MSPs do a lot of work that clients never see, like backing up data, installing patches, and identifying security vulnerabilities. That’s why IT reports are important — they track every client task and demonstrate the ROI of an MSP partnership.
They also help MSPs evaluate their internal processes, technology, and scalability. In this post, we’ll talk about the different types of IT reports, and what you can learn from them.
What are IT reports?
An IT report is an account of KPIs, such as closed tickets or average response times, that help MSPs evaluate their performance and identify opportunities for improvement — as well as show clients what work they’ve done.
About KPIs
Internally, you may be able to easily identify what KPIs you want to track, but clients may have different priorities. For example, some clients may want to see how many tickets you resolved in a month, whereas others might be more concerned with security threats you identified. Work with each client to establish KPIs so you can customize reports.
What are some use cases?
In addition to demonstrating ROI for clients, IT reports help MSP leaders assess the state of their business. The data in these reports can help leadership determine:
- When to hire — If the team is struggling to keep up with open tickets, that could mean it’s time to hire more employees.
- When to upsell — If specific clients are routinely exhausting the hours defined in their SLA, that could be an opportunity to nudge them into a higher-value agreement.
- When to upgrade tech — With visibility into how employees are spending their time, leadership can determine whether to invest in additional tech or tools to improve workflows or efficiency.
Types of IT reports
The types of reports you can generate depend on the software you use to track your MSP work, but these are the most commonly available types:
Ticket reports
IT ticket reports can give you a lot of critical information. You can sort by date range, ticket status, and resolution time, as well as see comments associated with each ticket.
RMM reports
RMM reports help MSPs track the status of assets like laptops, printers, operating systems, and software. You can also create reports for customers that show recommended replacement timeframes for assets.
Your MSP software may let you schedule internal alerts when critical systems or assets are nearing expiration, run a report on viruses blocked per week, and categorize issues by type or device.
Employee and communication reports
Employee reports include credential access logs, ticket status by employee, and hours by technician, as well as time clock entries and sales data.
Communication reports show you conversations aside from ticket comments, including SMS, email, caller ID logs, and “snail mail.” This is a helpful feature if you need to find a change request or approval that occurred outside of your ticketing workflow.
Payment and sales reports
If your MSP software includes account management features, you can generate reports that show customer payments, credit balances, and open balances. You can also see prepaid hours, equipment purchases, and pending ticket charges.
You may also be able to view sales details, like charges for one-off customer requests that are outside the scope of the SLA and which technicians fulfilled those requests.
Purchasing considerations: What to look for
Now that we’ve covered why IT reports are so useful, let’s look at how to choose IT reporting software.
Report-building templates
Reporting shouldn’t be a cumbersome process. Look for software that includes a simple report builder with custom fields and the option to save your reports as templates. Some software further enhances efficiency by letting you automate your regular reports and send them to employees or clients.
Knowledge base
Self-service support can help you find answers quickly. A knowledge base that shows you step-by-step instructions for generating reports is useful when time is of the essence.
IT ticketing
It’s easy to run IT ticket reports when your ticketing system is part of the platform. An integrated MSP ticketing system captures data in real time, allowing you to populate reports in just a few steps.
Automated billing
The best IT reporting platforms include automated invoicing capabilities that draw from billable hours — no manual accounting required — to ensure you never over- or undercharge clients.
Integrations
Even when your IT reporting software includes ticketing management, you might have other external tech that you want to continue using. If so, look for integrations with your preferred tech, so you can perform all the functions of your job from a single interface.
Remote access
When you need to troubleshoot or update a client endpoint, one-click access is preferable to RDP. Some IT reporting software includes that functionality, and you can track your time on remote tasks as you work.
Real-time queue management
In an office setting, a real-time view of your ticketing queue gives everyone insight into your workload, the urgency of tasks, and who’s working on specific tasks.
Data backups
Your MSP software should regularly back up data to an offsite location. Even better if it lets you export data as CSV files, so you have an additional backup. In the event of a fire, flood, or other disaster, your backed-up data will help you quickly get back to business.
Flexibility
Your MSP software should evolve along with your business, so look for a provider that not only welcomes MSP feedback, but also acts upon it.
Manage more with Syncro
Syncro is a complete solution for MSPs. With our suite of features, you can work more efficiently, give clients visibility into your processes, and track every outcome. We also offer multiple integrations so you can work within Syncro instead of switching back and forth between various tools.
With no contracts, no minimums, and no restrictions on the number of endpoints, Syncro offers the utmost flexibility for MSPs. Take Syncro for a test drive and see how it simplifies MSP operations.