The Issue: COVID-19 Disrupts MSP Operations
When the pandemic hit in 2020, Allixo, a renowned managed service provider with over 20 years of experience, faced unprecedented challenges that threatened to overwhelm its service capacity. Scott Taylor, a managing owner with 25 years of IT experience as a CIS administrator and IT manager, had been in charge of operations for four years and focused on assisting his co-owners in embracing a profit-first mindset. The abrupt change to remote work for both their team and clients created a perfect storm that exposed weaknesses in their present service delivery strategy.
"2020 happened and COVID hit. It really got me thinking more about how do we continue to work through this massive backlog of work and get our service levels up where they should be."
The pandemic dramatically accelerated what had been slowly building for years, service delivery bottlenecks that could no longer be addressed with traditional MSP practices. The problems appeared in a number of crucial operational domains:
Provision of Services Bottlenecks and Implementation Issues with ConnectWise
Once the mainstay of Allixo's ticket management system, its ConnectWise system had grown more challenging to use efficiently. While significant occurrences were hidden beneath normal password resets and smaller difficulties, aging tickets piled without obvious ownership. The lack of systematic prioritization often resulted in important client expectations going unfulfilled for extended periods of time.
Once an effective way to coordinate, morning huddles have turned into annoying evaluations of growing backlogs. Every day, teams had to deal with hundreds of open tickets that were only partially closed, which led to a discouraging work atmosphere where many technicians stopped using the PSA dashboard altogether.
Breakdown of the Dispatch System
During the pandemic, the conventional dispatch mechanism, which had functioned well in regular times, was utterly insufficient. Technicians are commonly double-booked for many concurrent client situations due to conflicting priorities. The system caused a number of enduring issues:
- Complex projects were difficult for junior workers to handle while senior engineers handled basic support duties
- Scheduled project work was frequently interrupted by urgent escalations
- Rotations that are on call are producing a lot of stress and fatigue
- Duplicate attempts or issues that are deleted due to unclear ticket ownership
Inconsistencies in the Process
Each technician created their own coping strategies in the absence of defined work management techniques, which further weakened the team's capacity to perform as a unit. It was hard to proactively resolve new issues before they affected clients due to a lack of visibility into workflow bottlenecks and progress across service areas.
The Answer: Combining MSP Operations with Agile Principles
Scott looked at several strategies for managing service delivery as a result of the growing operational difficulties. His research led him to Agile methodology, which provided an immediate moment of clarity:
"That really led me to Agile and I took that and was like turned on right away like 'oh my gosh this is what we need to do.'"
Agile concepts were well-established in software development, but careful adaptation was needed to apply them to MSP operations. Scott started methodically rethinking their approach to service delivery:
Workflow Management Reimagined
Learning about Kanban for ConnectWise:
Scott found Kanban for ConnectWise (now TopLeft), a visualization tool that could be integrated with their current PSA, as a result of his investigation into Agile concepts. The technical basis for integrating Agile workflows into their ConnectWise environment was established by this discovery.
Comprehensive Ticket Structure Revamp:
Rather than simply adding another tool to their stack, Scott recognized the need for fundamental restructuring. The team completely redesigned their ticket statuses and work types to create clearer categorization, more intuitive progression paths, and better alignment between ticket types and the skills required to resolve them.
Pull-Based Ticket Assignment:
Perhaps the most transformative change was abandoning the traditional dispatch model in favor of a pull-based system. Instead of dispatchers pushing tickets to technicians, team members were trained to self-select appropriate work based on their skills and capacity. Team leads shifted from direct assignment to oversight of work distribution, ensuring appropriate skill matching and accountability.
"We trained the guys on the pull-style ticket assignment versus dispatch. The leads all oversaw the work distribution and the skill set and being accountable with the technicians on what work they could do and accomplish."
Daily Operational Structure:
To ensure consistency in the new approach, Scott established a structured daily workflow procedure. This "standing operating procedure" created clear expectations for how technicians should process their work each day, providing the operational framework needed to support the Agile mindset.
