About Optimized IT
Optimize IT delivers managed and co-managed IT services that keep organizations secure, stable, and efficient. OptimizeIT turns technology into a business advantage, streamlining systems, improving workflows, and giving clients the freedom to focus on growth and long-term success.
- Size: 28 Employees
- Location: Cincinnati, OH
- Clients: Mid-sized manufacturing and engineering firms, often with multi-site environments
- Core Services: Managed and co-managed IT, infrastructure management, IT strategy, and planning
- ScalePad Products: Lifecycle Manager & Backup Radar
The Challenge: Bringing Structure and Clarity to a Growing Team
For Optimized IT, the focus has never been just about fixing IT problems; it’s about helping clients reach their business goals. To do this, Erik Bowling, Director of Client Success, knew his Customer Success Managers (CSMs) needed to have big-picture conversations with the right stakeholders — and avoid getting buried in technical reporting or account admin.
However, their tools couldn’t keep up with their ambitions. They leaned on their PSA, but it was too ticket-focused to help with strategic planning or technology reviews. “It didn’t do everything we needed it to do from an account management perspective,” says Erik.
As the Customer Success team grew, there wasn’t any consistency in how they recorded meetings or handled follow-ups — meaning things could get lost in the shuffle. “The institutional knowledge everyone had was locked up in inboxes or Post-it notes,” says Erik.
Client interactions and data were also stuck in separate, disconnected systems, so there wasn’t a clear view of their clients’ environments, roadmaps, or recent engagements. They also didn’t have a reliable way to forecast spending or project revenue, so surprises with workloads and budgets could happen to both the Optimized IT team and their clients. “It was hard to keep things organized and on track,” says Erik.
Erik knew they needed to standardize their workflows and have more visibility into customer accounts. “When you have to constantly start from scratch, the clients suffer,” says Erik. “We needed more consistency so we could put our customers first.”
“Lifecycle Manager gives us the flexibility that individual clients need and the structure we need to drive consistency. With Lifecycle Manager, our CSMs know where to start and what to do next. It really helps us do our jobs better and more efficiently.”—Erik Bowling, Director of Client Success at Optimized IT
The Solution: A Single System for Client Engagement and Planning
When looking for solutions, the team focused on finding something intuitive, easy to adopt, and purpose-built for MSPs.
After reviewing many options — including tools made for those outside the channel — Optimized IT quickly saw that specialization mattered. “When it comes to account management and vCIO work, it really pays to stay in the same space,” says Erik. “Tools built for MSPs just line up better.”
ScalePad’s Lifecycle Manager stood out for its clean user experience, MSP-specific workflows, and visibility into client assets, roadmaps, and goals. The team was confident it would help them create repeatable, straightforward processes for CSMs to follow.
Once they adopted Lifecycle Manager, it quickly became the connective tissue across their customer success operations by organizing customer data and guiding engagement.
The Results: More Forecast Accuracy and Team Capacity Leads to Stronger Client Partnerships
By creating a single system for overseeing client environments, projects, and interactions, Optimized IT has seen the following benefits:
- Accurate revenue forecasts. With a clearer view of their clients’ assets, the team can better see upcoming project-based work and forecast future revenue. “We do a lot of project work, and Lifecycle Manager helps us keep track of it and understand what revenue we can expect outside of our typical MMR,” says Erik. The forecasts also help them figure out if or when they need to bring in another project engineer.
- Avoided increasing headcount. Lifecycle Manager empowers CSMs to take on tasks previously done by specialized technical roles. By working more efficiently, Erik says they’ve held off on hiring more team members. “We just took on three new clients, and I didn’t have to think about hiring another CSM,” he says.
- Reduced onboarding friction. Lifecycle Manager’s intuitive workflows get new team members up to speed quickly. “It flattens out that learning curve,” says Erik. “You can easily walk somebody through how things are organized and tracked — and it just all makes sense. I’m pretty busy, so getting time back with this tool is great.”
- More efficient reporting and budgeting. Lifecycle Manager’s reports make it easy to keep clients in the loop. With a few clicks, CSMs send attractive, easy-to-read, monthly reports to customers. The platform also makes tracking costs for asset replacements clear and consistent, which helps Optimized IT share accurate budgets with clients. “With Lifecycle Manager, things aren't a complete surprise to customers, and we look a heck of a lot more professional,” says Erik.
- Scalable client engagement. By unifying data and streamlining roadmapping, the team can focus on strategic planning for clients vs. day-to-day account administration. “Lifecycle Manager keeps us organized, on track, and accountable, which helps customers feel like we’re on top of it all,” says Erik. “It helps create discussion about how we’re doing and what’s going on in their business — and our clients appreciate that.”
What started as a push for better organization has evolved into a scalable way of better supporting customers. With everything in one place, the Optimized IT team can stay aligned, plan ahead with accuracy, and manage every client conversation confidently.