30 May MODERN MSP: HOW THE MODERN MSP DELIVERS BUSINESS OUTCOMES
Last week we discussed the push for providers like us to focus on delivering business outcomes for customers like you. “Business outcomes” is a relatively new term in the traditional IT world, especially among providers that have focused on delivering technology in general.
Today, delivering tech isn’t enough; businesses have increased needs beyond uptime, availability, and performance. Delivering business outcomes is the new mantra for the Modern MSP. How do we develop and deliver IT that drives better business outcomes?
It all starts with sitting alongside the company’s leaders (all the CxOs, HR executives, etc.) and learning their business processes, people, goals, objectives, challenges and desired outcomes. We use these the three areas of focus when we have discovery conversations with our customers:
1. INCREASE REVENUE
We work with sales and marketing teams to run a baseline analysis of their lead to close process and identify where CRM and marketing automation can help. There are great new technologies and opportunities to help marketing teams increase the quantity and quality of their leads and to help the sales department close deals. Often, marketing automation platforms can help the marketing folks and an integrated CRM can help the sales folks. In a digital world, it’s critical that the marketing and sales teams work hand-in-glove, and cloud technologies can make that happen.
2. DECREASE COSTS
Another way to think of this: increase efficiencies! This should be applied across a customer’s entire organisation. A strong place to start is with an assessment of internal, external, and mobile communications and collaboration processes—following the “bouncing ball,” if you will. Solutions suites like Office 365 have seen the most innovation and deployment in new cloud solutions—and for good reason. We believe it has the most dramatic effect on decreasing costs and increasing efficiencies.
3. MINIMISE SECURITY AND COMPLIANCE RISK
Increasing revenue and decreasing costs are vitally important, but it’ll be all for nothing if you can’t minimise security and compliance risks. Cloud backup, recovery, and security are the most logical places to start. Understanding which solutions are needed is another matter of following the bouncing ball. Watch how workloads are handled, where data goes, how it’s secured, and who and what secures it. As important and desirable the business outcomes are, this is where SMBs should build out their best technical resources.
Next week we’ll explore considerations for partnering with a Modern MSP whose strategy is “cloud first” instead of just “cloud possible.”