When you think of the essential stack for a managed service provider, you probably think RMM, PSA, maybe documentation and security tools. But what about project management?
For too many MSPs, managing projects is a chaotic, manual process done in spreadsheets or patched together through PSA tickets. That structure leads to inefficiency, burnout, and eroded margins. According to Mike Psenka, CEO of Moovila, that’s a quiet killer in the MSP industry.
“Project management isn’t sexy,” Psenka admitted. “But poor project management is really damaging margins and relationships in the IT channel.”
I recently sat down with Mike to talk about the root causes of project pain in the MSP space — and how Moovila is helping partners turn project chaos into a growth engine.
The Hidden Cost of Poor Project Management
Mike Psenka
Psenka’s team started Moovila with a simple but powerful realization: project work is full of avoidable risk — and the current tools most MSPs use do nothing to stop it.
“Let’s say you have a project with 40 tasks and everybody on your team meets their deadlines 90% of time. The odds of the entire project finishing on time is 1.5%. Nobody realizes how bad the odds are. Now, if you have 20 projects in your portfolio simultaneously, statistically, the odds of completing everything on time are near zero.”
The result? Surprise delays, overworked teams, and underbilled hours. That translates into lost revenue and damaged customer trust.
“It’s a broken system and so many MSPs are getting burned by it. They review the project after the fact and say, ‘We bid this at 80 hours, we spent 144. If we only get paid for 80, that means we hemorrhaged cash,'” he said.
Programming Work Like Code
Unlike traditional project management tools, Moovila approaches work management as a math and data science problem. The platform uses deterministic AI — not just probabilities or chat interfaces — to identify scheduling conflicts, resource constraints, and capacity issues early.
“We treat tasks like endpoints in an RMM,” Psenka noted. “We scan your project portfolio the way RMMs scan your devices — for issues, risks, and anomalies before they become disasters.”
This white-box, explainable AI gives MSPs a clear, actionable view of risk. Instead of waiting for projects to go sideways, they get early warnings, proactive suggestions, and time to course-correct. That’s something most project managers today don’t even realize is possible.
Integrations with the Tools MSPs Already Use
Moovila connects directly into popular MSP tools like ConnectWise, Autotask, and HaloPSA, pulling in ticket and schedule data to automate project oversight. That integration allows for continuous portfolio visibility — without disrupting how engineers and project leads already work.
It’s automation that respects the workflow.
MSPs don’t need to rewire their business. The tool helps them see what they couldn’t before — and it does the heavy lifting.
Real-Time Awareness = Real-Time Profit
One of the most valuable features? Real-time cost tracking.
Moovila enables in-flight project reviews, so MSPs can see time and cost overruns before the job is done. That means fewer margin-killing surprises — and more accurate pricing and billing.
The platform even helps MSPs refine their service templates over time. If a task regularly takes longer or requires a higher-cost resource, Moovila suggests template updates automatically.
“It’s death by a thousand cuts,” said Psenka. “We eliminate those cuts to make your projects profitable.”
AI That Frees You to Be More Human
While much of the industry is still debating whether AI will replace tech workers, Moovila takes a different view.
“AI isn’t here to replace MSPs — it’s here to make them more effective,” Psenka said. “It allows them to focus on qualitative issues, not the mind-numbing quantitative stuff that can be automated.”
In an age where customer loyalty is often earned through trust and personal touch, giving MSPs more time to connect with clients may be the most valuable feature of all.
Moovila in a Nutshell
For MSPs, Moovila offers:
- AI-powered risk detection across project portfolios
- Real-time cost and time tracking
- Task and capacity conflict alerts
- Project health dashboards and trend analysis
- Seamless integrations with PSA/RMM platforms
- Template optimization and automation
From Accidental Entrepreneur to Confident Business Owner
Many in the channel — especially those who started as IT pros turned entrepreneurs — never planned to run complex project-driven businesses. But today, structured service delivery and project excellence are the new table stakes.
“This industry is evolving,” Psenka shared. “Operational excellence is more important than ever. For MSPs to enable their customers, it requires structured, repeatable, productized service offerings. Delivery has to be efficient.”
Final Thought
Running an MSP shouldn’t feel like playing project whack-a-mole. With platforms like Moovila, project chaos becomes structured, measurable, and manageable.
“Peace of mind might be the most valuable thing we give our customers,” said Psenka.
In a world of alerts, escalations, and non-stop customer demand, that might be the most innovative advancement of all.
Images: Moovila
