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Best Practices   |   Read

Perfect time of year to review your KPIs

Everything slows down during the holidays, which makes for the perfect time to review the KPIs that we rely on daily/weekly/monthly. The reality is KPIs can feel stale after a certain period of ...
Everything slows down during the holidays, which makes for the perfect time to review the KPIs that we rely on daily/weekly/monthly. The reality is KPIs can feel stale after a certain period of staring at them. That can be tough for any of us to admit as those same KPIs once were so invigorating to discover, build, and showcase. As we always preach at BrightGauge though, there needs to be a periodical review of KPIs to measure their true impact. The holidays are a perfect time for that. The world changes so fast in small business that something relevant 6 months ago may not be the most pressing item right now. Just this week, I asked our dev team to review their weekly goals that they track within BrightGauge. I suggested they just delete them all and start fresh in the new year (I was talking about 6 KPIs in particular). After a quick review, I got these two responses back: I was curious to hear what they would say after I asked them to delete them all. It was awesome to see them dig in to keep two. Mission accomplished. We got rid of 4 KPIs that are no longer critical to monitor. My suggestion is for you to do the same with your KPIs and team. Run through all of the dashboards up on big screens, client reports being sent, and goals being checked in on weekly. Kill the ones that aren’t necessary and set new goals for the new year. Happy Cleaning!
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Culture   |   Read

Jessica Cove Joins BrightGauge as Web Developer

We’re excited to welcome Jessica Cove to our team as a Web Developer! Join us in learning more about the latest member of the growing BrightGauge team… In the beginning A native of South Florida (how rare!), Jessica Cove comes to Miami all the way from West Palm Beach, where she was born and raised. Not only does she call West Palm Beach her home, but so do her parents, who are both from the area, giving Jessica a multi-generational history to our slice of paradise. Her desire for a move to her future home of Miami began when she was a kid and she visited the area. She fell in love with the big buildings and fancy architecture that made the city the unique location that it is. Little did she know as a child that one day she would be lucky enough to call this city her home. Jessica studied finance at Florida Atlantic University (FAU), and it was there that she saw the value in furthering her quantitative education by learning how to code. She then enrolled in Ironhack’s web development bootcamp to give her a better background in more advanced quantitative studies. It was there that she developed her passion for coding and web development. After graduating from FAU, she took a financial analyst internship with a commercial mortgage broker on Miami Beach. Because the organization was a small start-up, Jessica got the opportunity to take on a lot of professional responsibility very early on in her career. Her responsibilities included performing as a borrower due diligence, consolidation of financial statements, pro forma forecasting, and preparation of materials for lenders. Due to the constraints of performing these tasks through Microsoft Word and Excel, Jessica began to crave a place where she could dive into customization and automation. Even with system restraints, Jessica’s colleagues at this company were helpful in creating a valuable learning environment, and a rewarding and memorable experience throughout her internship. Coming to BrightGauge Jessica is currently most interested in how to acquire and manipulate data, which is what piqued her interest in joining the team at BrightGauge. She is excited about watching the pieces of the development puzzle that she helps to create fall into place as a final product is assembled. A smart cookie herself, Jessica found our team to be an interesting bunch of technology professionals, with an incredible set of unique talents. What sold her on joining us in the end was the company culture and atmosphere that we have created here at BrightGauge. With a policy of transparency and growth, Jessica felt comfortable joining our team knowing that she would get the support she needed to succeed. Just for Fun As a self-proclaimed foodie, Jessica is excited about exploring the culinary adventures in her neighborhood of Coral Gables. She enjoys eating out with friends in the search for the best Brussel sprouts and sweet potato fries. A music aficionado as well, she loves attending concerts and seeing her favorite bands perform live. If a night in is required, Jessica likes to make a home-cooked meal and watch a good movie. With books in queue, she also considers herself an avid reader. Her favorite genre as of late is the dystopian novel, and she is currently reading Infinite Jest and The Uglie, the latter of which she is reading in order to share with her younger cousin to discuss current societal issues. Additionally, Jessica loves matcha tea and plans to travel. She has her eyes set on a traditional matcha tea set to enjoy and relax with, and the big cities of New York and Toronto are top on her list of places to go. Join us in welcoming Jessica to the BrightGauge family!

