We're constantly thinking about upcoming quarters and projections for the future. Something that we firmly believe in is decluttering and beginning a new cycle with a fresh start. Whether it’s a ...
We're constantly thinking about upcoming quarters and projections for the future. Something that we firmly believe in is decluttering and beginning a new cycle with a fresh start. Whether it’s a change in seasons or a new fiscal year, the benefits of decluttering are big. In this post, we’ll share tips for how to clean up your BrightGauge accounts so you can work more efficiently and deeply. BrighGauge ‘spring cleaning’ tips Think of this as a lesson in spring cleaning, but for an app. We all lead busy lives and when it comes to our data, we want to get what we need as quickly as possible. Because of this, we’ve found that BrightGauge users tend to let their gauges and dashboards stack up, instead of taking some time to delete ones that are no longer used or needed. It’s kind of like when we save every single file to our hard drive and forget to clean out some of those files every now and then. That kind of clutter serves no value or purpose to us. There are several ways you can clean up your BrightGauge to get rid of unnecessary mess and to ensure that you’re using its features as optimally as possible. Doing this will make your BrightGauge a lot more manageable. 1. Delete what you don’t need Make time to go through your list of gauges and dashboards and take stock of what’s still of use to you and your team. Do you have duplicate gauges? Sometimes when we’re building a gauge, we forget that we had already attempted to create a similar one, so make sure to delete the superfluous ones. Do you have years-old gauges? Do they need to be updated or are they totally irrelevant? Click on your ‘Unused Gauges’, which are gauges that are not being used on any dashboards, reports, or goal lists. Is there any reason you still need these? Look through your team members’ folders. Are there any employees who no longer work at your company? Are their gauges still being used? 2. Consolidate what you can When you are in your Gauge Builder, are you configuring your gauges to look at more than one piece of data? If you’re not using layers, you may be creating more gauges than you need. Layers are great for when you want to see a comparison in your data. For example, you may want to see how many tickets your techs have resolved this month versus last month. You’d simply create the 1st layer of ticket stats for the current month and then you’d create a 2nd layer of ticket stats for last month. The data would be displayed side by side in a column chart (or bar chart if you wish). This is a much better use of your gauges than if you had created one separate gauge per month. Likewise, if you’re using separate dashboards for similar data, you probably want to consolidate your metrics into one seamless dashboard. You wouldn’t want to look at Currently Open Tickets, Tickets in New Status, and Tickets Opened This Week in one dashboard and then Ticket Response Time and Tickets by Type in another. Try to put it on a single pane of glass when possible. 3. Be more efficient with your gauges and dashboards First and foremost, make sure your dashboards are displaying only the gauges you need. Think of your dashboard like your desk. Too much clutter causes anxiety and can make you less productive. Too many unnecessary gauges on a dashboard make it harder to get the exact snapshot of data you need. We have features that make it easy to get really specific so that your insights are sharper and more conclusive. Make sure you’re taking advantage of these. Calculated metrics allow you to create formulas in your gauges, the way you would in Microsoft Excel (please note, you need to be on our Enterprise Plans to access this feature). As an example, you can use a calculated gauge to return your Kill Rate % by dividing Tickets Closed Today (layer 1) by Tickets Opened Today (layer 2). This saves you time and gives you a clearer idea of where you stand. Make sure your gauges are utilizing this feature when applicable. Similarly, if you’re not filtering your gauges, dashboards and reports, you may be looking at excessive or non-specific data. There are 4 filters you can limit your data by: date, text, number, and boolean. A common example is to take a metric or KPI and filter it by technician, so you can evaluate their performance in a streamlined manner. This is especially useful if you have lots of direct reports. Pro ‘spring cleaning’ tips: Use linked filters to edit the same filter across multiple gauges. Read about how to do that here. Exclude filters from your dashboards and reports when you need to. Read about how to do that here. 4. Disconnect datasources you're no longer using If you still have access to a datasource that integrates with BrightGauge, but