How ConnectWise Helped One MSP Mature Their Operations from the Top Down

eTop Technology

eTop Technology is a California-based managed service provider (MSP) that focuses on providing IT solutions to businesses in the light industrial sector. Their services include cloud-based backup and email, remote help desk, security, and 24/7 network monitoring.

Challenge

eTop Technology needed a business and technology platform to support their commitment to provide managed services to new and existing clients.

Solution

ConnectWise solutions provided immediate insight into areas that eTop Technology needed to improve, including support, business operations, and quoting.

Results

With ConnectWise, eTop Technology is continuing to grow into a more mature MSP with consistent services and an improved organizational structure.

CEO William Pote, or BJ for short, was open about not knowing much about providing managed services at the beginning. “When we started, I really had no idea what it would take to run an MSP, or really what an MSP meant,” he admits. Being in this position made it hard for eTop to provide the kind of service they wanted. With the help of the ConnectWise platform, BJ was able to gain incredible insight into his business—old processes weren’t working, client support was suffering, and proper quoting was nearly nonexistent.

The information BJ gathered has fundamentally changed eTop Technology from top to bottom. A complete shift in how they handle client support and internal operations has allowed eTop Technology to confidently provide consistent services to every client. However, it’s taken time for the eTop team to get to this point.

Diving in Head First

In the beginning, eTop was providing break/fix work to clients but really wanted the company to focus on pushing them to monthly services. “We were basically like a help desk and everything else was extra,” BJ explains. “As we’ve matured, there’s little that is extra. We’ve definitely moved more into a solution-based MSP.”

The focus on being an MSP has made eTop’s services evolve as well. Before, each client would have their own backup application or email provider, and eTop would work to support it. Now, they are focusing on selling and supporting a single product or solution for every client. While working toward making the shift, eTop was discovering their old set of tools were not evolving with them.

With More Focus Comes Better Service

So much in IT is uncontrollable, so focusing on what they can control has pushed eTop’s operational maturity to new levels. What eTop can control are the solutions they provide. These include firewall, backup applications, and access points. “We’re meeting and remediating everything we possibly can to bring the client up to snuff,” BJ points out, “so that way they’re happy with our service and we’re happy with our service. I do think that’s starting to be a big differentiator.”

Such a fundamental shift in the business required eTop to look for a business platform that would allow them to provide the services they wanted. ConnectWise has been the solution for them.

A Solution for the Mature MSP

Before implementing ConnectWise into eTop’s operations, BJ attended a few ConnectWise User Groups. From an outside perspective, BJ could see there was something special about working with ConnectWise. eTop’s old solution didn’t have much to offer in terms of peer groups or events for users to meet and share their experiences. “There was just a far better community,” he says, “and there were also far more consultants available for ConnectWise.” He noticed a lot of the more established MSPs were working with ConnectWise and felt that they would help eTop continue to mature operationally.

A Look Inside the Company

Since implementing ConnectWise, eTop has seen improvement across the entire organization. “It really showed us how a lot of things were broken, and so we now have very clear roles and responsibilities,” BJ highlights. “Now we’re building out workflows and documentation. Again, that stemmed from us switching over to ConnectWise.”

These changes are primarily due to the added visibility BJ gets from ConnectWise. When eTop tried to fit their old processes into the platform, they realized they were doing a lot of things poorly. Because of this, they’ve rebuilt their processes and have retrained their team.

It’s not just the eTop team that has benefited from ConnectWise. Clients have too. A lot of this is due to scripting within ConnectWise Automate. eTop is now able to automate routine tasks, like customer setup and software deployment, and spend more time on critical issues. They are also able to capture automatic remediation hours that they weren’t able to before. “This shows a lot of value to the customer when you can show them how many things you were able to fix automatically in a given month,” BJ says.

Selling Like a Pro

It’s one thing to improve upon current operations, it’s another to implement a completely new process and do it successfully. That’s exactly what BJ has done with quoting and proposals with ConnectWise Sell. Before adding ConnectWise, BJ wouldn’t create proposals on a regular basis. And if he did, they would take him days to complete. With ConnectWise Sell, he can turn out a 10, 20, or 30-page managed service quote with agreements in an afternoon. It’s been a game changer for BJ. “When competitors show up with a one-pager and I show up with a 25-page, detailed quote, it’s not even a fair fight at that point,” he says.

Templates and real-time pricing information in ConnectWise Sell has made creating quotes and proposals a breeze. Along with standardizing their services, BJ can get out quotes in less time than before, and create a great impression with potential clients.

Delivering Consistency

For BJ, the one thing that eTop can provide to its customers is consistency. “It’s not fun or flashy, but consistency is a high value,” he says. As eTop continues to grow and mature as an MSP, it’s more important than ever for them to provide a service to their clients that they can count on. “It’s not going to be our focus, it is our focus.”