A complex billing process is expensive and frustrating for MSPs and their clients. As your MSP business grows, the process becomes more intricate due to multiple factors, such as:
Disparate record-keeping systems, often resulting in incorrect billing.
Unavailability of an automated billing feature within the IT service desk tool.
Manual billing, increasing the risk of human error.
Absence of automations, hindering the ability to track and bill for various services utilized by the client.
Let's take a look at Zylker, a fictional MSP, to find out how billing capabilities in ServiceDesk Plus MSP can help automate its billing.
Zylker Corp. is a growing MSP that's gaining new clients thanks to referrals and its trusted reputation. Zylker's growth is so massive, the company must hire more technicians to handle the incoming tickets. To bill its clients, Zylker uses an archaic billing tool and a minimal IT service desk tool which does not support any integration with its billing software. As the number of incoming requests increases, the amount of manual work is overburdening the team of technicians. The result is a series of billing-related issues:
ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus MSP is a software that can help address all these challenges for Zylker, leaving the company to focus on what it does best—providing managed services—without having to worry about inaccurate billing and dissatisfied clients.
Discover how Zylker established automated billing and contracts to offer an automated, flexible, and effortless billing process for its clients with ServiceDesk Plus MSP.
Adding a Work Log in ServiceDesk Plus MSP.
Adding multiple work logs to a request to log all technician
When Zylker implemented ServiceDesk Plus MSP into its IT service desk system, the organization gained the ability to efficiently monitor and document its technicians' time and effort for every incoming request using Work Logs. With Work Logs, Zylker's technicians can now provide comprehensive details about their work, including the time taken to resolve the issue and the total cost incurred, and add the work log as the initial response. Additionally, Zylker can now easily differentiate between billable and non-billable work logs, ensuring accurate client billing.
Next, Zylker configured Bill Rules, which are used to pre-set the cost details for incoming requests. Bill rules allow Zylker to charge incoming service requests and incidents based on multiple criteria like account, category, or priority. This way, Zylker can track and assign costs to all end-user requests without any manual intervention.
Configuring a Bill Rule in ServiceDesk Plus MSP.
Designing a Postpaid Service Plan in ServiceDesk Plus MSP.
Designing a Prepaid Service Plan in ServiceDesk Plus MSP.
After configuring the Bill Rules, Zylker designs a Service Plan for each client based on their requirements and the services Zylker will deliver. Within the Service Plan, Zylker can configure the following to create flexible plans:
These service plans can be associated to service contracts (created with Contract Billing) to automate client billing.
To cater to prepaid clients, Zylker can create a Top Up Plan. A Top Up Plan is used to allocate an allowance to clients' existing service contracts. With this, Zylker gets the option to add the top up charges, or the number of request and hour units. This additional allowance can be added into the clients' Service Plans, with corresponding charges for the top-up being applied. Using this plan, Zylker allows clients to avail continued services, even when their service plan is exhausted.
Creating a Top Up Plan in ServiceDesk Plus MSP.
Configuring contract billing in ServiceDesk Plus MSP.
Finally, Zylker creates smart service contracts with the help of Contract Billing. Contract Billing is a process of billing clients for services provided under a contract. It is a type of recurring billing, where invoices are automatically generated at regular intervals, such as monthly or annually. With ServiceDesk Plus MSP, Zylker can now set up service contracts with its clients by configuring end-of-contract notifications, currency, taxes, and other items within the service contracts. Once a service contract is active, the bills will be automatically sent to Zylker's clients based on their billing cycle.
Now that Zylker's new service desk platform has tackled all of its billing challenges, the organization can get back to delivering excellent MSP services. ServiceDesk Plus MSP helps Zylker bill its clients accurately, flexibly, and automatically.