you aren’t really using it anymore nor do you plan to in the future, just get rid of it! No sense in holding on to something you don’t need. 5. Automate your reports So many of our clients tell us that our client reporting feature has been a complete game-changer. It is so easy to create custom, interactive reports in just a few minutes. But, make sure you’re taking full advantage of this feature. Once you’ve created a report once, you can save it as a template, and you can schedule it to go out on a recurring basis to the exact recipients you want, on the date and time you choose. This is perfect for daily, weekly, or monthly reports that you need to send to various clients. Recipients can’t see who is cc’d on reports, so no need to worry if you’ve got multiple people receiving the same report. 6. Set up your client mappings Make sure you’ve got your client mappings properly set up. We can’t stress enough what a huge time saver this can be for you. This is great to do if you integrate with multiple datasources, but your client names appear slightly differently across those datasources. Client mappings help you tell your data who’s who, which is of significant value when you’re sending lots of reports out! Here’s a client mapping video to make sure you’ve dotted all your i’s and crossed all your t’s. 7. Archive old goal lists We know how exciting it is to hit your goals and have an amazing quarter. Kudos to you when this happens. But instead of holding on to the past, work towards the future! Archive or delete the goal lists that you are no longer using and make space to absolutely crush new goals. At BrightGauge, we only keep up goal lists for the current quarter. Makes it easier to focus on the current task at hand. Being organized will make a huge difference down the line You might think you don’t have enough time to go through a ‘spring cleaning’, but trust us when we tell you that it’ll save you a ton of time later on. Plus, you’ll be working within BrightGauge much more efficiently, which will make data insights and analysis a whole lot less overwhelming. It’s worth dedicating time to this so you can head into each day a bit tidier and a lot more prepared. For more tips on cleaning up your BrightGauge, check out our webinar, 'Best Practices for Organization and Account Cleanup'.
When it comes to client reports, you understand that a little transparency goes a long way. Showing your clients the work you’re doing - both the good and the bad - is a powerful way to build trust, and trust lays the foundation for long-term relationships, which is great for your business. But you may not always know exactly what to include in your client reports. This is where it helps to hear from some friends in the industry. In our upcoming customer showcase webinar, BrightGauge user Brett Baz, Operations Manager for C3Group, will give a glimpse into how he and his team are using BrightGauge reports to cover all aspects of the customer lifecycle. He’ll share the report templates he’s using, how he chooses the right metrics to share, and how this impacts the team at C3Group. Plus, we’ll let you in on what’s new within BrightGauge. Sometimes, seeing how your peers are using different BrightGauge features can spark some inspiration and show you new ways to get set up for success, so it’s worth joining the webinar and seeing what you can learn! ‘Covering Customer Touchpoints with Reports’ featuring Brett Baz will take place on Wednesday, June 19th at 7:30pm EST/Thursday, June 20th at 9:30am AEST. RSVP now:
Question: How many different programs, web-tools or items of software do you use a day? Sure, all the tools you use add value. But with more tools comes more data points, more logins and, ultimately, more time spent analyzing trends and results. If all your important data and KPIs could be monitored in one place, it would save you time and increase your productivity and efficiency, right? That’s why business intelligence tools - like BrightGauge - matter so much. Even the customer satisfaction pros at SmileBack, and their clients, turn to BrightGauge to integrate all of their CSAT metrics into one single dashboard. We spoke to Eben Marks, Customer Success Manager at SmileBack, to learn more. CSAT pros putting their money where their mouths are As the team behind a successful CSAT survey, it would be hypocritical if SmileBack didn’t track their own performance. Within their own Customer Success department, the folks at SmileBack spend time keeping up to date with the total amount of support tickets they have, how many tickets have been replied to, and by whom. “Quite simply, we needed one place where we could monitor support tickets, our own satisfaction scores and more in one place,” says Eben Marks, Customer Success Manager at SmileBack. “And that’s what we’re getting with BrightGauge.” Through the data points they