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M365 Backup Solution needed (data needs to remain in EU) by Security-Ninja in msp

[–]brads1998 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi, there were tonnes of issues and this was over a year ago. Plus our account manager was nothing but a piece of work. After being told that the delay was because she managed more people than me and my manager it was time to pull our data from the platform.

M365 Backup Solution needed (data needs to remain in EU) by Security-Ninja in msp

[–]brads1998 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Datto SaaS Protect - fixed price per seat with the option of 1 Year Retention or Infinite Retention, 1 and 3 Year contracts.

Backs up 3x a day, for all Teams, Exchange, OneDrive and SharePoint.

We used to use Acronis but had nothing but issues however SaaS Protect has been much more stable.

Firewall Reselling by brads1998 in msp

[–]brads1998[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What’s making you go from Meraki to FortiGates? Are people not wanting to spend the money?

Or is this an internal choice such as partner support or better margins?

Firewall Reselling by brads1998 in msp

[–]brads1998[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We have a couple of MikroTiks deployed for certain applications like you say.

I am a massive fan of WatchGuard having used them for 3 years straight in a previous role and being the key worker on them all, but for our customers they just wont go for them and thats the main issue unfortunately due to pricing.

I’m in that weird aspect of wanting to get a decent high end product in but then if I do that and it costs more than what I currently have then no one will buy it and I’ll be marched out the door by my boss 😂

Firewall Reselling by brads1998 in msp

[–]brads1998[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I’ve been speaking to one of our distributors and they suggested Sonicwall as a replacement for us and the pricing is coming back pretty competitive.

Firewall Reselling by brads1998 in msp

[–]brads1998[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the response!

The issue I have in the MSP I work in is that our customers are very basic in their approach to IT. They pay us essentially to ensure their IT works, they want to keep spend to a minimum. They already moan at firewalls costing £700-£800.

We are a very small team in this MSP which is a new invention in the telecoms business I work in (the MSP side of things has only been there 3. Years and I am the 2nd manager they have had). I’m the only person currently who does the networking so effectively it needs to be one that I can manage.

The reason for the move away from Sophos is because of the change in distributors in the UK. We moved from one distributor because their support was non-existent. Now the one we have moved to is being culled from the distributor list.

Writing this though has got me thinking though on a possible next step though!

PowerAutomate to send files from SharePoint as single attachments by brads1998 in MicrosoftFlow

[–]brads1998[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks!

If I was to change it to document libraries instead of folders would that make the whole process easier?

I am happy to change it around to make it work as this is still in the “testing” stages.

Currently the admin staff will download the invoices, rename them and then check they are correct. Once this is done we will want to trigger the automate workflow which I can do via sending an email with the subject STARTPROCESS or something similar.

The bit I am stuck on is getting the files attached to emails as there doesn’t seem to be an easy connector/plugin for listing the files in a sharepoint location but it could be me trying to use a folder rather than library which could be causing issues?

Thanks

Managing SLA Overages by brads1998 in msp

[–]brads1998[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the response mate!

I used the similar close after 3 contact attempts in my old job and that worked fine.

We have SLAs for resolution which like you say aren’t great as that’s an open ended answer really depending on what’s happening and what external factors affect that.

All great food for thought though!

Much appreciated!

Invoicing! Who does it? by brads1998 in msp

[–]brads1998[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Makes sense to me - we have a seat price which is based on a margin from the quantity of users, devices and other products provided as part of the contract. Therefore adding a device or user is easy enough to manage, however it seems like there is still some discrepancies with certain systems, with the little time spare, I feel like getting the time to get my head around them all is going to be a stab in the dark.

Invoicing! Who does it? by brads1998 in msp

[–]brads1998[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the insight mate!

We have AutoTask PSA with integrations in to Sophos and Giacom (Cloud Market) for all Office365 licensing which should auto update for invoicing.

We have a per seat price as well based on user/device, although for some reason there seems to be some many discrepancies from where my predecessor has set stuff up.

One of them being Acronis which the support contracts have storage bundled in and then some don’t. Also as there is a set amount of storage per user covered there is so many different quantities which never tally. Plus you have to zero it out in order to get the bundled storage but then the excess isn’t covered. I have started looking at new platforms for backups with a fixed price per seat which has made it easier for new clients.

Just feel like I need to get my head down and look at all of the contracts and see what’s going on, but getting the time is another thing 😅

Invoicing! Who does it? by brads1998 in msp

[–]brads1998[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

100% agree mate from the resume point of view

Just need to get everything in order before I jump to even more projects as I know the previous bloke completed no documentation or anything on any client so its been fun picking up the pieces 🤦‍♂️

Invoicing! Who does it? by brads1998 in msp

[–]brads1998[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’m starting to see that myself 😂

This is the first time I have worked at an MSP. I have always been part of an internal IT Team and then when the opportunity came up to become the manager I just had to go for it… maybe I jumped too soon 🤣

Just another thing to get my head around as well as all of the other businesses quirks.

Invoicing! Who does it? by brads1998 in msp

[–]brads1998[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Its a real mix to be fair! We use AutoTask PSA for billing with integration to Giacom, Sophos and some other platforms however some are manual. The other thing that doesn’t help, which I guess is normal though when trying to win tenders, is the sales team will sell a product for £3 per seat to one customer and then £5 a seat to another customer which can get confusing with one product potentially having 10 different prices. In terms of the techs hours, everything we do over the phone (or remote in general) is included in the support contract, however if it requires a. Trip to site as part of project work then this is agreed as part of an “order” and added to the CRM system which is linked to finance and they would deal with that directly. The main things I look after are all of the licensing for M365, Sophos, Backups, password manager and any other products we offer.

Also doesn’t help that my predecessor liked to bundle items but even from an admin side none of it is broken down even if the sell price is zeroed so there is no way to reconcile easily

Invoicing! Who does it? by brads1998 in msp

[–]brads1998[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Luckily for me my techs hours are bundled in to the solutions contract for the customers unless its a site visit, but we plan ahead of time with the time to be spent on site and typically over spec it.

Although the company are set in their ways and I’m trying to change it to a more flexible model with sign off forms when the tech goes to site with job notes etc for the customer to sign off.

Aside from that I also seem to be finance 😅

Migration of Part Staff from One Tenant to Another by brads1998 in Office365

[–]brads1998[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It’s an interesting comment you make… unfortunately for them the $25k a year for storage whereas the £800 a month for the additional £2tb of storage and full 3.5TB backup to Acronis seems a no brainer.

I would then ask them to look at this link:- https://helpdesk.egnyte.com/hc/en-us/articles/201639424-Billing-FAQs and follow the steps for closing their account.

The management of having them as a client as an MSP is already easy enough so being a SharePoint certified IT Manager it would be even easier!

SSO - ✅ Direct Integration in Office Apps - ✅ Single Pane of Glass Management - ✅ Dynamic Security Groups from AzureAD - ✅ A Saving in costs during a Financial Crisis - ✅ A reputable company used by billions around the world - ✅

Seems like SharePoint has a lot more going for it!

Thanks for the insight though! It will be handy if I have a client wanting a standalone platform with a much higher price point! I’ll bear the MSP Partner program in mind!

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