A managed service provider (MSP) that offers something unique and challenges the industry status quo is desperately needed. Customers have been saddled with providers and resellers who aren’t in it for them and continually blame each other for ineffectiveness. The global MSP market is poised to grow to US $839.83 billion by 2032; in 2024, it is estimated to end at US $316.87 billion.
The opportunity to acquire a significant portion of the market starts today. Are you brave enough to step outside the current gated telecommunications playground everybody plays in to forge a new path and lead the charge for change?
Why You Need to Grow Your Offering
The managed service provider landscape is changing. A significant change has come from the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) movement, where employers no longer provide company technology when you start working.
Why is that? First, with remote and hybrid working, most organizations have moved to cloud-based systems, and managing the hardware is less necessary. Second, it’s a cost-saving measure that most employees have accepted. In reality, the employees are familiar with the hardware they already have and prefer to log into the work programs they need and get going with their day. Here’s something to consider: by 2025, cybercrime alone will cost US companies $10.5 trillion annually. These are real numbers that clients will have to pay for if they aren’t protected.
This is just one example, but by growing your managed service provider offerings, you meet the client’s needs instead of having them piecemeal their IT solutions.
Don’t Get Stuck Selling What Everyone Else Is Selling
The truth is clients are more aware than you might think. Most of them have been pitched new services repeatedly and signed with some just to find out that, at its core, it’s the same system and solution they just left. They are frustrated with dealing with the same limited options, just white-labeled to look unique. Frankly, you are tired of the same old, same old as well.
We felt the same way and why we started Loop Start in the first place. To bring something better to the managed service provider industry, something you would be proud to put your name on. This is not a hard sell but a kick in the butt to show you there is another, more profitable way out there. Keep reading to learn more.
How You Can Grow Your MSP Solution
As mentioned earlier, your customers are savvy, and if they feel taken advantage of by outrageously high pass-through international calling rates, you are the one who gets burned.
What needs to change is the thought process around growth and what it means to succeed. That’s a question for yourself, and the answer is different for everyone, but one thing is true: if you don’t answer that question, you will be aimless.
For example, you either need more clients at your current profit margins or the same client load with better profit margins. Can you negotiate better pricing with your reseller? Most likely not. Do you have the sales force needed to bring in more clients to make the profits you need to fit that picture of success? Maybe, but unlikely. In addition, if you bring in more clients, can you support them with the staff you have, or will you need to hire more?
These questions are to get the ball rolling, but let’s get into answering a few of them.
Build a Service Customers Want to Use
Building the best service involves some research and talking with current customers to understand their pain points. It’s not just the obvious ones, either. What keeps them up at night? You can bet that cybersecurity is something that keeps them up. According to a recent study, 95 percent of breaches were caused by human error. Ask the questions that get them to understand you care and want them to succeed because their success means you succeed, too.
Have you considered building a disaster recovery solution specifically targeting the medical office industry? Great. Use a current customer to test out what that will look like and what it will take to build in a repeatable process. You have the power to make changes that customers want without breaking the bank.
Differentiate Your Managed Services
If you’ve made it this far, then you are not the take their-money and run type, and you should embrace that. Sing from the rooftops how you are different from other managed service providers out there. Why is it essential for clients to work with you? Directly call out what’s wrong with the industry and how you plan to defy it. Highlight what makes you uniquely qualified to solve their problems, then actually solve them.
Expand Your IT Tools
Expansion for expansion’s sake isn’t the idea, but to put into place the IT tools and software needed to successfully monitor and manage clients that save them time and money. Here are some examples and areas you need to consider:
- Project Management Tool—Adding a PM tool that successfully tracks current open work and upcoming tasks is a difference maker. Your organization has to be on the same page and have processes in place to proactively manage your clients.
- SaaS Management Platform—Knowing the extent of a client’s SaaS obligations is one thing; tracking usage and licensing is another. By choosing the right one, you can save the client money.
- Security Management—With the BYOD trend in full effect, quickly diagnosing and preventing issues is key.
- IT Asset Management—IT asset management goes well beyond computers or headsets. For example, you receive estimates on the lifecycle of servers, networking equipment, and more.
Be Bold and Embrace a Different Approach to Managed Services; Loop Start is the Answer
You are the change the managed service provider industry needs right now. Beyond the profit growth potential, you can be the gold standard of what an MSP should be. Don’t settle with the ineffective solutions you know; innovate your offerings with Loop Start. Contact us today, and let’s create a partnership we all can be proud of.
