Comments on: PSA Software Has Critical Mass Among Leading MSPs

By: Jim Barnet

Jim Barnet — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 21:37:12 +0000

So it’s an interesting comment about “labor is your inventory”. Actually, if you’re a large IT solutions provider working on larger multi-phase projects, labor and product are your inventory (and you could even make an argument that 3rd party maintenance agreements are inventory as well) and PSA software solutions only do a good job on the labor utilization portion. I’m not talking about “stock” I’m talking about customer assets, hot stock inventory, rental inventory and the coordination between service deliverables and squipment deliverables. Progress billing and “WIP” go hand in hand. Break fix shops don’t need to track WIP, nor do the “quote it, ship it, install it and bill it” projects, but for a large multi-stage project, if you’re not tracking WIP, then how exactly are you tracking mid-project profitability? The next generation of solutions for the IT solutions provider are services resource planning (SRP) solutions, which track everything: labor, product, and support, not just Services.

By: The VAR Guy

The VAR Guy — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 12:52:42 +0000

Nathan@11: The VAR Guy respectfully disagrees with your comment. There are multiple versions of PSA that can get small VARs and MSPs going on the path to success…
-TVG

By: Nathan McGinty

Nathan McGinty — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 14:17:34 +0000

It’s tough for MSPs to integrate PSAs into their businesses. Especially smaller MSPs and one-man MSPs.

http://www.mspbusinessmanagement.com/blog/use-solid-professional-services-automation-system-simplify-billing

By: Stuart Crawford

Stuart Crawford — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 16:29:39 +0000

Hi VarGuy…

Good to link up with you again in Dallas. I used to be one of these guys that never saw the value in a PSA tool. Now, I have changed by direction. A PSA solution is critically important platform on which to build your business. My firm Bulletproof InfoTech as elected to build our business on ConnectWise and we have found the product to be exceptional. Plus the interaction with Arnie and Jeannine has been wonderful. They are not a vendor, they are our platform specialists and they play a critical role in the success of our business.

Cheers mate

Stuart Crawford
Calgary, AB
http://www.bulletproofIT.ca

By: Jim Lancaster

Jim Lancaster — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 17:55:57 +0000

John, we (all of us service providers) need to be able to track WIP regardless of how much of our revenues come from recurring services. The largest single component of our inventory is employee time, regardless of how it is billed (hourly or by device). Reconciling time (and WIP) is only way we can make sure all time has been entered and accounted for, and all billable time has actually been billed. Accurately accounting for all time is also a necessary component in measuring employee productivity. Again, this is true regardless of whether you bill by the hour, by the contract, or by device.

By: Bob Vogel

Bob Vogel — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 17:14:22 +0000

Hi, Evan… if you are talking to Autotask customers every day, then I’m sure they are telling you that we have several ways of getting critical Work In Progress (WIP) information… including through both Project Reports and Contract Reports.

By: John Douglas

John Douglas — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 17:13:02 +0000

In terms of the WIP thing, I completely agree. Knowing how much billable activity I have in the pipeline allows me to better forecast my revenue and get advanced warning on cashflow. It’s true you don’t need WIP if every dollar you bill is on recurring services. But we, and almost every MSP I know of, has a fair amount of project work, and getting my WIP reports are essential.

By: Evan Siegel

Evan Siegel — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 16:43:39 +0000

solution that combines 95% of the necessary features, functionality and integration IT companies use most. However, each company does have their uniqueness, so we are able to build and create an interface that has the look and feel independently for each client and do so at NO cost to them. We hit the market in 2008 and are talking to Autotask and ConnectWise customers daily. We also offer a both Hosted and In Premise models at a affordable “fixed” monthly cost that includes unlimited user licenses, support and training. We’re the new kid on the block. Keep the content coming.

By: Evan Siegel

Evan Siegel — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 16:38:34 +0000

Hi Joe,

Great conversation and certainly one that will only grow. Karisoft grew out of Al Karimi’s IT company in 2002. The end result was after a long evaluation of the PSA market, a simple, easy to use and CUSTOMIZABLE

By: Eugene Tawiah

Eugene Tawiah — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 16:32:24 +0000

I’m curious as to Arnie’s response.

By: Jim Lancaster

Jim Lancaster — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 14:13:14 +0000

Thanks Joe, but I’m pretty sure Arnie knows what our thoughts are. We’ve been a relatively satisfied Connectwise customer for 4 years, or so, but it remains a complete mystery to us why a self-proclaimed CPA like Arnie is so adamant that there is no need to (or it is not the role of Connectwise to) reconcile time, and truly track staff productivity.

By: Joe Panettieri

Joe Panettieri — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 12:12:17 +0000

Hey Jim: I can’t speak for Arnie. But I will let him know your thoughts and I’ll check to see if he has a response.