track, each team member receives a CSAT rating, which they use to improve processes. By implementing BrightGauge into their daily use, the team at SmileBack has benefited from quicker, stronger insights into their CSAT data. With a simple glance at their dashboard at any point throughout the day, Eben and his team are able to assess if they’re meeting customer needs or if they may be falling short. They see their survey reactions in real-time, which empowers them to make immediate changes, if necessary. Overall, it has made the department more productive. “Understandably so, some of our goals revolve around our CSAT performance. We’re also using BrightGauge to track those goals,” says Eben. “It’s a simple system because your relevant numbers for the goal you want to achieve are displayed in red or green, so you know quickly whether you’re on or off track.” There are around 40 different datasources that you can display at any one time, making BrightGauge a powerful dashboard for the team to monitor, but also to display on TV screens or individual monitors if we need it. "SmileBack integrates with BrightGauge, but we're also happy to personally use the integration ourselves because it has helped us understand our data better,” says Eben. What SmileBack clients have to say For Adam Hannemann, Director of Managed Services at Imagine IT, the SmileBack integration with BrightGauge is one of their key tools for daily work. “We use BrightGauge for pretty much everything” says Adam. Imagine IT has several users internally that essentially get their next work from a dashboard to make sure the right things are being worked on at the right time. “We have TVs up in our service desk area that show dashboards specific to service-related items, then we have another dashboard for our Depot/Account Management/NOC that cycles through data relevant to those departments. We also have several users that dedicate a single monitor on their desk (our standard is 4 monitors) for a BrightGauge dashboard,” says Adam. A KPI they’re constantly looking at on those dashboards? A running tally of their SmileBack scores, plus a week-over-week gauge. This helps them keep an eye on their streaks of positive reactions. It’s a similar story for Edward Aronyk for MSP Keeran Networks, who could not do client reporting today without BrightGauge – at least not this easily. “It’s very powerful, but also pretty straightforward to use. We’ve used competing products in the past but BrightGauge is way more brain friendly,” says Edward. “With the SmileBack integration, we can include CSAT data in our QBR reports for when we sit down with our clients, and the monthly summary reports we email them. SmileBack can print a nice report too, but I like that BrightGauge integrates all of our datasources into a single report.” About the SmileBack + BrightGauge integration When you integrate SmileBack + BrightGauge, you’re going to get 34 default KPIs, 3 pre-built dashboards, and 2 report templates to get you started. That way, you can start viewing your essential CSAT data (and data from your RMM, PSA, finance, or other tool you’re using) immediately. Some of the default KPIs that come with the integration include: Average CSAT % Last 90 Days CSAT Per Resource Days Since Last Negative Reaction Net CSAT Score Positive Reactions Total Reactions To learn more about SmileBack + BrightGauge, please contact us today. For more on why CSAT surveys matter and how to create effective ones, download our whitepaper ‘Customer Satisfaction Surveys That Work’.
As you may know, we recently launched the ability to embed your gauges on public sites. This is an awesome way to show off your KPIs and let prospects and customers alike know a bit about what they can expect from you as a trusted partner. For example, embedding your Average Response Time or your CSAT scores on your marketing site can reveal to viewers that you're committed to providing excellent service. That being said, there's no need to limit yourself to external sites. We've been talking to BrightGauge users and have found that embeddable gauges are also a powerful way to boost visibility and transparency amongst your internal teams. In a recent webinar, we spoke to customer Justin Bryant, the Director of Quality Assurance for C Spire, to learn how he's using embeddable gauges to build an internal service library using the ITIL framework. The shared library allows team members from every department to see how the company as a whole is tracking against certain KPIs, which works to motivate and align everyone in the organization. Additionally, the webinar covers operational maturity, how to create the public gauges within BrightGauge, how to set up a KPI library, and how to share those KPIs. Watch now as Justin takes us through his service library and see how embeddable gauges can help make you more productive and focused.
