When prospects have questions, you should have answers. In this post, we'll highlight some of the lesser-known questions that MSPs can expect to be asked during the sales cycle.

November 25, 2013

2 Min Read
4 File Sharing Questions Every MSP Should be Ready to Answer

By Michael Brown 1

Someday, someone will conduct a study that calculates the average number of questions answered by a managed service provider in a typical week. We know the number will be high, but until we have an exact figure, we’ll have to go with “a lot.” Scientific, we know.

Of course, a lot of those questions will be in regards to the cloud-based file sharing solutions you manage for clients and discuss with prospects. As you know, some questions are more frequent than others. While we hope every MSP is prepared for the what-does-it-cost question, there are other lesser-known questions that they’ll also want to be prepared for, including:

  1. How will you manage the migration of my existing data? As we’ve discussed in the past, many startups and early-stage companies will bypass on-premise solutions entirely and go directly to the cloud. On the flipside, the more established companies (with tons of data and files) will want to know how the process of data migration is going to work, which is why it’s important for MSPs to have a detailed game-plan.

  2. What if I don’t want all of my data in the cloud? Very few companies are 100 percent in the cloud. Even the biggest proponents of the cloud are likely to want some of their data to remain on-premise. This could be due to confidentiality, legality (i.e. regulations) or technical limitations. Whatever the reason, you’ll need to be ready to answer this line of questioning. If your cloud-based solution offers data storage to multiple types, this will be much easier to answer.

  3. What happens in the event of a security breach? While you can point to numerous studies and statistics that show the cloud to be every bit as secure as on-premise solutions, you cannot guarantee that a security breach won’t occur.  It’s obviously important to highlight the security features of your file-sharing solution, but you’ll also need to be ready to cover your security breach response plan. If you don’t have one yet, start here.

  4. Why can’t we just use (fill in the blank) instead? Business people are consumers in their spare time, so they know all about the latest (and mostly free) file-sharing services. When you first sit down to discuss cloud-based file sharing with a prospect like this, they are already trying to figure out how to make the aforementioned tools compatible with their business needs. It’s up to you show them why these tools are ill-equipped from a technical (and sometimes legal) standpoint.

The value of an MSP is more than just technical execution and support; it’s about being a trusted and reliable source of information. When they have questions, you should have answers.

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