compTIA - Computing Technology Industry Association Inc.
07/30/2024 | News release | Distributed by Public on 07/30/2024 16:41
From Teambuilding to Peer Groups: How MSPs Successfully Scale Their Business
There are probably as many ways for MSPs to grow their business as there are MSPs. After all, every company has its own unique culture, customer base and goals. And that's OK. But when it comes time to finding common ways to scale their businesses, MSPs also have a trove of knowledge, ideas and best practices from a very familiar source-each other.
"There are of a lot of different ways to grow, and a lot of differing opinions on how to do that, so it's important to have a lot of voices and to see how success looks to each of them," said Eric Anthony, director of partner engagement at Egnyte and chair of the CompTIA Community Managed Services Interest Group in North America, during a panel session at ChannelCon 2024 in Atlanta called Scaling Your MSP in 2024.
Several MSP panelists touted the "power of peers" as a great way to ask questions, get answers and learn from other similar companies.
"We were mainly a break-fix company and spinning into an MSP was a big move for us. Something that helped us was our peers. We talked about our businesses and how to grow," said John Douglass, president of Pileus Technologies. "If you're not involved in going to conferences or in a formalized peer group or MSP community of some sort, get involved. It's been fantastic for my business."
Joining a group like the CompTIA Community offers a great opportunity to hear where others are succeeding and struggling, said Carrie Green, senior vice president of operations at Alt-Tech. "Where can you go to ask questions of others who are facing similar challenges? This is a great place to meet other people and get help," Green said.
Jeremy Treister, president of CMIT, said he likes to compare notes with MSPs who use the same tools as his company in order to troubleshoot problems or find ways to be more efficient.
"Some are stagnant or might have the tool but not have it configured right or not set up right. Tech-minded people think they can figure it out on their own, but some things are worth getting help for," Treister said.
Teamwork Makes the Dream Work
Meanwhile, teambuilding activities and bonding time are also great ways to improve employee morale and loyalty-both key ingredients to successfully scaling a business. If your staff is happy, your customers will be happy. Related, listen to your team and your customers and take their feedback to heart-even if it means some constructive criticism, said Joshua Liberman, president of Net Sciences.
"We took something from Jerry Seinfeld. We have 'the airing of the grievances.' That's worked and we've even extended it to clients," Liberman said. "We also have twice-a-year performance reviews and they're bi-directional. That's very helpful. I consider them both teambuilding, but perhaps not classic ideas."
Several MSPs also agreed that it's a good idea to regularly evaluate and update your company's standard operating procedures. Liberman noted that he hired his wife to review his procedures and she found they had implicit assumptions that his team never noticed but could trip up a new or inexperienced employee.
"If she looks at straight-forward instructions and gets stuck on step 3.5, that's a whole problem we didn't know existed," he said.
The MSPs were also unanimous in their opinion that cybersecurity and AI are solid ways to scale your business, even if they're the hot trend du jour-but other opportunities exist too.
"Something we started doing is education for our customers, helping them to understand the risks to their business from an educational standpoint, not a selling standpoint," said Douglass. "Once we switched and started doing that, people started listening. They ask 'do we have that as part of our service now?' No, but we'd be happy to talk to you about it. If it becomes their idea, it's much easier to sell."