What Is Autotask And What Are The Top 10 Features?

Running a business, big or small, requires managing several different departments. For example, you may need to manage resources, inventory, contracts, accounts, documentation, and service desk, among others.

Having different tools and software for these operations can be a hassle. You need to ensure the tools are compatible and also technically train employees on using them.

The solution to these challenges is Autotask. It is a Professional Services Automation (PSA) platform that provides a one-stop-shop approach to business management.

It is a cloud-based solution that provides complete visibility over your business with features like dashboards, sales, CRM, assets, inventory, and billing. It also offers optimized service workflows that you can utilize while working with outsourced IT help desk companies.

Let us look at some of the top features of Autotask and how it can help you run business operations.

Are you wondering if Autotask would be the right fit for your organization? Here are the top 10 features of the platform that may help you decide.

• Dashboards for a Comprehensive View
• Manage CRM
• Sales Overview
• Manage Contracts and Billing
• Creation of Knowledge Base
• Service Desk Tickets
• Project Management
• Managing Outsourced Tickets
• Billing
• Reporting

Sorting through rows of data stored in tables can be a hassle and outside the expertise area of business users. Autotask’s dashboard overcomes this challenge by working as an interface between the database and users.

It summarizes and displays data in an easy-to-read and understandable graphical format. In addition, data can be organized using structure elements like tab groups, tabs, and widgets.

You can limit access to the dashboard by the user’s line of business and permission level. You can create multiple tabs and present alternate views of the company. You can also create separate client portal dashboards.

As a business, you will be dealing with multiple customers, vendors, and partners. Your own company has to have a record in the database; you can then create all other entities in relation to the company.

For example, Autotask offers pre-defined company types like the customer, lead, prospect, dead, cancellation, vendor, and partner.

The platform provides import abilities using which you can import bulk legacy data. You can search and manage these entities using the Company Search page. Under the CRM report group, you can access various reports like sales orders, activities, analysis, and performance.

A sales process involves seven steps, from prospecting to closing the sale. You can create your customized sales process according to the products you sell, the tools you use, and the metrics you track.

Technically, you will create an opportunity on the platform when you have a potential sale in the picture. Some opportunities will result in successful customers, while some may become inactive or lost.

Autotask offers a quote-to-billing workflow as well, which includes steps like adding a quote, adding items to a quote, converting quote items to billing items when a customer approves, and managing invoices.

The platform offers contracts that can be used to customize optional billing arrangements. For example, you can set billing methods, labor rates, and prepayments.

You can set contracts to generate revenue based on fixed monthly charges, time spent, milestones, or pre-defined service bundles. Multiple contracts can be set up for one customer.

You can use contracts to set up a financial approval process.

Having a knowledge base present benefits like quicker issue resolution, improved agent productivity, and reduced training time and costs.

Using Autotask’s Knowledgebase feature, you can create a company-specific repository and enable employees to solve problems more quickly. You can also make content shareable with customers through the Client Portal.

The feature comes with an authoring, integration tool, and search engine to make creating articles, integrating with external sources, and searching for solutions easier.

Tickets are how customer interactions with the business are documented and tracked. These could include requests for information, issues with devices or networks, or incidents.

With Autotask, you can create different types of tickets like service requests, incident tickets, problem tickets, change requests, and alerts.

You can create customized fields for tickets depending on their category type. In addition, you can create multiple categories depending on the business workflow. This allows for better assignment, tracking, and reporting.

According to a study, companies around the globe collectively lose $1 million every 20 seconds due to poor project management. However, platforms like Autotask can help you avoid this mistake.

You can create four types of projects on the platform: client, internal, proposal, and template.

Projects can be internal, external, short or long-term. The platform provides you with the means to manage the various steps involved in project management.

For example, you can create a project schedule, add a budget, monitor resources and costs, manage billable and non-billable hours, track time centrally and generate project reports.

If you have outsourced your service or help desk, then using this feature, you can outsource tickets to MSPs or other Autotask partners.

Alternatively, you can even accept invitations for tickets that have been outsourced to you from Autotask. You can invite partners to join your list of sub-contractors. You can generate reports for these tickets and choose the Detail report format for an in-depth analysis.

Autotask is not a feature-rich accounting platform yet. But it is compatible with several other accounting tools which you can integrate.

For now, the platform lets you track billable items, make adjustments, generate invoices, reverse bills, transfer bills to QuickBooks, and export items to XML or .csv.

Autotask provides a wide array of standard reports. Standard reports are the ones available according to a user’s permission level and category.

LiveReports is the customized report engine provided by Autotask. You can choose to run the pre-built reports that were created using the engine or generate customized reports depending on your requirement.

You can also schedule the reports to be sent to specific users one-time or on a recurring basis.

Autotask is a business management platform that can be used by small and medium businesses to large enterprises. As it is a SaaS application, you are not responsible for updating or maintaining any hardware.

The platform can be integrated with various applications, such as remote monitoring and accounting software. In addition, its outsourcing capability makes it easier to assign, track and work with MSPs.

There are several pre-built reports available that provide a granular view of data. And if you need more information, you can use the LiveReports engine to create customizable reports.