CRN: Why MSPs need to automate the back office to scale

CRN interviewed Baxter Lanius, founder and CEO of Alternative Payments, about helping MSPs automate their back-office operations. CJ Fairfield's article, part of the CRN Asks A CEO series, looks at the work MSPs often overlook while they focus on service delivery: moving money, closing the monthly books, tracking profitability, and seeing how technicians spend their time.

Baxter says that when an MSP's margins fall short, a handful of clients is usually the cause, and owners have to decide whether to fix those accounts or let them go. He adds that more efficient MSPs sell for significantly higher multiples.

The article also covers Alti, the Financial Superintelligence inside Alternative Payments. Fairfield explains how MSPs can ask Alti questions about their business using live financial data, spot overdue invoices, check profitability by client, and approve the follow-up emails it prepares. Anthony Birone, founder of Alternative Payments partner ElasticIT, told CRN that Alti "helps great technical owners become great business operators."

Read the article on CRN →