Businesses asking - what should we offer
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I can honestly say that before getting into the MSP space, I didn't really understand what the space was.
Our initial thoughts were ... hey we know IT, we'll just consult and help people, not realizing what is out there. Mainly just from never having seen it before. Now that I've been in it for a while, it makes complete sense, and I couldn't imagine it any other way.
But I can certainly understand not understanding the space, and not knowing exactly what to offer.
Or, even more so to my own example, going in thinking of offering A, but then talking to others in the space and realizing, hey I really need to offer B.
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I've been talking to him and made sure that he is aware of the thread.
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@BRRABill But at some point, you and the business you worked for said. "Hey we need to offer more or different products, we need to differentiate our business.
To provide more than an single stream of income, and had some kind of a plan.
Sure the plan changed, but in the OP, the topic is specifically asking "What should we do to differentiate". There is no answer that will fit perfectly.
No one can say "Hey we're doing this, if you can do this we'd all win" It's not a crystal ball.
Only from the OP's own conversation with their clients and seeing what they "need" even if they don't know it could the OP (and business) determine a new product line to offer/support.
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Sorry, I am late to the party. lol I appreciate everyone's advice. There is a lot of good information here that gives me some ideas of where to go next. I'll catch up on the thread after my meeting this morning. Thank you again for your time and help!
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@adamevans4 said:
Sorry, I am late to the party. lol I appreciate everyone's advice. There is a lot of good information here that gives me some ideas of where to go next. I'll catch up on the thread after my meeting this morning. Thank you again for your time and help!
I literally just opened the "user" tab to see if you had come over to join us yet
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@DustinB3403 said:
Sure the plan changed, but in the OP, the topic is specifically asking "What should we do to differentiate". There is no answer that will fit perfectly.
No one can say "Hey we're doing this, if you can do this we'd all win" It's not a crystal ball.
That is a good way to look at it.
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Doesn't it only make sense, that as a business you need to evaluate what you're currently offering / doing and design a plan on what you want to do.
Once you know what you want to do (or who to service) that you design a plan, become an expert on your design services. Once you have that then you can say "how can we improve this".
Rather than "Hey what should we do to expand?" Because I'll openly ask it here.
What should I do to earn $600 Million in the next 5 years?
Granted the question is extreme, but effectually the same thing.
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So we were traditionally a document center but have since started providing computer repair services. Now we are providing support to small businesses in the area. I were many hats in this organization and working hard to grow the business. I guess knowing the right questions will make finding answers easier. So from my initial topic I have received some great feedback and I value everyone's time. Going forward I will start paying closer attention to the needs of my customers and look to expand our services from there.
I guess a better question would have been "what services are you offering your customers now to help them improve their IT and help them do business better or more efficiently?"
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@adamevans4 asking for the keys to the castle aren't we....
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If you're looking to get the business to an MSP type of business rather than a Fix-It business, you need to develop a level of expertise on many subjects.
Virtualization is a great topic to dive into and learn. VDI is a subcategory of Virtualization and is also great to understand, know how to implement etc.
There is literally everything IT you could learn to expand the business, but it's dependent on what you're actually trying to get the business too.
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@DustinB3403 Okay, maybe you can direct me to more appropriate resource that would help me?
I am certainly not trying to step on anyone's toes here. I am just looking to learn more and grow our business... -
I'm just playing devils advocate, don't take it personal.
Here, SW are good places to find sources of "enlightenment" (for lack of a better word).
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In your business, are the systems currently virtualized? Do you have a robust phone system? Are you using VoIP? I bet that in your own organization there are many items that can be greatly improved, and as you improve those, you can say "Hey we can do this and that and offer this."
All because of the experience from doing it. Certainly you'd want to become an expert on the subject matter, but that comes from working with a product.
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@DustinB3403 said:
I'm just playing devils advocate, don't take it personal.
Here, SW are good places to find sources of "enlightenment" (for lack of a better word).
Be prepared to be severely "enlightened" here. In a good way, though. If you want and can handle it.
It might just turn your IT world upside down. Also in a good way.
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@DustinB3403 I just virtualized our servers but not our desktops. I have been asking to upgrade our phones, but to have the money to do so I need to get some more customers. Great advice though. Thank you.
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@BRRABill I have been spending more time on SW, it is a great tool.
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@adamevans4 said:
@BRRABill I have been spending more time on SW, it is a great tool.
This place in like real time texting. It's nuts. In a good way.
I'm like a broken record...
in a good way
in a good way
in a good way -
So you've virtualized your servers on what Hypervisor. Is there a need for HA? How was the system designed. Hopefully not like what's described here.
Think of what your business is running on today, give us some things to discuss.
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I'm not sure what @adamevans4 is asking for is the specific keys to anyone's kingdom.
As I mentioned when we started out on our MSP journey, we thought we'd just be managing computers. We were unaware there is an industry of 24/7 monitoring that drives most of the revenue. The things we THOUGHT we would be doing, no one really does. It's all about getting a view into the systems and going from there. We knew we wanted to help people with their computers, we just didn't know how. We found about about RMM, picked an RMM vendor (N-Able), and it all rolled from there.
What size company are you typically going after, for your client base?
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@adamevans4 said:
So we were traditionally a document center but have since started providing computer repair services. Now we are providing support to small businesses in the area. I were many hats in this organization and working hard to grow the business. I guess knowing the right questions will make finding answers easier. So from my initial topic I have received some great feedback and I value everyone's time. Going forward I will start paying closer attention to the needs of my customers and look to expand our services from there.
I guess a better question would have been "what services are you offering your customers now to help them improve their IT and help them do business better or more efficiently?"
We offer all IT services. Everything a Fortune 100 IT department would have.
