If you’ve ever thought about starting your own managed service provider company, you probably already know how difficult it is to get your company off the ground, attract customers, and keep them coming back.
Managed service provider companies help customers with all of their technological needs and provide them with the tools they need to succeed in their business. It’s a lucrative business, but it’s not easy to become profitable. If you’re thinking about starting your own managed service provider company, here are six challenges you’ll face and how to overcome them.
Overly knowledgeable clients
When you are a managed service provider (MSP), you are a business that is in charge of supporting the IT needs of other companies’ staff. You have to listen to their problems and solve them while ensuring they don’t have to lift a finger. This can cause a lot of conflicts. For example, some clients have difficulty letting go of the reins of their IT systems. They become overly familiar with the technology and can be over-protective of their own IT systems. It’s your job to convince them that outsourcing their IT is the best solution.
Managed service providers (MSPs) often find themselves in the position of having to deal with clients who know more about IT than the MSPs themselves. These overly knowledgeable clients often want to do the work themselves or be included in the decision-making process.
This is difficult for MSPs, as they often have to go above and beyond to ensure these clients are happy with the service they provide. You could get these clients to stop doing the work themselves and get them to trust you because they know you’re an expert with proper and better communication and offer knowledge.
Migration to cloud
The cloud is today the most popular way of running a business. Most companies are moving towards it, but the most common challenge faced by a company is migration. It is important to understand that the cloud is a completely different way of working, both from a technical standpoint and from a business standpoint. With this in mind, companies should be aware of the fact that migrating to the cloud can be very challenging, especially for SMBs that are not well-established.
Multiple accounts management
In the MSP industry, some service providers manage their customers’ IT infrastructures with the help of a remote monitoring solution. There are two ways of managing the accounts: an automated solution based on a software agent installed on the client’s server or desktop or a web-based solution. The automated solution is much more expensive and difficult to implement.
The web-based solution is more affordable but needs an additional account for each client. In both cases, this poses a big problem for managing multiple accounts. Every time a new client is acquired, the account should be created, the client’s server or desktop should be added to the account, and the monitoring should be turned on.
Difficulty in setting the right pricing for different services
A managed service provider (MSP) is responsible for delivering IT services to their clients. The MSP is often faced with the challenge of understanding the requirements of the clients and, therefore, must have a clear understanding of their business. Once the MSP understands the client’s business requirements, they must set a price that would help them generate revenue and keep their clients happy.
To begin with, you need to establish a pricing strategy for your business. Pricing is never easy for any business, especially for the managed service provider. It is important to understand that each service you provide is unique. The only thing similar in all your offerings is the fact that you are a managed service provider.
Manual documentation
Everyone knows the importance of documentation: it saves time, it allows you to scale, and it gives you a way to ensure that your users are on the same page as you. But documentation is also one of the biggest challenges faced by MSPs. How can you create a standard documentation process that won’t break the bank? One of the most common challenges faced by MSPs is having to create documentation manually.
Many people think that managed service providers have everything automated and thus don’t need to document stuff, and they often do. At the same time, many MSPs do not have proper MSP documentation. This leads to lost time, frustration, and mistakes. The first step is to make a list of all the tasks that will require assistance. The second step is to document how the task is performed. The third step is to set a schedule to update the documentation.
Hacking threats
One of the biggest threats to all businesses, especially ones that offer managed services, is hacking. It doesn’t matter if you are a business, a school or even the government hackers are always looking for ways to gain access to your data. They can do this by finding out your passwords, your username, and more. Security is becoming more and more of an issue, and it is important that you do what you can to protect yourself.
Finding reliable customer and their retention
There are a couple of ways to find customers for your managed services company. If you are not yet sure you can offer a service that will be valuable to other people, you can start by offering your service to your friends, family, etc.
This way, you will already have a base of clients who know you and like the service you offer. You can also offer your services to people you meet at networking events. You can also go to your target market directly; this is the best way to get a lot of clients.
But keep in mind that you will have to be prepared to “sell” your service to a lot of people. This will be especially hard for the newly started company because you will need to convince your clients that they need your service, and you will have to find out what they really want. If your service is not needed, you won’t be able to sell it.