboards, and reports for each of the integrations we connect with. That means you can start using data dashboards on day one. Of course, there’s always the option to create completely customizable dashboards, too. Here are the steps you need to take: On your BrightGauge homepage, select ‘New Dashboard’ Name your dashboard and select the users you’d like to grant access to Start choosing gauges from your sidebar on the right side of your screen Add image or text modules for personalization and context That’s all it takes! If an existing gauge doesn’t contain the data you need, just create a new gauge by selecting the appropriate datasource and then build the gauge to your liking. You can add your new gauge to your desired dashboard once it’s complete. If you’ve got any questions or need some help, you can always turn to our support team for guidance. Turning data dashboards into 1:1 tools At a recent Data-Driven Workshop, our customer, Natalie, told us she was having trouble managing eight 1:1 meetings per week that often ran over their 30-minute block. She leads a Support Team responsible for responding to tickets, entering billable hours, sending out customer surveys, and managing service level agreements (SLAs). When meeting with each of her direct reports, she wanted to review their performance and the feedback they get from clients. Scrambling to find those numbers or generate reports for each team member was frankly taking too much time that Natalie can never get back. This got us to thinking about how exactly BrightGauge can drive productivity during 1:1 meetings. So what we recommend to all our business managers is to create a unique dashboard for each team member (i.e., Joe’s Dashboard, Jane’s Dashboard, etc.). Remember the pre-built default gauges we talked about? They’re going to help you out here. With ConnectWise Manage, for example, two pre-built gauges are Hours This Week by Engineer and Open Tickets by Technician. This makes it easy to see exactly who is doing what. Remember that you can also apply filters to your gauges, dashboards, and reports so you customize the data displayed to your specific needs. Once you’ve created a data dashboard per each team member, you’ll have the metrics needed to hit the ground running with each 1:1 meeting. BrightGauge dashboards sync often so you’ll be looking at real-time data. We like the idea of starting off each meeting by pulling up your direct report’s custom dashboard and talking through the data together. If there are any glaring issues, this gives an opportunity to have an honest and productive conversation about how to course correct. Because you’re looking at factual data that’s being pulled in through various business tools, there’s no room for manipulation of information or skirting any issues. This creates a culture of accountability that is quite powerful. After reviewing the previous week’s or month’s data with your team member, it’s also a good idea to create short-term or long-term goals for upcoming months based on past performance. BrightGauge Goals can help you do that by allowing you to assign a goal to each team member and having them mark whether they are on or off track each week (designated by green or red tiles, respectively). This is another win for accountability. If you’re up for encouraging a little healthy competition, you can create leaderboards that track each of your team member’s performance against one another (like who answered the most tickets in one week). Include this leaderboard gauge in each of your individual data dashboards and use the numbers during your 1:1 to keep employees motivated. With complete visibility into the metrics that matter for each of your direct reports, you’ll have the guidance you need to have really productive and efficient conversations with your team. The data will keep you focused on what matters so that you can avoid wasting time digging for information or having employees wonder how to get a conversation started. Plus, because our custom dashboards are automated and pull in data in real-time, you’ll need to spend less time prepping for each meeting, which gives you the freedom to work on revenue-driving tasks and strategies. Not yet a customer but want to see BrightGauge in action? No problem. Request a live one-on-one demo today!
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How to Choose the Right Metrics to Report On