Implementation Strategy: Measured and Deliberate
Understanding that organizational change is challenging, Scott adopted an incremental approach:
- Team-Based Implementation: Rather than a company-wide rollout, Scott built Kanban boards for individual groups, allowing for customization based on each team's specific needs and workflows.
- Focused Training: Technicians received targeted training on the pull-style workflow, with an emphasis on accountability and appropriate work selection.
- Leadership-Guided Transition: Team leads played a crucial role in the transition, overseeing work distribution and ensuring the new system addressed real operational needs.
- Expected and Managed Resistance: While there was some initial pushback, Scott anticipated this response and continued refining the approach based on frontline feedback.
The Outcomes: Operational Transformation
The shift to Agile workflow management significantly improved Allixo's service delivery in multiple ways:
Measurable Performance Improvements
Dramatic Backlog Reduction: The most visible and immediate benefit was the reduction in ticket aging. The results began to speak for themselves over time as the ticket count began dropping. The team went from having weeks to months old tickets to resolving them within just a few days.
Reduced After-Hours Burden: The new approach significantly decreased the need for middle-of-the-night on-call responses. This change helped alleviate a lot of stress for the team as they were no longer being woken up in the middle of the night for support calls, which had previously been a significant source of job strain.
Operational Visibility: For the first time, the entire team could visually identify bottlenecks and workflow issues, allowing for proactive resolution before they impacted service delivery.
Workforce Benefits
- Improved Team Morale: By reducing after-hours calls and providing more control over daily workloads, the Agile approach significantly decreased stress levels and improved job satisfaction.
- Enhanced Accountability: Clear ownership of tickets reduced items falling through cracks, while the pull-based system aligned responsibility with autonomy.
- Skill-Based Work Distribution: The new system naturally directed work to the most appropriate team members, improving both efficiency and quality of service.
- Team Autonomy with Oversight: Technicians gained more control over their daily tasks while team leads maintained appropriate oversight, creating a balance that improved both efficiency and quality.
Sustainable Process Improvement
The Kanban-based approach created a framework that continued delivering benefits beyond the initial implementation:
- Visual Problem Identification: The boards made workflow issues immediately apparent, allowing for faster resolution.
- Consistent Work Management: The established daily procedures created predictable workflows that kept operations running smoothly, even during uncertain times.
- Leadership Focus Shift: Team leads could concentrate on improvement and mentoring rather than dispatch and firefighting.
- Adaptable Framework: The system proved flexible enough to accommodate changing business needs during the rapidly evolving pandemic situation.
Lessons for MSPs: Applying Agile to Service Delivery
Allixo's successful implementation during one of the most challenging periods for MSPs offers valuable insights for other service providers:
- Rethink Dispatch Models: Traditional ticket assignment may limit your team's efficiency and create unnecessary bottlenecks.
- Visualize Workflows: Without visual representation, critical bottlenecks often remain invisible until they cause significant problems.
- Start Small: Begin implementation with a single team or service board rather than attempting organization-wide change.
- Establish Daily Routines: Clear, consistent procedures create operational stability, especially during disruptive periods.
- Optimize Ticket Structure: Take time to evaluate whether your ticket categories, statuses, and workflows actually support efficient service delivery.
- Change Leadership Focus: To better utilize their experience, team leads should be moved from dispatch tasks to supervision and improvement.
- Adopt Incremental Improvement: Concentrate on consistent 2% gains that add up over time rather than aiming for flawless answers.
“We were drowning in weeks, even months-old tickets. It was overwhelming. The pandemic forced us to rethink everything. That’s when I discovered Agile — and it completely changed the game. By implementing Kanban boards inside ConnectWise PSA and training our leads on pull-style work assignment, we not only simplified workflows but also empowered our technicians to own their tasks. The results? Our ticket count dropped dramatically. We went from firefighting daily to finally running a predictable, smooth operation.”
Scott Taylor, Managing Owner – Allixo MSP
Scott's experience shows that process modifications may significantly increase operational effectiveness and team happiness even in the midst of a worldwide pandemic, resulting in long-lasting enhancements to service delivery that benefit customers, employees, and the MSP's financial performance.
