The hidden price of "simple" project management that's killing MSP's profitability
The Project Management Prison That's Trapping MSPs
If you're running an MSP with serious project ambitions, you've probably discovered the dirty secret that no one talks about the project modules in ConnectWise, Autotask, and HaloPSA are absolutely terrible for managing projects, tickets, and priorities.
You know the drill. You need to see which projects are falling behind, which tickets are overdue, which technicians are overloaded, and what's due this week.
But instead of getting clarity, you're clicking through your PSA's sluggish interface, hunting through endless lists, and trying to piece together project status from scattered tickets and notes.
These platforms are great for storing data, but horrible for managing the actual day-to-day flow of tickets, priorities, and project work.
The Multi-Thousand Dollar Mistake Most MSPs Don't See Coming
When you choose Microsoft Planner, you're not just choosing a project management tool. You're choosing to fracture your entire business system.
Think about what happens when your project data lives in Planner while your client data, billing, time tracking, and service tickets live in ConnectWise:
The Double-Entry Bottleneck: Let's say your project managers hypothetically spend 8-12 hours per week updating multiple systems. That's $31,200 annually for a PM making $60K, multiplied across your entire team.
The Billing Problem: Without PSA integration, you're manually transferring time entries and project milestones between Planner and your PSA system.
Compliance Nightmares: When audit time comes, you'll spend days reconstructing the connection between work performed in Planner and what was actually billed in your PSA.
Client Transparency Gap: Without integration, clients receive disconnected updates that don't match their invoices, creating confusion and eroding trust in your billing accuracy.
What Happens When You Do Nothing
Let's be brutally honest about where this path leads:
Month 3: Your project managers are spending more time updating systems than managing projects. Client satisfaction starts declining because updates are delayed and inconsistent.
Month 6: You've missed enough billable hours that profit margins on projects are razor-thin. Your best technicians are frustrated by unclear priorities and constant context switching between systems.
Month 12: A major project goes sideways because critical information was trapped in Planner while client history and billing constraints lived in your PSA further straining client relationships
Month 18: You're forced to choose whether to abandon visual project management and go back to your PSA's terrible interface or abandon your PSA investment and try to run everything through Planner (losing CRM, billing, service integration, and years of client data).
Neither option is great for your business.
The real tragedy? The MSPs who figured this out early are already capturing the project revenue you're leaving on the table.
The Missing Piece That Changes Everything
Here's what the most successful project-focused MSPs have realized: You don't have to choose between visual project management and PSA integration.
The solution isn't to abandon what works about Planner (visual clarity, drag-and-drop simplicity, team collaboration).
The solution is to get those exact capabilities directly integrated with your PSA, so project management enhances your business system instead of fragmenting it.
This is why many MSPs have moved beyond from Planner to TopLeft Kanban boards, a visual project management solution built specifically for ConnectWise, Autotask, and HaloPSA that handles projects, service tickets, and priorities in one unified view.
What if Your Project Management Actually Enhanced Your PSA?
Imagine opening a single dashboard and seeing:
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Every project ticket and service request, exactly as it exists in your PSA, arranged in visual workflows
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Real-time priority updates and status changes that automatically sync between systems
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Resource allocation showing project work, service tickets, and urgent priorities
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Client communication that pulls directly from your CRM data
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Billing accuracy that captures every billable minute across all work types
Because TopLeft is designed specifically for MSPs (not generic project teams), it solves problems that Planner can't even see.
Why MSPs Who Choose TopLeft Never Go Back
"We were able to move our average project delivery from negative efficiency to positive 58% efficiency. So we finish projects now with an average of 1/3 time left over!" — Steve Psaradellis, CEO of TEBA
"TopLeft turned project management from staring at huge lists, impossible to prioritize, into easily digestible, very visually compelling information." — Sarah Ellis, CIO at Clear Guidance
"We have improved SLA adherence from 60% to 90% within six months. Our employee utilization has improved as well from 30% to 75%." — Chase Effler, Engineering Manager at Appalachian Network Services
"With TopLeft, it takes much less time for me to communicate, assign, and correct statuses. I had a project with 55–60 tickets that needed assignments and status correction. In ConnectWise Manage, it takes me around 45 minutes to complete the job; while in TopLeft, it only took me 13 minutes." — Alex Anderson, Project Manager at Helixstorm
These aren't generic productivity improvements. These are MSP-specific transformations that directly impact your bottom line.
The Features That Make MSPs Choose TopLeft Over Planner
Multi-Project Portfolio View: Unlike Planner's single-project limitation, TopLeft shows tickets and priorities from multiple projects and service queues on one screen.
MSP-Specific Swimlanes: Group tickets by engineer, project, client, priority level, or estimated start date. See resource distribution and work organization in ways that make sense for service-based businesses.
SLA and Due Date Intelligence: Automatically highlight approaching deadlines, SLA expirations, and priority escalations. Your team knows what's urgent without hunting through lists.
Neglected Work Detection: Identify tickets stuck in one status too long, missing time entries, or dropped priorities. Prevent problems before they become client escalations.
Real-Time PSA Integration: Assign engineers, enter time, add notes, change ticket status, and update priorities directly from the Kanban board. All changes sync immediately with your PSA, no double entry.
Work-in-Progress: Limits Help your team understand when too much work has been started across projects, service tickets, and priorities.
Your MSP's Project Management Future
Short-term vision: Project managers focus on managing work, not systems. Technicians know what to do and when. Clients stay informed through one integrated workflow.
Long-term transformation: You win bigger, more complex projects and boost profit margins by capturing every billable hour and avoiding scope creep.
Competitive advantage: While others pick between visual tools and PSA integration, you offer both, making project delivery a premium differentiator.
The MSPs Who Will Thrive vs. Those Who Won't
MSPs who will dominate the next five years:
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Value PSA-enhancing tools that provide visual clarity and integrate seamlessly into daily workflows
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Have a culture of continuous improvement, with a product champion driving adoption and training
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Prioritize operational efficiency through real-time visibility, reduced chaos, and team collaboration
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Choose pragmatic tools that ‘just work’ over flashy or overly complex platforms
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Stick with tools that ‘just work’ and require minimal babysitting once set up
MSPs who will struggle:
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Rely on disconnected tools that create data silos and duplicate effort
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Tolerate stagnant project processes without investing in continuous improvement
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Lose billable time due to inconsistent time entry and tracking habits
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Lack planning visibility, leading to missed project opportunities and resource misalignment
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Fail to drive team-wide adoption, with unclear value across roles and poor system engagement
The Decision That Defines Your Future
The question isn't whether visual project management is valuable; Microsoft Planner proved that. The question is whether you'll implement it in a way that strengthens your business or fragments it.
Every day you delay, you lose money while competitors boost efficiency, bill more hours, and strengthen client relationships.
Smart MSPs have already made their choice. They're using TopLeft for streamlining service delivery while maintaining the PSA investment that runs their business.
Your clients are demanding better project delivery. Your team is desperate for clarity. Your bottom line needs those missing billable hours.
Because in the MSP world, the companies that connect their systems win. Those that don't become cautionary tales.
