Kendra Schaber spent hours each week creating slide decks for client meetings. She knew there was a problem when she saw her clients’ eyes glaze over while she was presenting. This was the catalyst for Schaber to overhaul Alt-Tech’s QBR reporting process. To streamline report preparation and increase the “wow” factor for her clients, Schaber turned to Lifecycle Insights.
Alt-Tech Inc. is a leading IT company and trusted MSP based out of Sherwood Park, Alberta. For over 15 years, Alt-Tech has provided businesses in Edmonton with vCIO services, cybersecurity solutions, and IT management.
Schaber — the Client Services Manager at Alt-Tech — oversees client meetings and QBR reports. She provides vCIO services to clients, including advice about hardware upgrades, warranties, IT spending, and timelines. Schaber works directly with clients to evaluate risk and provide IT solutions for business problems.
Alt-Tech had an existing process for running QBR meetings with their clients. This included standardized reports and a templated slide deck to share critical data and action items. It was a time-consuming, manual process to create these slide decks. If Schaber had four client meetings in a week, she would spend a full day preparing decks. The process wasn’t sustainable or scalable.
Beyond the manual effort involved, Schaber could sense her presentations weren’t making an impact. Despite her technical expertise, client engagement was low — often, her advice was not prioritized or followed. Her presentations lacked the crucial “wow” factor that keeps clients engaged.
“When I came back from maternity leave, I did about a month of meetings with our clients. In every single conversation I had, their eyes glazed over,” Schaber said. “It’s like they didn’t want to engage with the slide decks we were doing anymore.”
Upon returning to the office, Schaber wanted to overhaul how she ran client meetings — all to spark more engagement and generate client buy-in. She got the green light from leadership to revamp the meeting process and overhaul their approach to client engagement.
Alt-Tech was already a ScalePad Partner utilizing Lifecycle Manager to manage client relationships. It was their single source of truth for all client hardware and warranty information. Schaber reviewed ScalePad’s suite of tools and identified Lifecycle Insights as the missing piece for QBR reporting.
Using Lifecycle Insights, Schaber revamped Alt-Tech’s client meetings and QBR reporting process. She leveraged the built-in vCIO tools to transition from manual to automated inputs, saving time with each report. This lets Schaber create more insightful QBRs backed by real-time data with real budgets — all in a fraction of the time.
“The initial setup took a fair amount of time to make the data meaningful,” Schaber said. “But, now that it’s set up, everything is just there. I can go in and add recommendations or update budgets in a few minutes.”
After overhauling the QBR reporting process using Lifecycle Insights, Schaber created sleek, digestible client-facing reports. These reports include key insights, action items, budgets, and timelines.
“Looking at the tool — it’s real-time data, so that was huge for clients,” Schaber adds. “And, it’s a time saver. It saves me six hours a week by using Lifecycle Insights over a slide deck. That’s six hours a week I have back that I can dedicate to onboarding new clients.”
Immediately after presenting her new QBR reports to clients, Schaber saw increased client engagement. With Lifecycle Insights, Schaber saved six hours per week on slide decks and noticed clients were more active in calls.
“As we face inflation, cost has been a huge conversation with every client,” Scahber explains. “That extra bit of transparency is saving a lot of our relationships because clients can now see their cost of IT broken down by hardware, software — line by line. It’s easier for them to digest.” Schaber’s clients are now focused on the insights in each report — no more eyes glazing over in meetings.
Backed by real-time data in an easy-to-read format, these reports drive client buy-in. Schaber notes her clients have been much more receptive to insights and action items, especially around long-term planning and budget forecasting.
The improved visibility and IT transparency wowed her clients and helped them make better business decisions. These reports build trust — a critical factor in maintaining positive client relationships and reducing churn.
Want to save hours on QBR prep and increase client engagement? See how it works in Lifecycle Insights. Book a demo today.