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Dashboards, Product, Best Practices   |   Read

BrightGauge Launches Peer Group Benchmarking Tools

If you’re looking for a way to compare KPIs with others in your peer group, we think you’ll like our latest feature. See Where You Stack Up With Peer Group Benchmarking Many MSPs and IT Service providers participate in peer groups to share industry knowledge, identify best practices, and to work toward achieving individual organizational goals by sharing innovative ideas, or connecting with others to offer support or complementary services. With BrightGauge's Peer Group Benchmarking, those who participate in these peer groups can track KPIs ranked against their group in real time! This can help determine how a team is meeting business goals, where the team is slipping, where standards should be met, and much much more! The Benefits The data displayed within these gauges gives you a summarized view of where a company ranks but by drilling in, a visible ranking of all companies in the group gives more insight on how much is needed (or not needed) to improve. The values are synced in real-time but your total Benchmark Value, which determines your overall ranking within the peer group, is synced daily at 3:30AM. We’re really excited about this feature as we know many of our customers love to compete and love to know how others are doing. With our Peer Group Benchmarking gauges, we take the guesswork out of tracking these KPIs (and any KPIs you want). A Simple Setup It’s easy to locate an established peer group. On your dashboard, simply go to your account general settings tab, and locate “Benchmarking.” When you click on that tab, fill out the form to be added to your peer group. After you complete and submit the form, your status will be pending until your company is confirmed as a member of the peer group. We don’t want anyone sneaking into the wrong group! Once your submission is approved, you will be notified and allowed access to the Benchmarking Gauges for that group. It’s that easy! Not to worry, we make it easy to change peer groups at any time. Simply request a change, and you will be removed from the current benchmarks before you are added to a new suite of markers (as soon as you are approved for that group). That’s a wrap, if you’re in a peer group and not using BrightGauge, we don’t want you left in the dark! Contact us at BrightGauge to learn more about how your business can benefit from using our Peer Group Benchmarking tools.
Culture   |   Read

Dunia Trujillo Joins BrightGauge as Web Developer

We’re excited to welcome Dunia Trujillo to our team as a Web Developer! Join us in learning more about the latest member of the growing BrightGauge team… In the Beginning Originally from Havana, Cuba, Dunia Trujillo made her way to the United States in December of 2016. She arrived with a strong background in software engineering from a variety of projects that shaped her career in Cuba. Most recently, she was a senior software developer at Cuba Autrement, a French travel agency that specializes in trips to Cuba. At this company, she was part of a team that was focused on optimizing business processes by using emerging technologies, and as the Lead Web Developer, she was also responsible for designing and implementing the company's websites to advertise and book tourist packages à la carte. Her advanced technical knowledge and engineering capabilities gave her the ability to overcome the infrastructure inadequacies of working in Cuba to create and implement successful tools and applications. Prior to her experience with Cuba Autrement, Dunia was a software analyst and developer at Kewelta, and a full stack software engineer at the Information Center for the Press, both in Havana. In the latter position, she was the Lead Software Engineer involved in a project of national informatization development for the press. She was instrumental in introducing better collaboration tools, and she designed and developed web applications to automate business processes workflow. As a trusted consultant, she led the design and implementation of several projects, from journal management systems to Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions. Dunia’s educational background includes three years at the Vocational Pre-University Institute of Exact Sciences (IPVCE) Vladimir I. Lenin, one of the best high schools in Cuba. After completing her high school education, she attended college at the Havana University of Technologies José Antonio Echeverría, originally named José Antonio Echeverría Higher Polytechnic Institute, where she successfully earned a degree in computer engineering, ultimately leading her down the path to join us at BrightGauge. Coming to BrightGauge As she learned more about BrightGauge through the website and blog, Dunia became more intrigued about the possibility of joining our team. The positivity and friendliness in the faces of her future colleagues convinced her that this would be a wonderful work environment--similar to her positive experiences at Cuba Autrement and Information Center for the Press, both places she enjoyed working. BrightGauge presents the opportunity for Dunia to learn about a new industry, and as someone who is quick to accept a challenge, she is excited about the prospect of further learning and growth as a professional Web Developer within our team. Just for Fun Dunia is passionate about music and dancing. Though she is happy to listen to most any musical genre, she most enjoys jazz, rock, blues, and R&B. Last August, she was lucky enough to attend a Metallica concert, and it was an emotional experience for her to be able to enjoy one of her favorite bands perform live. As a college student, Dunia had a part-time job as a Salsa dance instructor, a type of dance that is easily one of her favorites. In addition to music and dancing, Dunia also enjoys sports, traveling, and going to the movies, but perhaps her greatest love is for animals. In Cuba, she had two dogs and three cats, two of which she rescued from the streets. Now that she is here in the U.S., she wants to find ways to volunteer in shelters or animal rescues, where she can channel her love for animals into their care. Join us in welcoming Dunia to the BrightGauge family!
Product, Best Practices   |   Read

