Key challenges faced by Managed Service Providers
There is no time like the present, and that’s especially true for Managed Service Providers. With the pandemic driving changes in both consumer behavior and business operations, more and more businesses are seeking exactly the kinds of solutions MSPs can provide.
These changes have led to more complex business operations, heightened IT security concerns and an ever-growing range of digital communication channels.
Optimizing communication channels, tightening IT security and streamlining operations are key to driving business growth.
Time for MSPs to shine
With the managed services market predicted to reach $356.24 billion by 2025, MSPs are entering a fruitful era, driven by businesses who require access to new technologies to keep their competitive edge in this new landscape.
MSPs are well positioned to assist with the changes that businesses have had to respond to:
- Rapid adoption of new technologies and digital stacks
- Elevated customer expectations regarding convenience, personalization and service quality
- Increasing complexity of communications channels and services offered
- Future-looking focus where the agility and capacity to incorporate new technologies is vital
- A shift from private cloud to public cloud, raising IT security requirements
Through offering consulting services, connectivity, equipment, unified communications, security, infrastructure and application, MSPs help optimize performance of IT infrastructure, delivering ongoing and regular support.
Challenges MSPs Face
Despite these rich opportunities, many MSPs find themselves hindered by their inability to generate and consolidate quotes quickly and easily.
MSPs are accustomed to managing their processes manually. Relying on legacy systems and processes in a landscape that has changed significantly is an occupational hazard.
Processes are inefficient and time-consuming thanks to their manual nature. MSPs source products and tools from multiple vendors, spitting out a set of various outputs and prices that have the bad habit of changing regularly.
This is where the heavy lifting for MSPs begins, having to deal with and support various portals for vendors.
With these outputs and prices, MSPs have to conduct manual pricing, produce a quote, and send that quote to order by another set of manual processes.
The worrying capacity for human error to enter into the process hinders their ability to maximize efficiency and revenue leading to various negative outcomes:
- Extended time to win business
- Incompatible solutions being quoted
- Provision of free of charge service components, due to the inability to validate the compatibility of processes
- Loss of Deals to other MSPs that are more nimble
What MSPs Need
Through introducing digital operations, an advanced CPQ solution can offset the complexities MSPs face, and make life easier for themselves and their customers.
From start to finish, the headaches and swivel-chair processes that torment Manage Service Providers during the sales and delivery process are streamlined into something not only more manageable, but also efficient, reliable and user-friendly for customers.
With the help of a CPQ solution, the product catalogs from all vendors are pooled into a single catalog, allowing MSPs to configure solutions from a single location.
Compatibility rules are enabled that allow solutions to be built without concern over whether multiple inputs into a package are cross compatible, making it impossible for MSPs to craft an incompatible product set.
The manual element of pricing is overturned, with thresholds set, approval requirements mandated and price changes occurring during the process taken into account.
To top this off, customers have access to their own portal, allowing them to make purchases and adjustments to their orders without having to take up your sales reps’ time.
With the help of a strong CPQ solution, Managed Services Providers are thus able to:
1. Make more money, faster
Drive revenue by reducing time to price and quote, increasing quote accuracy, providing full visibility of all quotes being processed at one time, and enabling larger orders with vendors.
2. Reduce sales operational costs
Streamline sales operations by reducing the number of customer interactions that are required, automating processes such as upgrades and support ticket allocations, and providing full visibility of customer holdings without having to review multiple documents.
3. Boost customer satisfaction
Empower customers by giving them visibility of order status, allowing them to make changes to orders without contacting sales staff, enabling them to raise tickets and orders, and process orders digitally.
Managed Service Providers have a world of opportunity ahead of them; now is not the time to be held back by complex and inefficient operations.
