Probleu

Probleu, a Managed Service Provider (MSP) uses BlueFolder to capture more account data and boost billing 60% in first three months.

Company Overview

Since beginning years ago as a state contractor that provided Indiana prosecutors’ offices with a wide array of networking, hardware and internet services, ProBleu has evolved to become a Managed IT Service Provider (MSP) specializing in network infrastructures for small and medium businesses. ProBleu services 162 businesses today, ranging from car dealerships to medical offices to nonprofits.

The Challenge

To serve this growing and diverse group, ProBleu had programmed its own ticketing system at a cost of $30,000. The system lived on an on-site server, which cost the company maintenance and staff dollars — as well as unwelcome spells of downtime.

The system also didn’t allow for communication between ProBleu teams and the client. Work would be performed on an account and not recorded. Tickets were closed arbitrarily, with both customers and techs in the dark about account and job histories when work inevitably resumed.

The Solution

ProBleu Vice President of Sales Craig Hickman evaluated multiple competitors before adopting BlueFolder.

“I like it because it’s web-based and not specific to any platform. BlueFolder works on any laptop, mobile device and browser that we use,” says Hickman. “Other systems boasted compatibility, but they were bloated with detail, archaic to set up, and would have required a full-time employee to manage.”

Hickman saw that features he valued, such as a dropbox feature that allowed users to create new tickets via email, were included with BlueFolder — another comparable solution would have required a fee to a third party, as well as an on-site server, to implement. He wanted his team to spend less time worrying about servers and more about service. BlueFolder features like client email notification, a smoother-running customer portal, and mobile functionality — all lacking in the “homegrown” solution — were also attractive, as keeping tech teams in sync with clients was a top priority.

ProBleu said goodbye to their servers and hello to BlueFolder.

The Results

Now clients can go through the BlueFolder customer portal to send emails, open and create tickets, and even buy more hours when they see that the contract is low. Before, a tech’s notes were not visible to the client, and tickets could be arbitrarily closed with incomplete information. With everyone in the loop, the ProBleu team is more accountable for good service, as the client can monitor ticket status in real time.

It also yielded another large benefit — better job time and data capture resulted in a 60% upswing in billings. “Clients were getting a lot of free work before BlueFolder,” adds Hickman. “Sometimes an email request would be serviced and closed without being recorded at all. Now all that work and time are being captured. It’s not only created more revenue, but a valuable audit trail and a wealth of info that we can all access for future account needs. I wish I would have started with BlueFolder earlier. I missed out on a year of savings.”