Obstacles
Your MSP company is going to encounter many unexpected obstacles that will require everyone involved to think on their feet. There’s a reason Mike Judge’s new show, Silicon Valley, is so popular in the tech community. In many ways, it tells the truth about the craziness characterizing this industry. The thing is there’s absolutely no way to avoid that which can’t be imagined. However, you can prepare for common operational impediments and, through anticipation, avoid them. Additionally, many problems you as an MSP face may actually be shared by your clients. Here are several that cross over:
- Sourcing adequately skilled employees
- Budget issues
- Security unawareness
Adequately Skilled Employees
It’s a given that any MSP is going to have more skilled tech people than general businesses. However, in the launch phase, many MSP startups have only a handful of truly skilled personnel; combining positive attributes of ensemble employees until ideal operations can be sustained. Bring this understanding to the sale and tell how long it took you— someone in the heart of the tech industry— to do what your potential client is considering. They’re going to have trouble putting together a good internal IT department. They’re going to make mistakes— just like you did— and it’s going to be costly. But you can save them all that aggravation through the service of your MSP, which has gone before them. Additionally, you can cut their costs.
Budget Issues
The cost of operations is always going to be a source of stress. Even when you’ve reached a sustainable level, expansion issues will manifest, and though things may be less uncertain, they won’t be any less challenging. You can cut your budgetary difficulties by maintaining your existing clients, and getting new customers psychologically prepared for upgrades during the onboarding process. Really, every three to five years an upgrade is in order. This is just the truth of the situation. So you want to communicate that to clients and reinforce it via drip-marketing early in. This will allow you to continuously up-sell them.
On the other hand, your clients likely may have worked with internal data centers for a while and come to a point where they’ve begun to realize costs aren’t balanced against the profit attained. Looking to expand their margins, they may already have begun considering cloud computing. It’s a good idea for your business to encourage cloud computing solutions, and emphasize the budget savings your clients will have. You understand how intrinsic it is to have an expansive budget; use that understanding business-to-business and it becomes an excellent selling point.
Security Unawareness
Your MSP company needs to be as secure as possible. But even if you do your best, you’re going to experience the occasional penetration. Be sure to learn from it. Additionally, be sure you’re on the cutting-edge of tech development, because a very large number of businesses are affected by cybercrime annually. It’s become a scourge that will cost upwards of $2 trillion by 2019, according to Forbes.com. So cybersecurity is fundamental to your MSP, and if your clients don’t have the same attitude, you should inform them.
Offer training courses for their employees that piecemeal advance best protocols and practices pertaining to password security, internet usage, etc. You also want the most cutting-edge firewall solutions, progressive systems monitoring, continuous backup and data recovery solutions, and an available help desk. If you sell these aspects of your operation to clients, it will ease the difficulty of the sale. Likely, if you employ these security measures well enough, you will additionally experience a perpetual client. Solve security unawareness through education and application of developing innovation.
Meeting Your Clients Where They Live
An MSP company has many challenges which regularly compromise operations— so does any modern business. As cloud computing, IoT tech which includes smartphones, smartcars, smarthouses and more, social media, and worldwide travel expand, diverse security risks emerge. Tech companies have exceptional occupational security; however, this requires continuous problem recognition, resolution, and avoidance. If you know the common problems you and your clients will face, then the both of you will be better suited to deal with unexpected issues with success and security.