What happens when three students meet at North Dakota State University and all fall in love with the idea of being entrepreneurs? They all leave school to start their own business, of course! That’s exactly how BNG Team came to be. Twelve years later, they’re still going strong and have added BrightGauge to their stack of tools for an extra boost of support. We chatted with CEO Brady Nash to learn more about BNG Team and how BrightGauge helps their daily operations. How the BNG Team got its start When BNG Team was formed in 2007, the founders aimed to create solutions that benefitted businesses operating in small North Dakota towns, where they are based. Their roots were entrenched in the payment processing industry. “We started our own payments processing business because we learned that many other companies in the industry operated with unfair processes, like overcharging rates and fees,” says Brady. From the beginning, BNG Team has had a passion for empowering other growth-oriented businesses to achieve their goals with an expanding set of premium business solutions. With over 3,000 customers, they typically serve SMBs, MSPs, and small retail/restaurant shops with a POS system. “We consider ourselves problem solvers,” says Brady. “A customer in the SMB market who can benefit from multiple service offerings means there are more problems to solve, and that creates stickiness for us.” Over the last 12 years, they’ve experienced steady growth thanks to their smart business model which focuses on generating multiple sources of recurring revenue, plus their core values of excellence, happiness, and gratitude. Like BrightGauge, the BNG Team founders are big fans of the EOS Traction system. It’s helped them create a new level of accountability and made it natural for them to adopt BrightGauge into their stack of tools. Becoming a BrightGauge customer As another provider in the MSP channel, BNG Team saw an opportunity for a great partnership with BrightGauge. Initially, they were attracted to the idea that they could tie together data from several different tools they were already using, which made implementation a breeze. Now, BNG Team continues to choose BrightGauge because of the flexibility to customize their data and the insight they get into all areas of their company. “Plus, we LOVE the customer support team at BrightGauge,” says Brady. “They are always very responsive to our needs and happy to collaborate with us.” What BrightGauge has helped the BNG Team accomplish BNG uses BrightGauge across every business unit, getting deep insight into all aspects of the company, including sales, marketing, operational, financial, customer satisfaction, team productivity, and more. “We can drill down into areas that we hadn’t even considered until we started to visualize our data with BrightGauge,” says Brady. As a company that follows EOS Traction, BNG uses BrightGauge goal sheets to increase visibility and accountability. They also enjoy driving friendly competition within departments through leaderboards for the sales team, customer service metrics, and customer satisfaction. This has created excitement around positive SmileBack scores and also brings attention to their deficiencies, so they can be addressed promptly. Since excellence is at the core of their values, BrightGauge dashboards and reports have provided a way for BNG to measure their customer service metrics and provide constant feedback so their team can improve. “Without a plan and a way to measure success and excellence, it’s just smoke and mirrors. BrightGauge helps hold us accountable. Having this data at our fingertips takes the guessing game out of where we can improve,” says Brady. Thank you, Brady and BNG Team for being part of the BrightGauge family! Datasources used: ConnectWise, QuickBooks, SmileBack, DropBox KPIs tracked: Kill Rate, Time to Acknowledgement, Customer Satisfaction
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Becoming familiar with the ins and outs of BrightGauge can take some time and practice. Hopefully, you’ll find some guidance in our knowledge base and through our blog posts, but we know that seeing BrightGauge in action can make a huge difference. In our new webinar series, Mastering BrightGauge, we’ll help you really nail down your use of BrightGauge while improving your workflow. This series is meant to give you a deeper training of our BrightGauge features, whether you’re a new user or could stand to use a little refresher. What’s up first? To kick off the Mastering BrightGauge series, we’re going to talk all about building gauges. Lots of our users want to know how they can better customize their KPIs in order to achieve stronger data insights, and this is an excellent place to start. In Getting Familiar with the Gauge Builder, we’ll cover: The basic structure of a gauge Various gauge types (think: number gauge, list gauge, snapshot gauge, etc) How to format your gauges How to filter your gauges to get more granular info Design tricks (like adding thresholds and colors to your gauge) Bonus: our top 5 most requested gauges from customers You’ll walk away feeling a lot more comfortable customizing your own gauges and getting to the data that speaks to you. How do I join? Here’s what you need to know about Getting Familiar with the Gauge Builder: Date: Thursday, April 18th Time: 10AM PDT / 1PM EDT RSVP: http://info.brightgauge.com/mastering-bgs-gauge-builder We highly suggest you RSVP because even if you end up missing the live webinar, we’ll still email you a recording of the training, which you can keep on hand to reference any time you need it. To find out about future episodes in the Mastering BrightGauge series, keep an eye out for emails from us, follow @BrightGauge on Twitter and Facebook, and subscribe to our blog. As always, we love your feedback and your questions, so shoot our support team an email if there’s anything you need.