BrightGauge Announces the New Goal Management System!

You can now track all of your company’s goals in BrightGauge! That’s right! BrightGauge Goals, formerly known as Scorecards, is an all-encompassing Goal Management system where you can track all of your company’s goals in one place. If you use EOS or Gazelles within your business, keep reading as you can now manage both your Scorecards and Rocks in this same module. For our HTG partners, managing goals set by HTG and keeping your team aligned on them has never been easier. Why Goals? Goals have always been a personal passion of ours. At BrightGauge since day 1 we have believed that being transparent and accountable with everyone on the team with our KPIs and goals will keep everyone aligned and motivated. We are pleased to say that over the last 6 years of growth we have been proven right. Fortunately, our top tier customers have felt the same way and have either implemented a formal goals program (such as part of EOS) or have been asking for a way to organize their goals so each of their team members are on the same page. Whether you call your goals “Rocks”, “OKRs”, or “SMART Goals”, it’s all about setting a goal for the company, the team, or the individual and holding someone responsible for reaching that goal. Process vs. Outcome Goals Not all goals are created equal and this is where BrightGauge Goal Management really shines. With this launch we have done two things to better differentiate two types of goals: Changed “KPIs” as they exist now to “Process Goals” Added a new Goal type called “Outcome Goals” An Outcome Goal is what you want to achieve (e.g. lose 5lbs, we’ve all said it) whereas a Process Goal is focused on the process by which you can achieve your Outcome Goal. A Process Goal for the lose 5lbs example would be walking 10,000 steps a day or hitting the gym 3 times a week. You can more easily control the Process Goal than the Outcome Goal, but it’s really important to have both. For our EOS fanatics out there, a Process Goal is your Scorecard KPI and Outcome Goal is your Rock. Works like a charm! And you can rename the collection of Goals to whatever you want. Weekly Check-ins The secret sauce with the Goals feature set is that we help keep you and the team accountable with your goals weekly. Accountability is the #1 challenge with not hitting goals! At the end of every week, BrightGauge Goal Management will email everyone who has a Goal to remind them to check in their Goal status. If you have chosen an Outcome Goal, you will be presented with an option to decide whether you are On Track vs. Off Track for the Goal. We cleaned up this interface a bit so it’s faster to check in and also to encourage adding context to every Check-in. A summary email with the Goal context included is then emailed to everyone (including any Viewer who has access to the Goal List). All the History and Context Together in One View This launch includes a new consolidated Goal Detail page. In this page, anyone with access to the Goal can easily see the Goal details and history of Check-ins with context all in one, easy to access location. We Made It Easy to Get Started We know it can feel a little daunting to venture into goal setting territory with your team for the first time. In order to ease this anxiety and pain point for our customers, we asked for feedback from our customers on what goals they use in their company to keep their team accountable and aligned. From their answers we curated a list of Goals organized by team. We called these Goal Inspirations! All you have to do is select a few Goals, put a target number (if it’s necessary), and assign yourself or someone else in the company. Of course these are just inspirations... you can adjust titles and descriptions as you feel necessary. Goal Filtering For our power users... this feature is for you! We know you want to create Gauge-based Goals for each of your engineers and/or salespeople (e.g. utilization weekly) and now you can! With Goal Filtering, we made it easier and faster to create multiple Goals based on the same Gauge. To utilize Goal Filtering, click on the filter icon next to the Goal name and you will be presented with an option to pick any text field from the Gauge’s Dataset. The text filters work just like they do in the Gauge Builder and are applied to the entire Gauge. Now you can quickly create multiple Goals powered by ONE Gauge and filter it at the Goal level. This is a big time saver and a way to assign everyone a similar Goal powered by just one Gauge. We had a busy 12 weeks of working on Goals, including pausing to stay safe during a major hurricane, but we’re really excited to have this important feature launched! We hope you find it as advantageous and valuable to your company as we have found it to be in ours. As always, let us know if you have any questions or would like help implementing Goals in your company.

