If your ticket backlog is growing faster than your coffee consumption, you’ve got a problem. And let’s be honest—no MSP wants to be stuck in “always catching up” mode.

A growing backlog doesn’t just slow down your support team; it frustrates your end-users, puts SLAs at risk, and can lead to an overworked, overwhelmed tech team. But the answer isn’t just throwing more hours at the problem. The real fix? Smarter workflows, fewer bottlenecks, and better tools that let your team handle multiple tickets efficiently.

Here’s how you can reduce your MSP’s ticket backlog without burning out your tech team.

1. Convert emails into instant chats for faster resolutions

Email-based ticketing is a productivity killer. It creates long, disjointed threads filled with back-and-forth exchanges before tech even gets to troubleshooting. Clients get frustrated waiting for responses, and techs waste time sorting through emails instead of solving problems.

Switch to a chat-first ticketing system that instantly converts email requests into real-time ticket chats. This enables techs to resolve issues five times faster than traditional email exchanges.

Strategy:

• Use canned responses for common issues: Standardize replies for frequently asked issues like password resets and basic troubleshooting. This allows techs to resolve issues within seconds instead of typing the same responses repeatedly.
• Enable multitasking with multiple chat-based tickets: Unlike email, chat allows techs to engage in multiple conversations simultaneously. They can assist different clients while waiting for responses, increasing overall efficiency.
• Reduce ticket handling time by eliminating unnecessary emails: Minimize redundant email confirmations, acknowledgments, and excessive back-and-forth. With chat, issues are addressed in real-time, cutting down on wasted communication loops.

2. Merge & group duplicate tickets to remove redundant work

Clients often report the same issue separately. If ten employees from the same office report a “Wi-Fi down” issue, handling each ticket individually is a waste of valuable time.

Merge related tickets into a single master ticket, so techs handle one issue instead of ten. This ensures consistency in communication and prevents redundant work.

Strategy:

• Merge similar tickets to reduce repetitive troubleshooting efforts: Instead of diagnosing the same issue multiple times, techs can resolve the root problem and apply the fix across all affected users.
• Use announcements to broadcast updates: If multiple users are affected, send a mass update instead of responding individually. This not only saves time but also reassures clients that the issue is being actively addressed.

3. Prioritize tickets without losing track of critical ones

Important tickets get buried in the backlog, leading to missed SLAs, frustrated clients, and emergency escalations that disrupt workflow.

Implement a Watchlist to flag high-priority or stuck tickets so they receive extra attention before they become bigger problems.

Strategy:

• Pin VIP clients’ tickets for faster response times: High-value clients should never be left waiting. Ensure their tickets are easily accessible and prioritized to maintain strong relationships.
• Highlight SLA-bound tickets to prevent breaches: Set up automatic reminders or visual cues that highlight tickets approaching SLA deadlines, preventing compliance issues, and ensuring timely resolutions.
• Auto-escalate unresolved tickets after a set period: Establish escalation rules that automatically move tickets up the priority chain if they remain unresolved beyond a predefined time limit.

4. Make ticket updates visible to reduce follow-ups

Clients constantly pinging with “What’s the status?” emails waste techs’ time and disrupt workflow. When clients aren’t kept in the loop, they follow up more frequently, adding to the noise.

Keep both techs and clients informed with real-time notifications, so everyone knows exactly where a ticket stands.

Strategy:

• Enable ticket update notifications for techs and clients: Set up automated alerts whenever a ticket’s status changes, so everyone involved stays informed without needing to ask for updates.
• Provide client-facing ticket updates: Offer a self-service portal where clients can check their ticket status anytime, reducing the need for unnecessary follow-up queries.
• Use internal notes in chat for seamless handovers: Ensure all techs have full context by keeping internal notes within the ticket. This prevents miscommunication and allows any tech to take over the ticket smoothly.

5. Enable techs to work on tickets from anywhere

Some tickets don’t require a workstation, yet they sit unresolved until techs return to their desks. Meanwhile, clients wait unnecessarily.

Empower techs to resolve tickets on the go using a mobile service desk app. This helps reduce ticket aging and improves overall efficiency.

Strategy:

• Quick-fix tickets from mobile: Password resets, access requests, and minor troubleshooting can be handled remotely, ensuring these simple tasks don’t clog up the backlog.
• Allow techs to respond from their phone: Enable push notifications and mobile responses so that techs can address urgent tickets even when they’re away from their desks.
• Increase team productivity by removing location constraints: Encourage a hybrid support model where techs can assist clients from anywhere, reducing downtime between site visits or meetings.

6. Gain real-time visibility to prevent future backlogs

If you don’t know where the bottlenecks are, you can’t fix them. Some techs might be overloaded, specific ticket types may take too long to resolve, and SLAs could be slipping unnoticed.

Use a real-time ticket dashboard to track resolution speed, backlog trends, and team workload.

Strategy:

• Identify which tickets take the longest to resolve: Use analytics to pinpoint problematic trends and optimize workflows accordingly.
• Redistribute workload dynamically: Monitor team capacity in real-time and reassign tickets to prevent certain techs from being overburdened.
• Spot unresolved tickets before they become a crisis: Set up automated alerts for tickets that remain open past an acceptable threshold and intervene before they escalate.

Conclusion: Work smarter, not harder

MSPs don’t need to work longer hours to keep up with their ticket backlog; they need to work smarter. By converting emails into chats, merging duplicate tickets, prioritizing urgent issues, keeping clients informed, enabling mobile ticket resolution, and tracking real-time performance, your team can cut through the backlog and stay ahead of the game.

The result? Happier clients, lower stress levels, and an MSP that’s proactive.

Ready to streamline your service desk and tackle your ticket backlog head-on? Let’s make it happen! Start your free trial today.