Time, tools, training, technology, technicians…the five Ts of managed IT represent the primary investments dealers must embark upon to proffer end-users a validated and confident service proposition. Any dealer that is serious about being in the managed IT conversation within its markets knows this all too well.
We turn to April’s State of the Industry Report by opening with the topic of investments that our dealer panel has made to build their managed IT competency. Painful though it may be to the wallet, optimizing the technology stack and ensuring techs and staff have the most recent certifications and are cross-trained helps shorten the road to an ROI.
At Usherwood Office Technology of Syracuse, New York, bringing the proper cybersecurity tools to market has been critical. The dealer fashioned a new department, the Odyssey Security Center, that comprises security-focused engineers to handle cybersecurity tickets and alerts, according to Lindsay Usherwood, general counsel and corporate secretary. The organization did an overhaul of its incident response plans and disaster recovery strategies, and its engineers utilize their training with scenarios using tabletop exercises to test the plans.
The dealer also made a significant investment in splitting its technical assistance (helpdesk) center into multiple teams in response to its growing number of end-users while satisfying the need to provide boutique services, Usherwood said. “This structure allows our clients’ end-users and key stakeholders to have a more intimate relationship with our engineers,” she added. “It also allows the team to have a better familiarity with the client’s infrastructure and therefore allows them to fix issues even quicker.”
Perhaps even more importantly, many key leaders within the dealer’s managed IT division have fortified their knowledge base through obtaining certifications, an ongoing journey in a discipline that is a moving target. Stewart Walters, Usherwood’s vice president of managed services, recently received his CISSP and CCSP certifications for competence in information security. Dan Smith, the company’s director of engineering services, completed his certified ethical hacker course and was preparing for his final exam at publication time.
“Without this type of leadership,” Usherwood observed, “we would not have the confidence to make any of the above investments.”
Unending Process
Michelle Shepard, vice president of sales for Systel Business Equipment in Fayetteville, North Carolina, notes that training and development is an ongoing process the dealer undertakes in conjunction with its partners at Konica Minolta/All Covered. One such investment is a network checkup tool, which is designed to identify challenges with all network-attached devices, including servers, switches, computers and printers.
Peer networking has also been critical for Systel to remain on the cutting edge of managed IT programs. “We meet regularly with partner dealers across the country to share best practices and identify opportunities for growth,” she said.
As its security stack continues to scale, Definitive Technology Solutions (DTS) of Bloomington, Minnesota, has upped its investments in sales and technical training. Overall growth dictated additions to the managed IT division, including certified technicians, noted Tom McHenry, vice president of managed services. The dealer hired high-level techs to cross-train existing staff while enabling lower-level techs to graduate to new roles in the organization.
Beware Poachers
Poaching attempts have also been a concern for DTS, which is a cautionary tale for dealers who boast uber-qualified managed IT specialists. It’s not all about compensation; employees seek a clear path to personal growth as well.
“We’ve had a lot of headhunters come after our techs during the last year, in particular, offering more money and different roles,” McHenry noted. “We offer a good amount of money and training; we listen to our techs and admin staff as to where they want to be in the next few years. As long as we’re training them and moving them in the right direction, we don’t seem to have a lot of attrition on the employee side. We follow the notion that if you keep your employees happy, they’ll keep your customers happy. We take that to heart.”
TJ DeBello, vice president of sales for Stargel Office Solutions-Star Managed Services, notes his dealership has embarked on training from ConnectWise, including Fortify for Protection and Fortify for Endpoint Security, as well as Sentinel One and Datto solutions. The dealer hired a project manager to oversee onboarding and a dedicated dispatcher/CST to handle all MNS-related calls.
“Typically, these calls were handled through our copier/printer dispatch and help desk team but we believed investing in a dedicated dispatcher and project manager would enhance the onboarding experience for our clients and make our MNS team more efficient,” DeBello noted.
Bold Moves
Investments in tools, systems and people during the past five years have enabled U.S. Business Systems (USBS) in Elkhart, Indiana, to deliver on its promises. But Ron Hulett, project manager, points out that even when spread over such a large time frame, it’s been a substantial undertaking.
“We will continue to invest because we believe this is the greatest opportunity to provide high-value services and escape the race-to-zero game the traditional copier companies want to play,” he said. “Our IT services division has experienced very good growth and is delivering a good percentage of the turnover of the overall business, so we believe as a leadership team that it’s worth the investment. If our plan plays out the way we think it will, it will also deliver high margins.”
USBS’ plan mapping is fairly straightforward, but the true payout lies in its execution. Hulett notes that it starts with having the right people with the proper skills, the optimal tools to do the job as efficiently as possible, and cross-training as many team members as possible—avoiding a single point of failure or blockade to progress.
“This business requires that you have people with different skill sets and levels. The more we can do to flatten that out the better we are,” Hulett said. “We then try to involve those people in decisions we make on our deliverables. They are the subject matter experts when it comes to tech. They are also the boots on the ground, so it is very important they are involved in determining what our offering will include. We have had pretty good results working this way, and everyone takes an objective view.”
