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4 Steps to Help Your MSP Business Stay on Top

By Heather Robinette

As a managed service provider (MSP), you not only are a resource to fix IT issues, but you are able to share knowledge and help steer your customers in the right direction. As a result, you tend to wear many hats. While you may be able to do everything, you should consider these steps and try to focus on specific areas that you can specialize in.

#1 – Find Your Area(s) of Specialization 
As mentioned, you may be able to do everything, but finding your area of specialization can help you increase your profitability. By being great at a few things you are able to set yourself apart from other MSPs and become the market leader for those needs. Once you’ve mastered those, you can start to branch out to other areas, just make sure not to stretch yourself too thin.

#2 - Build a Plan Around Your Specialties 
Once you’ve identified your areas of specialization, you now need to build out the business around those needs. You will first need to identify who your target market is, what they need, when they need it, and how to deliver it. Once you know that information, you can then start to focus on those areas. Be sure to use best practices, monitor your progress, and adjust as needed.

If you haven’t come across the Reddit MSP thread, I’d highly recommend checking it out. It is a great resource for MSPs, by MSPs.

#3 – Get Results, Reassess, Repeat 
When monitoring your progress, make sure to keep your results simple so you aren’t spending extra time having to pull together reports to get your results. Then, once you have your results, use those to assess and reassess what is working and what is not working. Make sure you make changes based on the information, so you are able to continuously improve your MSP business. And of course, continue to repeat. I’d recommend using a consistent frequency, so you are measuring the same amount of data each time. For example, weekly, monthly, etc.

#4 – Always Be Optimizing  
Last, but not least, is continuing to optimize your business. As you continue to make changes and learn from your experiences, you are able to optimize your business and continue to gain and grow your knowledge in a particular area. As mentioned at the beginning, you can continue to branch out to other areas once you’ve mastered an area.

To wrap up, as you start to figure out what areas of specialization you want to focus on, don’t be afraid to create Intellectual Property (IP) packages around what you do. You can learn more about building one from a previous blog on turning your solution into an IP. And if you’re interested in learning about how MyCloudIT could help, feel free to check out our Managed Providers page.

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Tags: Managed Service Provider

azure cost optimization

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