Turn your CRM up a notch

Get ready to bust out your happy dance. Some of you have been waiting a long time for this and we’re excited to finally let you know: QuickBooks On-Premise is here. When you integrate BrightGauge and QuickBooks On-Premise, you’ll have access to crucial financial data, right at your fingertips. You’ll know where you stand financially while focusing more time on revenue-generating tasks. QuickBooks On-Premise is now available for you to connect with and start pulling data from. How to connect to QuickBooks On-Premise It takes just a few steps to get started with QuickBooks On-Premise. After you add QuickBooks On-Premise from your datasources list in BrightGauge, you'll need to configure the settings.    It should take about 5-10 minutes total to connect to this datasource. Step-by-step instructions can be found in our onboarding document.  What do I get out of the box? We always want you to start viewing your data as soon as you connect to a new datasource, because every moment counts. There are certain KPIs that matter to mostly everyone and based on those KPIs, we pre-build gauges, dashboards, and reports for every datasource, made available to you as soon as you connect. With QuickBooks On-Premise, you’ll have access to 35 pre-built gauges, 4 default dashboards, and 4 reports. If you’re looking for a complicated custom build-out or have any questions about custom fields, our Support Team is on hand to help you out. Gauges   As you’d expect, all QuickBooks On-Premise default gauges take a close look at your financial metrics. Gauges include Accounts Payable Aging Summary, Accounts Receivable Aging Summary, Cash Balance, EBITDA Performance by Month, Outstanding Invoices, Profit & Loss Performance, Revenue by Category, and more. Dashboards   Four dashboards help you categorize your gauges into separate buckets right off the bat: COGS Detail, Expenses Detail, Financial Overview, and Revenue Detail. Reports   Money is a sensitive topic, so it’s something stakeholders are going to want to know about on a frequent basis. It’s really simple to create custom, impactful client reports in just a few minutes in BrightGauge, but we help you get started with 4 templates: Financial Overview, Monthly Expense Report, Quarterly P&L Review, and Weekly Account Review . By the way, even though these are templates, you are still free to customize them to your liking. Goals We’re big, huge fans of setting and tracking goals and if you have yet to use this feature, you might consider giving it a shot. Having a goal that’s tied to finances is a powerful way to keep your team motivated and accountable. Some ideas are: Nothing Over 90 Days Past Due; X Amount Cash in Bank; X Invoices Delivered, etc. Get creative and remember to keep it fun. Goals should be challenging, but they shouldn’t be the sole determiner of salary bumps and promotions. Are you ready to see what BrightGauge can do with your QuickBooks On-Premise data? Contact us today to get started.

