Transitioning from Break-Fix to Managed Services Part 1: The Mindset
BY IT GLUE | February 26, 2019
Gone are the days of simply fixing your clients’ tech and waiting for the next frantic phone call. Organizations today are entirely dependent on technology, so your clients can’t afford even a hint of downtime. For many businesses, this means that the break-fix model is no longer a viable solution for providing the necessary level of consistency and reliability customers need. Managed service providers (MSPs), on the other hand, are all about that consistency.
Before you take the plunge and get into the nitty-gritty of transitioning into your own MSP business though, you need to start with a shift in your mindset. Running an MSP has a lot of differences in comparison to break-fix, like how you tackle your pricing, operations, or sales and marketing, but by far one of the most key elements surrounds the change in your overall role.
Relationships
As an MSP, your role has less to do solving your clients’ technological issues on a case-by-case basis as it does making sure you’re consistently preventing them. In other words, your role is preventative rather than reactive. Keep in mind that when your clients start to notice that they’re not consistently coming to you to fix stuff, they’re going to wonder what they’re paying you for. Of course, that’s exactly where their money is going. So they don’t have to be running to you every other day with a new problem. (Ok, you’ll probably still have a few tickets, but that’s not the heart of your business anymore).
Your relationships with your clients are going to change. Which is to say, you should be paying attention to how you can foster valuable relationships with your clients in the long term. As an MSP, you step into the position as a trusted and strategic advisor, working with your clients rather than simply working for them.
Opportunities
Whether it’s artificial intelligence (AI), automation, or anything else for that matter, there’s always going to be new and exciting developments in technology. This also means that your customers are always going to be demanding new services. The awesome part is that this lends itself to some excellent growth opportunities for you. It also means though, that you have to stay in the loop with what’s out there, not just in terms of what new tech your team might be interested in, but what your clients are looking into.
Lean
Break-fix options tend to be very small shops with a focus on carrying out specific and individual tasks. An MSP opens up the door to start focusing on multiple tasks associated with running a business. To do this, MSPs are built to operate in a lean matter, creating a business that is designed to scale. The lean methodology itself requires a shift in your mindset, one that will make your business more efficient and profitable.
Suffice it to say, the transition towards managed services depends heavily on how well you understand your new role. Don’t simply start by throwing out a new pricing model (though we’ll talk about how to tackle this in the coming weeks), start by shifting your mindset.
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IT Glue is an award-winning documentation platform that allows for efficient storage and retrieval of all the documentation you need to help your MSP run better. By integrating PSA and RMM data, we can help increase your efficiency, and reduce onboarding times by even more. By eliminating wasted time from your business, IT Glue gives you more time to focus on what matters – growing your business.
