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KSR + KMT: Seamless onboarding & the start of a strong partnership

KSR Partners

“Onboarding and changing over to KMT has helped save our business time, it is more cost-effective for us as a business.  Having KMT as our MSP now enables us to focus on new projects.

Prior to onboarding with KMT, we couldn’t rely on our provider, it was expensive and issues would repeat.  Now have confidence that the IT issues are being resolved and our IT systems support our business goals moving forward.  With such reliance on technology it is important we found the right partner.”

Emma Davis

“Onboarding with KMT has been quick, supportive, we have had confidence.  We know where our problems are and know where we’re doing well.

Whether logging a ticket via the online portal or talking to our IT support team on the phone, KMT are polite and friendly, they go out of their way to ensure our issues are resolved with as little impact to us as possible.”

Emma Davis

Technology Services Used

  • kmt service iconSupport
  • kmt service iconStrategy
  • kmt service iconModern

Founded

1975

Head Office

Melbourne

Business

Accounting

01

Onboarding

23

End Users

As we transition to a new era of hybrid working that blends the office and the home, many accounting firms have been forced to start thinking about the ways they can achieve this without loosing productivity and gain efficiencies.

The future of the new modern workplace requires all business leaders to rethink how work will be done and reimagine the new modern workplace and how they will manage risks.  This lead the team from KSR Partners to evaluate how their technology was working for them and what they required to be able to future proof their business in the ‘new normal’.

Who are KSR Partners?

In 1975, KSR was founded in Melbourne, at a time when partnerships were founded on a handshake, clouds didn’t hold data and tax returns were type-written in triplicate.  Committed to being a highly progressive, one-stop financial services resource, KSR listens, understands and fulfills its client’s needs.

KSR Partners offers multiple offerings in one location including:

  • accounting and compliance
  • bookkeeping and finance
  • wealth management and financial planning
  • advisory and business services
  • alliance partners.

With the breadth and quality of services offered at KSR Partners, they understood that technology played a leading role in facilitating them to grow and evolve as a business.

“We reached out via our networks for a recommendation for reputable managed service providers.  Our HR consultant recommended Kaine Mathrick Tech.   From the first contact, KMT understood our problem space and undertook an IT Audit.  The audit process was thorough and of a high standard, it provided us with information that we had never received from our current incumbent.”

The accounting profession is rapidly transforming

Many prevailing views on the workplace have been shaped by the traditional office environment.  Offices were designed to foster communication and collaboration with teams forming their identities and relationships under one roof.   The pandemic has challenged this model and we must now rethink how we can best manage communication, knowledge exchange, collaboration and client dealings with the ‘new modern workplace’ in mind.

Today’s accountant is no longer burdened with task-oriented projects.  Instead, thanks to the shift in dynamic accounting technology, accounting software programs are becoming automated and the role of the accountant is changing to a business advisor.    KSR Partners understood they needed to embrace the rapid advances in accounting technology if they want to remain relevant in the accounting industry.  This includes staying up to date with technological trends, optimising and adapting current accounting software to meet the needs of their company and being open to accepting and learning advancing technologies.

Shifting to a professional technology partner

KSR Partners had a current Melbourne MSP who provided IT support services to the business.  Instead of a fixed monthly managed service fee like KMT offer, they used a ticket-based pricing model.  Fixed-based pricing models provide a few complexities; the first being the more tickets raised, the more money the MSP makes.  For KSR this meant that issues would reoccur frequently, and the IT costs were out of control.  In conjunction with this, the communication was poor and transparency over their service and their IT issues and systems was non-existent.

It was time to engage with another technology partner.

So what makes a great MSP?

Over the years, the IT industry has faced many changes.  From ethernet connections to wireless support, from office and physical data centre environments to hybrid cloud solutions, technology has endured many changes.    As cloud technology becomes integral, so do the responsibilities of MSPs.  Companies no longer have to wait for IT providers to attend onsite to diagnose issues, they are now able to tackle most issues over the phone.

So what makes a great MSP?

  1. Great Track Record: We believe that a great MSP has a great track record and is happy to share this with you.  In the case of KSR Partners, KMT was happy to open up the lines of communications between KSR and their clients to discuss how their services had helped them.
  2. Fast Response Times:  Whether your issues are small or large, all businesses would like them solved within a reasonable time period.  In the case of KMT, we share our performance via our tools and also publicise them monthly via our monthly newsletter.
  3. Transparency:  A great MSP will be happy to share the details.  From documenting your environment so you can see what problems are commonly occurring to understanding what users are reporting the most IT issues, our tools provide you with the transparency to make data-driven decisions.
  4. Exceptional Communication:  No matter what the problem or issue, exceptional communication means that both the client and the MSP are on the same page and understand what the next steps are.

