Why Quarterly Reports Are Crucial For The Successful MSP

By Mark Winter, Vice President of Sales, RapidFire Tools

Many managed services providers (MSPs) have built good practices involving remote monitoring and management services. They install agents on their clients’ systems that generate alerts any time something is amiss, whether it’s a hard drive failure, an Internet service blink, or application performance issue. The remote IT services provider can immediately address issues, often without ever having to visit a client site — sometimes without the customer ever realizing there was an issue. MSPs can also perform maintenance, do updates and install patches, all through the invisible medium of remote management.

The Downside Of Remote Management

Remote management, while critical to the profitability of the MSP, has one big detraction:  The client doesn’t see you. The old adage is sometimes true: Out of sight, out of mind. From your clients’ points of view, they are paying a handsome monthly sum for maintenance of a network that is running without a hitch. If the MSP is doing their job well but not providing verifiable documentation of their behind-the-scenes work, the customer, ironically, sometimes begins to wonder whether they actually require ongoing IT services. This is where quarterly business reviews become crucial. Managed service providers can’t rely solely on remote management techniques to manage the business relationship — or at least, they do so at their own peril.

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