On April 29th, 2021, we held our first co-hosted webinar with Ricky Cecchini (Director of Product Services, CloudRadial) and Gerwai Todd (CEO, TimeZest).
The webinar recording can be found on YouTube, linked here.
Setting the Stage for Ticketing
Ticketing is one of the most complex “icebergs” of the managed service provider (MSP) world.
In theory, it’s a simple operation. The submitter puts in a ticket (via email, a portal, a phone call, etc.) and the receiving technician answers the ticket and solves the issue.
In reality, there’s a lot more than that going on.
To ensure that a ticket experience is as optimized as possible, there are two core pillars to look at: mean time to ticket (MTTT) and mean time to resolution (MTTR).
The former relates to how fast the user can put in the ticket, while the latter relates to how quickly the issue can be resolved.
People often confuse MTTT as the better statistic because it just feels fast.
After all, how long does it take to pop open an email and email a support@ email that you need help?
Mere seconds, for most folk. But the issue is fast tickets don’t equal fast resolutions.
In fact, it’s almost always the opposite – the faster the ticket comes in, the less thought there has been to explain the issue and provide the necessary details for the MSP to diagnose and solve it properly. Fast tickets turn into back-to-back volleys for more information that end up delaying resolution and causing frustration on both sides.
Instead, the smarter play is to focus on achieving a good MTTR – the undisputed champion in getting the ticket resolved.
Improving MTTR with CloudRadial
If you don’t know, CloudRadial is a dedicated client portal platform that blends MSP account management features with a client portal powered by automation.
There’s a customizable ticketing module within the platform that serves as the client-facing side of the IT experience. A user can log a ticket from a form within the portal and send it directly to the professional service automation (PSA) tool, like ConnectWise or Autotask, via an API connection.
As it relates to a ticketing strategy, CloudRadial is set up to reduce MTTR as much as possible.
By providing a hub portal that allows users to answer set questions BEFORE they submit a ticket, you’re extending the MTTT by a matter of minutes to cut down the MTTR by a matter of hours.
After all, when you have the correct information needed to solve the ticket, you no longer need to hunt for the information from the client.
We’re talking about “tickets” in general, here – but remember that tickets don’t just have to be incidents. CloudRadial specifically gives MSPs the ability to set up both a problem report ticket catalog to serve to clients and a separate service request catalog.
The service request catalog can be used for things like onboarding/offboarding requests, hardware purchasing requests, account management questions, and more.
A platform like CloudRadial that gives you the power to control and streamline your tickets doesn’t just do wonders for your client experience – it also helps your service team reduce wasted time and workload as much as humanly possible.
How TimeZest Improves MTTR Even Further
Gathering information is a crucial step in the ticketing process, but it’s not all there is.
Organizing the information is good, but sometimes you need to take it a step further and proactively reach out to schedule time to discuss more details with the user.
TimeZest integrates seamlessly with Autotask and ConnectWise Manage as part of your ticketing workflow. When used in conjunction with CloudRadial, it allows users to log tickets from the portal and use TimeZest to schedule a time to meet with a relevant team member when available.
The workflow looks something like this: The user logs into the portal, they log a request by filling out the forms asking for information and (if necessary), they’re presented with a panel to schedule the time to meet with the technician after the ticket is submitted.
Making the ticketing experience even more responsive and dynamic opens many more doors to a better experience. Practical use cases include:
- Setting up a remote-in session to troubleshoot a printer issue
- Scheduling an in-person hardware pickup
- Scheduling a meeting with an account manager
- Getting training times for software (like MS Teams) set up with team specialists
The MTTR is optimized to an even greater degree now – the user can schedule their appointment to solve the issue at their own convenience after providing the necessary details to work on the ticket.
It’s a big win for client experience and time savings for all.
Better Together: TimeZest and CloudRadial
Ticketing becomes much more solid when CloudRadial and TimeZest work in tandem – hence, “Better Together.” Give CloudRadial a shot by signing up for a 100% risk-free trial today.
Similarly, you can schedule a demo or a trial set up for TimeZest by visiting this link.
Using both tools together will transform how you approach ticketing and help you master a short MTTR. Go give it a shot!
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