Documentation Maturity Level – Are You Where You Should Be?

What’s your documentation maturity level?

I guess we should back up a bit, and explain what documentation maturity level™ is. You hear about “operational maturity” a lot, but to actually improve the maturity level of your business you need to break that down a bit. After all, “operational” means a lot of different things. We’re a documentation company, so we decided to break down maturity specifically with respect to MSP documentation.

Your documentation maturity level, in essence, reflects how your MSP approaches documentation, and how you use it in your business. Documentation maturity runs in a spectrum from the MSP that documents almost nothing, preferring to keep it all in the heads of a couple of key people, to the MSP that leverages documentation for competitive advantage.

Most MSPs fall somewhere in between. When IT Glue started in 2014, I think it’s fair to say that the percentage of MSPs who were masters of documentation was quite small. Even among IT service providers who understood the value of documentation, the actual state of documentation was probably haphazard, in part for lack of great tools.

Four years later, we live in a world where Fred Voccola gets on stage at Kaseya Connect and tells his entire customer base that they need to be on IT Glue. Documentation is no longer an afterthought.

Why does this matter for you?

Because documentation maturity is tied to an awful lot of success metrics. In our recent Global MSP Benchmark Survey, we noticed that IT Glue partners, most of whom we can attest have a high level of documentation maturity, are more likely to see revenue growth, onboard new techs faster, are more likely to scale effectively and maximize the efficiency of their non-technical teams. We also know that when everything is documented, you have a turnkey business with which to eventually attract buyers, when the time comes. What’s more, the well-documented MSP is in a much better position to transfer its knowledge of documentation best practices to its clients, creating a powerful revenue stream via MyGlue.

The revenue, efficiency and scaling gains make for a compelling argument on their own. But when you think about it, any MSP that enjoys these advantages is going to increasingly outcompete any rival that lacks these advantages.

This is why documentation maturity matters. Documentation is an area of your business over which you have full control, that delivers to you competitive advantage, if you know how to use it to its maximum potential.

What’s your documentation maturity level?

Documentation is a source of competitive advantage. When your processes are well-documented, they move from being individual knowledge to team knowledge. You execute consistently, and do not waste time looking for information, because it’s always at your fingertips. Companies with a high level of documentation maturity enjoy higher revenue growth, increased cost savings and superior valuations.