Blogs

CRM version 5.7: It’s Just Right!

Posted on December 12, 2011 by The RangerMSP Team

It’s not that we learned everything worth knowing from nursery rhymes or children’s stories, but, the lessons we amassed during our youth definitely continue to resonate with us today.

From the anecdote about Jack and Jill, for example, we learned about the importance of teamwork. From the Three Little Pigs, we learned that shortcuts never pay off. From The Hare and the Tortoise, we learned about humility and consistency. And from Goldilocks and the Three Bears, we learned that while many things appear to be incredibly attractive because of their extreme features, nothing is more appealing than an item that is just right!

Whenever we go about building new versions of our PSA for MSP, we’re a lot like Goldilocks — experimenting with flashy, complicated, and, often, unnecessary features. And then, we are faced with the dilemma of whether or not to trade our solution’s easy-to-use and robust-yet-simple nature for eye catching and overly complicated features.

Drawing on the lesson of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, we choose to keep this PSA software an easy-to-use solution that is just right and addresses all of our users’ needs. For this reason, we elected to preserve the usability, affordability and functionality of our software solution for version 5.7. So, instead of providing our users with a professional services automation (PSA) solution that is either too complicated or too simple, too basic or too expensive, we bring IT service providers, MSPs and other IT support providers a PSA that is just right!

From version 5.7’s more robust new additions, like the new Quoting module, to its more fundamental enhancements, like the new Keyboard shortcuts that make accessing the applications’ Windows even easier, this new 5.7 version bring users a business automation solution that truly suits their needs.

So far, users have echoed our Goldilocks-like sentiments about the new 5.7 release, and have described the new version of our PSA as being just right. More specifically, users have said that version 5.7 provides them with the modules they need to run a successful business. One user in North Carolina, for example, shared with us that, for his company, “This PSA contains all of the major features and benefits to make it an ideal computer services company CRM tool. Hurrah!” Similarly, another user out of the UK contacted us to share that the PSA’s “Quote feature is fantastic and that the Calendar in the Web Interface is very useful.”

We aim to provide users with the enhancements they need to make their entire experience ideal.

We know that the IT support industry is brimming with a variety of business automation software solutions, from basic ticketing software to customer relationship management (CRM) and PSA solutions.

We are glad to be able to provide you with a unique PSA solution that is designed to be as fully comprehensive as it is usable and as affordable as it is beneficial.

While we continuously strive to improve and expand our PSA to bring you even more useful and easy-to-use tools to help you handle complex business scenarios, we are, above all, committed to you, our users. Our hope is that the new version and all future versions of our PSA will be just right for you, and by teaming up with us, you and your businesses will be more profitable, efficient and better equipped to make your goals realities!

Until next time!
Success Team

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Carving Out a Piece of the Revenue Pie

Posted on December 6, 2011 by The RangerMSP Team

Currently, many industries are stuck in zero or negative growth, but for IT support providers, the economic tide is changing, and it is changing for the better!

According to Parks Associates, the SMB tech support industry is growing, predicted to be worth more than $15 billion in the next three years. Combined with household tech support, Parks Associates posits that, over the next three years, the tech support industry will be worth more than $30 billion! That’s extremely substantial growth, especial for today’s standards.

We’re hoping that your IT services, managed services or computer repair business gets a piece of the growing tech support revenue pie.

We want to see you succeed, so, when we were working on version 5.7, we were sure to include tools that can help you expand your business and increase your revenues. If nothing else, these new additions can help you run your business more efficiently.

One of these handy new features is the Web Interface’s new Weekly Calendar.

The new and enhanced Weekly Calender has transformed the viewing and functionality of the Web Interface’s Calendar. Until now, the Web Interface’s Calender has allowed you to view all tasks, appointments and activities from any Web browser, but in a dense, text-heavy list format.

The format of the Web Interface’s old Dispatcher, task and appointment schedule looks like this, and is still available with version 5.7:

With the new Weekly Calendar view however, you, version 5.7 users, are able to view all of your appointments and tasks in an easy-to-view, rich layout.