Building transparency and trust amongst clients is a priority for many business leaders, as it should be. Without a strong foundation, there’s less of a chance that clients will stick around for the long-run, which would be bad news for business. Client reports are a powerful way to maintain a steady relationship because they show everything that you as a service provider are working on, whether it’s good or bad. Reports are a way to show your value and prove that you’re accountable to your SLA. In this post, we’re going to take a look at how you can use BrightGauge and your data from Datto to build reports that really pack a punch. Default Datto data within BrightGauge Whenever you connect to any datasource within BrightGauge, you’re going to have access to pre-built gauges, dashboards, and reports that will help you start viewing your data on day one. Even though you’ll also build your own custom dashboards and reports, these defaults are going to give you important insights in the meantime. With Datto, you’ll get 16 gauges, 1 dashboard, and 1 report to kick things off. (Note: we also integrate with Datto RMM, which comes with 29 default gauges, 2 dashboards, and 1 report) Datto default gauges are going to tell you what’s going on with the machines you’re monitoring with metrics like # of Servers with Datto Backup, # of Workstations with Datto Backup, Datto Agents in Backup Error, Datto Devices 90% Full, and Datto Devices Warranty Expiring Next 90 Days. Your pre-built dashboard is going to give you a bird’s eye view of all your machines and their statuses. Finally, your 1 default report template gives a weekly summary of your device statistics. Sending this standard report to your client each and every week is a great way to start building rapport around what you and your team are busy working on every week. Using custom Datto data to create new reports You may have clients who want more granular details about their agents and workstations, or perhaps they prefer daily or monthly reports. That’s great! In BrightGauge, you can create new Datto reports in just a few minutes. Before doing so, just make sure you have a clear reporting strategy for each of your clients. Ask yourself these simple questions: Who should I send Datto reports to? Definitely your main point of contact, but it’s also a good idea to send reports to their boss and to the person who cuts your checks. That way, everyone understands your worth, and should your main point of contact leave the company, there’s still someone there who knows your history. What should I include in my Datto reports? Choosing the right metrics for your reports largely depends on what is laid out in your SLA and what you’ve discussed with your client.   When should I send Datto reports? Again, this depends on your SLA and your conversations. But, we do recommend automating your reports to go out on the same day and time each time (i.e., every Monday at 8AM), which you can do with BrightGauge. Why should I send Datto reports? Trust, transparency, accountability, value, more business (aka more $$) in the long-run. Need we go on? How do I create a Datto report? We’re about to cover that! Once you’ve built your custom Datto gauges and determined how often you’ll send reports, you can start generating them, which takes just a few minutes. Quick note: make sure you’ve got your client mappings properly set up, as this is going to save you lots of time. Step 1: Create a new report Step 2: Select your clients (this is where client mappings will be really handy) Step 3: Choose to start from scratch or use a pre-built template (this would be the Datto Weekly Summary) Step 4: Populate your report with Datto gauges, a title, and your logo (or your client’s) Step 5: If you plan on sending this same report on a regular basis, make sure to save it as a template (this way, you can avoid steps 1-4 in the future)! Step 6: Review your email Choose recipients; when you set up your client mappings, you should have added recipients to each group (i.e., your point of contact, their boss, and the person who cuts your checks). Remember how you chose clients in Step 2? Now, if you choose ‘All Client Recipients’ in your ‘To:’ field, it will send your email to all the recipients you added for that group. Easy peasy. And don’t worry, recipients can’t see anybody else’s email address.   Revise your subject line/body if you’d like to, add your company logo, and choose to attach as a PDF if you wish (pro tip: BrightGauge reports are interactive, so your clients can click into the gauges to get more detailed information) Set your schedule and send it off! In the future, your reports will automatically generate and send on the scheduled day and time that you set it for. Sweet. Taking the time to set up your Datto reports and make sure they’re being sent out on a regular basis is going to pay off in the long-term. Clients will appreciate that you’re serious about making sure their agents and workstations are up and running properly and they’ll notice how proactive you are in catching issues before they become disasters. Business practices like this one show you as more than just a service provider - you become a trusted partner that clients don’t need to think twice about continually investing in. For a closer look at the power of reports, watch our free webinar ‘Client Reporting Best Practices’.  

Usually, we consider it a sin to use “automated” and “support” in the same sentence. But bear with us here. The truth is, we do offer an automated support service in the form of an Answer Bot, and you’ll probably be pleasantly surprised by it! Read on to see how our Answer Bot can help resolve your questions quickly and accurately. How Answer Bot works in replying to support tickets If you’re working in your BrightGauge and you get stuck on something - whether it’s figuring out how to build a data mashup gauge, how to create impactful ConnectWise reports, or how to properly set up client mappings - you can always feel free to submit a support ticket. Shortly after you submit, you’ll get a reply from us that acknowledges receipt of your request and lets you know our hours and that we’ll get back to you soon. You may or may not realize, but that reply also includes links to articles that may answer your question. This is thanks to our Answer Bot. Our little robot friend has been trained to seek out 3 relevant articles per every support request that comes in. Our techs are constantly monitoring the Bot’s choices and teaching it to become smarter over time. If one of the Bot’s articles answers your question, awesome! You can click to close your request. If the Bot didn’t get it quite right, no worries. One of our techs will reach out to you real soon to get to the bottom of your issue. Why use an Answer Bot? We do this because we want you to get your answers as quickly as possible, so you spend less time waiting around and more time getting the data you need. It’s all about making things as easy as possible. Other support resources Did you know that our site has lots of other resources that might be able to help you figure out your issue without needing to submit a ticket? Our Knowledge Base is chock full of articles meant to help you. Anything from Dashboards 101 to how to calculate Client Efficiency Index for ConnectWise Manage can be found there. We’ve got training videos if you consider yourself more of a visual learner. You can find a free podcast, webinars, whitepapers, and case studies that reinforce your use of data. Our blog is full of useful articles, tips, and tricks that can help you get the most out of your BrightGauge. All that being said, we really do love getting your support requests. It helps make us sharper and helps us get to know you better, too. Plus, if we’re receiving a lot of the same request, that lets us know that it might be time to update or add a feature. So, don’t be afraid to reach out to us if that’s what works best for you! Anytime you’ve got an issue, just head to our Support page to get what you need (cue Friends theme song now).