What is Managed Services?
In short: “Any defined set of proactive services that are remotely delivered and prepaid on a recurring basis.” This is the definition given by Erick Simpson, the CIO of Intelligent Enterprise during an interview with Robin Robins, a prominent technology marketing professional.
How has Dennen Communications Technologies embraced this business model?
- We have gone from fighting fires to preventing fires.
- We are constantly tuning the unlimited help-desk program.
- We are delivering consistent service using automated processes.
- We have a better client relationship than ever before.
There is no doubt that our own quality of life has improved since converting from the break-fix model to the proactive managed services model. The technicians all agree that it is much more interesting assisting the customers knowing there is no clock ticking. We all hated exchanging a dollar for an hour because it capped how much we could earn. Preventing fires also makes us look like heros, even if we fix stuff that the client never knew was broken.
We are now in our third year of being a managed technology service provider. The biggest leap was throwing away the billable hour. It was a little scary because we didn’t want to spend all of our time on the phone for what used to be billable and give it away for a single flat rate. One of the revalations we had was now that we were not worried about billing hours, we were focussed on actually fixing root causes. Ultimately, we converted nearly all of our break-fix clients to managed services clients. Then we could finally fix every little issue and focus on growing the business while offering superior service to the client.
Automation was one of the biggest changes we made. Setting up the management server and installing the agents on the machines was not too hard. If only we had done this sooner. Now all the patching, software installation, and whole PC setup from bare metal has been automated by the click of the mouse. Automation has translated into efficiency freeing us to work on projects and business development.
Improved client relationships has solidified the recurring revenue model. Now more than ever, we are fielding phone calls asking us to participate in projects and upgrades instead of fixing broken PCs. The mood of our corespondence with our clients is more upbeat and positive about the future.
Managed services seems to be a winner for both the provider and the recipient. Now all we can do is go up from here.
