One of the characteristics shared by all topmanaged service providersis a process-driven approach. Sounds simple, but what does it really mean? And, more important, how do you get there?
While many IT solutions providers put their heads down to churn through massive amounts of incoming tickets, World Class MSPsensure that they’ve nailed down their process, including the following aspects:
- Business planning
- Sales
- Finance
- Service Delivery
Outlining your process is fundamental to achieving success as a MSP. It’s an integral part of the effort to identify and capitalize on your strengths as well as improve upon your weaknesses.
Make the following moves to ensure that there’s a strong process at the heart of your operations.
Promote A Culture Of Mindfulness
Your ITprocess matters – not only to the leaders accountable for profitability or to the employees who must follow it on a daily basis, but to the entire business. So, developing a culture that’s mindful of your MSPprocessis an important first step toward improving your operations.
The question is: How do you do that?
First and foremost, be sure to involve every member of the business. Your process affects just about everyone, and all of your team members are likely to have beneficial ideas for improvement. Talk about your best practices. When you’ve included the whole team in process identification and evaluation, outline the results for future reference.
Keep in mind, this doesn’t mean the process is set in stone. Another way to promote a process-driven culture is to encourage regular reassessment and optimization. Your process should evolve with your business. To keep it top of mind for all employees, conduct regular meetings or huddles to discuss and hold people accountable for adherence.
Institutionalize Your “Company Way”
Take your process-focused culture one step further. Make it an institution within your business. To become a topMSP, you must use your process as the foundation for any service you provide.
Once you have a documented process, it needs to be in a central location where it’s easily accessible by all employees. Dedicate time and attention to keeping this documentation organized, and be creative with it. Consider making videos or recording webinars to explain and demonstrate the details.
Then, there’s training – the largest piece of institutionalization. Like most MSPs, you probably have some sort of training already in place, but it’s important to revisit and improve it. Base your program on the process you’ve outlined, determining how often you need to engage employees in training and who is responsible for conducting it.
Remember: Training isn’t just for new employees. Even your experienced team members should participate to stay up to date on your evolving IT process.
Fully Leverage The Process
Once your process is in order and you’ve established a regular training program, you’re ready to take full advantage of these efforts to increase profitability
To leverage your process to the fullest, adopt these actions:
- Regularly check in with employees to ensure they’re operating in accordance with the process.
- Review the process quarterly and annually, updating when necessary.
- Utilize the process in your sales presentation, showing potential customers how it’s key to providing them with the best service.
- Gauge successes as a result of following the process (one that’s easy to monitor is increased efficiency in responding to tickets).
- Communicate those wins to your team for encouragement.
The bottom line: It’s crucial to use your process to its greatest advantage if you want to provide superior results to your clients.
By leveraging your process for improved service and results, you get one step closer to World Class status. Learn more about what it takes to become a top-performing MSP.