When you have the ability to automate client reports, it becomes a true game-changer and a huge win for productivity. We've had customers tell us it takes 8-10 hours per week to put together client reports, but with BrightGauge you can create, schedule, and send reports in just a few clicks. That means, you get 8-10 hours of time back to spend on other revenue-generating tasks. Yay! In the above tutorial video, we'll take you through an in-depth guide of the steps you need to take to create and send client reports in BrightGauge. Part of the process is to set up your client mappings, which you can review in this video. Once you set up your report templates, they'll automatically go out on the date and time you choose. A real set-it-and-forget-it situation that will make a positive impact on your client relationships. If you've got questions at any time, please feel free to reach out to our support team.
RMON Networks, Inc. got its start in 2002, shortly after founder Tim Howard was laid off following the events of September 11th. In a time of uncertainty, Tim jumped on the opportunity to realize his dream of starting his own business. Armed with a background in IT and finance, Tim started New Hampshire-based RMON Networks with a focus on securing his client’s networks, as security became a big issue after September 11th. From the start, Tim wanted to work with clients who placed a high value on technology expertise. 17 years later, that still rings true, and RMON has a mission to deliver unique solutions to their customers. To help them run an efficient organization, RMON Networks recently added BrightGauge to their arsenal. So far, it’s been an eye-opening experience. We spoke with Tim to learn more. How RMON has grown over the years A lot has changed in the technology industry in 17 years. Tim recognizes that he missed the boat with some advancements, but he jumped on one in particular that has made a huge impact on RMON. “We embraced the cloud,” says Tim. “I was at a Microsoft Small Businesses meeting and someone presented about their hosted offering. If there were 50 people there, 49 passed on it. I was the only person willing to try it.” That decision was a smart move. After selling the Microsoft cloud solution to enough clients, RMON was eligible to be part of the Microsoft Cloud Champion Partners Program, where Microsoft sent leads to RMON on a regular basis. Once that happened, RMON started to grow significantly, enough to hire new staff and move to larger offices. In addition to the push from Microsoft, Tim believes that the RMON approach to customer service has helped differentiate them from competitors over the years. “I always tell my staff to be honest. You’ll always remember what you told someone if you tell the truth,” says Tim. “If we’re recommending a solution, you can come to our office and rest assured that we’re using that solution ourselves. We put our money where our mouth is. We’re true to our customers and to ourselves.” Becoming a BrightGauge customer As a Continuum and Autotask user, Tim and RMON attended the Continuum Navigate Conference in late 2018, in search of a better way to look at real-time data. After talking to BrightGauge, they felt it was the right tool to help them get a better handle on the dispersed data they had within their organization. And right off the bat, BrightGauge was eye-opening. “It revealed to me that I had dirty data,” says Tim. “I had stale data around our customers and our configuration items. We had processes that weren’t being adhered to or not clearly defined. BrightGauge gave us the opportunity to really take a look at ourselves again and redefine the way we approached our day-to-day.” When it came to Autotask specifically, Tim realized that he wasn’t inputting data into Autotask in the most efficient way. Opportunities were not being put together correctly, as notes were being left out and contracts were expiring without anyone being alerted. With BrightGauge, Tim and his team can create gauges and notifications around opportunities and contracts so all the right people can come together and plan ahead. It’s allowed RMON to get a lot more proactive instead of reactive. Future BrightGauge uses The RMON Networks team has made great use of gauges, dashboards, and reports, giving them high visibility into their important data and driving them to run a more efficient business. Next up, they want to place a focus on the goals component. “We are going to set goals not only as an organization, but we’ll also have measurable individual goals,” says Tim. “By being measured, the team will be able to see their own stats versus their peers. And healthy competition is a good thing.” We agree! Tim and his executive team plan to roll goals out as soon as possible, sitting down with each member on the RMON Networks team, regardless of their position. What BrightGauge has helped RMON Networks accomplish When it comes to the great communications struggle, Tim leaves us with a final thought: “At the end of the day, I want better visibility into our company and I also want the icing on the cake: better communications with our client. Having the ability to send Continuum executive reports or Autotask ticket reports and giving our clients information that matters to them changes everything. We’re communicating better and building stronger relationships, and I know it’s because of BrightGauge.” Thank you, Tim and RMON Networks for being part of the BrightGauge family!
