By Michael Brown 1

The role of the IT manager ain’t what it used to be. There was a time when responsibilities primarily included building a software stack, managing the company’s infrastructure, and operating company-owned equipment. With the rapid adoption of cloud technology, including cloud-based file sharing, those roles and responsibilities have changed dramatically – and it’s critical for MSPs to understand this shift.

IT managers now fill more of a relationship manager role and are ideally viewed as partners by business leaders and department heads. MSPs looking to provide cloud services to clients need to understand this shift in roles in order to work – and be successful with – the new IT department.

Russ Banham from Forbes recently outlined some of the things IT pros are doing now instead of managing infrastructure. Here are a few things IT managers are doing now that MSPs should be prepared for:

Manage Outside Contractors and MSPs

IT isn’t managing their own infrastructure, they are using third-party apps, MSPs, and SaaS to do the job. The IT manager’s job becomes managing all of these outside resources.

The new IT manager might be, especially for small businesses, the entire IT department. It is more cost efficient for smaller businesses to hire one person to manage the company’s usage of mobile business apps, cloud platforms, SaaS, and MSPs rather than staffing an entire team to manage a built-in-house infrastructure.

A big part of the old IT manager’s job was to build and maintain an in-house server. These servers can now be replaced with a cloud-based file sharing program for much less cost and hassle as their in-house counterparts. Highlight the fact that you and your services can be easily managed by their IT compared to an in-house server or compared to other MSPs.

Focus on Infrastructure Integration

Now that the IT manager has no onsite system to maintain and debug as needed, they have more time to analyze data and bring in new tools to optimize their infrastructure. IT managers are now focused on optimizing their infrastructure and bringing in new tools that will help with that.

While the services provided by MSPs are cloud-based, the programs themselves still need to work within the computers’ data centers seamlessly. Having an MSP willing to work with the IT manager on best practices of integrating their systems with the company’s hardware is big step to building and maintaining a long-lasting working relationship.

Evaluate Technology for New Opportunities

With time now freed up from not having to maintain an entire server and software stack, IT managers are able to research new opportunities for growth. Once cloud-based file sharing is introduced and successfully implemented, IT managers will be more open to jumping into other cloud services the MSP may have to offer, such as cloud-based archiving or document back-up. It will make the IT manager’s job much easier to have all these implemented services provided by one MSP that they already have an established relationship with and know is reliable.

Working with this new set of IT managers, it is crucial for MSPs to build trust and a reputation for reliability. They have a whole new set of tasks in their job description and a lot more on their plate. They don’t have time to worry about debugging, maintaining, or fixing a faulty system or program. Provide services they can depend on, work with them as part of their team, and you will have a loyal customer for life.