Coronavirus outbreak has caught the whole world by surprise. Companies are creating new strategies for organizing their workplace. Every government has issued social distancing guidelines for their companies. This is both an opportunity and a challenge for Managed service providers. If you are using the right strategies, then your business will thrive even during this pandemic.
Social Distancing Guidelines:
Many USA states have started to relax their measures. However, the threat of coronavirus is still real. It is going to affect businesses until someone has developed a vaccine. Most organizations are going to enforce the measures that are recommended by the WHO and the CDC. Some of the guidelines released by the CDC are:
- Avoid contact with people that are sick.
- Maintain a distance of 6 feet from other people.
- You should cover your coughs with a tissue. If you don’t have a tissue, then you should use your elbow to cover your coughs or sneezes.
- You should avoid touching your mouth, nose, and eyes.
- You should clean the frequently touched surfaces and objects.
- Everyone should wash their hands with soap for 20 seconds.
These social distancing guidelines will help you in protecting your employees from the coronavirus. If someone has developed the symptoms of coronavirus, then they should remain quarantined at their home. They should only return to the work once some medical professional has cleared him. It is important to disinfectant high-contact areas for avoiding the spread of this virus. Also, you should educate your employees about these social distancing guidelines. This will help you in enforcing these guidelines.
Effect of Social Distancing Guidelines on MSPs:
These guidelines are having a lot of impact on managed service providers. However, not every MSP is affected by these guidelines. Managed Service Providers that were providing in-person services have to take more precautions. Many MSPs were providing remote hands personnel services to their clients.
However, many MSPs are delivering remote services to their customers. Thus, they don’t need to worry about direct physical contact with their customers. Most organizations are shifting to the remote workplace due to the coronavirus outbreak. Their MSP partners are helping them in implanting these remote technology solutions. The increased demand has also increased the strain on MSPs network systems.
Many MSPs are trying to provide their services while following the social distancing guidelines. They are using innovative solutions like Fios in a box service. This service will help you in reducing the contact between your employees and customers. Your technicians can address the issues from outside the client’s home. They can hand over the box to your customers. This box will contain everything that your customers need for cable installation. Verizon is currently using this strategy for providing connections to its customers. Customers will also get video assistance from the technicians. Verizon sales have actually increased due to this unique solution. They have installed more connections this year when compared to the last year. MSPs that are offering in-person services can use a similar strategy.
MSPs that were offering outsourcing services to their clients are facing increasing demand. Thus, they need unique solutions for handling this increased demand. You can use some solutions for increasing your capacity. These tips will help you in handling the increasing demand.
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Stagger your staff
Most people are working from their homes now. Thus, MSPs are receiving many security issues from their clients. Their clients need help in fixing their technical issues. You might receive these requests at very unusual hours. Most MSPs are even receiving requests during the night. Remote employees love working in the evening and weekends. If you are staggering your staff, then this will ensure that your customers can get help whenever they need it. This will help you in providing better services to your clients.
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Automate Manual and Routine Tasks
The coronavirus outbreak has increased the complexity of the hiring process. It is very hard to find new employees during this pandemic. Companies that were handling these tasks remotely can still hire new employees. Thus, MSPs should focus on handling high-priority tasks. They should try to automate all the manual and routine tasks. This will ensure that your team is not wasting their time in handling the simple request. It will also help you in increasing the productivity and efficiency of your team.
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Increase your IT infrastructure capacity
Downtime is still the biggest nightmare for every MSP. However, MSPs are receiving more requests from their customers. Thus, the probability of downtime has increased during this pandemic. If your IT systems can’t handle the increased traffic, then you will face downtime. You should work on increasing your IT capacity. Many MSPs are using cloud technology for increasing their IT capacity. You can also work with a colocation data center for increasing your capacity. This will help your IT infrastructure in handling the increased demands.
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Security
If your employees are working remotely, then you need to deal with various security risks. Every MSP provider should try to protect their clients from cyber-attacks. Many cyber scams are emerging during this pandemic. MSPs should try their best to protect their clients and employees from these scams.
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Educate your clients
Many companies are now transitioning to remote work. However, their employees don’t know anything about remote work. You should educate about your existing customers about the technologies that they can implement for managing their remote workplace. Many MSPs are repackaging their existing services. However, they should also think about expanding into the educational field. You should help your customers in creating a perfect remote working environment.
Conclusion
MSPs have been hit hard by this pandemic. Most MSP were providing in-person services to their clients. Thus, they have to follow social guideline measures will providing their services. MSPs can use Fios in a box service for following social distancing guidelines. You can follow the tips shared in this article for dealing with the increased demand. If you need more information regard MSP services, then you can contact Bleuwire.
Contact us today to learn about Bleuwire™ services and solutions in how we can help your business.
