Finding the right managed services provider is an extremely important business decision. This is the organisation that will keep your critical business support functions going, and be there to help you when you need it most. Look for these qualities when determining to whom to entrust your managed services.
A solid relationship between a Managed Service Program (MSP) provider and the customer is the backbone of a successful MSP program. But, as a customer, do you fully understand what is expected from you?
We often talk about what you should expect from a Managed Service Provider (MSP). I recently held a quarterly business review with a long-standing MSP customer of Yoh’s. I was asked the question, “What makes a good customer”? I thought this was a great question because not all customers know how to be effective partners. Often, customers are coming in as a first-generation program and don’t know what to expect or what to do on their end to make sure that their MSP program is running as smoothly as it can.
A managed service provider can be a lifesaver. In addition to saving you from having to execute dozens of complicated and time-consuming tasks on your own, these helpful industry experts are the ideal partners for scaling your business and creating across-the-board cost savings. Here are five non-negotiable things to look for in any network management team you hire:
What should be the service level agreement of a good managed service provider?
Service level agreements (SLAs) are the key method for setting and measuring the performance of the managed service provider (MSP), so make sure these are relevant to your organisation’s key business requirements. For example, if you are an emergency services organisation, and assured a high level of system availability and response times from your MSP is essential for continuity of service and community safety.
Some businesses will want a fully managed service, with 24 X 7 monitoring and engineering support, with field response and repairs. Other businesses may only require network monitoring with break/fix performed internally, or network management for business hours. A good MSP should be able to develop a service to meet all those differing needs.
Downtime costs money, so ensure that your set of service levels are clearly defined and measurable, along with appropriate rebates or penalties for poor performance, or maybe even bonuses for good performance. Your MSP should also provide regular reports that keep you informed of their performance against the service levels.
What should I consider in looking for a good managed service provider?
A business model that understands your business
Every business is different, and a good MSP will take the time to understand your business. They should understand your unique requirements, challenges and needs, rather than talking you into a service that suits their bottom line.
This may be complicated when more than one stakeholder is involved, for example, in the case of multi-agency government service. The skilled MSP listens to all parties and devises a solution that meets the needs of a number of disparate user groups.
The services offered should suit you. Don’t be deceived by a long list of inclusions: there is no benefit to you in services you won’t need but are probably paying for!
Adaptability and agility: when it hits the fan, your MSP comes to help
Things can and do go wrong, and you need to know that your MSP will drop everything to help. A good MSP will arrive on a Saturday when your IT room has been flooded out, roll up their sleeves and start mopping. During bushfires, they’ll step in and fix equipment and supply extra radios and communications capability at short notice. They will go the extra mile.
Having a technically agnostic point of view/support for multi-vendor environments
Today’s infrastructure includes multi-vendor environments with products and services from a range of providers. Ideally, your MSP forms strong partnerships with other service providers to deliver the required outcomes. And even in the most complex environment, they are the single point of contact, regardless of whether the issues derive from hardware or software, saving you the hassle and time of chasing different vendors.
Alignment with industry best practices
Industry best practice should be evident in everything your MSP does: security, business continuity, disaster recovery planning, risk management and planning, and service delivery. This means that the MSP will use a common language that minimises misunderstanding. It also ensures a consistency of service delivery, standardised processes that mean efficiency and cost savings for you, and a reduction in risk and associated costs.
Find an MSP whose experts are constantly training and learning, and staying current with new technologies. Certification does not just indicate ability, and it also indicates a commitment to excellence.
Experience and reputation
The longer a company has been in operation, the greater experience they can offer especially if this includes a broad and diverse client base. Check for a good track record which can be an indicator of future performance. If you are a large enterprise, check for experience with a similar sized company. If you are a smaller enterprise, check that the company can still provide a personalised service.
Why is innovation important?
Innovation means providing more than pure management. It’s innovating for more cost-effective and better solutions and striving for continual improvement. Monitoring a network for some means a person watching a screen, waiting for the red light to come on and indicate a problem. An innovative organisation implements automated systems that detect and solves issues even before you are aware of the problem.
Don’t settle for a service provider who merely babysits, that is, runs your IT system without innovating and evolving.
How should a good managed service provider focus on customer service?
A poor MSP sells you the service and moves on as soon as the ink is dry. Instead, the MSP should continually manage and nurture the relationship, constantly listening to your needs and feedback, with a single, local point of contact for all service delivery needs you to require.
Assess the level of customer service from the beginning. Do they respond to your enquiries in a timely manner? Are they eager to discuss your needs? Do they offer suggestions on how to tailor the service to meet those needs? How they work with you at the beginning helps indicate how the relationship will progress.
