Does this sound familiar? Your team is busy, busy, busy, constantly resetting passwords, creating new users, and rolling out updates. It seems like an endless cycle of the same tasks, day in and day out. Meanwhile, more challenging IT jobs are piling up. If this rings a bell, it’s time to focus on (more) automation.
In our conversations with countless MSPs, we discovered 7 general principles that successful MSPs apply. In our previous blogs, we’ve already discussed six principles: a clear proposition, the right tools for your team, challenging your customer, seeing the big picture, standardization, and centralization. Automating work processes also turned out to be a key success factor. By automating smartly, these MSPs can quickly adapt to the changing technological landscape. This way, they achieve better results for their customers and strengthen their own market position.
In this blog, we’ll dive deeper into this. How do you implement automation cleverly without losing the human touch? Which processes are best to automate? And most importantly: how does automation help you grow?
Automating Daily IT Tasks
Let’s start with the basics: automating recurring daily IT tasks. Ydentic offers software that lets you easily create new user accounts, reset passwords, or perform routine updates. These are all tasks that take a lot of time but are necessary. Your customers expect them to be handled quickly and with minimal disruption to their work processes.
By automating such tasks, you save a ton of time. Plus, you reduce the chance of human error in these repetitive tasks. But watch out! Automation isn’t a magic wand you can just wave over all your processes. It requires a well-thought-out approach.
Not Everything Needs to Be Automated
In a blog where we want to convince you to automate, it might sound strange, but not every process is suitable for automation. Some tasks require human insight, creativity, or a personal touch. Think strategic decisions, complex problem-solving, or building customer relationships.
The art is determining which processes should and shouldn’t be automated. Ask yourself: Is this task repetitive? Can it be done without human intervention? If yes, then it’s probably a good candidate for automation.
Less Human Error, More Precision
One of the big advantages of automation is the reduction of human errors. Computers don’t make typos, don’t forget steps, and don’t get distracted. This leads to higher accuracy and consistency in your service delivery.
For example, think about configuring network settings. An automated process will do this exactly the same way every time, without variation or errors. This ensures faster and better service, and you spend less time correcting human mistakes.
Both your internal processes and your customer experience benefit from this. Faster, more accurate service ultimately leads to satisfied customers who are more likely to recommend you.
Improve Efficiency and Scalability
Automation increases efficiency and makes it easy for you to scale up. By automating repetitive tasks, you can take on more customers without increasing workload or expanding your team.
If you automate the right tasks, you can easily double the number of customers. Or you can offer more complex services because your team now has more time available. That’s the power of smart automation.
Do More with the Same Team
In times of labor shortage in the IT sector, it’s more important than ever to use your existing team optimally. Automation helps you get more done with the same number of people.
Your team can focus on tasks that really add value:
- Strategic advice to customers
- Complex problem-solving
- Innovation and developing new services
This way, you keep not only your customers satisfied but also your employees. And that’s just as important because good IT staff is scarce. Offer them challenges in their work. They didn’t complete an IT degree to endlessly reset passwords. They’ll be happy with IT jobs they can sink their teeth into and that really help the customer.
Automation as a Means, Not an End
Finally, an important note: don’t see automation as your end goal. It’s a means to improve your service delivery, relieve your team, and grow your business. But it should never come at the cost of the human touch that makes your MSP unique.
Use automation to have the basics in order, so you and your team can focus on where you can really make a difference, like personal advice, custom solutions, and building strong customer relationships.
Getting Started with Automation
Have you become enthusiastic about the possibilities of automation for your MSP? Here are some tips to get started:
- Identify your most time-consuming, repetitive tasks
- Research tools that can automate these tasks
- Start small, automate one process first and build from there
- Involve your team in the process – they know better than anyone which tasks can be automated
- Measure the results and adjust where necessary
Automation can be a game-changer for your MSP. It allows you to work more efficiently, improve your service delivery, and grow without growing pains.
Want to brainstorm about how you can implement automation in your MSP? We’re happy to think along with you. Get in touch with us for a no-obligation chat. We can help you prepare your MSP for future challenges and opportunities.
