How MSPs Are Helping Business Transition IT To The Cloud

In order to go through a digital transformation, a company has to adopt and implement digital technology to its operations and processes. It’s for this reason that many companies turn to MSPs as it can be an affordable way for businesses to stay relevant and keep costs to a minimum.

As an MSP, you can continue to enhance your business and the business of your clients through various ways. Some of it can be improving existing systems, but another is adopting cloud technology and helping clients make the transition to that.

The effort is well worth it as cloud technology offers extra features and benefits to customers. Advanced automations of cloud technology could:

Reduce operation time;
Remove human touchpoints;
And increase productivity, efficiency and security.

Many businesses utilize these advantages already and so it makes sense why, according to a Forrester report called “Cloud Computing Predictions 2021”, it’s predicted more businesses post-pandemic will look to improve data insights in decision-making. Cloud technology allows companies to capture, track, and store to better understand their customers.

While the pandemic may have pushed businesses to that digital transformation point, there are still many businesses out there who have yet to make that transition and will begin to lag behind in their industry. As an MSP, you can help businesses make those transitions and here is how.

Establish Modern Workplaces

Cloud technology alone can allow MSPs to both establish and secure a modern workplace. This is on top of offering solutions on advanced automation, communication and collaboration opportunities while extending enhanced security features.

Having an MSP involved in cloud technology already can extend incredible value to those they work with. Being able to offer client’s employees the safety to work from anywhere with any device means the business can change to whatever it needs to be.

Furthermore automation from cloud technology will streamline processes to ensure client’s businesses are efficient, productive and more profitable.

Selling the idea that cloud technology will make businesses more flexible in their business set up is very appealing. According to Forbes when cloud technology is involved:

Ongoing IT support drops by 55%
And companies ROI is 4.01 times greater than companies who still use on-premise technology

It becomes even more tempting because cloud technology is faster to be deployed, easy to configure, and easy to manage and maintain, making it a dream for MSPs too.

Leveraging The Microsoft Cloud Platforms

With all kinds of cloud technology offering various kinds of services, one platform that makes it easier for MSPs to offer and help customers make the transition to is Microsoft’s cloud platforms. These provide an excellent option for MSPs who are new to the technology to start the entire practice.

Microsoft’s cloud ecosystem is one of the most mature in the industry and offers a wide range of opportunities for businesses and MSPs to expand their businesses and increase revenue. It allows MSPs to use advanced technologies that allow their clients to use powerful business solutions.

With an overview of the Modern Workplace suite, you can see they have:

Productivity tools to get users to collaborate and communicate anywhere at any time.
Access to an infrastructure and data center that allows you to build and deploy applications.
And a whole host of business solutions to achieve operational excellence and develop tremendous customer experience.

This is on top of MSPs creating another stream of income for themselves.

Using A Strategic Distributor Partnership

Another angle is by leveraging a business who offers best-in-class technology and access to the marketplace at large to help other MSPs to grow and become more successful. This is called a sell-through model and using this for cloud licenses specifically can mutually benefit both the MSP and the distributor its involved in.

Every time an MSP migrates a client over to that distributor, it increases the usage and increases the recurring revenue for both parties.

MSPs should be looking for these partners in their ecosystem however it’ll benefit them more when they’re working with a business who understands their value and is able to develop programs and initiatives that’ll benefit their business.

By combining efforts and strategic go-to-market plans that are focused on increasing clients’ adoption of cloud technology and usage will only help everyone involved.

Be The Architect

There are two core reasons for customers to hire an MSP:

They could do the job themselves but they lack the time or resources to get it done properly;
Or they wan the MSP to oversee a larger project that has been scoped out and ready to be executed.

In the first reason, the individual is more like a handyman where the skill gap between them and the MSP is minimal.

For the second, the MSP is actually a builder, though already has the blueprint and needs to simply follow the plan.

While either one of these models are adequate and provide revenue streams, it’s important that MSPs strive to be in that second scenario – being hired to be a builder – over anything else.

The reason for this is simple: if an MSP is the architect, they’re also a trusted business adviser as they own the plans and the execution of a client’s technology strategy. Being able to propose plans and reshape an existing plan can allow clients to see how you can improve operations, processes and positively affect all aspects of their business.

Make The Transition

While the pandemic has given rise to cloud technology adoption, there are still many companies who are reluctant or don’t have the time or are struggling to adopt.

Leveraging these four methods can allow you to get businesses – and existing clients – over that technology gap and immediately improve their business for the better.

About MSP Corp

MSP Corp understands you’ve worked hard to build your business and you want to protect it. With a mission to be a world-class business partner for MSP owners across Canada, we actively seek to acquire and partner with owners looking to secure the value of the business they have built and provide a seamless exit process that ensures business continuity and employee and client stability.