3 Principles an MSP Must Hold To to Help Your Business Thrive
The technology your business utilizes can be a driver of success or it can hold you back. However, technology alone will not equate to a successful business. In today’s technological landscape, businesses need a strategy to keep their tech up to date, and providing and executing that strategy is one of the many ways Mentis Group helps their customers thrive.
1. Strategic Planning
When your technology doesn’t work it isn’t just inconvenient, it can mean lost time and business. These losses aren’t an inevitability. A business that partners with the right MSP should have a plan in place to avoid impactful technology disruptions, and a strategic MSP will help their clients navigate the technology landscape by creating a roadmap for success.
This plan isn’t just about the obvious services like updating technology or recommending replacements. An effective MSP will go beyond reactive scenarios in their planning so their client will be prepared in advance to cross technology roadblocks. You won’t be left scrambling to replace failing technology as it will have already been phased out with careful planning.
Strategic planning with your MSP will put you on the right track so your business can run smoothly without disruption or downtime, in an environment perfectly aligned to your business objectives.
2. Future/Growth Minded
A strategic MSP should help their client identify the technology that aligns best with the client’s business objectives. Technology has an element of risk, and technology not which is not tailored to your specific needs can cause more problems than it solves. Your MSP should also provide you with a timeline for replacing and refreshing your existing technology, which will help you continue innovating into the future.
A strategic MSP isn’t just concerned with your locally installed and hosted hardware or software, either. Those systems will of course be kept up to date, but that’s not the only technology that matters. They will also monitor and refresh your cloud services so that no aspect of the technology your business utilizes ever falls behind, and leverages best of breed solutions and processes.
3. Maintain Clients and Employees
Technology that isn’t up to the latest industry standards leaves you open to risks like an inability to hire and keep quality staff, negative customer perception, and even potential legal liabilities. Top quality employees want to be part of a forward thinking and winning team. As such, they expect to have the tools in place to be successful. A business that can’t maintain high caliber staff as a result of outdated technology simply cannot succeed. Without a strategic plan created in partnership with your MSP, your employees’ productivity will suffer and this will result in reductions in both the quantity and quality of their work. Even the most qualified employees won’t succeed in an environment that lacks proper planning and investment in their technology.
These shortcomings will naturally be noticed by a business’s clients. A lack of investment in technology planning can lead not only to an inability to maintain quality employees, but also an inability to retain clients. With stakes this high, a strategic MSP should impress upon their clients the importance of creating a coherent, comprehensive technology plan. A good plan will help your business know what to expect from your technology and exactly where you’re going in the future.
The technology you use can either help or hurt you. With a plan derived from a comprehensive knowledge of your business’s needs and wants, Mentis Group will be sure that your technology is always working for you, not against you.