In addition to providing an easier way to view all of your Dispatcher and impending appointments, the Web Interface’s Weekly Calendar also makes it easier for you to quickly assess when you have free time and when your time has already been committed to a task.

In the Weekly Calendar, all of your “free time” slots are accompanied by a green line. All time slots marked by a red line indicate that your time is busy.

By color coding your schedule, the new Weekly Calendar makes it easier for you to asses your own schedule. Similarly, the new feature also provides you with an easier mechanism to view and assess all shared appointments and data from the Dispatcher.

Instead of only offering you the ability to view all of your business’ scheduled activities in a long list, organized according to chronology (date and time), version 5.7 enables you to view all of the other technicians’ activities shared with you in the Weekly Calendar.

To optimize the simultaneous viewing of all technicians’ schedules, the Weekly Calendar still distinguishes your availability, by marking your free time with a green bar and your busy time with a red bar, but it also includes other technicians’ scheduled activities. The tasks and appointments for other technicians are attributed to the appropriate technician by name and are also color coded according to the preselected colors for each technician.

By making it easier for you to account for your time and for the time of your fellow technicians, version 5.7’s new Weekly Calendar for the Web Interface enables you to manage your growing business with increased ease and improved oversight. So, as your business grows, and the schedules for you and your fellow technicians become increasingly busy, count on the new Weekly Calendar to help you manage your time and be confident in your ability to continue providing your customers with quality and efficient service as you carve out a larger piece of the SMB tech support pie!

Until next time,
Success Team

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Ideal Quoting Module Realized!

Posted on December 1, 2011 by The RangerMSP Team

In an ideal world, increasing revenue would be as easy as accruing bills, and managing Quotes would be as convenient as managing a database of contacts.

With version 5.7’s new Quoting module, IT support providers get a professional services automation (PSA) solution that helps make their world a little more ideal.

While it’s not a money tree or an autonomous program that can produce results for you, the Quoting module streamlines the entire sales quoting cycle, from quote generation to follow-up, status changes, customer acceptances, wins and invoicing.

Never before has our CRM and PSA software made it so easy to create, monitor and win sales quotes and proposals.

Curious as to what makes the Quoting module so easy to use and useful? Well, here are a couple significant features and benefits that the Quoting module provides:

Firstly, when you set up a sales quote through the Quoting module, the Quote is linked to a selected Account in order to both save you the time of reentering your contact’s information and in order to automatically include the Quote in your Account’s history for improved customer service.

As you build your Quote, you are able to customize line items for every Quote. As you enter the parts, labor or expense Items into your Quote, you are able to customize the pricing by including discounts, markups or fixed prices. With this Quoting feature, building a Quote is made very convenient and quoting your customers and prospects becomes an instantaneous task.

Also, to help make the processes of Quote creation and maintenance easier, the Quoting module gives you the option to enter text-based line items so that you can tailor every Quote to your customer, including specific directions or explanations.

The Quoting module offers feature has built in mechanisms to help ensure an efficient and professional experience for your customers. Not only can customers be provided with a branded hard copy of the Quote, but you can also send them a copy of their Quote via email or provide them with also access their Quotes through the Customer Portal. They can even accept the Quote via the Web!

The advantages of providing customers with online access to their Quotes are that customers benefit from instant access and they can approve Quotes or Proposals at their own leisure and from the comfort of their personal or work computers.

Once you have won the Quote, and the customer has either approved the Quote via the Customer Portal or in writing, you can easily and efficiently convert the Quote into either a set of Charges, one for each of the Quote line items, or into a single QuickBooks Invoice where each Quote Line is converted into an Invoice Line (including the textual lines).

Whether you are simply looking for an easier way to create, manage, win or convert a Quote into an invoice, the Quoting module offers features for you. By using the Quoting module for your entire Quoting cycle, you’ll make your job a little easier, and hopefully your wallet a little richer!

Until next time,
Success Team

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Sharing Our Good News with You!

