Slammed with tickets? Use KPIs to get your time back

If you’re slammed because you spend hours every week keeping track of your Tier 1 techs, this piece of advice is for you.

You cannot scale a business that doesn't examine its own data. Why? In order to scale, you have to know what to optimize. And if you want to optimize, you need to measure.

A key performance indicator (KPI) is a metric that can either predict or measure something critical within your organization. If you aren’t captaining your ship based on data, then you’re navigating without a compass.

Each metric is a part of a larger story, revealing strengths and exposing areas for improvement.

Once you’ve got a pulse on a key measurement, not only can you begin to optimize, but we pave the way for automation (and that’s where some real fun begins).

I apply KPIs externally to specific clients, their requests, and their hardware. I mainly use my RMM to collect this data.

I also apply KPIs to internal operations at an MSP. Let’s talk about applying a KPI internally. Internally, I use my PSA or data from Autotask.

Some common internal KPIs for Managed Service Providers might include:

• Incident Response Time

• Ticket Resolution Time

• Client Retention Rate

…but of course there are many more.

In this article I’m going to focus on a time-saving internal measurement.

Let’s say that, on Friday at 5pm for the last 30 Fridays, we averaged "X number" of open tickets in our ticketing or helpdesk software.

That’s a KPI — an indicator of key performance.

Now I’m going to set a goal for my team: if we can reduce our average open tickets per week to 20% lower than that, I’ll pay for their choice of food truck to come and feed the lot of us. Or let them pick the incentive.

OK. So far we’ve got our KPI, accurate measurement, a goal and an incentive.

KPI's are one of the tools that you can use to resist micromanagement. If you’re like many operators, you probably spend some time keeping an eye on your Tier 1 tech’s to make sure that they’re utilizing their time effectively.

By measuring average open tickets at the end of the day/week, you can establish your KPI, and

the progress made & required to reach the established goal.

“You’re currently at X open tickets per week; you need to get to Y.”

One way to do this is to visualize it in a spreadsheet for a little perspective.

( Download this spreadsheet with Google Sheets )

Or set it up in the dashboard of your favorite PSA for monitoring. If your tech isn’t reaching the target KPI, then you need to dive in and figure out why not. How can you help them improve their process, or further refine your target KPI?

Instead of placing unnecessary pressure on your tech, you can simply review the data together. They get more autonomy, responsibility and accountability through the process, and you’ll ultimately have a better understanding of what's really happening.

Track average open tickets per week to free up your time, give your techs more autonomy, and enhance your company’s performance.