There’s No Managed Services for Marriage
You may have noticed that I recently disappeared from MSPmentor for a few days (I’m sure you all really missed me). I promise, I had a legitimate excuse. I got married. Can you think of a more valid reason to take some time off?
So why am I disclosing this on MSPmentor, a blog about managed services? I’m always trying to tie together the loose ends of different parts of my life, but even I had a hard time with this one. The truth is, there’s no managed services provider for marriage.
Yes, you can outsource portions of the wedding planning you don’t really care for to friends and family who are willing to take them on. I’m all about the big picture. I’m all in for choosing the venue, music play-list and colors. But it’s all the little things like figuring out where people sit and how many table cloths we need that drive me insane. So in order to keep my sanity I called on my two most trust managed wedding service providers — my Mom and my fiancee-turned-wife — to take care of that situation.
But when it comes down to crunch time, you can’t call on a help desk or SaaS provider to walk you down the aisle, or read your wedding vows, or even tie your bow tie (I have a new found respect for anyone who can tie a perfect bow tie). No MSP can tell you what your first week of marriage will feel like.
So what does any this have to do with managed services? This is more about what it doesn’t have to do with managed services. Like marriage, a business owner should have such a deep relationship with his or her business to the point where they can’t possibly call on an MSP to do certain things. No MSP knows your company culture like you do. No MSP can do a better job at hiring new employees or rewarding great work than people from within the business can. You see where I’m going with this?
The point is, I can outsource all the tedious things about setting up a wedding. That’s a great time-saver. But ultimately, my wife and I will be responsible for the level of success in our marriage. And at the end of the day, business owners will be responsible for the level of success of their their business.
Don’t get me wrong. MSPs are great. They help save time and money. But don’t become so dependent on an MSPs services that you completely lose control of your business. Hopefully, that all made sense. Just trying to provide a little advice here. And if anyone has any marriage advice, I’m all ears.
I think it’s okay to become very dependent on your MSP as long as they keep you in the loop. You should be able to think of your MSP as an extension of your company that you can trust like an employee, but this may not be possible depending on what type of MSP you have. Is it the type that keeps an open and constant line of communication with you, and provides you with detailed documentation of all your technical inventory and goings on? Or do you have the type of MSP who holds your information hostage and acts like it does not belong to you?
Congrats to you and your bride! Fantastic news, Nicholas. Great to hear!!! 🙂
Nic…congrats mate
Stuart
Nicholas, congratulations to you and your new wife! I love the analogy of marriage, MSPs and business owners. Enjoy your new adventure as a husband. Cheers!
Thank you everyone! I appreciate all the well wishes.
Yvonne — I agree that it is a good idea to treat an MSP as an extension of your own company. After all, you are trusting them with a lot of major responsibilities. What I’m trying to say is that there are certain things that business owners or a group of executives should keep under their own control.
I’m still chuckling about this comment trail. Happy for Nicholas and his recent marriage, and happy he’s keeping it real with blogs like this.
-jp