Selling tin is easy.  

The constantly-evolving nature of technology means there’s always a new device or solution to take to market.  

And in an ‘always-on’ age in which digitisation is key, Managed Service Providers and Value Added Resellers also benefit from enterprises’ voracious demand for the latest bottom-line-boosting innovation. 

But the profit margin in tin – whether it’s hardware OR software – can be wafer-thin and the proverbial race to the bottom is seemingly never-ending.  

In addition, enterprises are rarely fixated on the nuts and bolts of their communications stack. 

Instead, they (rightly) obsess about ‘outcomes’, such as quality, reliability and security.  

Meaning, for MSPs and VARs, Service Assurance is where the new juice is at. 

In short, promising to deliver a service, defining how that service will support a customer’s business and then showing that service is being delivered. 

Do that, and you build trust. 

Build trust, and you have a sticky customer more likely to deliver you increased margin. 

“Service Assurance is a differentiator, both to help win new business, but also to help retain business at a margin that’s acceptable,” says Martin Saunders, Product Director at UK Service Assurance experts Highlight, whose clever and affordable solution provides MSPs and enterprises with a shared view of their network infrastructure, transforming complex network data into an appealing, flexible and readily-understandable web portal. 

Its fully-transparent nature affords both MSP and customer a 24/7 ‘warts-and-all’ running commentary on delivery against SLA – just the kind of openness upon which trust thrives.  

“In a market where everyone competes on the technology they’re reselling, there is only a race to the bottom,” says Saunders. 

“With an effective service assurance strategy, backed up with the best service assurance platform on the market, providers can stop selling tin and start selling customer outcomes or solving customer problems, for which customers will pay a lot more” 

Sadly, the level of trust required to sustain a provider-customer relationship long-term has waned in recent times. 

Too many enterprises have become dis-trusting because too many service providers have become unreliable. 

Perhaps over-stretched due to under-resourcing, they may fail to call customers back when an issue arises. 

They may lack the required expertise due to the scarcity of trained engineers. 

Or they may not be able to provide the required performance reporting transparency. 

“Recent increased commoditisation means that some providers have insufficient margin to provide a good service,” says Saunders.

“Also, solutions and services have become increasingly sophisticated and complex, sometimes rendering historic SLAs no longer relevant and therefore enabling MSPs to avoid responsibility.”  

Richard Thomas, CEO and Founder at Highlight, says trust should be present at the very start of a relationship. 

“If a customer knew from the outset that a channel existed through which they could have clear sight of performance for the duration of a contract, they would be more trusting,” he says. 

“Predictability is as good as reliability” 

However, although deploying a tool such as Highlight can have a significant impact, combining that strategy with a cultural shift in thinking can really deliver tangible results. 

“MSPs should also shoot for an attitudinal change,” says Thomas. 

“They should not see themselves as a background entity or an emergency backstop. 

“They should adopt a mindset that everything they do is in the context of delivering a service. 

“They then move away from thinking about a stack of shiny new technology to thinking in terms of how it helps the business meet its aims.  

“This leads to a much better conversation that the customer can relate to – and a conversation with two sides is what counts.” 

So, maybe swap selling tin for selling trust? 

Perhaps a little less easy, but surely more rewarding… 

To learn more about how Highlight can help you get more from your customer relationships, visit www.highlight.net  

 



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