How one MSP easily manages 525 endpoints with ConnectWise

Globalnet IT Innovations

Globalnet IT Innovations, a managed service provider (MSP) out of Essex in the UK, commands an impressive services menu, complete with ad-hoc and end-to-end managed services. The small team, managed by Director, Robert Burdett, caters to the London and South East markets, tending to the needs of all customers, both great and small.

The company has grown from a one-man shop to a strong, three-man team over the last several years. According to Robert, the leisurely growth was by design. “I purposely have grown our team slowly,” he says. “I just didn’t want to ramp up too quickly and take a risk in employing people.” For Robert, it just made more sense to take it slow and steady, building upon the foundation of his fledgling IT business. With the help of ConnectWise, Globalnet currently has three agents handling roughly 525 endpoints.

Challenge

For one UK MSP, creating quotes and proposals was a manual and time-consuming process with their clunky, ineffective system. They needed an intuitive, easy-to-navigate platform that allowed them to produce quotes quickly and efficiently.

Solution

Switching to ConnectWise Sell enabled the team to produce accurate quotes and proposals in less time than it took with their previous software. The user-friendly features also made it easier for other team members to create quotes without having to get extraneous approval.

Results

The team at Globalnet IT Innovations is now able to send quotes faster than ever before, and combined with ConnectWise Manage and ConnectWise Automate, they’re able to comfortably manage over 500 endpoints without worry.

“I was on my way up to London to meet a client and another client called me to say that their email was down. At the time, I was on a platform waiting for a train to show up, so I pulled my phone out and jumped onto their Exchange email server, restarted the services, and fixed the system all before the train even turned up.”

Robert Burdett, Director of Globalnet IT Innovations

“Being a small company, it was a lot easier for me to switch to ConnectWise Sell. The system was quite intuitive and I picked it up quickly. In the space of a week with training, we pretty much knew the platform inside and out.”

Robert Burdett, Director of Globalnet IT Innovations

Quoting that Didn’t Quite ‘Werk’

Globalnet has been using the ConnectWise solutions for some time now, but hasn’t always been using ConnectWise Sell. “Back in the day when it was Quosal, it was expensive,” says Robert. “That’s the reason we went with QuoteWerks.” QuoteWerks did the job that Globalnet needed it to do at that time, and very little else. One downside to that platform was that it wasn’t cloud-based. They were reliant on having it installed on a Windows Cloud machine in order to use the system flexibly, and that became cumbersome.

Additionally, the actual process of creating quotes and proposals in QuoteWerks quickly left the team feeling underwhelmed. “Writing proper proposals was time consuming, and painful to do. You’d have your master template, then you’d have to cut and paste paragraphs over to the QuoteWerks quote separately.” Robert knew there was a way to create a master template in QuoteWerks, however being a manual process, he never had the time to do it.

As if that weren’t enough, QuoteWerks proved troublesome when processing quotes and proposals. “It wouldn’t necessarily get everything into ConnectWise Manage correctly,” he says. “As a small company, it was easy to lose stuff.” At one point, Robert combed through his records and found items that still needed invoicing. “I found two or three things we purchased that hadn’t been invoiced.” Sometimes the software even duplicated items, causing one poor customer to be charged twice. “That was a disaster,” Robert admits.

Easy to Use, Right Out of the Box

Robert had the opportunity to attend last year’s IT Nation, where he was able to demo ConnectWise Sell. He saw first-hand how much the software had improved from when he first started Globalnet. “I suppose I was a bit sold with it,” he says. “I think the price on it had come down to a single-person user model, which made it more affordable.” Robert was impressed that ConnectWise Sell had out-of-the box templates that he could use and customise to his company branding and content.

Shortly after implementing ConnectWise Sell, Robert fondly remembers tinkering with the features to teach himself how to navigate the system and ended up creating several quotes for potential customers. One of those quotes happened to land him one of his largest customers straight off the bat. “The customer approached me because it was someone we used to work with many years ago, and they were working with another company that was treating him badly. Within half an hour he had a fully managed proposal sitting on his desk.”

See How ConnectWise Sell Produces Professional Quotes at the Click of a Button >>

In the Office or On the Go

Globalnet implemented ConnectWise Manage early on in the business, and has loved how easy it is to track time and tickets. “If you’ve got your agreements set up correctly, the system works out for you whether something’s billable or not, and automatically generates the invoice for you,” Robert says. “Back in the day when I was a one-man band, that was quite important.” It was this ease of use that has allowed Robert to gently grow the business how he’s envisioned.

In addition, ConnectWise Automate has made being out on the road a non-issue with regards to service requests. If I’m on-site when an emergency comes in, I can dial in to give the engineer advice,” Robert says.

See How ConnectWise Automate Proactively Monitors All Your Devices >>

Patching Made Profitable

ConnectWise Automate has also been instrumental in running patch reports and keeping systems up-to date, especially when the WannaCry ransomware attack occurred back in May 2017. The worldwide cyberattack caused millions to worry about the integrity of their IT systems.

Luckily for one new Globalnet customer, Robert and his team were able to bring their patching up-to date, showing through various reports what needed fixing and what had been repaired. “He went from being completely vulnerable and in a lot of trouble to backed up and patched, and we were able to produce reports to prove that,” he says. “Those kind of patching reports and health-of-network reports can win you business.”

Fully Automate the Patching Process with ConnectWise Automate >>