As the MSP industry develops, the MSPs themselves have felt the pressure to mature their operations just to keep up. But how can MSPs progress their business?
In this article, we’ll discuss:
MSPs looking to offer digital maturity advising and planning to their clients need the right tools for the job. To confidently advise on digital maturity planning, MSPs rely on accurate and complete data on all of their clients’ assets and processes. That’s where ScalePad comes in.
ScalePad offers MSPs the perfect tools for completing digital maturity assessments, developing strategic planning, and collaborating with clients on projects. With tools for automated monitoring of hardware, software, and backup status, comprehensive reporting, and creation of project proposals, ScalePad Lifecycle Manager and Backup Radar allows MSPs to dive deeper into their clients’ tech.
Former MSP owner and CEO of Digital Maturity Advisors Lane Smith said MSPs have shown they are more competitive in the market once they begin to leverage advising services. In his work training MSPs in digital maturity advising, Smith has seen how client relationships improve, and the level of service increases.
“Companies either have a good business maturity or not, but we know that as long as they have a good foundation, increasing their digital maturity can help the business grow,” he said.
While MSPs may learn the strategies to become digital maturity advisors, how they accomplish those key tasks is just as important.
As a digital advisor, one of the first projects an MSP will take on is a digital maturity assessment. The assessment aims to give clients a clear breakdown of where their technology stands compared to competitors and other similar companies.
MSPs thoroughly examine the state of the client’s technology environment and how their technology is used in daily operations. This can be a daunting task to accomplish manually, with hours of time and effort needed to make sure the assessment gets done right.
With Lifecycle Manager’s automated asset monitoring capabilities, MSPs are able to get comprehensive information about a client’s hardware and software assets at the click of a button. Backup Radar also gives MSPs a complete dashboard, with automated monitoring and ticketing, for the backup solutions a client has in place.
Instead of spending hours collecting data on a client’s assets, a digital advisor can save that time and get right into a meaningful assessment for clients.
MSPs can go through details, like age of device, operating system, and warranty status, to examine if any assets are operational, no longer being used, or are vulnerable to breaks or malicious attacks. For older assets, old and unsupported software or operating systems can be a big vulnerability that businesses will want to address.
Once a digital advisor has all the data they need, Lifecycle Manager can also kick off the assessment process with the Insights and Digital Maturity Index (DMI) features.
Lifecycle Manager’s Insights automatically measure the client’s hardware and software asset metrics against industry standards. Lifecycle Manager allows the creation of custom grading standards as well, so MSPs can be flexible with their client’s needs and internal standards to run their business.
DMI grades the client’s entire tech environment and scores based on the overall health of the clients assets. Having a benchmark to show clients how they fair against IT industry standards can help in setting goals in the improvement of a business’ digital maturity.
To complete digital maturity assessment, the advising MSP and client assess where the clients’ successes are and what areas need improvement to benefit their internal operations and processes.
Advisors and clients work together on a digital adoption plan to implement the improvements and goals identified in the assessment.
MSPs use the Initiatives feature to create and deliver proposals directly based on the Insights, allowing the advisor to bring actionable steps to the client and begin planning. Initiatives create a short proposal that can be sent to clients from the dashboard, helping advisors offer solutions. Even if the client makes a different decision, taking the initiative with a proposal can inform the client to make better decisions for their business.
The digital adoption plan includes recommendations addressing each of the client’s needs, outlining how the recommended actions tie into the client’s business plan. Lifecycle Manager’s Initiatives are a way for advisors to track the success of the digital adoption plan as the client makes progress.
With the plan done, Lifecycle Manager can help your MSP implement and track the client’s progress, how their operations are improving with new policies and assets, and what projects need to be budgeted for next using our Roadmaps function.
The growth of digital maturity advising in the MSP industry is a direct result of the increased value to clients, deeper client relationships, and improved margins on advising services. To make the most of it, MSPs need to leverage the right tools to make their work more effective and efficient.
With ScalePad LifeCycle Manager and Backup Radar, MSPs that offer digital maturity advising can become more competitive in the MSP space, and even qualify for grants and funding opportunities like the Canadian Digital Adoption Program.Get started with ScalePad and get the tools you need to succeed. Book a Lifecycle Manager demo, or start with the free edition today. To learn more about Backup Radar, request a personalized demo and see how it can keep your backup monitoring up-to-date and secure.