When you have a lot of gauges that you are frequently using, it's easy to forget which dashboards those gauges appear on. No worries. We have a really simple tip to help you keep track of your gauge usage - no memorization required. Watch this quick video to learn how to find the dashboards your gauges are on. By the way, are you feeling gauge overload? Try some Spring Cleaning if you will. Here are some tips for cleaning up your BrightGauge. If you've got questions at any time, feel free to reach out to our support team!
A lot of you learn a great deal about BrightGauge by evaluating how your peers are using the product. We love that you want to learn from one another, because we strive to do the same! Lately you’ve been asking us, “What dashboards are other users displaying on their office TVs?” Putting your metrics up on TVs around the office can have a powerful impact on your employee’s motivation and your client’s impression of you. When everyone has visibility into important company numbers, that level of transparency creates a highly-desired sense of trust. But when it comes to data and dashboards, there are so many options out there that it can get a little confusing trying to choose the right things to display. No worries, we’ve got some ideas. What are other BrightGauge users doing? Like we already mentioned, there are so many possibilities when it comes to the data you want to display. Here are what some BrightGauge users themselves have said they are displaying: Important ticket statistics: Stale tickets Survey response scores Ticket age Tickets open by status Hours per ticket Number of tickets opened today Kill rate This is a really popular dashboard because it’s always critical for all members of a service department to understand what’s happening with tickets and when and where any issues arise. Workstations overview: Servers offline Warranties expiring AV protection status Patch status SLA statistics: Nearing expiration Breached Performance Met resolution Leaderboards: Most tickets closed Highest CSAT scores Average response time Most opportunities created We love leaderboards because they are a great way to inspire a little healthy competition and incentivize team members to work really productively. Time entry: Actual hours entered this week Billable versus non-billable hours per tech Billable percentage per tech Quarterly statistics dashboard for use during QBRs A rotation of each tech’s individual dashboard displaying their ticket statistics Sales activity: Active opportunities by rep Stale opportunities Revenue won Deals in the pipeline Backups overview: Successful backups Failing backups Devices overview Security overview of endpoints, infections, threats, and sites Financial overview: Profit + loss performance Cash balance Balance of outstanding invoices Top 25 outstanding balances by customer In our own office, we have one TV up in each of our departments, displaying data relevant to that team. Support tracks their ticket statistics all day, Sales looks at their dials made and open opportunities, Marketing is watching inbound leads and number of new customers, Product is looking at our datasource use per customer, and our main display shows total customers, net new MRR, and progress on quarterly goals. Since every single BrightGauge employee has access to all company metrics, it helps keep us all on the same page and motivated to work towards our company goals. What it boils down to What you choose to display really depends on your overall KPIs and your company goals. Whatever is your top priority (i.e., staying below a response time threshold) should be something you have on constant display, as visual cues are proven to have a positive impact. Also, if you have clients regularly coming in for office visits, you’ll want to think about having their specific metrics on display. It’s a great way to show them that you are invested in their success and are being proactive about providing them the best possible service. Use rotating dashboards When you have several important dashboards you want to display on a TV, you can use our rotating dashboards feature to have them automatically play on a loop. Up to 3 playlists can display 10 dashboards at a time, so you can view all the data that matters to you, all day long. Read more about setting up your rotating dashboards here or visit our support docs. We love hearing from you guys - what are your favorite dashboards that you’re displaying?