Posted on November 28, 2011 by The RangerMSP Team

Good news comes in all shapes and sizes. Some good news comes bundled up in a blanket and smells, looks and sounds a lot like a baby. Other types of good news come in the forms of stellar report cards, winning lottery tickets, and pictures of you catching your first fish. So, whether its is celebrated with slew of photographs, a special dinner, a gold star, balloons or a round of applause, good news is always celebrated.

Today, as we invite you to take a look at the official press release written up about the new 5.7 version release, we look forward to the various ways in which you will celebrate our good news with us.

News entities such as Yahoo, SaaS News Wire and the San Francisco Chronicle have already joined us in celebrating the release of version 5.7. Like us, these news entities recognize that releasing a new version of our software only three months after our previous release is a real achievement. Additionally, the enhancements and new tools included in this new CRM version 5.7 have once again transformed our professional services automation (PSA) software for IT support professionals, giving it a whole new layer of functionality.

We invite you, IT services providers, managed services providers (MSPs), computer repair shop owners, IT consultants, and the entire community, to read our Press Release and learn more about the new additions to release 5.7. We also encourage you to download our FREE, fully functional 30 day trial to see how our good news can be your good news too as thew new version helps you run and manage your business better.

After learning more about our good news and version 5.7, join us in celebrating this achievement by inviting your friends, colleagues and associates to join the family of users who use our easy-to-use, affordable, and fully functional PSA solution to manage and grow their IT businesses!

Until next time,
Success Team

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The Forums and the Future of Mentors

Posted on November 22, 2011 by The RangerMSP Team

The concept of mentoring goes back a LONG time, and its track record is just about as impressive as it is long. Looking back over time, there are a remarkable number of famous and successful mentor-protege relationships. Think about Socrates and Plato, Medici and Michelangelo, or Freud and Jung. Many of mankind’s most remarkable minds and great contributions were made possible by lessons and crafts imparted from mentor to mentee. Without these special relationships, we probably wouldn’t have the Sistine Chapel or the David, or Analytical Psychology.

The importance of mentor relationships has been at the center of many studies over the years. In a 1978, conducted by Levinson, Darrow, Klein, Levinson and McKee, researchers were able to link occupational success to mentoring. Likewise, other studies have linked mentor-protege relationships to increased job satisfaction, higher salaries and faster promotions for the mentee.

How amazing would it be if you could further your career and increase your financial success by collaborating with a mentor? Well, history and research both say that you can really benefit from participating in a mentor partnership.

In the IT industry however, matching yourself up with a mentor is a bit more complicated than in most fields. In academia, a mentor is virtually built into the system; the same thing applies to medicine. Many businesses also incorporate mentoring programs in their company activities.

But, when you work in a small IT support business, there aren’t many organic mentoring opportunities. That is where the Forums come into play.

We are very lucky to have a community of bright, competent, experienced and successful IT services providers, managed services providers (MSPs), IT consultants, etc. Our informed users cover an array of IT support occupations and a variety of areas of expertise. By bringing all users together in our Forums, we enable everyone to mentor each other, sharing their insights, successes, struggles and lessons learned.

In our Running an IT Services Business forum, for example, users can ask each other technical questions, workflow and business related questions and customer relationship management (CRM) questions.

By utilizing the forums you can benefit from others’ experiences and areas of expertise.

For IT professionals, it’s very apropos that you find your mentors out in cyberspace. While fostering mentor relationships in user forms is avant-garde and modern, it’s no less beneficial to IT support providers looking to learn, succeed and grow.

If you haven’t yet, check out our Forums, and start sharing your questions, experiences and expertise with the community by registering as a forum user.

Forum registration is free and only takes moments to complete!

Until next time,
Success Team

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Version 5.7: How New Versions are Achieved

Posted on November 15, 2011 by The RangerMSP Team

If reality worked more like fairy tales, we could just snap our fingers, click our heels together, or chant “Bibbidi bobbito boo,” and any enhancements we would like to add to our PSA software would just instantaneously exist.

Unfortunately, in real life, we have no Marry Poppins, good witch Glinda or fairy godmother, so, when we decide to augment the app, we face a number of consuming challenges when we release new editions of our professional services automation (PSA) software solution multiple times each year.

