Getting the most value from your MSP by enabling an innovation partner
In today's digital landscape, Managed Service Providers (MSPs) are essential partners. But not even the best MSP can deliver on business goals that have been poorly defined. Yet, mid-sized businesses commonly fail to do their strategic homework before engaging an MSP. And we get it. Business priorities are easily overlooked. Maybe you are focused on your next POC or that latest cool technologies. But it is easy to get taken for a ride at the cost of productivity and increased risk. If you want to effect real innovation, efficiency, and value from your MSP, it is imperative to show up prepared.
Simply put, we help mid-market enterprises find and hire their ideal MSP. As systems developers, we are champions of change and innovation. We help match mid-market enterprises with their ideal MSP partner for their specific needs via our proven strategy process. To let mid-market enterprises achieve more value from their MSP, with less churn, we take care of the 'pre-work', by helping your organization shape and focus the MSP’s role and responsibilities. This includes producing requirements and preparing proposals.
"It’s a tale as old as time: your MSP drops countless documents into SharePoint but lacks the knowledge to speak to any of them." — Peter Loos, Seabeck Systems CEO
The uninitiated mid-market enterprise typically has one of two expectations about their MSP. Either it believes:
Our many years of consulting have taught us that more often than not, clients who refuse to share their business strategy do not actually have one (we learn this as part of the discovery process). Worse yet, most of these clients do not want to take the time to think about their business strategy (and whether they should adopt one). They just want to accomplish the near X, Y, and Z tasks at hand.
The end result of this is that if you are a mid-market enterprise that cannot articulate, or does not have, a business strategy, bringing in an MSP to solve a problem will likely be a colossal and expensive mistake. False starts are expensive, managing milestones without a plan is a pricey endeavor.
MSPs are exceptional at deploying infrastructure, managing IT operations, and keeping the lights on. Sometimes, they are even adept at innovation.
What they are not good at? Reading your mind.
For instance, without understanding the details of what your business wants to achieve, your MSP cannot determine whether a CRM integration supports your sales goals, or if a data lake is the best choice for your new product launch. That is your job. They need your guidance so they can align their services with your priorities. Never mind the techno-babble and the tech stack, we are simply talking about documenting your organization’s business strategy and its requirements. Pen and paper works just fine.
Because without this bit of direction, you are literally giving the job, and handing over the tools, to a builder with no blueprints.
First, outline the following:
Next, document what success should look like. Are you focused on:
Bringing this level of clarity to your MSP shifts the discussion from “What do you need from us?” to “Let’s build something valuable together.”
But we get it. That list looks like a lot to compile, let alone to get your team in agreement on!
Some good news: an invaluable tool for communicating and aligning your mid-market enterprise team is a roadmap that is highly visual and simply and clearly defined.
For instance, we recommend using:
Think of it less like a Gantt chart or project plan and more like a conversation starter that outlines the interactions and interdependencies of the major initiatives and ties each one directly to a business objective.
The roadmap should also help your team understand the “why” of a project, improve estimates, suggest improvements and changes, proactively flag risk, and align on the roadmap.
The power of knowing why and what is coming is an enabler for most people.
Once you have aligned your internal team, it is time to give prospective MSP’s "the bait."
Describe your business strategy and the major initiatives you need the MSP’s help with.
“Set the hook” by suggesting to the MSP that success with your first major initiative will set the stage for letting them take on more initiatives on your roadmap. Naturally, the MSP may have already tried to gain your trust regarding these additional initiatives.
This is an effective strategy for attracting multiple MSPs to an RFP process. After all, MSPs want to be part of something big, too!
Second to lacking a business strategy, failing to plan is the biggest blunder we encounter from mid-market enterprises.
Up front planning helps everyone perform more intelligently and efficiently and causes fewer surprises over the course of a project. An organization that forgoes the planning process is only setting itself up for a more expensive and drawn-out engagement.
Scope creep is the biggest, most common consequence, but failing to plan ahead also leads to misaligned priorities and reactive troubleshooting, both of which ultimately wind up wasting resources. Worse yet, inadequate planning can also damage trust and delay your goals internally.
Conversely, clients that have both a business strategy and a plan achieve their goals sooner and with higher quality. We see it time and time again.
Before you sign your next MSP contract, ask yourself:
If the answer to any of these is "no," do not hesitate to reach out to the folks at Seabeck for help.
We sit between your mid-market enterprise and your MSP to ensure your organization gets exactly (and only) what it wants/needs by helping you define your business challenge and your requirements of an MSP.
We will help craft the interview questions you need to ask an MSP (e.g., certificates, runbook, generating test data), and help you pinpoint which architect on the MSP team will deliver the most value.
Seabeck will even provide the documentation and training needed to fill gaps the MSP cannot deliver. Further, accurate, comprehensive documentation also enables continuity from project to project, freeing up the MSP to focus on your next big initiative.
Plus, we do a million more tasks to set you up for success (e.g., streamline your backlog, modernize your scrum process, build team confidence, transfer skills and knowledge to your organization).
In short, Seabeck helps your organization achieve the results from your MSP that keep you moving forward. And we only support projects we know will generate real value for our clients.
"We like to work ourselves out of a job. We’ll leave you self-sufficient by showing your team how to do things for themselves." — Peter Loos, Seabeck Systems CEO