Integrated IT is based out of Waltham, Massachusetts, with other offices in Westfield, MA, Beverly, MA, and Providence, RI. Founded in 1988, they serve a wide range of markets and industries, including biomedicine, hospitals, manufacturers, power plants, government agencies, and more. Their mission is to become the leading MSP in the northeast United States by delivering constant and consistent IT solutions that meet their client’s needs and expectations. In an effort to become more proactive, Integrated IT has begun to implement BrightGauge on a daily basis. One big impact? It now takes them 90% less time to build reports. We spoke to Cindy Bisner, Tech Support Manager, to learn more. How Integrated IT has grown over the years When Integrated IT first got their start in 1988, they were launched as a sister company to Source Code, who was on the hardware manufacturing side of the business. Integrated IT was on the IT support administration side. Over the years, Integrated IT has continued to take the approach of growing their company from already existing companies. “Acquisition has absolutely helped us grow,” says Cindy. “We learn from other companies, take on their solutions and skills, and integrate their knowledge into our best practices.” In addition, they are big believers in the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) framework of best practices, which helps them prioritize properly so they are addressing the right issues at the right time. ITIL processes prevent issues through incident management, change management, service-level management, security management, and more. “We try to be proactive, not reactive, in trying to prevent problems,” explains Cindy. “We want to get away from just doing ‘break-fix’ work.” This kind of mentality, paired with their 8am-8pm call center times, has put Integrated IT at the forefront of excellent customer service. Becoming a BrightGauge customer In 2017, Integrated IT acquired a company that already had BrightGauge as part of their toolset. They saw that it was being used to compile Kaseya stats and reports. Prior to that, Integrated IT had spent a lot of time hand-compiling Kaseya statistics for their client. Once they saw first-hand the number of hours BrightGauge would save them, it was a no-brainer to expand the tool to other datasources and clients. BrightGauge has really helped Integrated IT in their quest to be more proactive. As a quick example, dashboards are being used to track tasks driven by due dates. If a client has a new user starting on a Monday, Integrated IT assigns a due date of the prior Friday, so all IT needs are being met before the new user even starts. Internally, BrightGauge is also being used for staff development. “I sit down with my staff on a monthly basis and show them their own metrics and point out areas where they need to focus in order to improve,” says Cindy. “We’re able to start a dialogue about why tickets were escalated a certain way, or what skillsets are needed in order to better handle an issue. The metrics we’re seeing in BrightGauge have been so valuable in helping my team members grow and work more efficiently.” The biggest benefit of using BrightGauge Aside from the huge changes Integrated IT has seen from implementing dashboards, their use of BrightGauge reports has probably had the biggest impact of all. “I used to go into multiple Excel spreadsheets, refresh my query, redo my pivot tables, generate charts and graphs based on ConnectWise data, and then spit all of that onto a report,” says Cindy. “Even learning how to get that ConnectWise data into Excel took forever. Now, BrightGauge is translating all of this into automatic reports for me. This is saving me a ton of hours.” To be specific, Cindy estimates that what used to take her 6 hours per report is now taking a mere 30 minutes or less. In addition to being a time-saver, Cindy appreciates how intuitive BrightGauge is. With other tools she used in the past, she felt that you kind of had to be a programmer to get it right. A company-wide bonus: other departments within Integrated IT have taken note of how BrightGauge is making a difference and are now looking to utilize it for their own team’s metrics. Future BrightGauge uses As a result of attending a Data Driven Workshop in 2018, Cindy is looking to dig even deeper into BrightGauge this year. In 2019, she’ll officially implement the Goals feature with her staff so they can regularly track their progress and remain accountable. She’s also looking forward to using Snapshot gauges more often. For some time, she’s been entering manual snapshots into an Excel sheet to compare tickets open on the 1st of this month versus on the 1st of last month. “We’ve had an issue with aging tickets,” says Cindy. “With BrightGauge Snapshots, I can see how we’re improving over time without having to spend my hours manually entering this data into Excel and interpreting it myself.” Finally, Cindy’s eyes have been opened to how much she can do with their Dropbox integration. Specifically, she exports her help-desk’s on-call schedule to a CSV file, puts it in Dropbox, and then views the schedule on a BrightGauge dashboard. She plans to do the same with her Mitel call center data. Integrations used: ConnectWise Manage, Kaseya, Dropbox Thank you, Cindy and Integrated IT for being so awesome!
