Ever heard the saying, “If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten”? Well, it’s time to shake things up if you want your MSP to grow.
In the hustle and bustle of everyday work, it’s tempting to go for quick fixes and instant results. But in the long run, you’ll find yourself treading water, limiting your company’s growth. As an MSP, you need to dare to look further. Or rather, look from above. So you can see the bigger picture. Wondering what we mean by that and why it’s crucial for your success as an MSP? Let’s dive in!
Principle 4: Seeing the Bigger Picture
In our chats with dozens of MSPs, we’ve uncovered 7 general principles that successful MSPs swear by. These principles help them adapt quickly – a must in the ever-changing tech landscape. By consistently applying these principles, they’re not just getting better results for their clients, they’re also beefing up their own market position.
In our previous blogs, we’ve covered the first three principles: a clear proposition, the right tools for your team, and challenging your customer. Now, let’s zoom in (or should we say zoom out?) on the fourth principle: seeing the bigger picture.
From Short-Term Solutions to Long-Term Vision
We get it – it’s tempting to focus on quick fixes and immediate results. Let’s take a real-world example: sometimes it’s easier for someone on the service desk to whip up a solution for a specific problem at a client. Just a quick, custom configuration for that user so the client can get back to work. Seems efficient in the short term, right? But in the long run, not so much.
A custom solution leads to extra complexity in your systems. And the less standardization in your approach, the harder it is to scale. Plus, the knowledge about the chosen solution stays with just one person.
As an MSP, it’s important to zoom out and look at the bigger picture. You’ll quickly see that standardizing is better in the long run. This way, both you and your client can scale.
The North Star
This vision shouldn’t just come from you, but from the whole team, so everyone acts accordingly. As long as everyone knows what that North Star is and where you’re heading, it’s easier for everyone to think: “Is my way of working helping the company move forward?”
That North Star means:
- Acting in the best interest of the entire company
- Prioritizing the wellbeing of your MSP over personal gain
- Understanding that the right decisions impact overall success
- Managing the entire system on one central platform
How Do You Get Your Team on Board?
It’s important that everyone has a clear vision, but how do you get your team to buy in?
Actually, the same rules apply here as with any change process:
- Communicate your vision clearly and often
- Explain why certain decisions are made
- Show how individual actions contribute to the bigger picture
- Encourage your team to come up with ideas that help the entire company move forward
- Celebrate successes that contribute to long-term goals
From Islands to One Whole
Seeing the bigger picture is also about breaking down silos within your organization. Often, different departments work separately, with their own goals and methods. But as an MSP, you need an integrated approach.
How do you bring everything together?
- Organize regular cross-departmental meetings
- Encourage job rotation to create understanding of each other’s work
- Use multidisciplinary teams for important projects
- Use tools that promote collaboration and information sharing
The Role of Technology
Consistently implementing your vision and standardizing your approach becomes a lot easier with the right technology. A platform that brings together all aspects of your service makes the bird’s-eye view you need much easier to achieve.
The Ydentic platform, for example, offers a central overview of all your clients and services, standardized processes for efficient management, insight into performance and areas for improvement, and possibilities to automate and scale. With such an integrated platform, you can make strategic decisions based on concrete data and insights.
From Vision to Action
Seeing the bigger picture is one thing, acting on it is another. It sometimes takes courage to make tough decisions that hurt in the short term but propel your company forward in the long run.
Think about phasing out outdated services, revising your pricing model, or investing in new technologies. These decisions might initially meet resistance, but they can be necessary for future success. Always keep that North Star in mind to break through the resistance.
Ready for the Future
By zooming out on your current way of working and keeping the bigger picture in mind, you’ll see that there are improvements and scaling opportunities in your company. Can’t see those opportunities yourself? We’d be happy to take a look with you at how you can apply this principle in your company. Get in touch with us for a no-obligation chat. We’d love to brainstorm with you about how you can prepare your organization for the future.
And keep following us, because this is just the 4th principle of the Ydentic MSP framework. There are 3 more blogs coming with valuable and practical tips to grow as an MSP.