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Integrations   |   Read

New & Improved SmileBack Integration

We’re excited to share our recent integration improvements with SmileBack, the customer experience platform for ConnectWise partners that collects feedback in just one click! Our SmileBack integration gives you the ability to seamlessly track your CSAT feedback along with data from ConnectWise, QuickBooks, your RMM and tons of other sources for a single view of all the metrics that help run your business. No more logging in and out, toggling windows or juggling multiple platforms. With BrightGauge + SmileBack combined, your customer satisfaction responses can be added directly to your dashboards and reports. What’s Changed With the New Integration? 1) More Opportunities for Default Gauges In the past, our SmileBack integration did not have a direct connection - we used Dropbox to get data from your SmileBack platform into your BrightGauge. Since changing to a direct integration, we now have the ability to update datasets, gauges, and dashboards any time SmileBack releases feature updates. This also means that we can release new defaults when we get good inspiration from other BrightGauge users (hint, hint)! 2) More Data The datasets now bring in all surveys sent in the last 365 days. This means is that you’re not only getting the surveys responded to, but it’s also easier to calculate response rate without relying on data from ConnectWise. 3) More Stability By having a direct connection to SmileBack, we no longer need to rely on Dropbox as the middleman. This means that if for some reason there is a failure, there’s one less point to investigate, and you also don’t need to worry about “which user created the SmileBack sync?” Why Every Business Should be Tracking Customer Satisfaction There’s a lot more than just the awesome integration updates that are so exciting! We’ve talked before about the benefits of tracking CSAT, and how it can open up a whole new world of metrics that can help take your business to the next level: Boosting Customer Happiness Reduces Churn By leveraging feedback to help delight customers, you’re earning their loyalty and keeping their business. It’s a fact: happy customers aren’t out searching for a new service provider… which is key for any MSP! Identify the Best Customers for Your Business If you’re constantly tracking customer responses, you’ll quickly learn which customers are the easiest to keep happy, while at the same time you’ll notice which customers require more time and effort to appease. And while it’s easy to assume that any paying customer is a good customer, doesn’t it make more sense to pick customers that need less of the ‘extra’ attention? Highlight Topics for Team Training While customer feedback can often be perceived as negative, it’s important to turn the situation into a positive and look at each comment as an opportunity for continuing education. Increase Positive Word-of-Mouth Marketing Immediate customer feedback means that you can address problems faster, therefore giving you the best chance at turning an adverse reaction into a positive. And positive experiences are the foundation to help turn your customers into promoters for your MSP! See what our SmileBack customers are saying: Want to learn more about CSAT for Service Providers? Hear SmileBack’s Founder, Brad Benner, on The BrightGauge Podcast! Editor's note: This post was originally published in December 2015 when we first announced our SmileBack integration; it has been updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness.
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Michael Rodriguez Joins BrightGauge as Customer Support Specialist

