How Automation Boosts Efficiency for Both Service Tickets and Projects

We sat down with James Allen, Chief Community Officer at PIA, to explore how automation is helping MSPs streamline operations and turn time management challenges into real, measurable gains, with added perspective from the Moovila team. 

Keeping up with tickets, staying competitive, retaining both clients and staff, and maximizing revenue is a complex challenge for MSPs. Managing service tickets and projects manually only adds friction by slowing delivery, overloading teams, and creating unnecessary risk. Automation across both project tickets and service tickets plays a critical role in simplifying operations and creating consistency at scale. 

Drawing on James’s experience working closely with MSPs, as well as the Moovila team’s perspective on intelligent project automation, a clear picture emerges when repetitive work is automated, and complex initiatives are managed with real-time visibility. It means MSPs can operate more efficiently while delivering a better experience for both employees and customers. 

Automation frees up time to do more fulfilling and value-added tasks. Rather than spending days doing password resets, team members can focus on more complex technical challenges. Work that delivers a bigger payoff for the MSP. At the same time, client needs are addressed faster and more consistently, whether the request is a simple ticket or a larger initiative. 

Here’s how. 

Separating service tickets from project tickets 

Defining the difference between a service ticket and a project ticket is an essential first step to visualizing how automation can streamline your MSP. It sounds simple but, in practice, it can be nuanced and fluid.  

Service tickets typically represent immediate, point-in-time issues like computer malfunctions or network outages and can be handled by the Help Desk in something close to a single task, escalating, perhaps, through the team’s varied technical abilities.  

Project tickets compile together in phases to make projects. They are more complex, longer-duration undertakings that require multiple resources and can extend over weeks – or even months.  

Once you can quickly and reliably separate service tickets from projects tickets, it is easier to automate and manage both. 

The ticket to automation 

When calls come into an MSP’s Help Desk, PIA’s aiDesk automations can handle the initial triage. Once you’ve created rules that define what happens to different types of work, it classifies tasks according to your workflow, assigns the job (aka service ticket) to the right people, replies to customers, and handles some of the more repetitive tasks before any engineers need to get involved.

Help Desk engineers are often spread thin – especially at organizations where these resources support service and project tickets. They take calls, solve problems for customers, escalate service tickets when necessary, and step away from the Help Desk, occasionally or frequently, to work on projects. When automation lifts the repetitive work off their plates, it not only makes the customer’s service experience faster and more consistent, but it also frees those engineers to do more interesting work.

Picture an IT Help Desk technician. They love playing with tech but often end up stuck doing password resets. Most help desk technicians consider this type of repetitive work to be less than ideal. Taking that minutia off their desk frees them to do more fulfilling work. 

And much of that more complex work takes the form of projects, which some MSPs keep in a growing backlog, waiting for engineers to be available to tackle it.

If MSPs are able to deliver those projects, it brings that revenue into current account receivables boosting profitability.

Project management with intelligence 

Service ticket automation reclaims time for the engineers who work on the Help Desk. Project ticket automation makes the best use of that newfound time.  

Automating project ticket scheduling helps fill that white space between service and project ticket work as efficiently and effectively as possible. It shortens the duration of projects, which moves revenue forward and clears the project delays or backlog. This provides MSPs with a good line of sight to when they're going to complete the work and be able to recognize that project revenue. 

Bringing those projects into Moovila Perfect Project allows MSPs to automate the project timeline creation and maintenance, communication around project ticket statuses, and the vigilance of keeping track of a project portfolio. 

Automating these chores starts with project templates. Building templates is a critical part of the project maturation process. And you can typically templatize about 80% of the projects MSPs execute. 

The path to increased revenues 

The Help Desk is typically the biggest cost center at an MSP. And instead of scaling by putting another body on the Help Desk for every two to three hundred clients, they can add up to three, four, or five hundred endpoints before growing the size of the Help Desk. One case study showed an MSP reducing ticket resolution times from 20–30 minutes to 2–10 minutes and closing 98 more tickets per week with fewer human workers, all while maintaining an 87% billable utilization rate and a 99.2% customer satisfaction score, which means profitability increases significantly. And that’s what PIA is seeing with the best-in-class MSPs they work with. 

On the other hand, Moovila users are seeing an increase in revenue through project ticket automation. Project coordinators and managers reported taking on 40% to 50% more projects thanks to the help of project ticket automation. They’re taking on and closing more projects, without creating chaos for MSPs, leading them to be capable of billing for more projects. 

Some MSPs who automate their project timelines have seen a 30% increase in revenue and a 12% increase in project efficiency. Revenue increases because they're clearing the backlog and delivering more projects. 

The financial benefits of project and service ticket automation are substantial. And the MSPs that have implemented these technologies report significant improvements. 

Happy clients reduce risk 

Client attrition is a big risk factor for MSPs.  

Data shows that if an MSP is meeting client expectations, they've got a client for life. For an MSP, those expectations are that when they submit a service ticket, it gets resolved quickly the first time. The client doesn’t care if it’s a ticket-sized task or a project. It sounds simple, but all too often that expectation is not met. 

As James Allen of Pia describes it, “It’s death by 1,000 cuts,” Maybe during a 22-step onboarding process, two steps were missed. Perhaps the team forgot to remove a license when the client terminated a user. Maybe a project drags on endlessly and communication around why, or when it will be completed, is scant. 

 When an MSP is not meeting expectations, they’re losing clients. If they are getting it right every single time, though ticket automation and doing it at speed, they’re meeting those expectations and retaining those clients. 