When we released version 5.6, in August, only about three months ago, we were already dreaming up CRM version 5.7. Our product manager, developers and customer service and support team were sorting through customer suggestions and were brainstorming new ideas of their own.

The process of simply assembling a list of enhancements and new features to add to a new release takes time. The value and viability of each idea needed to be assessed. Once a list of enhancements is assembled, we have to estimate the time it would take to develop each new feature so that we can both determine which new options to develop concurrently for the next version release and so that we could establish a tentative release date for the new version.

After we came up with the list of features to be included for the new version, we divided the task between our team and started coding the enhancements, being careful each addition would interact well with the others, in spite of being created by different developers. Like with every new version, we had to be to sure that API changes were carefully implemented so that new APIs will support all of our new features and options without requiring changes to be made to any third party programs that have already implemented using the software APIs.

The meticulousness and care applied by each of our developers is the key to the success of each one of our PSA software versions. Applying a combination of those skills and patience, our team produced code for all of the new tools and features for version 5.7. They tested each of their programs multiple times, addressing bugs, incompatibilities and glitches.

Once our developers were confident in their programs, they handed them to our QA team to test them again. When any new bugs were discovered, the programs were sent back to the developers to fix. The updated versions of the programs were then provided to the QA team for additional review.

With each new version, not only are the new features tested, but our QA team also verifies that the rest of the app works properly and is not affected by changes to our software solution. As with all of our version releases, everyone did their utmost to ensure that even the Beta version of 5.7 was error free and stable. After the new CRM 5.7 version was reviewed in its entirety, it was released in Beta form to a select group of users as another means of checking the integrity of the new version of our PSA.

Once an error free Beta version was achieved, we were able to announce and unveil the Release Candidate of the new version. During this period of time, we start coordinating plans to release the new version. We also start sorting through our users’ suggestions, new industry releases, etc. to start preparing for the next version!

Due to the incredible undertaking of developing every new version, releasing a new version of of our PSA only months after our previous release is an achievement. As with all version releases, with 5.7, we faced the challenge of finding the time to code, perfect, test, and correct ever new feature. Because we believe that we’ve succeeded in overcoming all of these obstacles, we are excited to be bringing you a new set of feature and tool enhancements and integrations only months after bringing you another very robust new edition.

We’d love to share more about our experience of developing version 5.7 in just a few short months, but duty calls. Back to the drawing board we go!

Until next time,
Success Team

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Creating Knowledge Base Articles from Tickets

Posted on November 10, 2011 by The RangerMSP Team

With knowledge comes power, and, in the IT industry, with power, comes the ability to handle issues ranging from backup and recovery problems to security policies and network management issues.

As IT services provider, managed services provider (MSP) or general computer repair professional, we are exposed to a myriad of problems. While we are well trained and seasoned IT professionals, we don’t always have the answers to the problems we are facing and we don’t always know the quickest method of resolving issues.

Wouldn’t it be handy, then, to have access to a database of fix-it ideas and solutions so that we can always know the best way to solve a variety of issues?

We are always looking for ways to help our community to do their jobs more efficiently and effectively which is why we include the Knowledge Base in CRM.

The Knowledge Base is a module within our professional services automation (PSA) solution that lets you create and manage articles with resolution instructions that enable technicians to resolve issues faster. Both technicians and customers can access the Knowledge Base archives via the Web Portal, depending on access restrictions.

By having access to the Knowledge Base, you ensure better and faster service for your customers, reduce new employees’ training times because they can always reference the Knowledge Base for resolution tips and you can even cut down operational expenses by empowering technicians to resolve issues on their own.

But from where do these Knowledge Base resolution articles come?

Good question, and there are actually a few answers.

Firstly, you and other technicians can always create new Knowledge Base articles from with the CRM application client or the Web Interface by clicking “New” within the Knowledge Base window.

Once created, Knowledge Base articles can be viewed by the entire team of technicians. Articles can also be made public, allowing customers to review them using your branded Customer Web portal. Aided by the Knowledge Base, custers can research some issues themselves!