We’re excited to welcome Michael Rodriguez to our team as Customer Support Specialist! Join us in learning more about the latest member of the growing BrightGauge crew… The Early Days Born in the Dominican Republic, Michael moved with his family to New York at age 4. They lived in several of the city’s boroughs including Manhattan, Brooklyn, and the Bronx, but if you ask him where he’s from, he’ll tell you New Rochelle, in the Westchester area. After high school, Michael moved back to the city to attend Pace University in Brooklyn Heights. While pursuing his Bachelor’s in Computer Science, Michael worked worked as Client Support for the school’s IT department and eventually moved up to Tech. Upon graduating in 2016, Michael and his significant other, Breanna, were expecting a baby, so before the end of the year they packed up and hit the road to sunny Florida. Kicking off 2017, Michael joined the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority on contract as backup for an overloaded IT department. The job gave him the opportunity to work in many different capacities, but ultimately it was an environment that Michael knew he couldn’t see himself in long term because Tech Support was never a true passion for him. By summer, he left the company to focus on a few projects for Breanna’s vlog, as well as a family vacation to Bali, Indonesia. Returning to Miami, Michael focused on next steps in his career - intent on a position in software support - which led him to us! Joining Team BrightGauge Intent on pursuing a Software Support position, Michael knew that he was on the right track when he discovered the position with BrightGauge. According to Michael, joining Brightgauge was a no brainer. “I was beyond excited to join the company.” From the start, it was clear the position would allow him to evolve his professional experience and expand his software knowledge. As the newest member of the Success Team, Michael is looking forward to working with new customers and learning more about BrightGauge. Just for Fun Outside of the office, Michael enjoys MMO gaming, reading, and spending time with his significant other and baby Stella Grace (10 months old). Michael tells us he used to be an avid World of Warcraft and League of Legends player but has scaled down to mobile gaming since it's less time consuming. His favorite thing to do outside of BrightGauge is traveling and is looking forward to seeing more of the world over time. Michael and his lovely ladies in the Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary, Bali Join us in welcoming Michael to Team BrightGauge!
Culture   |   Read