Can they communicate with you clearly and promptly? Their ability to communicate clearly is critical, given that you will be relying on their support.
Why should a good managed provider have the right tools, resources and processes?
The best MSPs have around-the-clock, dedicated, high-quality network operations control centre (NOCC) housing the latest technologies. With the right management and diagnostic tools and access to correct information, your MSP’s experienced staff can resolve a large percentage of IT problems remotely, often before you even notice them. This reduces business impact and the workload for your own staff and provides capabilities and expertise you might not otherwise be able to access.
How does a managed provider establish regular business benchmarks?
A managed service provider monitors a company’s network infrastructure. This access allows a good MSP to provide the C-suite with quarterly benchmarks. At a minimum, this quarterly scorecard should provide system security and threat mitigation. Still, it can also identify opportunities that increase the productivity of the workforce and maximise the company’s technology investment.
How should an MSP take a proactive response to security?
Cybersecurity is one of the biggest concerns a company has. Today’s MSPs go beyond the old “set it and forget it” attitude towards security and antivirus protection. Providing security in today’s high-risk environment involves constant monitoring, warranties against ransomware, and the combination of several different threat protection tools rolled into a robust security suite.
Good MSP’s also provide resources to educate an organisation’s workers. Security education and testing helps to mitigate a company’s biggest security threat (human error). Your organisation should know which workers are the most likely to fall for a phishing attack so that the right education can be provided to them. You’re only as secure as your weakest link.
What scalable technology roadmap should an MSP provide?
A valuable partner is one who can grow with you. A company should share its KPI’s with its managed service provider to see how technology can be leveraged to help the business achieve its short and long-term goals.
Usually, bottlenecks in either the internal infrastructure or customer-facing processes can be identified. Once these bottlenecks are removed, the business can scale with less resistance.
Asking your IT provider to give you a 12-month roadmap (including an emergency action plan) for technology success is a great starting point.
What are the benefits of having a good managed service provider?
Give Workers Freedom to Work From Anywhere
If there’s one thing COVID-19 is teaching us, it’s that every business that has the ability to work remotely–should make sure they have the option to do so when needed.
The old factory-style business model has been disrupted. Soon, 50% of the American workforce will be remote, and by 2027, freelancers are expected to become the workforce majority.
There are simple IT solutions now that allow workers to be able to work from anywhere on any device.
With the advantages of worker flexibility (reduced office costs, higher worker retention and productivity) comes enhanced security risks. Companies must also have the right communication infrastructure in place to make workers feel connected to the team wherever they are.
Allow Business Access to Transformative Technology
Digital transformation is happening fast, and that will continue to affect the way business is performed all over the globe.
Microsoft, in a newly-released ebook called, Designed to Disrupt Reimagine Your Apps and Transform Your Industry, has identified these prevalent themes:
Global, high speed inexpensive connectivity has sped up decision-making and brought closer contact between customers, partners, and vendors than ever before.
Nearly infinite computer resources, memory, and cloud storage have removed the previous limitations of software and apps.
New technologies are emerging that are only available in the cloud (like Internet-of-Things applications that can control a massive amount of connected devices.)
Advancements in Artificial Intelligence have made analytics, tracking, reporting, processing, and memory functions more powerful than ever before.
The technology and data needed for these advancements are already here. Still, businesses need an experienced partner who is able to strategise the best ways to access, combine, and utilise these new opportunities in order to stay relevant and profitable.
How does an MSP provide communication?
There must be two-way communication between the client and the MSP. The customer should be honest and share feedback (both positive and negative). This supports the natural life cycle of any MSP program which needs to include continuous improvements. After all, making these improvements is why you decided to outsource this to a provider in the first place. The provider’s experiences with supplier management and operational effectiveness can save you time and money but will only be effective if you, as the customer, provide honest feedback and insights.
Additionally, a customer needs to be responsive and willing to discuss potential challenges and improvements. As mentioned, a good program is always evolving, so the support and attention to suggested changes will only assist the program in producing the results you need. This communication needs to be supported from the top down. A customer should be 100% committed to partnering with the provider on change management.
How should a good MSP value their job?
A true customer partner of an MSP will understand the value that a program can bring. MSPs provide savings, efficiencies, compliance, and visibility into spend when provided access to the organisation. The customer needs to have an understanding of market rates and recognise fair and competitive pricing, along with terms and policies that are reasonable. Websites like the American Staffing Association and Staffing Industry Analysts provide insightful information on such topics. Value can be achieved when the client trusts, empowers and supports the MSP to do their jobs.
What should an MSP know about my business?
