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Benefits of Automating Password and Documentation Management

By Marilena Levy

maio 27th, 2020 5 mins

Effectively managing passwords and documentation can be two of the biggest headaches for managed services providers (MSPs).

With so many different systems and programs in use, managing the passwords needed to access them can present real challenges. Being able to manage these passwords effectively leads to more consistent and stronger password usage, which equals greater security. A robust password management solution can help you do this while also making account access seamless by automatically filling password fields directly from the password manager. This ultimately helps techs be more productive and helps ensure they follow password best practices.

Documentation, on the other hand, provides a different type of challenge. Keeping good records is an essential part of an MSP’s job, as it ensures that all techs have access to all relevant customer notes and setup documentation, allowing them to get jobs done quickly and efficiently. As your MSP scales, keeping track of all managed assets, devices, systems, and line of business applications and their licenses can become time-consuming and laborious. On top of that you also have to manage all case notes from your customer tickets. Leaving client data in the hands of specific employees leads to considerable pain when the employee is unavailable because they’re either sick or busy or when they leave the company. Consistent and up-to-date documentation helps your team save time by ensuring they have the information they need when they need it to continue supporting the clients regardless of the availability of an account’s primary technician.

Being able to manage both these critical functions from one secure, centralized location means customers’ sensitive information can be kept safe and at the ready for your team when needed. On top of this, you can view documentation on an account then immediately sign in with one-click access via a strong password manager.

But that’s just the start of how it can benefit your MSP business.

The power of automating workflows

Taking things a step further, being able to automate some of the more repetitive tasks within these functions can bring real benefits to your business. By analyzing your activity, you will likely discover a whole raft of predictable, routine tasks that can be transformed into automated workflows.

For example, think about having to send out reminders for every license renewal deadline. Doing this manually can become an ongoing responsibility that pulls your team away from more important work, so being able to automate this task has obvious benefits. Additionally, monitoring and executing periodic maintenance tasks such as updates, renewals, and extensions can result in an inefficient use of the technician’s time. Again, being able to automate at least some (or all) of these processes will help you become more efficient. Similarly, from the point of view of password management, ensuring all users follow proper password update protocols is essential. However, renewals can easily be missed if done manually, so automating the process will not only improve efficiency but security as well.

With a system like SolarWinds® Passportal + Documentation Manager, you can create custom workflows that dictate certain actions happen when certain events are triggered or specific thresholds are exceeded. These actions include creating a PSA ticket, sending a notification on your collaboration platform (i.e., Slack or Microsoft Teams), or delivering an email to a defined recipient. Here are some of the ways this can help improve the efficiency of your MSP business:

  • It can ensure that you don’t lose sight of important dates that can significantly affect your team’s ability to help customers. In just a matter of minutes, you can set notifications for domains, SSL certificates, licenses, and assets upcoming expirations and act efficiently to renew those on time.
  • It can help you manage account access. By accessing usage reports you can see who has accessed or logged into which system and when, and then set triggers. Such triggers include logins within a specified time period, number of failed login attempts, or a login or log out attempt occurred outside a trusted IP address.
  • It can help you keep track of what has changed with documentation. Documentation Manager now allows you to set and send notifications for any time an article is added, edited, rolled back to a previous version, expired, viewed, published, or disabled. It also enables notifications for articles being moved, or templates being added, updated or disabled. This helps you stay in control in real time with the changes made in customers’ and MSP’s documentation.

To find out more about using the automated workflow features in SolarWinds Passportal + Documentation Manager, visit our documentation on the feature. 

 

Marilena Levy is product marketing manager, SolarWinds Passportal, at SolarWinds MSP.