MSPs Must Report Business Value to Stay Relevant
There’s no question technology is advancing rapidly. As more businesses adopt virtualization, mobile solutions and cloud-based services, MSPs must step up their game to seamlessly manage and ultimately control their client’s infrastructure – from the core to the edge of the network. Staying the course won’t cut it and will ultimately result in the loss of business.
To stay ahead of the market, MSPs must have both the technical capabilities and business consulting expertise to continue building their pipeline and earn more share of wallet from existing clientele. They must show and tell how the entire infrastructure is performing and what investments and, or changes are needed to optimize their operations so technology becomes a business advantage versus a line item expense.
The rub here – historically speaking – has been the inability for MSPs to produce this level of insight or reporting on a consistent basis. Not only was it time-intensive and costly if they did venture to do it, but it was practically impossible to do accurately. The technology just didn’t exist so there was no way to automate it.
The good news here is times have changed. The recent advancements we’ve made in IT business reporting allow MSPs to pull stock and customized reports on demand that not only measure technology performance across the board, but also translate that performance into meaningful metrics that can be used to articulate business value, show vulnerabilities, assess needs and highlight potential issues within the infrastructure. It’s a game changing development that will certainly make it easier for MSPs to earn more new business and report back to clients the value of their services and IT investments.
The truth of the matter is business owners and C-level execs aren’t all that interested in the vitals of the network – they want to know the business value of the technology in play. What is it allowing them to do or achieve, that they couldn’t do before? How is it impacting the company’s ability to do X?
That’s what MSPs need to focus on in order to thrive in today’s marketplace. Measuring the network’s IT performance is table stakes. Having the ability to pull together reports and insights that show the business value of the technology and the services being consumed – that’s when the wallets start to open and the relationship between the MSP and the business becomes strategic.
Robert Grapes is the Director of Product Management for N-able Technologies, which develops remote monitoring and management automation solutions for MSPs and IT departments. Monthly guest blogs such as this are part of MSPmentor’s annual platinum sponsorship.