Derek Weaver Joins BrightGauge as Customer Support Specialist

We’re excited to welcome Derek Weaver to our team as Customer Support Specialist! Join us in learning more about the latest member of the growing BrightGauge crew… In the Beginning Hailing from Ohio, Derek grew up in the rural farm community of New Paris. After high school, Derek went to college at Miami University (not to be confused with BrightGauge’s local University of Miami), where he majored in sports studies with a minor in contemporary American literature. After college, Derek spent time working in Pittsburgh and Aspen before moving to sunny South Florida in 2008. Settling in at Key Biscayne, Derek managed the daily operations at Island Athletics, a sporting goods store where the business model centered around customer experience and developing real relationships with customers and vendors. In 2013 he hit the road to work for a Cleveland-based startup that provided college students the opportunity to gain entrepreneurship experience by running their own home services businesses. While Derek loved the job, it didn’t take long for the harsh reality of Ohio’s winter weather to sink in. So he left the cold and gray city behind, returning once again to Miami and Island Athletics. Taking the lessons he learned in Cleveland and applying them at IA, Derek was able to help the company continue to grow revenue while strengthening their community outreach presence. When Island Athletics was sold in March 2016, Derek took 6 months off to travel Europe and spend some time thinking about what he wanted to tackle next in his career. Ideas came and went, but nothing stuck until he shifted his focus from what do I want to do to what kind of life do I want to live… and suddenly things became more clear. In September, Derek took a job in Operations with Globe Ship Management where he had the opportunity to learn a new industry and serve as the communication link between vessel owners, their ships, and vessel service providers. Though he enjoyed the company and his role, he knew his career goals would not be met by the shipping industry. A fortuitous happy hour conversation with his friend and our Integration Product Manager, Randall, turned Derek on to BrightGauge and from there he saw how working in tech and at BrightGauge could help him achieve his personal and professional goals. Joining Team BrightGauge Making the move to a new employer is a big decision for anyone, so we always ask our new teammates about what drew them to BrightGauge. Derek explains that prior to his interview, he read everyone’s blog on our About page, and it became clear how much of an emphasis we put on fit, or the right collection of people - which he values too. Once he had the opportunity to meet everyone, “it was obvious how talented, driven, and helpful this team is. It’s a positive work environment where everyone enjoys spending time with one another. Not to mention that we have an incredible product that I am proud to support in an industry I am excited to be a part of.” Derek tells us that he’s most looking forward to working with our new customers to help them get BrightGauge up and running. “I’m excited to work directly with our customers and our Sales, Customer Success, and Product teams in getting new clients comfortable with our platform so it can begin adding value to their business.” Just for Fun In his free time, Derek likes to be outdoors and take advantage of living only a block from the beach - ultimate frisbee and beach volleyball are some of his favorites. He also enjoys checking out local breweries and beer bars, which is a great hobby considering the South Florida craft beer scene is growing faster than ever. New York Times’ infamous crossword puzzles also made the cut on Derek’s list of favorite things to do (except the Saturday version, which we hear is a beast to tackle). Last, Derek tells us that he’s always been fascinated with the idea of people living their lives in other places - possibly as a result of growing up a bit isolated in Ohio. Subsequently, he wants to see and experience as much of the world as possible. Up next on the list of destinations is South America, particularly “Colombia y Ecuador”... a great opportunity to practice what he’s learning in his current Spanish classes! Derek takes in the view: Innsbruck, Austria Join us in welcoming Derek to Team BrightGauge!
Culture   |   Read

Nathali Amaro Joins BrightGauge as Designer

We’re excited to welcome Nathali Amaro to our team as Designer! Join us in learning more about the latest member of the growing BrightGauge crew... The Early Days Born in Caracas, Venezuela, Nathali hit the road at 17 and moved to Montreal, Canada, so that she could learn English. During the next two years, she moved a handful of times and endured a couple of brutal winters - which quickly led to the realization that she wanted to live in a sunny and warm place. Miami was calling! After getting settled in Miami, Nat (as we call her) enrolled at Miami International University of Art & Design. Looking for a creative career, and following her interests in both traditional art and digital mediums led her to pursue Web Design and Interactive Media. She earned her BFA, then spent 3 years in a front end development role, although from time to time she was invited to be part of the team creating strategies, solutions, and designs… Nat realized this was the path that she enjoyed the most. Up next, a stint with Careerscore offered her the opportunity to learn more about user-centered design and experiences, through Human Computer Interaction (HCI) and Interaction Design. Simultaneously, Nat was working on a passion project for her blog on sustainability, which led her to discover Donegood.co, a Boston-based startup whose browser extension makes it easy to discover businesses on a mission to make the world better. Working on that blog led to a short-term project as UX Designer where Nat spent her days talking to users, studying user flows, prototyping solutions, designing and executing testing, creating high-fidelity designs, and even writing a bit of front-end code. Wrapping up the project and looking for a full-time gig, Nat knew that she wanted to find a company where she would not only use her skills to create delightful experiences for users, but where she could also collaborate with a team and learn from others. Joining Team BrightGauge As we always do with our new teammates, we asked Nat about why she decided to join our fast-growing crew. Her first exclamation was, “Meeting the team was the biggest part of my decision to join. I just felt comfortable during the interview process and with the people that I got to meet.” She then went on to note that learning about how our Product team works on implementing new technologies and are always striving to continue improving the platform were important factors in her decision. Nat was also able to spend time talking to our team about the ongoing role that UI plays within the app, as crafting the best possible experience for our users continues to be a critical focus for BrightGauge… also an equally important focus for Nat, as this area is her passion! She closed by saying, “I also loved seeing abundant feedback from users because engaged users show that BrightGauge is providing value.” As part of our team, Nat is excited to have the opportunity to devote her full attention to design work! She’s passionate about finding ways to improve the user experience for our community and looks forward to designing new features in the not-too-distant future. After Hours In her free time, Nat enjoys hanging out with her husband, Auston, and their friends, or participating in yoga, running sessions with her dog, and listening to audiobooks or podcasts (her current podcast obsession is Hardcore History). Nat also spends time traveling, hiking, cooking up new meals, being a tea enthusiast, and even finds a creative outlet in the pottery wheel, which she promises to master soon! Nat checks out Antelope Canyon Join us in welcoming Nat to Team BrightGauge!
Customers, Service   |   Read

