As an MSP, there’s a constantly growing list of services that you provide to your clients. Each of these services is unique in its properties and how they’re provided. It can quickly become a headache to handle all these products and services without an
organized system in place.
SuperOps.ai solves your cataloging woes with the service catalog, which helps you maintain an organized list of diverse service items, and define each of them in fine detail.
But before that, let’s get the most important question out of the way.
What is the service catalog?
The service catalog is a place where MSP admins can list all of their services on offer. These listed items can then be clearly defined and included in invoices to bill clients.
This is what a typical service catalog looks like.
Types of service items
These service items are usually of three types:
Product: These are individual items that are sold to clients, and are priced per unit. The quantity is mentioned in the contract while generating an invoice. Laptops, printers, and OS licenses are some examples of product-type service items.
Services or worklog hours: These are hour-based services that are offered to clients, so all you need to mention is the cost per hour for the service provided. Hours are logged as and when the work is performed and pushed for invoicing. Onsite support, labor, and incident support are common examples of service-type service items.
Retainers: Retainers are incredibly useful and convenient in helping clients make upfront payments for common, recurring service items. The two types of retainers available in SuperOps.ai are block hour and block money. Here are some examples of how these two retainers work for an MSP:
Block hour: Pay me $500 and you get 10 hours of support free and beyond that, we’ll charge you based on my standard rates.
Block money: Pay me $2000 upfront, and items billed to you will be deducted from it. You’ll be billed for items normally once you’ve exceeded this amount.
Retainer fees are a direct way of helping bring predictability and revenue for the business upfront, especially if you’re an MSP who’s just transitioned from break-fix services.
📝 Note
Only when a service catalog item is marked as a worklog item, it is shown as a worklog option in a ticket. Once it gets displayed inside a ticket, the technician can choose the item, mention the duration of the service provided, and add the worklog.
Usually, contract items such as recurring charges are not marked as worklog items and are directly added to contract items for the purpose of recurring billing.