Top 6 Benefits & 7 Use Cases in 2023

54%¹ of MSPs say buyer expertise expectations have been the largest drivers for change of their operational mannequin. Fashionable capabilities that MSPs should offer to grow their business and enhance CX embrace, however aren’t restricted to:

1. Quicker response time
2. Personalised companies
3. Seamless interactions
4. 24/7 help 

As we are going to discover later, latest surveys and research point out that MSP automation (i.e. managed service suppliers utilizing automation instruments) permits service suppliers to: 

1. Provide higher companies to their purchasers 
2. Obtain the next charge of buyer satisfaction
3. Mitigate industry-specific challenges
4. Acquire deeper automation experience, thereby promoting automation consulting companies, like RPA consulting

On this article, we are going to:

• Clarify what MSP automation is
• Listing the favored automation instruments that MSPs can use to streamline their companies 
• Present real-life case research of service suppliers who’ve reaped the advantages of automation throughout their enterprise workflows

What’s MSP automation?

MSP (managed service suppliers) automation refers to managed service suppliers providing their companies whereas utilizing automation instruments.

Latest findings present that MSP automation, as an operational technique is a should. In a survey² of 1,000 MSP leaders:

By way of the precise MSP processes which might be being automated essentially the most, the survey reveals that these are amongst the highest ones:

• Endpoint administration– managing and securing all gadgets related to a community
• Endpoint monitoring– constantly observing the gadgets on a community to make sure they’re are functioning correctly
• Endpoint patching– monitoring, buying, testing, and deploying software program updates to endpoints on a community
• Ticket decision
• Cybersecurity

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What are the advantages of MSP automation?

MSPs, globally, face the following challenges:

1. Signing extra prospects
2. Managing new safety threats
3. Hiring new staff
4. IT-budget shrinkage
5. Retaining prospects
6. Distant monitoring of exterior and inside processes
7. Lowered prospects’ budgets

By utilizing automation applied sciences, MSPs can mitigate these challenges and reap the next advantages: 

1. Effectivity

Automation instruments carry out mundane duties extra rapidly and precisely than people. These permit MSPs to realize extra with fewer sources.

As an illustration, Logically, a Portland-based MSP, adopted automation throughout numerous capabilities, from back office and sales and advertising and marketing automation, to front-line companies. This automation journey led to leaner operations, decrease prices, and enhanced service pace and high quality.

1.2. Value financial savings

By lowering the time spent on guide duties, automation will help lower labor prices and permit MSPs to scale their operations with out proportional will increase in staffing.

Noctis IT³ is an American MSP that automated the steps of their client onboarding process, akin to:

• Contract technology
• Updating CRM
• Cross-selling
• Inside reporting

Because of this, they elevated their:

• Onboarding income by 30% – the income earned from integrating new purchasers into their programs and companies
• Revenue margins – as a result of they keep away from sunk and alternative prices of managing the client constantly. They let the automation instrument deal with issues.

2. Improved service high quality

Automated processes are constant and fewer error inclined, resulting in larger service high quality. This enhances buyer satisfaction and strengthens consumer relationships.

MSPs obtain quite a few service requests on a regular basis. Presidio⁴, a NY-based digital options and repair supplier, used an automation expertise – one thing maybe NLP based mostly – to:

• Learn the requests
• Assess them
• Prioritize their urgency

This will increase imply occasions to decision charge. So a good thing about MSP automation is that it helps corporations resolve points sooner, which ends up in working prices, extra enterprise targets, a happier consumer base and better consumer satisfaction.

3. Enhanced safety

Cybersecurity automation applied sciences will help MSPs detect and reply to threats extra rapidly and successfully, thus bettering safety and compliance.

Use circumstances of automated safety embrace:

4. Scalability

Automation simplifies MSPs scaling their operations, as a result of automated processes will be replicated at scale extra simply than guide ones.

For instance, some processes will be automated based mostly on predefined standards and assist MSPs cater to a wider viewers with no vital useful resource utilization uptake.These embrace:

• Ticket creation
• Project
• Escalation
• Decision

5. Higher resolution making

Automation helps data-driven decision-making of MSP leaders by providing exact, well timed, and intensive knowledge. By rapidly and precisely gathering and analyzing knowledge volumes, leaders could have insights into their operations, buyer conduct, and community efficiency.

