With its intuitive ticketing, retainer management and project management tools, Accelo enables a team of IT experts to implement efficient processes they could not achieve with an industry-specific platform.

Background

Core IT is a Vancouver-based MSP that was founded in 2002.

In addition to managed services like data storage, backup and recovery, network monitoring and technical support, the team of highly-skilled IT professionals provides software licensing and hardware purchasing services.

Kim Hikichi, President and CTO, describes the business’s suite of offerings as customized, affordable and flexible — the ideal mix for clients in any industry.

Challenges

For about six years leading up to 2020, Core IT used ConnectWise as its primary work management software.

Kim says the team found it clunky and inflexible.

“It was overly structured and felt like it was built solely for enterprise rather than small business,” he explains. “If you didn’t use the tools the way they were out of the box, they just wouldn’t work.”

The ticket management method in ConnectWise was not client-friendly or efficient, so the support team would consistently receive ticket requests, calls and emails for the same issue. There was no way to mesh together these multiple modes of communication, so Kim says they were forced to follow “a confusing trail of emails.” 

Not surprisingly, there were frequent misunderstandings about why a customer had been charged a certain rate or who said what in a support interaction.

Project management in the platform was also “brutal,” largely because of the lack of aforementioned customization. Core IT’s team was frustrated and using far too many workarounds.

Even when Kim invested significant time and money in a custom invoice template, it didn’t work the way he needed it to. What’s worse, the inconsistent, slow support provided by ConnectWise made it feel like attempts at a tailored solution would never work within the confines of outdated software. 

If he wanted the business to continue to grow without costly inefficiencies, he knew he needed to remedy the tech stack problem — fast.

Solution

Kim had a few viable options on the table for new software: He had previously used Kaseya and had heard good things about Autotask PSA.

So, why did he end up going with Accelo? He was ultimately swayed by its automated email capture — the Activity Stream — and the potential to improve conversations with customers.

READ NEXT: Why IT Businesses Love Accelo 

Kim decided to invest in Accelo’s full implementation program and worked with our Professional Services team to complete the migration. Post-implementation, the impact on client relationships was one of the first benefits that manifested for Core IT.

“Accelo is more user-friendly and makes it easier to interact with our customers,” says Kim. “The quality of the emails we can send to them feels natural.” 

Those email conversations are tracked and easily visible to everyone working on an account. And for common issues, the team set up automated emails with helpful images attached to ensure the recipient could follow troubleshooting steps — something they weren’t able to do in ConnectWise. 

It was also apparent that thanks to Accelo, customers were no longer resistant to interacting with tickets, so the number of unnecessary emails dropped significantly. The ease of use of the Tickets product meant there was no longer a need for a staff member to waste time managing and assigning tickets, either. 

While the positive shift in ticket management has made the biggest difference, Core IT also uses Accelo to manage recurring contracts, prep invoices and track hours for individual time management.

The new platform’s trigger automations inspired the team to perfect its processes. Integrations with BrightGauge, Microsoft 365, Ninja, HubSpot and QuickBooks have made everyday tasks many times easier for support staff and leadership alike.

I spend way less time managing since we’ve adopted Accelo. I don’t have to go into the settings and try to figure out why a certain thing is or isn’t happening, whereas in ConnectWise, I had to do that almost daily.
Kim Hikichi, President and CTO

Results

Not only has Accelo freed up 50% of the help desk manager’s time, but it has saved the team 40 hours on monthly billing.

In just two years, Kim has seen immense value and is currently expanding his team’s usage of the platform. They’ve started managing sales opportunities and building out projects in Accelo. He’s excited about being able to ensure that what’s quoted to a client gets carried over to project tasks and milestones with very little room for error.

Using Accelo’s API, his tech-savvy team also aims to set up a custom solution for more efficient internal and external communication. The plans include SMS messaging and multi-language support for the business’s French-speaking customers.

Give your IT team the same advantage. Switch to Accelo.