How MSPs are wasting their time using more than one software platform

I love jig-saw puzzles. Have ever since I was a little kid. For me, there aren’t a lot of things that are more satisfying than watching something created out of a seemingly random circumstance and knowing that it was you who configured the whole thing.

Order out of chaos – so gratifying.

That being said, I can also promise you that there are not many things that are more frustrating than the realization that there are pieces missing. Even a single missing piece leaves a gaping hole that robs the entire process of any sense of satisfaction.

That’s why, whenever I see that a Managed IT provider has cobbled together his service platform, I’m confused.

To me, that’s like buying four separate puzzles, combining all of the pieces in one box and hoping that you’ll be able to create a single cohesive image. It could, theoretically, work, and if you could pull it off, you’d be pretty darned amazing. But the odds of your success are pretty long. In managed IT, stuff like this happens all the time.

I constantly hear from MSP’s who are trying to merge ticketing, invoicing, security, remote monitoring data and more across as many as five or six different platforms and all they would really need to do in order to make their life easier is subscribe to Atera.

Because, as an MSP, if you’re looking for software that lets you work simply and easily, it’s a one-stop solution. And there are three very important reasons for why you need to consider the change.

The big one is Cost. If you’re paying multiple subscriptions for tiered services, what are your annual software expenditures? Having a transparently priced single platform saves you the trouble of having to actively manage multiple subscriptions, especially when so many of our accounts automatically renew without so much as a prompt from the service provider.

I just had a conversation with a new client who came to Atera after realizing that he had spent over ten thousand dollars a year for the last two years for software packages that he never used.

All in one software

Maybe you’re not in that deep. But how much of your money might be leaking away in lost licensing, maintenance and usage fees?

What about hidden price jumps? You know, the leaps that happen after you break usage thresholds. One price up to two-hundred users, twice or more after that? Read the fine print, you might find yourself unpleasantly surprised.

And speaking of use, how much time and productivity are you losing by jumping from platform to platform? Have you considered the ongoing costs associated with keeping your techs trained and up to date with the latest versions of whatever you’re using? Why not invest once with Atera and be done with it?

Finally, think of all of the useful information that you put at risk when you try to integrate across platforms. Having a central data collection point means that you don’t need to merge bases. Having a single platform gives you a better, more complete picture of your business. If you don’t have that, you’re either going to be spending A LOT of time moving pieces around OR you’re going to lose important information – the sort of stuff that could improve the level of service that you provide, or enhance your bottom line.

Look, you can keep on trying to make a beautiful whole out of four different packages, or you can dial yourself into something like Atera.

We’ve already put most of the pieces in place. All you need to do is plug the rest in and stand back to admire your cleverness.

Nothing wrong with being clever.