With your busy schedule however, it’s hard to find time to set aside to create Knowledge Base articles. So, in order to help you save time and eliminate unnecessary steps, the application enables you to convert any existing Ticket into a Knowledge Base article for future reference.

In order to create a new Knowledge Base Article based on a selected Ticket, simply click on the menu’s ‘More Actions’ button on the Tickets window toolbar and select ‘New Knowledge Base Article from Ticket’.

Immediately, the application opens a new Knowledge Base article with the data provided from your Ticket. The Knowledge Base article title is taken from the Ticket’s description and the article’s solution is derived from the Ticket’s resolution.

Once you select the category, article status and whether or not to make it public, you simply save the new Knowledge Base article by clicking “OK,” and can now access the issue’s solution at any time and from anywhere with a few clicks of your mouse!

By being able to easily convert any Ticket resolution to a Knowledge Base article, you empower yourself, the rest of the technicians on your team and your customers with the knowledge to solve just about any IT problem with efficiency and reliability.

And that is real power!

Until next time,
Success Team

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Running to the Finish Line

Posted on November 7, 2011 by The RangerMSP Team

In the crisp night air, joined by over 15,000 people, members of our marketing team laced up their running shoes, donned highlighter yellow shirts and partook in Nike’s Annual Night Run in Tel Aviv, Israel on November 1, 2011 (11/1/11).

Running 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) to most can seem like a very daunting undertaking, but with proper training, pumping adrenaline, and the support of a running team and crowds of spirited supporters, our running team succeeded in completing their first 10K Nike Run, completing the run in an average of 61.27 minutes.

As we’re sure you have guessed, we are very proud of our marketing team’s participation and achievements. In speaking to our team of runners about completing the race, we learned a lot about the forethought, endurance and discipline it takes to train for a race. In fact, from what we learned from out running team, training for a race is a lot like starting a business.

Prior to signing up for the race, we started regular evening night jogs to “test” our endurance. How far could they run? At what speed? Listening to what music? and so on.

Once our runners established that they could comfortably run 5K, they decided to sign up for the race and commit to crossing the finish line together!

Likewise, when you set out to start your own enterprise, it’s crucial to assess your current state of affairs. Do you have the skills, experience and access to tools you need in order to create your own business venture?

Once you meet the bare minimum of required elements, you then start training, or preparing for the unveiling of your new business.

For our runners, the training process included mapping out a running schedule that would enable runners to slowly build endurance and speed without straining their bodies. For most of our runners, this meant running three to four times a week, adding about 1.6 Kilometers (1 mile) to the run every week. Also, in order to make sure that they would adhere to the training schedule, they established a running club, joining other runners as a support group and a source of motivation and structure.

Our team runners discovered that with the encouragement of others, anything is possible, including finishing a 10K in just about 1 hour!

In addition to creating a supportive running club to help our runners meet their goals, our runners also turned running into an opportunity to explore new things, such as new music, new podcasts and lectures that can be downloaded. Among our runners’ favorite ipod playlists were: Bruno Mars’ The Lazy Song, for jogging, Adele’s Rolling in the Deep and Jessie J’s Price Tag, to set a decent running pace, and just about any song by Michael Buble for cooling down.

Just as our runners learned how to motivate themselves with good music and the support of a team, it is important to ensure that you can rely on a solid support system as you work through the beginning stages of establishing your new business.

Whether its family, friends, business partners or employees, being able to share the trials, troubles, frustrations, successes and setbacks of new ventures with other people is paramount in your quest for success.

Likewise, you need to pace yourself. Our runners were careful to slowly increase the distance of their runs, not wanting to risk injury to run too much. Similarly, you have to be realistic about your goals. You can’t expect to have instant success or wealth. First aim to have a small group of returning customers in one niche, for example. Then try to expand to other niches or neighborhoods. You don’t want to overextend yourself, your finances or resources.

Also, just as our runners chose music to keep their feet moving, give yourself something to look forward to as a means of encouraging yourself to keep working toward your goals. Working on something consistently and tirelessly gets awfully weary. If you want the metaphorical medal at the end of your race, you have to commit to your goal, your timeline and keep persevering.