How Reporting Helps Demonstrate Value to Your MSP Clients

How do you keep your clients updated on everything you are doing for them? If you don't have a good answer to this question, then you’ve probably already heard the infamous “Why am I paying you?” question from your customers. Richard Tubb’s post How To Demonstrate Continuous Value To Your MSP Clients got me thinking about our days as a Miami-based MSP, and all the time we would spend and things we would do in order to avoid that dreadful question. The two strategies that Richard recommends were some of the steps that we implemented at our MSP that helped us to demonstrate and articulate the work that we were doing for our clients, and they also shed a lot of light on why our services were valuable to them. Why You Should Send Client Reports Years ago, we noticed in our MSP that trust was a key ingredient in keeping a customer with us long-term. And in order to build that trust, we had to be completely transparent with each one about the IT service we were providing, so we started sending regular reports where we showcased both the good and the bad of our work. While showing the good is an obvious choice, sending the bad stuff too may sound like an alarming idea at first. But think about it this way - by being upfront and and honest with your client, even when something isn’t going right, you’ll build more trust than you will by telling them everything is going well all the time. The key is that when you share a bit of bad news, you should also have a plan in mind for how you’ll fix it moving forward. An extra benefit of reporting is that it can also help you to win over new clients. We often hear from our BrightGauge customers that showing their reports and/or dashboards helps to convince a prospect to sign up, because although it may seem like a small differentiator, the truth is that having these solutions in place shows that you have a handle on your business. The Morning Visit (An Update With a Side of Bagel) Richard touched on Quarterly Business Reviews, but for us, it was very challenging to get a customer to schedule and commit to a meeting where we would sit down to review and discuss their IT. Clients were often running around, managing their business, so meeting times were scarce then, and the same holds true now. So, we began visiting every client once a quarter, first thing in the morning, and we would bring bagels. It worked, and that’s because mornings are hectic for just about everyone. People oversleep, they have kids to carpool, and they are rushing out the door. Many times, people will skip breakfast and just grab a coffee and something to eat on their way to the office, so we knew that by scheduling the visit during breakfast time, we would have the highest probability of seeing the most amount of people. Learn more about how to master Quarterly Business Reviews here. How to Find Your Reporting Rhythm Every best practice blog post or book tells you that you should be sending your clients quarterly reports, outlining all the great work you've been doing over the last 12 weeks. Most MSP systems also provide a default "Monthly Executive Reporting Template" that shows some information about the Client's Network. However, not everyone works in that kind of rhythm, and many customers don't want to wait 12 weeks for an update. Businesses are moving faster than ever and customers want their information to do the same, so even sending a lone monthly report seems a bit outdated. As a result, we see more and more that our BrightGauge customers are sending their clients weekly and sometimes even daily reports. While some of you may argue that this seems like overkill, our analysis indicates that small bites of frequently updated information is more easily and readily digested. The important thing to note here is the “small bites” part of the equation! You don’t want to send your clients a flood of information if you’re taking the route of daily or weekly reports. What to Include in Your Reports Let’s take a closer look at some of the things you want to show your clients, and for this example we’ll focus on 3 gauges to get started with on weekly reports: Tickets Waiting on Client is a very helpful reminder about items that are pending a resolution, with the ball in their court, so to speak. For details on each one, your client will be able to use the drilldown feature in the gauge. Workstation Patch Status should be reviewed weekly because this is the first line of defense when it comes to security for your clients. Use this information to keep them updated on devices that have missing patches and the severity of each one. Server Patch Status goes right along with the workstation gauge, and again should be reviewed weekly as part of the security update for your clients. So what are you waiting for? You're going to need to update your clients eventually, and tackling your progress proactively makes you look more transparent and more available to answer their questions. Don't force your clients to ask why they're paying you, show them you're worth every penny by sending them regular reports. Learn more about showing the value of your services through increased transparency, while building trust, lowering your churn rate, and increasing your growth: Editor's note: This post was originally published in August 2014 and has been updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness.
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BrightGauge Announces New Integration with BMS by Kaseya

