3 Tips to Move from Break-Fix to Managed IT Services

Know your clients’ clients: The clients you need to delight also need to delight clients. Therefore, their success depends on the same thing as yours: making people with money happy. This truth directly impacts MSP engagement. The data you protect is often your clients’ clients’ data. The apps you deliver can differentiate your clients’ own client engagements. The value you provide your clients is thus largely contingent on the value you help them deliver to their clients. Make sure you communicate this clearly. Your goal is to help improve the way they do business for others as well.

Partner wisely: To drive continuous digital transformation for clients in target markets, the right partners are essential. Hybrid cloud is a must. So is transformation-friendly pricing structure. You’ll also need responsive, consultative support. No small-to-midsize MSP can maintain the full range of skills and knowledge in-house that are required to be an effective partner for digital transformation. You need to partner with a vendor who understands that mission and can support it appropriately. For example, Datto’s Global Partner Program offers MSPs the power to grow their business and the support to keep it running, offering sales and marketing resources, a dedicated success team, and 24/7/365 tech support – to name a few things.

Be the change you want to sell: VARs and newbie MSPs are often like the shoemaker’s children. They’re always trying to sell technology that’s far more sophisticated than what they use themselves. That’s terribly unwise. The digital transformation story any MSP tells clients is only as credible as its own digital client experience. And, yes, you need an app for that—preferably one that provides real-time visibility into system status, transaction activity and anything else relevant to the client engagement. If you can’t deliver that, you can’t be a top-tier MSP. None of this is easy, but it’s all doable. The rewards can be substantial. Businesses increasingly consume technology on demand as part of a total solution. MSPs that align with this shift in consumption will grow—and position themselves nicely to cash out in the future.