If our team runners have taught us anything, its that motivation, determination and sweat can make anything possible, including success at the Nike Night Run.

We wish you the best of luck in your endeavors. Whether you’re hoping to run your first race or you are racing to turn one of your goals into a reality, we hope that you enjoy the process of achieving your goal. With the right support system, schedule and soundtrack, hitting the pavement is actually very enjoyable!

Congratulations to our racers and the best of luck to our family of commiters in all of your future endeavors.

Until next time!
Success Team

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A Halloween Message From CRM

Posted on October 31, 2011 by The RangerMSP Team

Hi!

Even though, as IT professionals, we often mix up Halloween and Christmas because
Oct 31=Dec 25, Halloween is really a holiday made for us.

While the general public fears the ghoulish images and figures that haunt homes and storefronts this time of year, we know better than to get jumpy. As IT services providers, managed services providers (MSPs) and programmers, we know how to fight scareware. Also, because of our professional training, we aren’t startled by bugs. In fact, we probably know how to solve most bug problems. We’re just like exterminators without the poison, for we understand that bugs come through open Windows.

Similarly, we know better than to let skeletons frighten us. Contrary to popular opinion, skeletons are actually helpful, especially when it comes to high-level programming. As for understanding the true meaning of “tweak or tweet,” we really do understand it and know to embrace both equally.

In spite of our unique connection to Halloween however, choosing or creating a Halloween costume can still be rather daunting. So, to help you out (and entertain you), here are a few last minute costume ideas for the procrastinating IT professionals among us.

  • Wear a plain, anonymous outfit with a large number of compound arithmetical and logical operators affixed to it, such as + + * – + = =. Nothing scares people like C programming language!
  • Paying tribute to a legend of old, arm yourself with a bag of mushrooms, a pair of overalls and a red shirt, and transform yourself into Mario of Super Mario Brothers.
  • There are very few things more annoying and potentially dangerous than WiFi leeches, those people that use up your bandwidth without your permission and can possibly even monitor your activity and steal your identity. Publicize their evils by gluing plastic leeches (or black bugs) to a wireless router and adhering the router to your clothes. Voila! One scary nest of WiFi leeches just in time for the holiday.
  • For a more current and a somewhat more gory costume, use Mark Zuckerberg, of Facebook fame, as inspiration and put a Halloween twist on his May, 2011 statement in which he challenged himself to become a default vegetarian by only eating meat he, himself, kills. With a butcher’s knife, a t-shirt and a pair of jeans, turn yourself into a scary, animal slaying programmer for the night.
  • Lastly, if you’re looking to pay homage to someone worth praising, dress up as an apple to honor the life, vision and ethos of excellence of Steve Jobs.

We hope you have enjoyed our unique take on Halloween. It’s been a real treat sharing some of our Halloween ideas with you.

Enjoy your candy and costumes!

Until next time,
Success Team

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The Future of CRM for MSPs is 5.7!

Posted on October 27, 2011 by The RangerMSP Team

We’re not afraid to admit it. We like science fiction. Back to the Future. The Martian Chronicles. The Hunger Games series. Movies. Books. Even old radio series. We like it all, especially when it comes to stories set in the future.

To us, the future is something ripe with incredible potential, something that, unfortunately, becomes the present all too quickly. You see, time generally gets the best of us. Because the future becomes the present at a rate of 60 minutes an hour, it’s hard to make the future quite as accomplished as we would like.

That is why we are so excited to announce that, without time machines, alternate universes or super powers, we have released PSA version 5.7 for Beta testing. Only about two months after releasing a very robust CRM version 5.6, we were able to successfully make the vision of version 5.7 an actuality.

Introducing new tools for managed services providers, time saving shortcuts, customer requested enhancements, and entirely new built-in modules, CRM 5.7 Beta is an exciting development for both us and our customers.

So far, we have had positive responses from Beta testers. We can’t wait to release the official 5.7 version, so that we can get your thoughts on our new additions and improvements.

Get ready… The future is almost here!

Stay tuned!

Success Team

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