If you had told someone a few years ago that 2021 would be all about economic survival, they’d laugh in your face. Yet here we are, with best-case scenarios long off the table, trying to come up with a long-term strategy while taking it one day at a time.
The economy in general has been on quite the rollercoaster. It turns out the tech channel isn’t immune to disruptions, either! Forecasts have been mixed at best, if not dire—but interestingly, often way off the mark. Regardless, there’s a lot of managed services providers (MSPs) out there with serious concerns about revenue loss.
Luckily, there are things you can do to combat the far-reaching effects of the pandemic. Somewhere beyond the cuts in tech spending and changes in buyers’ behavior there are also opportunities. Is a lot of hard work required? Yes indeed. Are the results ultimately worth it? Absolutely!
Let’s have a look at three strategies to help you beat unfavorable odds and increase your managed services revenue.
Switch from break-fix to managed services
For a while there, the break-fix model worked just about fine. No longer! If you’re looking to make your revenue more stable and predictable over time while increasing customers’ stickiness, managed services are the way to go.
How do you make the transition? Essentially, clients used to reactive service might need a little nudge early on—the initial step is to get them to commit to ongoing, maintenance-based support. You apply all patches, fixes and updates to all hardware and software every month. This monthly maintenance is easy to talk clients into, and is obviously in their best interest.
Once clients get used to receiving regularly scheduled maintenance and paying for it, then it’s much easier to move them to a flat fee service plan. Most of them just want to have their IT needs taken care of so they can get back to business!
Benefits of switching to a managed services model for your client include more uptime, fewer emergencies, all software always up to date and predictable spending. Benefits for your business include easier planning, more stable and predictable revenue, and opportunities to upsell and cross-sell with bundles and extra services.
Break into security
Globally, cyberattacks are now the fastest growing category of crime. Financial losses from cybercrime exceed the total losses incurred from the global trade of all illegal drugs. Unfortunately, attackers are growing more audacious. And then there are the security challenges of responding to COVID-19.
Security should be top of mind for all of us. Companies failing to devote enough attention to risk management today are lagging behind—with potentially devastating results. Rather than cause for fear, though, IT professionals and resellers should look at cybersecurity as a massive opportunity. Why leave this money on the table?
Customers need to be educated. Many have slowly come to realize that cybersecurity is no longer an optional nice-to-have, but they don’t quite know where to start. Which means they also need solutions, and quick. You may be well suited to act as their trusted IT advisor, especially if your offer them the right products. And since security needs to be comprehensive, there are also ample opportunities for bundling, upselling and cross-selling here as well. Customers will be happy with their impenetrable security shield, and you’ll be happy with your steady, possibly even increasing, income!
Work with an expert partner
Not to brag, but that would be us! Our bread-baking skills might not have improved during the pandemic, but when it comes to helping partners achieve more, we do have a proven track record. See what they say about us!
Every channel firm is different and will face different challenges in the next few months and beyond. No matter your situation, though, the right cloud partner should continuously provide opportunities for you to add products and solutions to your portfolio, finesse your business strategy and supply you with experts and resources to help grow your business. With Sherweb as your value-added cloud services provider, you can leave most of the heavy lifting to us so that you can focus on what really matters: your business.
If you want to beat the revenue loss odds, become a partner today to get started.
