Collaborating without noise: how MSPs and customers work more efficiently with TOPdesk thanks to integrated service chains

Managed Service Providers and their customers share one goal: stable, predictable, and efficient IT service delivery. In practice, however, they often work in separate worlds. The customer in their own ITSM tool, the MSP in their own TOPdesk environment. Without proper alignment, this inevitably leads to duplicate work, higher costs, and a loss of control.

The solution does not lie in forcing a single system, but in creating an integrated service chain, where both parties continue to work in their own ITSM tool while processes, tickets, and statuses are automatically connected.

The hidden costs of non-integrated collaboration

Many MSPs recognize this pattern:

• Tickets are manually transferred or forwarded

• Status updates are copied between systems

• SLA agreements are difficult to monitor across the chain

• Reporting requires additional consolidation

What is often less visible, but weighs at least as heavily, are the financial and administrative consequences of the ITSM licensing model.

Duplicate licenses and duplicate users

Due to the business model of many ITSM vendors, including TOPdesk, this situation quickly arises without integration:

• Customer administrators must be registered as operators in the MSP’s TOPdesk environment

• Those same individuals are also operators in the customer’s own ITSM environment

• Both environments require separate licenses

The result:

• double licensing costs

• additional user management

• increased complexity during offboarding and audits

For MSPs with multiple customers or co-managed IT models, this adds up quickly.

One chain, without duplicate accounts

In an integrated service chain, this is not necessary.

By synchronizing incidents, service requests, and changes system-to-system:

• Customers continue to work in their own TOPdesk, Ultimo, or Freshworks environment

• MSP teams work exclusively in their own TOPdesk

• Tickets are automatically created, updated, and closed

• There is no need to register users twice

Collaboration happens at the process level, not through shared accounts.

Not just TOPdesk: also Ultimo and Freshworks

This chain model is widely applicable.

• TOPdesk ↔ TOPdesk for MSPs and customers who both use TOPdesk

• TOPdesk ↔ Ultimo, including an existing connection via the TOPdesk Marketplace

• TOPdesk ↔ Freshworks, ideal for MSPs with a diverse customer portfolio

This creates one consistent service chain across IT, facility, and support, without parties having to abandon their own tooling.

Why service automation makes the difference

Integration alone is not enough. The real value arises when integration is combined with service automation:

• Automatic routing and prioritization

• Chain-wide SLA monitoring

• Standardized handling of common requests

• Automatic feedback to the customer

• Fewer handovers and fewer errors

This makes MSP service delivery scalable, without the organization growing in complexity.

Professional automation instead of managing scripts

In practice, we see that many integrations are built with custom work, scripts, and action sequences. This may seem flexible, but it carries risks:

• Scripts are dependent on specific individuals

• Maintenance requires time and specialized knowledge

• Updates in APIs or processes cause fragility

• Compliance and logging are difficult to ensure consistently

With Qixium iPaaS for Cloud Integrations and Service Automation, MSPs choose a different approach: professional engineering instead of constant manual tinkering.

Qixium offers:

• standardized, reusable integrations

• configurable process logic without scripting

• central logging, monitoring, and error handling

• scalability without technical customization

The result: lower management burden, more control, and a future-proof integration architecture.

What does this deliver in concrete terms?

For MSPs:

• lower licensing and management costs

• better SLA compliance

• easier scaling

• less dependency on specific employees

For customers:

• working in their own familiar ITSM tool

• full insight into status and progress

• professional collaboration without extra complexity

Conclusion

The future of managed services lies not in a single shared system, but in smart, automated chains. By connecting ITSM tools such as TOPdesk, Ultimo, and Freshworks via a professional iPaaS platform, an efficient, scalable, and cost-effective way of working is created.

No duplicate licenses. No script chaos. Instead: control, transparency, and speed.

Curious about how this looks in your situation?

Schedule a short, no-obligation appointment where we show how you can use the Qixium iPaaS platform for Cloud Integrations and Service Automation to:

• eliminate duplicate costs

• accelerate support processes

• and automate professionally without custom work

In 30 minutes, you will gain clear insight into the possibilities for your MSP and customers.