Professional services automation (PSA) software is a crucial tool for managed service providers of all sizes. It's an integrated solution that streamlines business operations, automates tasks, and provides real-time insights into your business. MSPs rely on streamlined operations in order to not only meet SLAs but also provide great service to customers. PSAs can support that outcome while also helping you improve your bottom-line performance. Success in managed services is not a guarantee. Customers have a number of options when searching for MSP providers, and you’ll want to ensure that your MSP holds a strong reputation in the market in order to ensure consistent growth and profitability. That starts with choosing the right tools for the job.

Here are four ways that PSA software can help support your MSP day-to-day and put your business on a path toward long-term success.

PSAs Make Operations More Efficient

For MSPs of all sizes, business operations ultimately determine success.

By streamlining operations and making tasks more efficient, your business will be able to respond to customers quicker, manage projects more effectively, and put resources to better use across the enterprise. This is the primary role of a PSA.

With process automation, PSAs can eliminate many of the rote, time-consuming tasks that are part of your administrative activities. This frees up managers to focus on strategy and gives technicians more time to focus on customers.

Common features of any robust PSA platform include service desk management, time tracking, reporting and analytics, and performance dashboards. Knowledge is power. By gaining real-time insights into your business, you’ll be able to quickly address bottlenecks and customer issues. Data and analytics help you better understand your business in-depth, and time tracking can ensure that billing is always accurate and complete. These features ultimately help you reduce costs while increasing productivity and client satisfaction.

PSA Software Can Help Improve Customer Satisfaction

By optimizing workflow processes, PSA software can, directly and indirectly, help your MSP improve customer satisfaction. A primary feature of PSAs is a ticketing system. This integrated platform allows customers to raise requests with your team, giving both parties the ability to keep track of issues/inquiries and resolution status. Customer portals can also be available, which allow for designees in the customer organization to access self-service tools and view their service history. By giving customers direct, self-service access, they’ll be happier with their ability to reach your team and solve issues sooner.

Indirectly, PSAs allow for improved efficiency through workflow automation and customized templates.

By automating routine tasks, such as contract renewal reminders and onboarding activities, you’ll be able to focus more on customer relationships instead of administrative chores.

Additionally, the reporting and analytics provided by your PSA can help management glean insights into customer satisfaction, helping you address problem areas before complaints happen.

PSAs Make Your MSP More Profitable

Profitability is ultimately a measure of revenue compared to costs. For MSPs, the cost part of the equation is typically a factor of two things: time and resources. PSA software can help with both. When it comes to billing and invoicing customers, the right software can not only automate invoice distribution and collection but also support time tracking. This ensures that time is inputted correctly and billable hours are appropriately invoiced for each project.

In managed services, resource allocation typically includes personnel and equipment. With full insight into project trackers and ticket status, MSP managers can allocate technicians more efficiently across tasks. Some software solutions also include inventory management capabilities. By tracking hardware, software, and other business-critical supplies, a PSA can help optimize inventory levels and reduce waste, ultimately saving costs in the process.

PSAs Support Business Intelligence

While the performance dashboards built into many PSAs are useful tools to help you understand your business in real time, that information is ultimately powered by the data processed by the software. PSAs collect a treasure trove of data and analytics, which can help you understand what’s working and what can be improved. Depending on the PSA, you can often receive detailed analytics on financial management, service performance, resource utilization, sales and marketing data, and time and expense inputs.

This information is useful because it enables you, as an MSP manager, to make data-driven decisions in every facet of your business. Want to understand what client industries are happiest with your services? Need to know which technicians are most efficient at ticket resolution? Looking to recognize which customers take up the most resources? The data can answer these questions for you.

Ultimately, analytics can help your MSP better optimize service delivery for your clients, identify improvement opportunities across the enterprise, and hone in on your business strategy to achieve short and long-term success.

Zest is the Right PSA to Help Your MSP Succeed

Given the competitive nature of the managed services industry today, your MSP has a lot to contend with. Between managing operations and sourcing and retaining customers, managers are spread thin. Don’t leave your business’s success up to chance. The right PSA software can help you streamline workflows, increase efficiency, and improve customer satisfaction. These are core drivers of profitability for MSPs, and your business deserves a PSA that is up to the task.

If you’re looking to implement PSA software for the first time or exploring a new solution, it’s important to know that not all software is created equal. Due diligence is necessary to ensure that the PSA you select has the features you need to support your business. Zest has become one popular solution due to its comprehensive suite of features. With a powerful ticketing system, workflow automation, and granular reporting and analytics, Zest’s out-of-the-box solution contains all the features you need and none of the complexity you don’t.

Sign up for a free trial today and see how Zest can help your PSA find success in a crowded market.