You’ve just signed on a new client and are strategizing ways to keep them happy in the long-run. If sending client reports is not part of your strategy, think again. Few things build a solid foundation of trust the way transparency does and it’s no secret that our favorite way to be transparent is by creating custom client reports. Doing this one thing on a regular basis can have a lasting, positive impact on your business. But how do you choose the right metrics to include in your client reports? In our years of experience, we’ve picked up a few tips along the way. Creating custom client reports using BrightGauge Executive summary reports are important because they paint a factual picture of the work that’s being done at any given time - quite literally, they summarize metrics that executives might care about. As a business leader, you want to avoid clients asking, “Why am I paying you?”. Showing your value and holding yourself accountable can have significant rewards down the line. We’ve seen hesitation in creating client reports because it’s generally a time-consuming task. BrightGauge solves that issue by automating client reports in just a few minutes. Regardless of the datasource you connect with in BrightGauge, we provide pre-built templates to get you started on day one. Let’s use ConnectWise as an example. When you integrate with ConnectWise Manage, you’ll get 303 pre-built gauges, 14 pre-built dashboards, and 9 ConnectWise reports automatically available in your account. To access your ConnectWise reports, you just visit your homepage, click on ‘New Report’, opt to select from a template versus starting from scratch, and choose from the dropdown. Voila! In just a few moments, you’ve generated a ConnectWise Executive Report Summary. Of course, you always have the option to create a report from scratch. Regardless of which route you choose to take, you can customize your ConnectWise reports by adding a company logo and a cover page, and by including context around the metrics displayed. Now that you see how easy it is to actually generate a ConnectWise report, it’s time to focus on the data. Choosing the right metrics for ConnectWise reports How do you go about choosing the right metrics? The most important thing to remember when creating a ConnectWise report, or any client report for that matter, is to keep it concise. Your clients are busy people and they don’t have a ton of time to dedicate to deciphering a load of metrics in a lengthy report. Stick to the most impactful numbers that will help your client make data-driven decisions. Remember that you can always turn to your service level agreement (SLA) for guidance. In your SLA, you and your client set forth expectations for your working relationship, and you likely even set benchmarks for success. The parameters outlined in your SLA should give you an idea of the KPIs and metrics your client cares most about. If it’s not clear, there’s nothing wrong with being direct and asking your client what she would like to see in a report, and how often she’d like to see it. BrightGauge simplifies the process because the data for your ConnectWise report is pulled directly from the gauges and dashboards you’re already monitoring. Going back to our ConnectWise Manage example, you’re probably tracking hours by engineer, open tickets by tech, ticket response time, projects over budget, SLA stats, and sales activities. You may be doing this per gauge or on ConnectWise dashboards like Service Ticket KPIs or Project Management. When it comes time to generate a ConnectWise report, you can simply pull data from your Service Ticket KPIs dashboard and be on your way. When in doubt, keep these tips in mind: Include metrics that drive business-growth decisions Leave out any fluff If sending daily reports, consider summarizing work done across all departments For more granular departmental reports, keep it to once a month minimum Report on the good AND the bad; the whole point of reports is to hold yourself accountable Make sure your ConnectWise reports align with overall company KPIs; here are 59 metrics that most MSPs can use Less is more! As your relationship with your client progresses, your ConnectWise reports will evolve based on feedback you’re receiving. Over time, you’ll present streamlined, reliable metrics that your client will come to depend on. For more on selecting the best KPls to focus on, check out our free webinar, ‘Establishing and Managing your Key Performance Indicators for MSPs’.

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Why BrightGauge is the Best Analytics Solution for MSPs & TSPs

