by Patricia Ames
Atera recently announced the availability of “The Benchmark,” a service that provides comparative data for IT professionals worldwide so they can understand how they perform compared to colleagues and be better prepared for future trends.
The data collected provides meaningful insights to help MSPs build deeper relationships with their customers, improve operational efficiencies and drive business. The Benchmark benefits companies planning to become an MSP and those who are already managing an existing MSP business.
I spoke with Gil to learn more about the development and expansion of the service and how it will provide value to the MSP community.
Can you explain how The Benchmark works?
We implemented Microsoft’s PowerBI tool to analyze the data anonymously, generated from a large number of agents and sensors. The relevant data is analyzed and visually presented to provide quick insights and value to MSP/IT decision makers.
How does it help MSPs?
It helps MSPs prepare for the future and to improve the overall quality of SMB networks. This is a platform that combines remote monitoring and management, professional services automation and remote connections into one solution. MSPs get a simple user experience that is built on an IoT infrastructure, and is scalable. Atera charges a monthly fee per technician, including unlimited devices and agents.
What types of data are available?
We collect both the business data and the technical data. In gathering the data, we analyzed it based on 10 major KPIs — number of technical alerts, source of technical alerts, number of tickets, time to respond to a ticket, etc. Recently, we announced the release of business intelligence data through The Benchmark. We created this feature because we knew the data we were collecting anonymously from hundreds of participating Atera customers would help MSPs build deeper relationships with their customers and help MSPs evaluate performance and better understand how they measure up against their competition.
What inspired Atera to develop this platform? What problem does it solve for service providers?
We were inspired by the inherent difficulty businesses were having when trying to transition from a break-fix model to an MSP model. We saw our partners struggling, so we wanted to find a way to help them. We started to strategize and create best practices based on the data we were collecting around what an SLA contract should look like and how much to charge. Additionally, we saw a similar need with existing MSPs. Their challenge was around trying to understand if they are performing well versus their peers, competitors, etc. We had the data that could help them and improve the MSP community as whole.
What’s the future hold for MSPs?
Choosing the right partners to enable the transition from a break-fix model to an MSP is important. It is equally important to leverage the right SaaS provider to help manage the business once the transition is in motion. This requires MSPs to have the right strategy in place. We believe our new service can help with that. Each day, we are listening to our partners and improving our software based on their direct feedback because it is our goal to provide the best platform in the business.
You can reach Gil and find out more at Atera.com
Patricia Ames is senior analyst for BPO Media, which publishes The Imaging Channel and Workflow magazines. As a market analyst and industry consultant, Ames has worked for prominent consulting firms including KPMG and has more than 10 years experience in the imaging industry covering technology and business sectors. Ames has lived and worked in the United States, Southeast Asia and Europe and enjoys being a part of a global industry and community. Follow her on Twitter at @OTGPublisher or contact her by email at patricia@bpomedia.com.
Patricia Ames is president and senior analyst for BPO Media, which publishes The Imaging Channel and Workflow magazines. As a market analyst and industry consultant, Ames has worked for prominent consulting firms including KPMG and has more than 15 years experience in the imaging industry covering technology and business sectors. Ames has lived and worked in the United States, Southeast Asia and Europe and enjoys being a part of a global industry and community.