We’re excited to share our new integration with BMS by Kaseya, the cloud-based business management solution built specifically to help MSPs manage their business while spending less money on non-revenue-generating tasks! The anticipated BMS by Kaseya integration gives our partners a more complete view of the metrics that run their business, making it simple to monitor top-level KPIs or take a detailed look at service trends, alongside data from their RMM, financial applications, CSAT tools, and more. “Today’s MSPs are more serious than ever about using data to drive their business growth, and in order to do that they must be able to eliminate the data silo that exists between the tools in their technology stack,” said BrightGauge coFounder and CEO Brian Dosal. “With this integration, our customers will now have access to even greater insights within their BrightGauge which will empower them to make the best decisions for their business, based on the data at their fingertips.” “Business intelligence is a critical component that helps MSPs thrive in this competitive market. Our integration with BrightGauge further extends the BMS ecosystem, and provides our collective MSP partners with the data they need to drive better business results,” said Jim Lippie, GM for cloud computing, Kaseya. “BMS is the industry’s only purpose-built PSA for MSPs that delivers the exact tools and resources MSPs need to successfully run their business. The addition of BrightGauge to our partner portfolio is another example of Kaseya’s ongoing commitment to delivering the most functionally rich, innovative and effective solutions to our customers.” How To Make Data Driven Decisions with BMS by Kaseya + BrightGauge With BMS by Kaseya data in your BrightGauge, it’s effortless to monitor all of your most important metrics. That means everyone from your C-Suite to your front line can access the data they need to perform their best, every day. BMS by Kaseya Service Monitoring With a service monitoring dashboard, you’ll see ticket and technician statuses at a glance and be able to address issues as soon as they arise. BMS by Kaseya Executive Report Templates With a BMS by Kaseya report template, it’s no sweat to customize an automated report for each one of your clients. Simply set up the report once with the data they want to see, and schedule it for the time they want to see it. It’s an effortless way to keep your work at the top of their mind, and show them the value of the services you provide. Customized, Complex Gauge Building When your team is managing dozens or even hundreds of tickets each day across multiple networks, having the ability to monitor all ticket trends at once saves you the time and frustration of manually compiling the data. For example, with an Open Tickets by Assignee by Status gauge in place, you can easily see ticket trends among your Techs. You can clearly tell who may need additional training to reduce the number of ticket escalations, which Technician is being delayed by customers who haven’t responded to open tickets, or even ensure that your team is getting an even split of ticket types as compared to their peers. To learn more about BrightGauge and its suite of integrations, including BMS by Kaseya, please visit brightgauge.com/integrations. About Kaseya Kaseya is the leading provider of complete IT Management solutions for Managed Service Providers (MSPs) and midsized enterprises. Through its open platform and customer-centric approach, Kaseya delivers best in breed technologies that allow organizations to efficiently manage and secure IT. Offered both on-premise and in the cloud, Kaseya solutions empower businesses to command all of IT centrally, easily manage remote and distributed environments, and automate across IT management functions. Kaseya solutions manage over 10 million endpoints worldwide. Headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, Kaseya is privately held with a presence in over 20 countries. To learn more, visit www.kaseya.com.

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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.
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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.
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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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