In a world where data drives decisions, BrightGauge stands out as the premier analytics solution for Managed Service Providers (MSPs) & Technology Service Providers (TSPs), offering the tools and insights needed to excel. Empowering TSPs with Data-Driven Insights In today's fast-paced technological landscape, the ability to make data-driven decisions is crucial for the success of Managed Service Providers (MSPs) & Technology Service Providers (TSPs). BrightGauge is on a mission to empower MSPs by offering robust analytics tools that turn raw data into actionable insights. By leveraging BrightGauge, MSPs can monitor performance metrics in real-time, get proactively notified on threshold alerts, identify trends, and make strategic decisions that drive growth and efficiency. With BrightGauge, MSPs have access to a comprehensive suite of dashboards, reports, goals and proactive notification workflows that provide a clear view of key performance indicators (KPIs). This not only helps in tracking operational efficiency but also in identifying areas for improvement, thereby facilitating a culture of continuous enhancement. New Tools and Features: What's Fresh at BrightGauge In 2024, BrightGauge significantly expanded its native integration capabilities by adding support for five tools, including Acronis, Axcient, ConnectWise MDR, ConnectWise Asio, and Strety. These line of integrations highlights the critical need for monitoring endpoint status and backup recovery posture for business continuity. Notably, the integration with Strety allows BrightGauge metrics to power scorecards and create linked To-Dos and issues, marking BrightGauge's first outbound integration and reinforcing its leadership in providing comprehensive solutions for MSPs & TSPs. BrightGauge continually evolves to meet the dynamic needs of MSPs. This year in 2024, our Recent updates have introduced a variety of new tools and features designed to enhance the user experience and provide proactive insights & personalized visualizations to everyone at your organization. Proactive notifications workflows feature was made generally available in first half of this year. It enables you to create thresholds on metrics that you want to track based on threshold conditions. With flexibility to get notified on MS Teams, Email & Slack notifications, BrightGauge monitors these metrics and provide customizable & personalized alerts if metrics crosses the threshold. BrightGauge also introduced brand-new Dashboard management experience in Asio-neon theme which enables management of dashboards, filter on different fields, categories to organize, manage access to users at a single place. This also paves way to have access to BrightGauge dashboards from within AsioTM platform. Another exciting addition is the Sidekick for BrightGauge (currently in Early access), the AI-enabled chatbot enables BrightGauge users to ask questions in a natural language and MS teams-based Sidekick app provides summarized answers from the data sources connected out of 60+ supported integrations. This innovation makes BrightGauge the only MSP-focused analytics platform that truly integrates AI to deliver insights with your existing BrightGauge subscription. Personalized Insights for Every Role in the Organization At BrightGauge, we want to empower MSPs to provide personalized insights to everyone at your organization. We believe creating visible & measurable goals, providing visibility to different activities & its metrics that contribute to those goals makes people rally around the goals and often exceeding them. One of the stand-out features of BrightGauge is its ability to create Parent-child dashboards. Using a single Parent dashboard, you can create multiple clone child dashboards to provide personalized view tailored to needs of every role within an organization. Parent dashboards enable you to control and make updates to multiple dashboards at ease. Whether you're a technician on the front lines, a manager overseeing operations, or an executive shaping strategy, BrightGauge delivers the specific data you need to excel in your role. In last one year of launch of this feature, MSPs across the world created around 12000 dashboards from their parent dashboards fewer than 1800. That shows how easy it has made to provide either client-facing dashboards or technician specific dashboards. Why BrightGauge Outshines the Competition Central to BrightGauge's design principles is the ease of use and the empowerment of MSPs through self-service capabilities. BrightGauge distinguishes itself from other analytics solutions with its intuitive interface, extensive customization options, and strong integration features. Unlike many other platforms, BrightGauge is specifically crafted with TSPs in mind, ensuring that all features and tools are tailored to the unique challenges and needs of this industry. Integrations and features mentioned earlier in the blog are some examples of our focus for TSPs success. Furthermore, BrightGauge is committed to meeting the needs of MSPs worldwide. In addition to North America, BrightGauge now has data centers in the EU and AU, offering data localization options. With over 4,200 pre-built metrics and gauge templates, along with its seamless integration with other essential systems used by MSPs, such as PSA and RMM tools, BrightGauge enhances its value, making it an essential component of any MSP's toolkit. Looking forward in 2025 ConnectWise is dedicated to delivering the first and only true MSP platform, and as part of this commitment, more of BrightGauge's features will be reimagined with user-friendly enhancements in an Asio-neon theme, becoming available on the ConnectWise Asio platform. In the addition to new integrations, existing ones, particularly those with AsioTM solutions, will be more tightly integrated, ensuring seamless data access across the tools MSPs use within the platform. Next year, BrightGauge will introduce features designed to support the community and its needs, offering self-service capabilities for creating data views to generate domain-specific insights and foster community sharing experience.
Best Practices   |   Read

