Managing client relationships as an MSP grows can be a challenge. As an MSP takes on more clients, the amount of information they track grows. That means more time spent on managing assets. Not only does the management of clients’ tech environments become difficult, but keeping up with meetings, reports, and planning can be a daunting task.
With ever-changing needs both internally and externally, how do these businesses manage their operations and relationships?
For Joe Markert, CEO of TransformITive, one of the main tools that has supported growth and development has been Lifecycle Manager. TransformITive, an MSP based out of Berkeley, CA, has been in business for more than 15 years and is one of only eight partners in North America on Microsoft's internal Surface Partner Advisory Committee.
Previously known as FunctionOne before rebranding in 2021, TransformITive is looking to expand its team further and evolve from an MSP to an organization that has a more collaborative, advisory role with clients.
TransformITive is now scaling up and optimizing their business as they take on larger and more complex client engagements. Markert met with the ScalePad team to discuss how his MSP has optimized its asset management, revitalized QBRs and client meetings, and improved relationships with its client base.
Asset Management and Scaling Up
Asset lifecycle management has been the central theme in TransformITive’s journey. Incorporating automated warranty monitoring in TransformITive’s tech stack allowed the team to save time on the massively time-consuming task of monitoring and managing their clients’ hardware warranty information.
The process of managing warranty dates across all client’s hardware assets used to be a huge lift for MSPs. It took hours of work to prepare accurate information and follow up with individual vendors for each warranty.
That kind of process may have been possible as a smaller MSP, but once Markert’s business grew that task became significantly more time-consuming. So when introduced to ScalePad Lifecycle Manager, then known as Warranty Master, Markert saw the value in the automated warranty monitoring and renewal system and has been using the platform ever since.
With the help of automated asset and warranty tracking, TransformITive has been able to transform its own relationships with clients. Markert and his team pull asset data and use that to engage with auditing, lifecycle management, and planning and budgeting.
Up-to-date, accurate asset information is important for the TransformITive team. Now they spend their time on more meaningful engagement with clients instead of the busywork required to do everything manually.
Rebuilding Quarterly Business Reviews
As the company has grown, Markert keeps client relationships a major priority for his team, but it hasn’t always been easy. The more traditional QBR process often left a lot to be desired from the client leadership perspective. Markert recalled a business owner asking if he needed to be in the QBR meetings at all, questioning the purpose and value of the meetings entirely.
Markert knew something needed to change if they were ever going to improve their productivity and relationships with customers. So instead of only focusing on the quarterly meetings, TransformITive broke things up by scheduling alternating meetings every two weeks.
The first meeting focuses on service delivery while the second is the “monthly” meeting where initiatives discussed during the quarterly review are developed further. Every third “monthly” meeting is the official Strategy Session (QBR) where TransformITive and their client discuss new business, existing projects, and is where client leadership can offer feedback.
Consistent communication between MSP and client has helped the team prevent projects falling behind while making sure that the right people from each organization are attending the calls, ensuring visibility to all stakeholders which serves to keep their clients happy with the value of the service and avoid burnout.
Lifecycle Manager is an important piece of the TransformITive process as it allows the team to view and share data easily with customers. In addition to Lifecycle Manager’s dashboard information, the Insights and DigitalMaturityIndex (DMI™) features are resources for MSPs to explain the status of a client’s tech environment.
“What used to take us hours to prepare for a meeting like this and get a deck together, being able to go in and pull a report or look at a dashboard with a customer and just start taking actions… All of these things now are instantaneous rather than half an hour,” Markert said. “Now we can more effectively get to problem solving or decision-making together, rather than spending all this time putting together an Excel sheet that is stale the next day.”
TransformITive still maintains the quarterly review with leadership or owners, but by shifting the detailed information into the monthly meetings, the larger quarterly reviews have changed drastically.
Reworking the communication strategy has paid off for TransformITive, who have found that a more informed client base has led to increased buy-in to new initiatives and projects.
Value for MSPs and their Clients
Lifecycle Manager, Markert said, has also helped his team discuss value propositions with customers. With the data provided, Markert can quantify how a particular piece of hardware functions in the company.
Pointing to a specific number to illustrate the result of 2% lost productivity based on employee salary has entirely changed conversations with clients. Instead of making suggestions to upgrade equipment because the MSP says so, Markert can quantify exactly how each piece of equipment, operating system, or server impacts workflow.
With the right tools for the job, MSPs don’t have to do everything the hard way. By leveraging the resources available to them, like Lifecycle Manager, TransformITive has been able to improve their asset management, meeting schedule and relationship with clients, and overall MSP value.
TransformITive is a success in the MSP space because Markert and his team work together with their clients to deliver comprehensive solutions to problems and plans for the future.
| Aspect | Before Lifecycle Manager | After Lifecycle Manager Implementation |
|---|---|---|
| Client Relationship Management | Struggled to keep up with growing client demands and expectations as the business scaled | Adopted a more advisory role, strengthening client relationships with proactive planning and communication |
| Warranty Tracking | Manual, time-consuming vendor lookups (Dell, Lenovo, HP) for every device | Fully automated warranty tracking; accurate, real-time data at fingertips |
| Meeting Preparation | Hours spent compiling reports, stale Excel sheets | One-click reporting, real-time dashboards, ready-to-use insights |
| Quarterly Business Reviews | Traditional QBRs lacked clarity and engagement; difficult to demonstrate value | Transformed into strategy sessions with client co-presentation and actionable insights |
| Meeting Cadence | Infrequent, disjointed meetings with inconsistent participation | Bi-weekly meetings: service review + strategic planning; every third is a focused QBR |
| Client Engagement | Leadership often questioned the need for meetings | Clients more engaged, even driving QBR discussions with ownership involvement |
| Time Allocation | Team bogged down by administrative busywork | Freed up time reinvested into client service or scaling operations |
| Service Delivery | Reactive and fragmented, due to lack of visibility | Proactive and streamlined using lifecycle data and planning tools |
| Data Usage in Conversations | Subjective recommendations based on anecdotal experience | Data-backed decisions: productivity loss calculations, ROI of upgrades using real asset data |
| MSP Value Proposition | We think you should upgrade this. | Here’s how not upgrading is costing 2% productivity loss per employee. |
| Business Impact | Slow growth, scattered focus, operational bottlenecks | Scalable process, increased client retention, improved profitability |
| Strategic Advantage | Hard to differentiate from competitors | Stronger positioning as a tech advisor, not just a service provider |
How TransformITive Scaled Client Relationships and Operations with Lifecycle Manager
Find out how your MSP can get started with Lifecycle Manager today. Book a demo or start with the free edition today.