The implication is simpler traits identification, stopping severe points via proactive companies, making knowledgeable choices, and making certain real-life cloud based mostly options and knowledge circulate. This offers MSPs a aggressive benefit in comparison with their rivals.

For instance, Liongard⁵, a worldwide MSP automation platform, aids 1000’s of companies worldwide by standardizing system data assortment throughout purchasers. This standardization advantages the MSP consumer’s enterprise crew by saving time, lowering guesswork, making certain high quality, and enhancing productiveness and morale. For the end-customers, it ensures a constant, glorious service expertise proper from the onset.

1. Course of automation instruments 

MSPs can use RPA or different course of automation instruments to automate rule-based, routin asks like: 

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2. Distant monitoring & administration (RMM) instruments

RMM instruments allow distant monitoring and administration of purchasers’ networks, servers, and endpoints. RMM instruments allow MSPs to automate patch administration, efficiency monitoring, and combine distant management capabilities with consumer wants.

Fashionable RMM instruments embrace ConnectWise Automate, Datto RMM, Kaseya VSA, and SolarWinds N-central.

3. Skilled service automation (PSA) instruments

Skilled Companies Automation (PSA) instruments are software program programs designed to be automated workflows that assist professionals (akin to IT consultants, venture managers) and repair suppliers handle their initiatives and useful resource allocation extra effectively.

Use circumstances of PSA instruments embrace: 

• Mission administration 
• Time monitoring 
• Mission administration 
• Billing 
• Reporting 
• Configuration administration
• Useful resource administration 

Fashionable PSA instruments embrace ConnectWise Handle, Autotask PSA, and Tigerpaw Software program.

4. IT service administration (ITSM) instruments

ITSM instruments automate processes associated to service supply, billing and help processes, together with:

Examples of ITSM instruments embrace ServiceNow, Jira Service Administration, and Freshservice.

5. IT documentations instruments

IT documentation is vital for Managed Service Suppliers to handle their purchasers’ data successfully, streamline their IT infrastructure, and ship higher service.

Documentation instruments assist a MSP enterprise in recording, organizing, and managing knowledge associated to networks, software program, programs, and procedures. Listed here are just a few main IT documentation instruments like IT Glue, Hudu, and Passportal.

6. Safety automation instruments

Cybersecurity concerns adopting automation are getting at the forefront of MSP client needs. Some processes that would leverage automation embrace:

• Vulnerability scanning
• Menace detection and investigation
• Incident response
• Safety updates

Examples of different customers of safety automation instruments embrace Rapid7 Perception, Tenable.io, and Palo Alto Networks XSOAR.

7. Community administration instruments

Community administration instruments assist managed companies automate the final administration of their purchasers’ community, together with duties like: 

• Community mapping 
• Efficiency monitoring 
• Configuration administration 
• Fault remediation

Fashionable community administration instruments embrace SolarWinds Community Efficiency Monitor, Paessler PRTG Community Monitor, and ManageEngine OpManager.

Sources

1. “Trends in Managed Services 2022.” CompTIA. 2022. Retrieved on July 3, 2023.
2. “Kaseya’s 2023 MSP Benchmark Report Finds that Automation, Cybersecurity and Integration Top the List of Priorities for MSPs.” Kaseya. March 30, 2023.
3. “Small MSP Wins More Clients and Increases Margins with Auvik.” Auvik. Retrieved on July 3, 2023.
4. “3 essential aspects of MSP automation.” TechTarget. 12 September 2022.
5. “How MSPs Can Use Automation to Secure, Standardize, and Scale.” ChannelE2E. November 2, 2020. Retrieved on July 3, 2023.

Bardia is an industry analyst at AIMultiple. His bachelor’s degree is in economics from UC Davis, and his master’s in economics and finance from Bogazici University.

He primarily writes about RPA and process automation, MSPs, Ordinal Inscriptions, IoT, and to jazz it up a bit, sometimes FinTech.