How to Generate Powerful Autotask Reports

You know what clients love? Partners who are trustworthy and transparent about what they’re doing. Know what’s even better? When that foundation is set naturally, without clients having to ask. It’s likely a priority of yours to foster a really strong sense of trust between you and your clients, which is great. Trust breeds long-term relationships and repeat business, putting you on a path towards success. And a really simple, yet powerful way to build that trust is to get in the habit of consistently sending out client reports. It’s not as tedious or time-consuming as you may think, and the payoff is substantial. Determining what to report on Let’s say you’re using Autotask Professional Services Automation to track your support tickets, SLA data, engineers’ hours, and more. That’s some pretty important data! How do you show your clients what you do with that data to keep them running efficiently? This is where Autotask reports come in. Consistent reports give you the opportunity to visually display your value to your client and reinforce the reasons why they are paying you. Autotask reports also show that you’re proactive and committed to helping them run their business - a.k.a., you’re a partner, not just a service provider. However, while we are clearly in support of showing off your data management skills, we should caution against dumping too much Autotask data (or any data) on your clients. The key is to choose the right data. There are a few questions to ask yourself whenever you’re choosing the Autotask data to report on: How does this fit into my client’s SLA? Referring to the SLA you and your client agreed upon is an excellent way to refresh yourself on what matters to them. For example, if the SLA specifies a satisfactory support ticket response time, you’re going to want to include your Autotask Average Time to First Response on each report you send. Does this impact my client’s bottom line? Only include the Autotask data that’ll have the most impact to each specific client. They may not need to know nitty-gritty details like Hours Today by Engineer, but would probably appreciate an update on Projects Opened vs. Closed. Am I spending significant time on this? If it’s not something that matters a whole lot to you, it’s not likely to matter a whole lot to your client. Remember, this is an opportunity to report on your value, so show off Autotask data that you spend a worthwhile amount of time on. Once you’ve got your data ironed out, you can start pulling your Autotask reports together. A little help goes a long way You’re really busy. You don’t have 8-10 hours a week to spend on compiling reports. And no one says you have to. Using a business intelligence tool like BrightGauge can help you get your Autotask reports out with very little work on your end. First of all, BrightGauge takes all your Autotask data (plus data from your RMM, BDR, security, finance tool, etc) and puts it up on one seamless dashboard, so you can keep an eye on the metrics that matter to you in real-time. Then, when it comes to building reports, the whole process is automated and can be set up in just a few clicks. When you connect BrightGauge + Autotask, your account will come pre-loaded with 8 report templates to get you started, including Daily Member Scorecard, Weekly Project Work Summary, Service Calls, Sales Daily Wrap Up, and more. You can open one of these templates, personalize it with a client logo, choose your client recipient(s), and then schedule the report to automatically be sent out at the frequency you choose (like every Monday at 8 a.m.). If you’d rather build a report from scratch, it’s just a matter of dragging and dropping the data you’re already tracking into the report template, and then personalizing it and scheduling it out. It’s honestly that simple. And the reports look clean, professional, and digestible. Once you get your Autotask reports scheduled, you can rest easy knowing they’re automatically being delivered to your client’s inbox every week/month/quarter and that your client’s can rely on you and trust you to receive this information. High-five! By the way, in addition to 8 report templates, you’ll get almost 200 default KPIs and 9 pre-built dashboards to get you started. Some KPIs include: Amount on Invoices 90 Days Past Due Average Time to First Response Average Time to Resolution Breached SLA Summary Per Resource Customer Satisfaction This Month Leaderboard Opened vs Closed Tickets Project Phases - Current Month Tickets Assigned by Tech Tickets Completed This Week Leaderboard Tickets by Issue Type Watch this video to learn more about setting up and sending out reports. If you’d like to add Autotask to your stack of BrightGauge datasources, please contact us today.
Customer Success   |   Read

Dashboard of the Month: RMM Overview - Endpoints

Dashboards and reports play a vital role in streamlining data and extracting valuable insights. In the dynamic realm of endpoint management, it is imperative for Managed Service Providers (MSPs) to have real-time access to consolidated data from their array of tools, enabling swift action on behalf of their clients. Utilizing metrics not only aids in pinpointing areas for enhancement but also empowers them to enact precise strategies for advancement. In this month's featured Dashboard, we delve into RMM Overview metrics tailored to streamline endpoint monitoring and management. Our inspiration stems from a recent user showcase webinar featuring Nate Ginn, the Centralized Systems Manager at ESI Technology Advisors, who shared insights on leveraging ConnectWise RMM and ConnectWise PSA data for enhanced client management. Tune in to Optimizing Remote Monitoring and Client Management with Data to discover more on how Nate drives performance enhancements through data utilization. Nate and the ESI team rely on the RMM Overview dashboard to gain a snapshot into critical indicators like patch status, warranty updates, and disk space utilization, guaranteeing optimal functionality of their endpoints. This visual aid, shared among their team, helps them stay ahead of RMM tickets for prompt issue resolution as well. RMM Overview - Endpoints - view here. Here are some featured metrics: Ticket & Configuration Information - These segments organize RMM tickets based on their status, time spent, and attached configurations. It also offers a historical perspective on ticket volume, and provides insight into the endpoints and software under your management. Patching & Disk Space Utilization - These metrics provide valuable insights on missing patches, OS patch compliance rates, and disk space utilization percentages. These data points are crucial for addressing performance concerns and identifying potential security vulnerabilities. Thank you, Nate, for collaborating with us and sharing your valuable insights! Recreate in your BrightGauge RMM Overview - Endpoints Dashboard (public view link) RMM Overview - Endpoints Buildout Key Make sure to visit our library of more report and dashboard templates and please feel free to reach out to success@brightgauge.com with any questions!

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