IT By Design has launched Team GPS, a “business operating system” designed to help MSPs with more technical know-how than management experience better handle critical dimensions of running a successful practice.
The tech talent specialist unveiled the new offering at its Build IT Live partner conference for 2021, which wrapped up in Jersey City, N.J., today.
In development for some two years, and originally designed for use within IT By Design itself, Team GPS is built around modules corresponding to core elements of business success like strategy, team rewards and recognition, and employee sentiment.
A first module dedicated to client sentiment and available now helps MSPs collect customer satisfaction and net promoter scores and then combine them with service-related information imported from their PSA solution. “It’s going to give them everything that they need to build the customer experience pillar of their business,” says Sunny Kaila, IT By Design’s CEO.
At present, that initial module supports the ConnectWise Manage PSA system as well as Datto’s Autotask PSA. Integration with platforms from Kaseya and N-able as well is on the roadmap for next year.
The employee sentiment module, which is set to ship in October, aims to keep technicians and other team members motivated and engaged through tools like an in-house social media feed where peers and managers can recognize people for their contributions.
A business strategy module will arrive early in 2022 and a performance management module will ship next April. The latter system will include resources for tracking progress against employee goals as well as conducting one-to-one performance reviews. Managers can share the latest performance metrics throughout the year with employees in a dashboard format too.
“It helps them get the clarity that they’re looking for,” says IT By Design President and Chief Revenue Officer Kam Attwal-Kaila, who notes that a lack of clarity about where they are exceling or falling short of expectations is a leading reason people seek out new jobs.
As Attwal-Kaila emphasized during a Build IT Live keynote this week, employee engagement and growth are key contributors to success for MSPs at a time when demand for IT talent far exceeds the supply. Indeed, the U.S. unemployment rate in technical occupations was at a two-year low as of July according to industry association CompTIA.
Team GPS licenses cost $75 a month for 1-5 users and scale up to $210 a month for 21-30 users.
Tools like Team GPS, said Kaila during a Build IT Live presentation, are one of the three crucial ingredients for success that every MSP needs. The other two, both of which also begin with “T,” are talent and training.
The communities of practice (COPs) that IT By Design began rolling out earlier this year are designed to help with the talent piece of that formula. The 10-member groups give an MSP’s staff instruction in sales, marketing, finance, HR, and other disciplines through quarterly meetings, monthly check-ins, and learn by doing homework assignments that culminate in the creation of usable, real-world plans and documents.
“It’s a win-win. Not only are you growing your team member, you’re getting business outcomes out of it,” says Attwal-Kaila. “It’s moving your business forward while moving the individual forward as well.”
COPs are led by outside experts who include leadership consultant Rick VanDermyden, sales advisor Jack Daly, marketing guru Jeff Henderson, and strategy architect David Mitchell.
There are three communities in operation at present. A fourth is expected to get started later this month. Participation costs $800 per person per month, with a one-year commitment.
IT By Design introduced Build IT University a year ago to assist with the third “T,” training. The company plans to equip that platform with a new backend learning management system (LMS) next year, and to stock it with materials from its own employee education courses.
“We’re going to actually implement and take the trainings and everything that we are teaching our people and put them into this beautiful LMS,” says Attwal-Kaila.
During their Build IT Live keynotes, both Kaila and Attwal-Kaila voiced their passionately held belief that people, rather than technology, are what separates best-in-class MSPs from run-of-the-mill competitors.
