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The urge to stay with a home-grown and adequately functioning ticketing and time tracking system is tremendous considering that upgrading systems usually requires investment and dealing with change. However, the ‘don’t fix it if it isn’t broken’ mentality eventually impedes natural progression and growth. Today, there are proven Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) systems that require shorter transition times and give added capabilities clients and employees get excited about. As a bonus, upgrading is less daunting and costly than ever before. Here are some reasons why and how you should evaluate upgrading your systems today.

1. Demonstrate Increased Value to Clients

Home-grown systems, while they may operate just fine, generally are strictly ‘back office’ – clients receive work reports and invoices at the end of the month. This is much like the banking industry was before on-line banking became prevalent – today on-line banking is a requirement. Clients of IT service companies see value in (and are starting to demand) being able to view work progress real-time by using more sophisticated on-line service and support systems.

2. Promote New Service Capabilities and Commitment to Quality

New and existing clients always appreciate a proactive commitment to service quality. This is not to say that the use of home-grown systems results in low quality service, but newer on-line support systems provide real-time feedback and work acceptance capabilities that home-grown tracking systems simply do not provide. This may not be critical to service delivery, but having a system with improved capabilities to measure service quality is one more thing IT service companies should promote to clients to demonstrate their expertise with the latest technologies and commitment to service quality.

3. Standardize Support Procedures and Improved Analytics

Many home-grown systems are being pushed to their limits in supporting an increasing number of clients. This is mainly due to the fact those systems were designed for processes and procedures and analytics needed when the system was first built. In order to remain competitive, SaaS systems adapt to changes in processes and provide more relevant analytics as new best practices emerge.

4. Demonstrate Investment in Business to Key Employees

Home-grown systems often take hundreds, sometimes thousands, of hours to customize and get working just right. However, a growing IT service business needs to avoid operating with inflexible and static systems that do not change as change is needed. Showing employees your business is investing in a support systems that responds to their dynamic work environment can significantly reduce employee frustration and build a sense of optimism about the future.

5. SaaS Model is Proven

Today’s public web infrastructure has increased bandwidth and security to finally support leveraging hosted software to run your business and stay connected to clients. In fact, 32% of US companies with 99 employees or less are currently using some type of SaaS application and in 2008 another 36% are considering implementing a SaaS system. [*]

Should you decide to investigate a SaaS service management platform like ConnexIT, there are four business considerations you will want to use to develop a business case for acquisition of the new system.

• Operating Cost Savings – Since SaaS uses a hosted model paying for technical expertise to maintain a server, provide help support to employees, manage backups and security, and provide database maintenance is all included in the cost of the system and likely less than you are paying today.
• Return on Investment (ROI) % - Investing in a new service management platform like ConnexIT produces first year returns through an increase in service billings, decrease in missed service opportunities, time saved by key employees and billable hours previously unrecorded.
• Pay Back Period – Your investment in a new SaaS system should not take years to payback. Depending on your situation a payback period between 4-10 months is very possible for companies that take full advantage of new capabilities.
• Training and Support – Most software systems you purchase have training and support as an add-on cost. SaaS providers like CoreConnex provide dedicated business and technical support for your system as part of the cost. One important best-practice is to assign an internal ‘business owner’ as the manager of the system and the relationship with your SaaS vendor of choice.

Most home-grown ticketing and time tracking systems do provide a greater sense of familiarity that is difficult for some IT service companies to transition away from. However, if you are seeing signs that an outdated system is impeding natural business growth and diminishing employee and client satisfaction, this is a great time for moving to a SaaS service management platform like ConnexIT.

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CoreConnex specializes in professional services automation (PSA) software for VARs, MSPs, channel distribution partners, IT service providers and other professional service companies. We encourage you to share experiences and perspectives as players in this professional community. This blog is moderated. Comments that are unprofessional or derogatory will not be posted.