3 reasons you need automation in your IT business

As a managed service provider (MSP), one of your goals is to help your clients get the highest return on their technology investment. And just like your clients, you should also invest time optimizing your own technology solutions to increase your own returns. One way to do this is with automation.

Here are three reasons why automation is so important:

Expert experience in a script

Most MSPs have an in-house expert who is the go-to person for problems no one else can solve. Yet the solutions to these problems often have common troubleshooting steps. Invest time to document the steps taken to resolve common problems and automate potential fixes with a script. This will allow every technician to apply expert knowledge… without having to be an expert!

Standardized client installations

Following a common computer onboarding process with a script allows you to deploy tools in a consistent manner and ensure your client environments are set up according to your defined standards every time. Automation can make this easier for you.

Improved customer service

Rather than tell you, here’s an example to show you how automation can improve your customer service levels. Take the example of a medical practice using an electronic medical records (EMR) application based on a MS-SQL database to run their practice. The database has been giving the client problems, randomly stopping during the week and bringing the office to a halt. Instead of waiting for the next failure, build automation into your RMM platform to watch for, document and resolve issues for you.

For example, using ConnectWise Automate®, formerly LabTech, you would:

1. Create a monitor on the server that checks the MS-SQL service every 30 seconds
2. If the database service fails, have the monitor run the Ignite® ‘Monitor Restart Service’ script, which will:
3. Open a trouble ticket to document the service failure
4. Attempt to restart the service
5. If the service is restarted, closes the ticket and saves a record for reporting and future follow-up
6. If the service is not restarted, escalates the ticket to a technician to research and resolve the issue

This automation will either resolve the issue with minimal downtime or if it can’t resolve the problem, you’ll get notification so you’re not only aware of the problem, but you’re already working on a resolution before the client can even call to report the issue.