6 Things Your Managed Service Provider Wants You to Know

The relationship between managed service providers and IT companies can be difficult. IT companies have a lot of frustrations in achieving optimal service levels. It is also difficult for service providers to deal with their enterprise clients.

But, it is very important to have a good relationship with your MSP. You need to have a strong bond with your provider. We are going to tell you 6 important steps that will help you in improving your relationship with the MSP.

1. Listen

Most of the Managed Service providers take their work seriously. They are going to treat your business as if they own that business. Thus, they are going to do everything to improve your business. You must listen to the suggestions from your service provider. It is also important to trust them when they are discussing some changes or giving suggestions. Also, a good MSP will help you with third-party vendor partnerships. You can let your service provider take the lead when it comes to dealing with technology providers on the internet, cable or VoIP. Thus, you can concentrate on more important things.

2. Be Available

It is great to outsource your IT operations completely to your MSP. But, still, it is important to talk and get together. Your service provider must be updated with the current state of your business. You must be available to discuss your needs and challenges with your MSP. Thus, it is important to communicate every month with your MSP.

3. Share details of your current IT infrastructure

If you are going to hire an MSP, then you must be well acquainted with your IT infrastructure. Many clients create problems for their service providers. Most of the service providers face this issue while dealing with clients. Their client doesn’t know anything about the IT infrastructure that they are currently using. Thus, it becomes harder for your MSP to change the old infrastructure.

Before hiring an MSP, you must do a proper assessment of your IT infrastructure. Otherwise, your service provider will waste a lot of time studying your IT infrastructure.

4. Communication

Communication is the most important thing for maintaining a good relationship with your MSP. Your service provider must know everything about your company. Only then they can properly handle your IT operations. You need to share even the small details with your MSP. Below is a small list of topics that you should discuss with your service provider.

• What does your company do?
• Who are the important clients of your business?
• Which industry does your company serve?
• Does your company experience busy seasons?
• Are you going to expand your business in the future?
• What are your plans for your company?
• Are you going to move your business to the cloud?

Most of the clients don’t want to discuss all these questions. This happens because there is a lack of trust between the company owner and the service providers. There is always a constant fear that someone will leak confidential information from your company. Thus, it is important to build a solid relationship with your MSP. You must make sure that the MSP you choose is both knowledgeable and trustable.

5. Be clear about
   

   your expectations

Every corporate relationship involves a certain level of expectations. But, most of the companies don’t make their expectations clear in contracts with service providers. They always tend to overlook the metric that MSP will use to check if they have fulfilled your expectations.

Companies must be clear about the metrics that they are going to use. For example, you can use metrics like value, adoption, cost, quality, and availability. You can use these metrics to judge if your service provider is meeting your expectations. Managed service providers can improve their delivery in many ways. But, they must know about your priorities first.

6. Take them seriously

Your IT is your service provider business. Thus, they are going to take it very seriously. They will give you suggestions like you must implement better password policies, limit your data access and upgrade your antivirus. You must take all these suggestions very seriously. Teamwork is important for any relationship. You must trust your service provider. Trust them, hear them out and pay attention to them. They will surely help you in improving your business.

These are all the things which you must keep in mind for improving your relationship with your MSP. Your MSP will do their best to improve your IT operations. You must take their advice seriously. It is also important to trust your service provider. Your service provider must be very knowledgeable and trustworthy. You can hire service providers like Bleuwire who are very trustworthy and knowledgeable. They will make sure that they are meeting your IT needs.

Contact us today to learn about Bleuwire™  services and solutions in how we can help your business.