In today’s post, Dan, the host of MSP Power Up™ talks about which tools are going to authenticate the authenticator.

Authenticator Tools And Security Concerns.

With ServiceTree, I actually make cold calls, send cold emails and do cold outreach to MSPs. Heaven forbid someone sign up and want to talk to me or someone actually answer a cold call, but they do, you guys do and I love you for it. 

But the question that I have in my mind: Which tools are going to authenticate the authenticator? Because it seems like all of these tools anywhere like the Google Authenticator, you made this steps:

1. Log in, 
2. Then go to the authenticator, 
3. Next go to my phone, on all of that. 

And it just doesn’t make sense to me. Because if someone has my phone and my computer, they can log in anything. What does that really protect? Someone could steal my phone and my computer? – Oh, they’re not going to steal both – Well, if I was a dishonest person, I’m gonna go try to steal the computer and the phone or I’ll steal the computer first. I’ll come back later steal the phone, then I have both. 

MSP Tool Fatigue And Potential Solutions.

But no, in all seriousness, tools for everything, you got time just for scheduling, you got a PSA, you got an RMM, you have a CSAT tool. You have all of these different tools, and then you have tools that tell you about the tool, is like a bright cage. It’s like all of this tool madness, it’s insane. The interesting part is, they’re not all set up, there’s a lot of overlap. And I think it’s common, but you might really be what I call “tool fatigue”. And I see it a lot of times when I talked to MSPs: –  Oh, I don’t want another tool. – That is very true. Or I’ll talk and they’re having pain points that can be solved. But, if the tool exhausts existing tech staff, it’s not properly implemented.

But I don’t know if you guys are exhausted by having too many tools or tech staff fatigue. But what is the solution for that? That is a great question. I think that’s the billion dollar question. And the answer, you may be thinking, because it’s ServiceTree. ServiceTree is the answer to all your problems. 

Evaluating Business Operations And Tools For Efficiency.

But no, the way to do it, is to reevaluate how your business is run and the tools that help you do your business and improve your business. Have it run more efficiently? Have you increased your revenue? Of course, a lot of tools promise to help you make more money or save you a lot of money; all of the sales guys do this jacked up ROI, but projected savings is far different than realize savings. I don’t know if these sales guys understand that these jacked up ROI doesn’t matter what the ROI is, it’s suspect, but they still do – Oh, you’re gonna save $10 billion dollars. –

Evaluate your business, and then evaluate the tools, look at the different areas of your business. Let’s look at the different buckets you have. You have the operations, how are things run? What tools are critical? What tools do we rely on? For operations, obviously, your PSA, RMM and then the other auxilary things like your anti-virus, all those other stuff for delivering your services. 

Customer Service, Sales, And Software Tools.

Then look at customer service, your CSAT tool, they tell you what you’re doing, but the CSAT doesn’t solve a problem, ladies and gentlemen, just because your customers can give feedback does not solve the problem, makes you aware of the problem. And it’s good to know early but CSAT is not the end of the road it’s the beginning, in fact you don’t even need a CSAT, visit your customers, communicate with customers, be on and just solving their issues. Do you even do quarterly business reviews? Have you ever done a business review with your clients? CSAT are not technically needed, it helps you out, it makes you feel good, you see the smiley faces, thumbs up, the thumbs down, all that good stuff. But in reality that CSAT is not needed if you meet with your clients on a regular basis. I know it’s controversial, but no. 

So you look at customer service, then look at the financial aspect of bookkeeping, which folds into time tracking and all that wonderful thing. And then look at your sales. If you have a sales department, look at your sales enablement tools and all that, and look at all areas, how it should be run, what tools are helping, and then all the ones are not trim the fat. The problem is you’re probably stuck in like 80 year contracts with all the tools because all the software companies do three year, 80 year agreements. And you know what, if you’re stuck with tools, that’s fine, don’t use them, and just canceled at the end of service, but focus on the tools that are needed, and what tools are causing problems, were they properly implemented? 

What Tool Is Going To Authenticate The Authenticator, The Authenticator.

So again, I’m wondering what tool is going to authenticate the authenticator, the authenticator, I don’t know. But if you know, let me know, because I need more protection than my laptop going to my email, going to my phone. I need something else like maybe an RFID chip in my head, and then that way, it’s guaranteed to be me on that. I would say a fingerprint scanner but the problem is, I’ll forget to wipe off the fingerprint, and then someone could just use a fake thumb to do it, which is actually kind of funny. The best way to break into a fingerprint safe is actually most people forget to wipe it off on that. 

Anyway, hopefully, this added some sort of entertainment to your day. Hopefully you got some value out of it, maybe you did, maybe you didn’t, maybe you just think I’m crazy. But either way, thank you for stopping by.