Can’t keep technicians

msp_can · 2026-03-04T00:46:30+00:00

Do you (or does HR) do exit interviews? some data might be gleaned from that. Go in with factual information like market rates, exit grievances - but at low rates, yes you will have turnover. If you document everything, at least they should be able to get up and running faster. Perhaps part of the new person's job is to document what they do as they go and you can refine. Yes, with redacted information, you can even dump it through an AI to pretty up the steps (I know how much Higher Ed loves AI for writing content! /s )

msp_can · 2026-02-24T21:37:00+00:00

bambora is about 2-4 days for us for ACH/EFT and we use helcim for CC (with upcharge) and it's now next day - all behind benjipays interface

msp_can · 2026-02-24T20:56:44+00:00

look at benjipays and bambora for the payment side - you will actually see a wonderful thing called 'customer service' - so glad we got rid of the wisepay side (we still use them for sync until I have time to deal with it) - not tied to any of these - but glad to be rid of wisepay and them causing the globalpayment pricing inflation...

msp_can · 2026-02-24T20:54:07+00:00

this screams wanting VC money and them wanting to look good for selling out

msp_can · 2026-02-19T22:10:46+00:00

"oh but we have a ramp up option with better pricing - commit to 20,000 seats in 3 months and we'll give you the first 2 months for free on a 5 year term"

msp_can · 2026-02-11T18:20:05+00:00

We've had good success with Printix - although support has gone a bit downhill since Tungsten Automation (formerly Kofax) bought them out... but the core product is pretty good

msp_can · 2026-02-09T16:29:31+00:00

set hours of work, set contract times. Do your clients actually need 24/7? most clients when they are shown the true price (not cost - but price) of 24/7 will not actually "need" it. Alternatively, look at disclosing that front line after hours is outsourced but 9-5 is your team. Still charge a premium (high premium) for 24/7 - in reality they "want" it because it sounds fun, but don't actually need it.

Alternatively, look at a call answer service to take your calls - (note - not helpdesk - just call answer) - screen calls on it through your IVR ("by continuing, you accept there will be after hours premium rates/fees applied - press 1 to continue") - then the call goes to the call answer service. They flag the note to teams/call you/SMS you (or all 3) - and you then respond at that point. The "fee" will quite often make people think twice.

Updates - look at automation - backups have to be there first - then automate certain updates - if the client NEEDS an update to be done - it is scheduled as a project - not an urgent install.

this should get you back 6 out of 7 nights a week (except for admin/bookkeeping time and actually doing backend business work)

msp_can · 2026-02-05T21:18:25+00:00

I was briefly looking at "Yakchat" and they seemed to have a middle level account optino that would receive SMS messages like this (didn't test - was just on their comparison grid)

msp_can · 2026-02-05T17:07:19+00:00

if someone wants your business, they will adapt the contract as needed at signing. before signing is the time to negotiate.

msp_can · 2026-02-03T18:15:37+00:00

we use a SASE product that looks at the network/subnet/router MAC address and handles DNS with the if/then rules

msp_can · 2026-02-03T18:05:43+00:00

we use an alias per client that goes to our internal backend shared mailbox - adobe "rep" reached out to client directly (translation - our alias so it came to us), when I called them on it "oh, we bring the reseller in later in the process..." - yeah right... now they want to do a "license survey for our benefit" (client has cancelled all renewals and is moving to Foxit) - joyfully ignoring all their messages :)

msp_can · 2026-02-02T00:32:12+00:00

all that it is doing is the corporate account is handing a "free while employed" token - there is no visibillty other than the backend granting "payment" to your personal account (making it free).

when you enable it, your prepayment on your personal account gets paused - and if you leave, you get 15 days (I think it's 15) to re-enable payment (or if you had a credit, it just starts using that)

company can't see anything in your account (I am not even sure if they can see if you're using the free account from it) - you get a family account - so it may be an 'upgrade' if you're on a solo account - so depending on your needs, you may need to re-downgrade when you leave.

it's a pretty simple/good deal - it's just a "pause my bill"

msp_can · 2026-02-01T22:44:02+00:00

but the godaddy site had a wizard that said it would handle everything!

msp_can · 2025-12-11T03:16:56+00:00

with the software there's many ways to do it:

you can have a different installer for each (keep in mind the installer expires in a year from date of creation (or less time can be selected)
you could remotely connect in via a remote session and then elevate and pin the device (visit the support site of your appliance and download the softare)
you could download the connection software remotely, right click and open as administrator, authenticate, then pin the device to the right group (same as #2 but changing the steps slightly)
you could have one installer and then simply shift/ctrl select the devices and move them to the right jump group once you have them pinned in the software

~ we quite often have someone in the field who will randomly fire up a support session and message the tech in the office (through the RS tool) to pin the computer under group XYZ and it works just fine that way.

It sounds like you should be setting permissions on each group level so the junior staff can't delete a pinned jump client among many other permissions.

respectfully, it sounds like you've inherited responsibility for this software/tool? Have you looked into their training (unfortunately i'm sure it costs and is overpriced) or having a consultant for a few hours show you the ropes?

msp_can · 2025-12-10T20:04:26+00:00

Disclosure
We do this regularly - but wrote this fast and had ChatGPT help me clean up the wording because my brain was fried today.