The client needs to possess a willingness to listen and learn in this ongoing process of gaining knowledge. Sharing knowledge is a constant in any partnership. The MSP will be able to provide the customer with best practices learned from other customers, helping you leverage their past successes for your optimal future results. This is why it is important to select an MSP provider with plenty of relevant experience. That way, you can be confident in learning the best practices of other programs and trust that your provider will help provide insight and intel as to what the best of the best are doing differently. This type of information will aid in setting clear, realistic, and mutually agreed-upon expectations and processes for an effective relationship focused on Total Talent Management.
You feel overwhelmed by your IT, you no longer know what to invest in first, and you are concerned that you are not completely GDPR-compliant? Reason enough to outsource your IT to a Managed Service Provider (MSP). For those who still have their doubts, here we set out good reasons to join forces with an MSP:
How will a good managed service provider help me focus more on my core business?
Leave IT to specialists, so that you can also focus on your own core business. This means that there is more time available for things that are really important for your business, such as good customer service and the development of new products and services.
Buy IT services at a lower and predictable cost
Instead of large periodic capital investments in IT provisions, you pay for your IT infrastructure and management as a service through an MSP. Your IT costs will, therefore, shift from Capex to Opex, so that you pay a fixed and predictable amount per month.
Always count on a team of experienced experts
Your MSP has a team of committed and experienced IT specialists in-house who are always available to you. So you don’t have to invest in the expensive business of recruiting ‘hard-to-find’ IT profiles and in keeping internal IT knowledge up-to-date. Through your MSP, you gain access to every kind of expertise whenever you need it, and you can be assured of continuity.
Receive tailored advice on innovation and growth opportunities
IT can and should be more than a basic provision. IT is also a facilitator and accelerator of innovation and growth in your company. Here too, you should make the right technological, strategic choices. Your MSP helps you with this and gives advice specially tailored to your company.
Work in an environment that complies with privacy and security rules
The legislation on privacy and security, such as the GDPR, is fairly complex. Are you unsure about what is involved and what you need to do to be compliant? With an outsourced IT environment, you don’t have to worry about these things. Your provider guarantees a highly secured and protected infrastructure. This keeps intruders, viruses and hackers at bay, and there is immediate intervention if something does go wrong.
Enjoy an infrastructure that is always up and running
Your business could not operate without IT – it’s as simple as that. Every technical problem has a negative impact: on the productivity of your employees, the availability of your customer service, the image of your company and on your turnover. The peace of mind that comes with an optimally available IT system is therefore invaluable.
Opt for flexible scalability of your capacity
Instead of investing large sums in expanding your own IT capacity for growth, you pay an MSP only for what you actually use. Need more or less capacity? Then this can be adjusted flexibly whenever you want.
Leave your technical concerns to experienced hands
Why would you constantly worry about the availability, security and performance of your IT environment if you can hand over this responsibility to an external expert? Technology is evolving at breakneck speed and is becoming increasingly complex, making it impossible to provide all the resources and people in-house.
Rely on a Service Level Agreement that offers guarantees
Agree on a clear SLA with your MSP that provides watertight guarantees about what will happen if there are problems: where do the responsibilities begin and end and how quickly should problems be resolved? You can also draw up multiple SLAs for the different components of your IT infrastructure. The more vital they are, the higher the guaranteed uptime. Are you already breaking into a sweat at the word ‘downtime’? Then bear in mind that an MSP – thanks to the focus and economies of scale – can offer far more guarantees about availability than you could if you kept everything in-house.
Get the most out of the hybrid cloud
Everyone agrees that a hybrid cloud environment offers the best guarantee for being able to call on extra capacity and computing power for using technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning, Blockchain and Internet of Things (IoT) when the market, your organisation and your customers are ready for it. Not only can your MSP help you set up such a hybrid cloud environment, but they can also manage and protect it.
Pool of Talents
A Managed Services company should have a range of individuals with specific talents and skills so that there is always someone available that has the correct skillset, regardless of the problem.
Usually, a Managed Services company has only a couple of smart individuals who have some specific talents and a broad idea about Drupal and your CMS. They hack away at the problem until they find the problem goes away. Usually with only a limited idea of what caused it. This causes the problem (or another worse problem) to resurface into a catastrophe at a later unknown date.
Interview your Managed Services provider and make sure that they have a broad range of certified technicians, overlapping on your major technologies. You do not want your business hindered because one or two technicians happen to be away on vacation or out because of an illness.
If your MSP demonstrates all the above qualities, the chances are that it will be a great match, leading to a fruitful and productive relationship which takes your business to its fullest potential.
If you work with a World Class Managed Services provider, your company will become a business that will compete at a higher level because of their sustained increases in productivity and functionality.