MSP growth involves more than just addressing immediate staffing needs — you must prepare for future scalability. This checklist will help you evaluate your sales, technical, help desk, and admin teams. See if they can handle the demands of a growing client base.
Additionally, assessing your tools, processes, and auditing schedules will ensure your MSP adapts to new opportunities. This checklist also highlights key trends to leverage and warning signs to address.
Checklist Questions
1. Are All Departments Meeting Their Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)?
- Yes/No
- Key Trends to Build Upon:
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- Growing interest in cybersecurity services, compliance consulting, or cloud migration. If your technical team is meeting KPIs in these areas, consider expanding these offerings.
- Increasing close rates and deal sizes from your sales team, which could signal readiness for more aggressive marketing or sales hires. Use these successes to scale further.
- A help desk that consistently resolves issues within SLA can handle higher client loads. Consider preparing for 24/7 support if KPIs consistently show strong service levels.
- Warning Signs to Address:
-
- Consistently missing or marginally meeting KPIs across multiple departments. This could indicate systemic inefficiencies or overworked staff.
- Frequent turnover in key departments, especially if team members leave citing overwork or unclear expectations. This could disrupt growth and harm service quality.
- Technical staff is unable to meet SLA requirements due to increasing complexity of service requests. You may need to invest in training or hire more specialized technicians.
2. Do I Have the Right Tools and Processes to Manage Client Demands?
- Yes/No
- Key Trends to Build Upon:
-
- Tools that are seamlessly integrated (PSA, RMM, CRM), allowing teams to work more efficiently with minimal manual processes. If your current tools are scalable, you’re in a good position to take on additional clients without significantly increasing headcount.
- Growing adoption of AI-based solutions for automation and client interactions. Incorporating AI into helpdesk operations or cybersecurity monitoring could help prepare for scaling with less human intervention.
- Increasing client demands for remote and cloud services, indicating that cloud-based management tools may need to be emphasized. These trends can be leveraged by investing in scalable cloud management platforms.
- Warning Signs to Address:
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- Your tools are outdated or difficult to scale, requiring excessive manual intervention. If your PSA, RMM, or CRM tools are struggling to keep up with growing workloads, this will bottleneck growth.
- Team members spend significant time on redundant processes that could be automated. Evaluate automation solutions if tasks like ticketing or reporting take too long.
- Tools are not mobile-friendly or cloud-compatible, making it difficult for your team to work remotely. Lack of flexibility could prevent you from scaling to meet the needs of a more distributed workforce or client base.
3. Are There Tools, Automation, or Process Improvements to Better Prepare Us for Scaling?
- Yes/No
- Evaluate PSA, CRM, RMM tools for scalability and future proofing.
- Key Trends to Build Upon:
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- Industry shifts toward automation in customer service, security monitoring, and network management. Implementing tools like chatbots, AI-driven ticket routing, or automated network monitoring can prepare your MSP to handle more clients without a proportional increase in staff.
- Adoption of DevOps methodologies and IT automation to streamline project delivery. Consider adding more automation tools in project management and client onboarding.
- Cloud-based RMM and PSA tools that provide centralized visibility and control. These can easily scale as your MSP grows without requiring significant additional infrastructure.
- Warning Signs to Address:
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- High levels of manual intervention in routine processes, such as ticket management, billing, or network monitoring. This will become a bottleneck as you grow.
- Lack of real-time visibility into team workloads, leading to delays or missed SLAs. Process improvements or automated workload balancing could help here.
- Difficulty in adding new clients to existing systems without considerable manual setup. Evaluate whether your tools are truly scalable and automate onboarding if possible.
4. When Did We Last Conduct a Companywide Tool and Process Audit?
- Date: __________
- Ensure you have an annual or semi-annual audit to review technology and workflows.
- Key Trends to Build Upon:
-
- Regular audits that help identify new trends in technology, such as automation, integration, and AI solutions, to improve efficiency. An annual or bi-annual audit of tools can reveal opportunities for more automation or integration, particularly in areas like cybersecurity or help desk management.
- Increasing vendor options for more scalable and integrated solutions. Use audits to keep up-to-date with vendor offerings that can scale with your growth.
- Warning Signs to Address:
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- Your last audit was over 12 months ago or is frequently postponed. Outdated tools or missed opportunities for process improvements could be holding your team back.
- Multiple inefficiencies across teams (e.g., duplicative tasks, disjointed communication) are uncovered during audits but not addressed. This could signal poor follow-through on audit recommendations.
- Vendors have updated their tools or pricing models, and you’re unaware of these changes. You may be overpaying or missing out on features that could benefit your operations.
5. When Did We Last Review Each Team’s Staffing Needs in Relation to Our Growth Objectives?
- Date: __________
- Set a cadence for regular reviews, such as quarterly or annually, aligned with growth goals.
- Key Trends to Build Upon:
-
- Increasing project loads, sales leads, or client requests without a proportional rise in service bottlenecks. This shows your current staff is efficient and could indicate readiness for further growth.
- Staff proactively suggesting process improvements or automation solutions. This reflects a team engaged in continuous improvement, a great sign of growth readiness.
- A pattern of sustained profitability increases without growing pains (e.g., burnout or missed KPIs). This indicates your team is scaling well with current resources.
- Warning Signs to Address:
-
- Teams are consistently operating over capacity or experiencing burnout. This could indicate that your staffing isn’t aligned with the growth trajectory and needs immediate review.
- Frequent delays or missed SLAs as more clients come on board. Signaling that your staff or processes may be overstretched.
- Regular client complaints due to slow responses or service issues. This suggests you may need more staff or better processes to handle increased demand.
Decision Outcome
If you answer “Yes” to most of these questions …
Your MSP appears to be well-prepared for growth. Focus on optimizing automation and reviewing tools to ensure they remain scalable. Regular audits and process improvements will further position your business for success as you scale.
If you answer “No” to many of these questions …
Your MSP might be facing potential growth roadblocks. Begin by assessing staffing levels, updating tools, and reviewing processes. Address any warning signs immediately to avoid disruptions and to better align your staffing and operations with future growth objectives.
Conclusion
Preparing your MSP for future growth involves more than just adding headcount—it requires regular review of tools, processes, and team performance. By leveraging key trends and addressing warning signs, your MSP can effectively scale without sacrificing quality or profitability. Regular audits, process improvements, and staff evaluations will ensure that your business is ready to take on new opportunities while maintaining efficiency and client satisfaction.
ChannelPro has created this checklist to help busy MSPs streamline their decision-making process. This checklist offers a starting point for evaluating key business choices, saving time and providing clarity. While this checklist is designed to guide you through important considerations, we encourage you to seek additional references and professional advice to ensure fully informed decisions.
Featured image: iStock
