Businesses have every reason in the world to hire a Managed IT Service Provider. And while the industry is growing rapidly, many would-be clients are still not buying-in. Why?
Because they are “getting by” with break-fix, of course, which is fraught with risk and inefficiency. A business that hasn’t experienced real pain beyond the occasional server or network outage cannot fathom how their processes and security would be improved by managed services.
If SMBs make up your core customer base, you can bet your prospects are heaping all of their tech responsibilities on the shoulders of one (often vastly underqualified) employee. Our job as marketers is to establish a relationship with that person.
Connecting with the “de facto CIO”
You’ve probably seen this situation hundreds of times.
Someone in the organization has been appointed “head of technology” because he (let’s call him Greg) knows how to update software and set up a computer. Greg’s skills and core responsibilities are in a completely different area, but because he knows a thing or two about tech, the company leadership has made him the de facto CIO for all IT decisions.
This is a dangerous place for businesses to put themselves – not to mention unfair for Greg – but he goes along with it because he enjoys working with technology and appreciates the recognition from the company brass. But without formal training and certification, Greg will not be able to manage the IT infrastructure effectively; in fact, he would need a team of certified technicians to handle all aspects of the job, a team like MSPs provide.
It won’t be long before a project or problem arises that puts Greg in way over his head. What’s the first thing he will do? He’ll jump online and start looking for answers.
By using your organization’s blog to answer Greg’s burning questions, you can turn him into a lead, and eventually into a customer. Here are just a few pain points he is likely to face on his journey to becoming your next client:
The Cost of Data Backup and Recovery
It’s amazing that some businesses are not taking advantage of the cloud for data backup, but they’re out there. They may still be housing a server room or backing up off-site, but this is hardly an efficient solution for data recovery.
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Maintaining servers in two locations is not cheap when you factor in expenses for maintenance, hardware, and licensing fees. Greg needs to know his company can reduce these costs significantly by maintaining backups with Azure, AWS or another provider. Can he deploy a cloud solution on his own? Maybe, depending on the scope, but is it really a good idea?
Using your blog, you can give Greg a realistic picture of what a good implementation looks like. Let him discover on his own that hiring a qualified solution provider is the way to get this done.
A Secure Environment for the Mobile Workforce
The prevalence of mobile work has made IT more complicated, especially as workers freely use their own devices to access company resources. Regardless of whether employers are aware of this issue, they need an understanding of the risks inherent in BYOD and how a Mobile Device Management plan is crucial to protecting their assets.
There is No Acceptable Use Policy
I know what you’re thinking: You’ve got to be kidding me, right?? I thought the same thing while interviewing a Managed Services Provider a few days ago.
Over the course of an hour, he told me about how many companies are still missing this most basic step to managing their IT. Without a policy in place, they have no document laying down the rules about how employees should use technology in the workplace. Likewise, they have no system in place for onboarding and offboarding workers.
One glance in a company’s active directory could show an alarming list of users that haven’t logged in within the last 90 days. That’s a big red flag to Greg that former employees still have access to company resources. Time to nip that in the bud, my friend.
Educating Staff About Cyber Attacks
An acceptable use policy articulates the dos-and-don’ts of using tech at work, but that doesn’t mean employees know how to identify and manage a potential threat.
End-users are the number one cause of successful data breaches and other malicious attacks, which only reinforces the need for ongoing security training. Does Greg have the time to research emerging threats and keep users informed about how to spot them? I think not.
Putting Business Intelligence Plans to Work
Despite the growing popularity of self-serve business intelligence tools, organizations still need experienced hands on-deck for planning, integration, training and support. C-suite needs to lead the implementation since they know the metrics that impact business goals, but when a BI project gets dumped on Greg’s desk, I would bet a good steak dinner that no executives step up to help. He will try his best to bring data streams together with no insight into how they will be used. In other words, the project will be a mess.
Greg is in a tough spot in all of these situations. Even if he were a multi-skilled renaissance man, there’s no way he could successfully manage all aspects of the IT infrastructure on his own. As marketers, we need to help solve his problems with informational content on our websites, allowing him to discover the benefits of managed services on the way.
As Greg learns more about the risks of a poorly managed infrastructure, he will start talking to senior management about the benefits of hiring an MSP. This is why it’s vital to help people solve problems with your website content. When you are a trusted informational resource, you become their first choice for a vendor when they decide to do things right. There is no better position for growth than that.
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