In a fast moving and competitive market, what can MSPs do to ensure client satisfaction and improve the bottom line? In this blog Liongard CEO, Joe Alapat, talks about the Liongard operational advantage; what it means for MSPs and how it gives them an edge over the competition.
Managed Service Providers (MSPs) run a very customer-service focused business. Engineers, account managers and countless other team members work together to not only deliver effective technological outcomes and solutions for clients, but also to help secure long-term relationships that convert to delighted customers, regular revenue streams and solid referrals.
When I was running my own MSP, the biggest challenge that I faced was striking that balance between ensuring customer satisfaction and managing costs to drive to profit. It was a constant balancing act. I was looking for a way to level out that process and design a solution that would deliver an operational advantage. That’s why we started Liongard: to help MSPs stay a step ahead with the technology support they deliver to clients and translate that to improved margins and profitability.
MSPs typically deal with a ton of technologies that they manage on behalf of their customers. The work is extremely labor intensive and demands a high level of expertise. As systems become increasingly sophisticated and complicated, so do the demands placed on MSP employees.
At the end of the day, the ability to deliver value to the end customer relies on engineers in the MSP team. These engineers are the members with the knowledge and know-how to get into complex systems, understand the configurations and come up with the solutions that get to the heart of the problems that need to be solved for the customer.
Accessing Deep Data configurations
The Liongard Deep Data™ Platform provides visibility into the system configurations that engineers log in and seek within a client’s IT infrastructure. It centralizes visibility, automates the inspection of key elements and enables insights in a consistent manner, ultimately freeing-up more team members at the MSP to focus on revenue-generating activities.
It’s really hard to reach inside portals or inside command lines. We’re transforming access to these configurations, making them visible and accessible as a centralized data asset and giving MSPs the ability to audit those configurations on a regular basis. The technology gives MSPs an operational advantage and keeps them ahead of the curve.
Typically, an account manager or Level One engineer does not have the ability to access or remote into an IT system and grasp what might have changed in the client’s IT environment. But the Liongard solution is unique, because the technology makes visibility possible without compromising security.
Liongard makes fundamental systems, such as security settings or settings for reliability and stability, visible but not accessible: valuable data assets stay secure and private, while changes and modifications are easily monitored.
Avoiding the forced choice dilemma
Onboarding new clients doesn’t have to mean hiring new staff. The Liongard operational advantage not only helps deliver better and more valuable insights into an MSP customer’s systems, but it also makes better use of the MSP’s most valuable and limited resource, the high-level engineers.
It’s never easy finding and retaining talent, and MSPs know that having to hire more expertise to deal with a growing client base can have a dramatic effect on their bottom line. As MSPs grow and take on more business, they shouldn’t have to choose between maintaining standards and ensuring their customers are satisfied. With Liongard, it is easy to manage more customers with the same team. Our technology lets MSPs break free from forced choice and the see-saw effect of having to choose between delighting customers on the one hand or driving profitability on the other.
MSPs can do more with Liongard. Because our technology lets teams solve for very specific outcomes, they can save time and complete more work for their clients. This makes it easier for MSPs to scale their business. By using Liongard to view systems as data and see that documentation through Liongard’s proprietary Deep Data Platform, the documentation process is not only automated, but also visible in one cohesive place.
We all know that documentation is a significant and peak effort tied to onboarding, and requires constant upkeep as a project progresses. These are the insights into client systems that help with visibility and let the right hand know what the left hand is doing. We are automating that workflow and speeding up that process with our technology.
Educating the customer
Over the last 15 years, companies have been relying less and less on internal IT teams for major work, and this has changed the landscape for MSPs, Now, educating the client is a big part of the MSP’s job. As systems become more complex so does this aspect of the MSP’s brief.
Liongard helps MSPs demonstrate the complexity of a client’s IT system. Our technology gives MSPs insights into baseline data and shows how it changes over time. This makes it easier for them to demonstrate the continuous value they deliver to their customers.
There’s growing awareness among end customers of the value of working with MSPs and leveraging them for help. I created Liongard so that MSPs can cultivate those relationships and improve profitability. Our technology gives MSPs the operational advantage that helps set them apart from the other competitors in the field.
To find out more about Liongard’s operational advantage and Deep Data Platform, take our self-guided tour.