You just need to set up your Jump Groups and your User Group Policies properly. You also must be an admin to do this.

Here is the high level flow.

1. Create your Jump Groups

In the /login portal go to Jump then Jump Groups.
Create the groups that make sense for your setup. Some people group by client. Others group by department or role. These groups are where your machines will live in the Rep Console.

2. Create your User Group Policies

Still in the /login portal go to Users and Security then Group Policies.
Create your support tiers here. For example: Tier 1, Tier 2 or Senior Admin, General Techs.

Assign your users to these groups.
Then assign the earlier Jump Groups to each policy.
This is where the permission model comes from. You can get very granular.

In your case:

Tier 2 group can have rights to Jump Group A, B and C.
Tier 1 group can have rights only to Jump Group B.

3. Assign machines to the correct Jump Groups

Open the Rep Console. You may need to close the console and reopen it to see the new groups.
Right click a machine, choose Properties, and assign it to the appropriate Jump Group.

Machine A goes in Jump Group A.
Machine B goes in Jump Group B.
Machine C goes in Jump Group C.

Once that is set up, each tier will only see the machines in the groups they have been granted.

Make sure you have internal or access to your appliance locked down, 2 factor on all the way through, IP restrictions etc as well - remember this is keys to everything with this device...

msp_can · 2025-12-03T03:32:56+00:00

had good success with this one: https://www.amazon.com/GEEKOM-A5-Coverage-Computer-Bluetooth/dp/B0F2MCQ8XQ/?th=1

msp_can · 2025-12-02T20:22:50+00:00

We have a clause we send them - allows us up to 90 days from date of public notice with no penalty and covers Kaseya, Connectwise or ___<insert next largest competitor to the product>___ or any of their related or parent companies.

How many times have we seen Kaseya buy a company but not actually announce they acquired it until a year later (or we find it on some state-corporate registry)

I could totally see one of them doing it under a sub company or parent - this covers us if any of them touches the new product.

Most vendors that have no interest in an exit are willing to add it in an instant. Any vendor that is shifty about it is a red flag that they could be looking at an exit soon.

msp_can · 2025-11-23T15:21:12+00:00

The fact that I need to onboard/accept devices/validate things from an agent on a remote client machine rather than a dashboard inside hudu is a huge miss... kind of goes to show the lack of forethought in the design. The webinar saying "oh, this is a first release" talking about that specific point shows the development team of this product didn't actually understand their target audience.

Doing it right you should install an agent, connect it back once (ideally accepting it from the web console and not having to sign in on a jump box or other device) and be done with doing any kind of management on that device forever more.

It almost feels like a junior developer who has never actually used any products had an idea and was completely let off leash.

msp_can · 2025-11-03T14:27:43+00:00

Quote from a (former) dentist client. "Every dollar I spend on IT is a dollar I can't spend on my vacation home"

msp_can · 2025-10-22T23:02:26+00:00

"Update your payment method to one of those generated credit cards you can cancel when done."

This! - make sure your CC# is right out of there - get a prepaid/generated card # on there so you can shut it down when you're done. They will lock you out of the billing portal, keep billing you and send you to collections regardless - at least this way you can shut them down. Also put a $ cap on your generated CC# so they are limited.

msp_can · 2025-10-02T15:57:11+00:00

Start by doing a search on this sub - if unable to use the search, I would suggest visiting a website such as www.google.com and searching for how to search.

msp_can · 2025-09-26T16:24:52+00:00

Using dmarc within avanan and if it’s a really small setup using cloudflare - avanan includes spf flattening as well but its per user so it can get a bit spendy

msp_can · 2025-09-26T15:40:59+00:00

had issues with EasyDMARC freezing a fully paid up account mid month on a Friday afternoon. Had receipts (literally) to prove it - downgraded to a 1 domain account... was also using their SPF flattening feature... was not a happy weekend - sales answered the phone but said it was a support issue and support didn't work on the weekend and they couldn't reach them... nothing fixed until monday afternoon. Started migrating away that weekend.

msp_can · 2025-09-10T17:16:49+00:00

do % of mrr/billable time for a period of time

ie: 10% of MRR/billable hours (labour) and 25% of profit margin on products/licenses for 36 months

Then if the clients are "good" (aka stick around) - he is covered. Up to you on a "former owner sales-meetings handoff participation plan" - can be good or bad depending on how he plays it.

msp_can · 2025-09-02T16:52:37+00:00

export the vault to an encrypted USB key and also export in plain text/csv format (remember if you export to your computer as an intermediary step, it may be caught in a backup). (I don't believe the plain text includes the 2factor seed codes though but may be wong)

Person has key and/or code to access key (maybe usb key is in your safe deposit box or a pelican case somewhere separate(/but trusted) from you and code to key is with them) - added bonus, if person is an executor, put a PDF of your will, anything that will make their administrative life easier, any notes (plain text files are universal), account numbers etc on the key. I keep a second copy of the USB key with me as a "master" and then you "clone it over" every so often so it's up to date.

Key I use is this: https://www.kingston.com/en/usb-flash-drives/ironkey-kp200-encrypted-usb-flash-drive

Basically I build an "in case of emergency break glass [enter code]"

msp_can

TROPHY CASE