I think you did a great job explaining this! I get to hear from my MSP clients "Nothing ever breaks, why do we pay you?" and from my non-MSP clients, "Everything always breaks, why do we pay you?" I'd love to interview you on my channel to discuss this in more detail along with the hackers using RMM to break into otherwise secure computer systems (Solarwinds is the most recent example, but not the first and won't be the last. Its one reason I do NOT use RMM).
Good, solid, fairly comprehensive rundown of what does and does not make an MSP. I agree across the board, especially as concerns being an MSP is NOT simply about your billing model and that the tools that you use don't define you. You can carve ice with a pocket knife, a katana or a light saber; what matters is the end product. And just like carving ice, you better believe you'll be doing it again and again and that is where the light saber (or RMM w/automation) comes in handy. Now I need a nice, concise way to express this 15m video in 30 seconds on an elevator, phone call or hold message.
Disagree... There are many scenarios where asking the customer to make a change is simply taking their needs and mission into account. We have a customer who runs forensic investigations on the systems we manage for them. These can sometimes take days to finish processing. Last thing we want to do is push out a patch that causes the system to reboot in the middle of a scan. We have a patch process that leverages a combination of ansible (patch job), nexus oss (repo for all patches), and package managers (c4b, apt/yum, etc) to push all patches. We test all installs in our environment using robocorp, upload results to a change ticket and let the customer approve when a system gets updated, so as not to interfere with their mission. Btw...no rmm, just itsm and mostly open source tools.
Love your evaluation of MSP vs ITSP. Do you think to be considered an MSP you have to dictate the hardware for your clients (residential), or can you maintain their existing hardware and still be an MSP?
Especially with home systems, you can't dictate hardware. In a perfect world, you can encourage them to invest in the good stuff. But you CAN charge more for older equipment, equipment without a service plan, etc. It is really good if you create a standard list of good equipment you recommend and sell. If you can include it in a three-year maintenance contract, you'll have bundled managed service and hardware as a service. AND you'll have a client who knows they can rely on you being around.
Some do, some don't. If you sell managed services, you need to leave the non-believers to a lower level of support. Sadly, you can't care more about the client's network than they do. There are enough people who will pay for maintenance: Building your business on them.
I think you did a great job explaining this! I get to hear from my MSP clients "Nothing ever breaks, why do we pay you?" and from my non-MSP clients, "Everything always breaks, why do we pay you?" I'd love to interview you on my channel to discuss this in more detail along with the hackers using RMM to break into otherwise secure computer systems (Solarwinds is the most recent example, but not the first and won't be the last. Its one reason I do NOT use RMM).
Happy to join you to talk about this. Thank you.
@@smallbizthoughts i'll reach out privately to schedule with you. Thanks!
Good, solid, fairly comprehensive rundown of what does and does not make an MSP. I agree across the board, especially as concerns being an MSP is NOT simply about your billing model and that the tools that you use don't define you. You can carve ice with a pocket knife, a katana or a light saber; what matters is the end product. And just like carving ice, you better believe you'll be doing it again and again and that is where the light saber (or RMM w/automation) comes in handy. Now I need a nice, concise way to express this 15m video in 30 seconds on an elevator, phone call or hold message.
Thanks, Josh. I wonder if I could work on a series of 30 second elevator pitches. Maybe I could actually record them in elevators. Great idea!!!
@@smallbizthoughts I do like the recording in elevators. You could call it "Elevating Your Pitch."
@@joshualiberman309 Copyright Josh Liberman. I love it. :-)
9:14 this is the key minute of the whole video! If you have to ask your client before you're allowed to do work then you are not an MSP
Thanks, Amy.
Disagree... There are many scenarios where asking the customer to make a change is simply taking their needs and mission into account. We have a customer who runs forensic investigations on the systems we manage for them. These can sometimes take days to finish processing. Last thing we want to do is push out a patch that causes the system to reboot in the middle of a scan. We have a patch process that leverages a combination of ansible (patch job), nexus oss (repo for all patches), and package managers (c4b, apt/yum, etc) to push all patches. We test all installs in our environment using robocorp, upload results to a change ticket and let the customer approve when a system gets updated, so as not to interfere with their mission. Btw...no rmm, just itsm and mostly open source tools.
Love your evaluation of MSP vs ITSP. Do you think to be considered an MSP you have to dictate the hardware for your clients (residential), or can you maintain their existing hardware and still be an MSP?
Especially with home systems, you can't dictate hardware. In a perfect world, you can encourage them to invest in the good stuff. But you CAN charge more for older equipment, equipment without a service plan, etc. It is really good if you create a standard list of good equipment you recommend and sell. If you can include it in a three-year maintenance contract, you'll have bundled managed service and hardware as a service. AND you'll have a client who knows they can rely on you being around.
¿What if most SMBs don't understand the need for maintenance?
Some do, some don't. If you sell managed services, you need to leave the non-believers to a lower level of support. Sadly, you can't care more about the client's network than they do. There are enough people who will pay for maintenance: Building your business on them.
done.
Consejos útiles