Most MSPs don’t struggle with staffing because they lack data. They struggle because they don’t know which data actually matters.
Right-sizing your help desk doesn’t require complex forecasting models or industry guesswork. It starts with one clear calculation.
A predictable help desk begins with understanding how much work is coming in—and how long it takes to complete.
The core staffing formula is straightforward:
Count how many tickets arrive in a given period
Multiply by the average time to resolve each ticket
Divide by available working hours
This reveals how many full-time equivalents are required to handle the load. When you factor in utilization—because no technician has a perfect 40-hour ticket week—the picture becomes even clearer.
When MSPs run this calculation honestly, many discover they’ve underestimated their staffing needs by 20–40% for years.
Not all tickets are created equal, and not all technicians work the same way.
Tier 1 teams handle high-volume, fast-moving issues. Tier 2 and Tier 3 handle fewer tickets, but with significantly higher complexity and resolution time. Blending all tiers into a single number hides where the real strain exists.
When the formula is applied separately to each tier, patterns emerge:
Tier 1 is overloaded with volume
Tier 2 is constantly interrupted
Tier 3 becomes a bottleneck for escalations
These aren’t performance problems—they’re structural ones.
One of the most common mistakes MSPs make is assuming technicians are available for tickets all day, every day.
In reality, time is consumed by:
Documentation and process improvements
Automation work
Internal meetings and training
Project spillover
Ignoring utilization doesn’t make these tasks disappear—it just forces them to happen under pressure.
This article explains the logic behind right-sizing, but the Right-Size Your MSP Help Desk guide shows you how to run the numbers for your own environment. Download the PDF to apply the formula using your actual ticket volume, resolution time, and utilization.