We sat down with James Allen, Chief Community Officer at PIA, to explore how automation is helping MSPs streamline operations and turn time management challenges into real, measurable gains, with added perspective from the Moovila team. 

Keeping up with tickets, staying competitive, retaining both clients and staff, and maximizing revenue is a complex challenge for MSPs. Managing service tickets and projects manually only adds friction by slowing delivery, overloading teams, and creating unnecessary risk. Automation across both project tickets and service tickets plays a critical role in simplifying operations and creating consistency at scale. 

Drawing on James’s experience working closely with MSPs, as well as the Moovila team’s perspective on intelligent project automation, a clear picture emerges when repetitive work is automated, and complex initiatives are managed with real-time visibility. It means MSPs can operate more efficiently while delivering a better experience for both employees and customers. 

Automation frees up time to do more fulfilling and value-added tasks. Rather than spending days doing password resets, team members can focus on more complex technical challenges. Work that delivers a bigger payoff for the MSP. At the same time, client needs are addressed faster and more consistently, whether the request is a simple ticket or a larger initiative.

Here’s how.

Separating service tickets from project tickets 

Defining the difference between a service ticket and a project ticket is an essential first step to visualizing how automation can streamline your MSP. It sounds simple but, in practice, it can be nuanced and fluid.

Service tickets typically represent immediate, point-in-time issues like computer malfunctions or network outages and can be handled by the Help Desk in something close to a single task, escalating, perhaps, through the team’s varied technical abilities.

Project tickets compile together in phases to make projects. They are more complex, longer-duration undertakings that require multiple resources and can extend over weeks – or even months.

Once you can quickly and reliably separate service tickets from projects tickets, it is easier to automate and manage both. 

The ticket to automation 

When calls come into an MSP’s Help Desk, PIA’s aiDesk automations can handle the initial triage. Once you’ve created rules that define what happens to different types of work, it classifies tasks according to your workflow, assigns the job (aka service ticket) to the right people, replies to customers, and handles some of the more repetitive tasks before any engineers need to get involved.  

Help Desk engineers are often spread thin – especially at organizations where these resources support service and project tickets. They take calls, solve problems for customers, escalate service tickets when necessary, and step away from the Help Desk, occasionally or frequently, to work on projects. When automation lifts the repetitive work off their plates, it not only makes the customer’s service experience faster and more consistent, but it also frees those engineers to do more interesting work. 

Picture an IT Help Desk technician. They love playing with tech but often end up stuck doing password resets. Most help desk technicians consider this type of repetitive work to be less than ideal. Taking that minutia off their desk frees them to do more fulfilling work. 

And much of that more complex work takes the form of projects, which some MSPs keep in a growing backlog, waiting for engineers to be available to tackle it.  

If MSPs are able to deliver those projects, it brings that revenue into current account receivables boosting profitability. 

Project management with intelligence 

Service ticket automation reclaims time for the engineers who work on the Help Desk. Project ticket automation makes the best use of that newfound time.  

Automating project ticket scheduling helps fill that white space between service and project ticket work as efficiently and effectively as possible. It shortens the duration of projects, which moves revenue forward and clears the project delays or backlog. This provides MSPs with a good line of sight to when they're going to complete the work and be able to recognize that project revenue. 

Bringing those projects into Moovila Perfect Project allows MSPs to automate the project timeline creation and maintenance, communication around project ticket statuses, and the vigilance of keeping track of a project portfolio. 

Automating these chores starts with project templates. Building templates is a critical part of the project maturation process. And you can typically templatize about 80% of the projects MSPs execute. 

The path to increased revenues 

The Help Desk is typically the biggest cost center at an MSP. And instead of scaling by putting another body on the Help Desk for every two to three hundred clients, they can add up to three, four, or five hundred endpoints before growing the size of the Help Desk. One case study showed an MSP reducing ticket resolution times from 20–30 minutes to 2–10 minutes and closing 98 more tickets per week with fewer human workers, all while maintaining an 87% billable utilization rate and a 99.2% customer satisfaction score, which means profitability increases significantly. And that’s what PIA is seeing with the best-in-class MSPs they work with. 

On the other hand, Moovila users are seeing an increase in revenue through project ticket automation. Project coordinators and managers reported taking on 40% to 50% more projects thanks to the help of project ticket automation. They’re taking on and closing more projects, without creating chaos for MSPs, leading them to be capable of billing for more projects. 

Some MSPs who automate

their project timelines have seen a

30% increase in revenue and a 12% increase in project efficiency.

Revenue increases because they're clearing the backlog and delivering more projects. 

The financial benefits of project and service ticket automation are substantial. And the MSPs that have implemented these technologies report significant improvements. 

Happy clients reduce risk 

Client attrition is a big risk factor for MSPs.  

Data shows that if an MSP is meeting client expectations, they've got a client for life. For an MSP, those expectations are that when they submit a service ticket, it gets resolved quickly the first time. The client doesn’t care if it’s a ticket-sized task or a project. It sounds simple, but all too often that expectation is not met. 

As James Allen of Pia describes it, “It’s death by 1,000 cuts,” Maybe during a 22-step onboarding process, two steps were missed. Perhaps the team forgot to remove a license when the client terminated a user. Maybe a project drags on endlessly and communication around why, or when it will be completed, is scant.

When an MSP is not meeting expectations, they’re losing clients. If they are getting it right every single time, though ticket automation and doing it at speed, they’re meeting those expectations and retaining those clients. 

Does your MSP have engineers who take on service tickets with a bit of project management on the side? Our recent blog discusses whether or not your MSP needs a dedicated project manager.