KSR Partners were looking for all of the above.  Their experience with their previous MSP was difficult due to the lack of transparency and communication meaning they had reoccurring issues and slow response times costing them time and money.

Outstanding issues were resolved in 20 mins

“We had many questions over the years of our old MSP about reoccurring issues and where improvements could be made and the answer was always – we have undertaken testing and this issue cannot be resolved.  KMT solved these exact issues in 20 minutes.  The expertise and knowledge are deep and broad across many areas.”

Selection process

KSR Partners have a clear goal to evolve their company and have the ability to scale their business and service more customers.  However, to do this they needed to address their technology as it was the one thing holding them back.

KSR Partners met with multiple suppliers and found the engagement process of Kaine Mathrick Tech comprehensive and of a high standard.  The first step in the process was for KMT to undertake an IT Audit where our senior tech guys took a good look ‘under the hood’ and identified where the strengths and vulnerabilities of the infrastructure were.

Emma says  ” The IT Audit process was comprehensive and thorough.  It provided us with information that we had never received from our other IT Support provider”

The next step was to further get to know each other and both teams met and discussed the business goals for KSR and how their technology could help them.  KMT also shared information about their tools and how the dashboards would provide information on how we were servicing their account and what their common IT issues were.  Our tools also document the IT environment, providing the business with a knowledge base of the infrastructure, providing both KMT and KSR visibility of IT systems and platforms’ age and scope.

This provided KSR Partners with the confidence that KMT actually “knew their stuff”

Setting up for success with KMT

Emma comments “Onboarding with KMT is thorough.  Through the IT Audit stage, they identified ongoing issues and provided several options for solutions that would suit us best.  The solutions were well researched and in our best interests”

The onboarding process was appreciated by KSR partners, it began with a ‘client kick off meeting’ where key contacts of each team met and planned out the timelines, tools that needed to be deployed and issues that needed solving.

Standard business operations such as onboarding or offboarding new users can be time-consuming and inconsistent for businesses without carefully managed IT.  Not to mention can pose risks to the organisation if proper access rights are not commissioned or decommissioned at the right time.   KMT provides a standard operating environment is essential and issues like the above are resolved within the onboarding process.

“KMT are providing us with something we can build on.  Processes are changing and being implemented from the beginning which means small things are now running smoothly – such as onboarding new users.  We feel like we are being set up for success”  Emma continues.

All part of the service, we believe in transparency and one of the first steps is to fully document the IT infrastructure and take photos.  This is placed on a portal that also includes processes and procedures providing KSR Partners with full transparency over their systems.

The documentation process enabled our team to familliarise themselves with KSR Partners and when issues arise, the problems can be resolved fast and in most cases with one phone call.

On ‘Go Live Day’ the team visited the KSR office, deployed all relevant end-user tools and software and explained how to log an IT ticket.  Getting to know our clients and their teams is setting the partnership up for success – cupcakes were delivered to celebrate!

We believe customer onboarding is something we need to get right – every time.  That is why we have spent the past 6 months building out our unique and comprehensive customer onboarding strategy so we consistently deliver a strong first impression.

Support in the trenches

KSR Partners understood the value of getting their technology systems right.  Like most SME businesses, KSR’s staff need to focus on doing their day jobs and running their business, not focusing on managing day-to-day IT support requests or keeping on the pulse of the latest technologies.

Since onboarding with KMT, they have been able to reduce their efforts on IT from a 5 day a week job to logging a ticket 3 times a week.  Most of the tickets that were outstanding from the previous MSP has been resolved now and does not reoccur.  The new partnership has freed the team up to focus on their day job.

“Ticket resolution is fast and friendly.  Whether logging a ticket via an online portal or talking to someone on the phone, KMT are polite and friendly.  And go out of their way to ensure our issues are resolved with as little impact to us as possible.”

“Onboarding and changing over to KMT has helped save our business time, it is more cost effective for us as a business so we can focus on new projects.  We now have confidence over our IT systems are support our business goals moving forward.  With such as reliance on technology it is so important we are super confident. “

Financial Services IT Experts

We are committed to changing the game of managed services and doing what’s right for your business.  We will take the time to research the right solution for your business, ensuring your technology enables you to meet your growth goals.

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