Best Practices in Using MSPbots

Wondering how other MSPs are using MSPbots.ai? Here are the best practices that you can follow to fully utilize the MSPbots app:

Step 1: Start with a few bots

During the first phase of using the platform, you are given a list of bots that you can use and implement for your organization. To avoid overwhelming your team, choose only the bots that are essential to your organization by turning on the Alert and Escalation options for the bots. You may opt to start using more bots once your team is already comfortable with using the bots on a daily basis.

Step 2: Customize the bots

Feel free to personalize the bots to cater to your needs and to suit your business. Here are some questions to guide you:

• Does your business need this bot? If yes, enable it.
• Does the alert message suit your company? If not, open the message report, filter the messages by a bot or by tech, and then edit the message as needed.
• Do you want the bot to send escalated messages to managers? If yes, turn on the Escalation option, and then set your preferred threshold.
  Read How to Create a Simple Bot from a Widget to know more about how to set up the Escalation feature.

Escalation improves accountability. If the bot's message is clear and the algorithm is right, employees can form good work habits through the bot's reminders.

• If the tech continues to fail in a certain task, the bot will continue to be triggered. If the bot is triggered *three times a week, the bot automatically advises the tech to seek help from the manager.
• If the bot is triggered *six times a week, the issue is automatically escalated to the manager so the latter can help the tech improve.
• In the event that the same bot is triggered *nine times a week, the bot automatically informs the manager's supervisor so they can provide extra support to the tech. 

To assign each tech's manager, go to your AAD and update the user's reporting manager(s).

*This time frame is customizable.

Step 3: Confirm if techs are getting the messages

The bots will send alert messages to users after you integrate your PSA account. Users will receive messages as long as:

1. You install the MSPbots application from Microsoft. Every user needs to install the app to receive or send messages from MSPbots.
   You can change the Microsoft Teams Global policy to automatically install it for all users. To do this, follow these steps:
   1. Go to Office > Admin > Admin Center > Teams.
   2. Select Teams Apps > Setup Policies > Global (Org-wide default), and then click Edit.
   3. Select Add Apps, search for MSPbots, and then click Add.
   4. Move MSPbots to the top and click Save.
2. The Disable all bots' messages switch from the Bots page should be switched off.
3. In the User Management tab, make sure that the Message Switch option is on for the applicable users.

What you can get from Installing the MSPbots Team Apps:

1. Access MSPbots.ai apps such as Next Ticket, Attendance (In/Out), and Reports.
2. Receive and send messages to MSPbots in the Chat tab.

To confirm if techs are receiving the messages, do the following:

• Go to Usage Report, and then check how many messages are in the Ready, Received, and Read columns.

1. 1. In the Ready column, you can see the number of messages that are yet to be delivered.
   2. In the Received column, you can see the number of messages that the tech successfully received but has not read yet. 
   3. In the Read column, you can see the number of messages that the user opened and read.

• If the user does not have any record in the Read and Received columns in Usage Report, confirm with the user if they have the MSPbots Teams App installed and that the app is not blocked on their end.

Step 4: Do a 15-minute training for your team

1. Discuss with your team the type of bots that you enabled and when they will start receiving alert messages via MS Teams.
2. Encourage the team to utilize the bots to help them with their day-to-day tasks since the bots are designed to serve as digital assistants.
3. Ask your team to review the alert messages that they receive. 
   1. If the message is correct, follow the steps in the message to fix the issue.
   2. If the message is incorrect, click the Report error on this message link and explain why. The report will be sent to the manager for review, and then the manager can adjust the settings or inform the MSPbots team to change the algorithm if needed.
4. Explain how the escalation feature works. If a bot keeps getting triggered, the managers will be informed to help them solve the issue. 

Step 5: Hold people accountable

From what we've seen, 60% of techs will improve their behavior right after the training. 30% of them will require managers to guide them in the next 2-3 weeks as they form better habits, and the remaining 10% might need additional support from HR.

Managers and their superiors need to note the messages in Teams. Whenever they receive an escalation message, they must copy that message and offer help to the tech.

Step 6: Review the bot trigger report

Track the improvements in your MSP by reviewing the report. Choose the bot and note if the number of messages sent (i.e., the number of times a bot was triggered) has gone down after your 15-minute training. Note the top-performing techs who trigger a bot and discuss with them how you and the bots can help.

Conclusion

By following these best practices, you can see techs start to form new good habits in just 2-3 weeks. 

Please let us know if we've helped form better habits that help your business. Join our forum to exchange ideas and engage with other MSPbots users!

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