When analyzing an MSP’s operational health, I always focus on three critical metrics. Today, I want to discuss what I consider the most revealing of these: seats managed per support resource. This measurement goes straight to the heart of support efficiency, telling me a great deal about your operational maturity, profitability, and scalability.
With the proliferation of additional tools, specifically security tools, we have seen the average monthly tickets per end user increase for some MSPs. This means you spend more of your tech resources on tickets and have less resources for proactive tasks. That reduces proactive work, further increasing ticket counts, and it spirals. We call that the reactive spiral.
There are two metrics that determine your seats managed per resource:
- Tickets per month per end user.
- Average tickets closed per resource.
For the purpose of this blog post, we’re going to focus on tickets per month per end user. First, you must track your tickets properly, both support and alerts. Some MSPs don’t realize the direct impact your average ticket counts have on your business.
If you manage 1000 seats, and your tickets per month per end user increases by 0.25, that’s 250 tickets in a month. Think of it this way: That’s 11 tickets a day. For you, that’s at least one tech. It might even be two techs, if you average only six tickets closed per day per tech.
At the micro level, small changes in tickets per month per end user have a big impact on your costs. Many times, I ask people why this number has increased, and it’s the first time they’re realizing it. The answer is often, “I have to look into it.” When I talk about command, this is what I mean. Key levers have a big impact on profitability and growth.
It’s time to get your arms around your tickets per month per end user. First, be sure you’re capturing all tickets and alerts and that they’re being reported accurately. Your PSA should provide comprehensive data that helps you spot trends and identify problem areas before they affect your bottom line.
Tracking tickets per month per end user is step one. You’ll need to look at your tickets closed per resource. Understanding both sides of this equation gives you full visibility into your support efficiency and helps identify where improvements can be made.
And finally, how do you lower your ticket count? This is the critical question that can transform your business. Through strategic standardization, targeted automation, and consistent proactive maintenance, you can reverse the reactive spiral and build a more efficient service delivery model.
The path to improved MSP profitability starts with understanding where you are today. Take time to analyze your current metrics and identify what’s driving your ticket volume. Once you have clarity on these numbers, you’ll be equipped to make strategic decisions that break the reactive spiral and set your business on a path to greater efficiency, profitability, and scalability.