It would be easy for an outsider to assume that the tech space is more comfortable with innovation than the rest of the business community.
But I’m guessing at least a few readers will crack a knowing smile at that notion. Technology is still pioneered, managed and maintained by human beings. And just like people in every other industry, we sometimes struggle to change or adapt our offerings to consumers with rapidly evolving expectations.
Where you find reluctance to change, you also find vulnerability to disruption. Most mid- to enterprise-scale organizations had to fundamentally change their daily operations the last few years just to remain competitive. Their technology wants and needs are entirely different than they once were. If you haven’t already changed how you engage with your clients, or updated the products and services you provide them, it’s time. Start considering services that weren’t even conceived of prior to the pandemic, because if you don’t, your competitors will.
Co-Managed IT
As organizations struggle to adapt to hybrid and remote workplaces—often with understaffed IT departments—co-managed IT services have neatly filled the gap. Companies that offer this service are better positioned to thrive considering that the recruitment and retention of talented IT staff will remain challenging for years to come.
An increasing number of enterprise-scale Marco clients have looked to relieve the burden on their internal departments. Because of this, we began providing them with co-managed IT, and our offering has rapidly evolved alongside them. The service is still considered a nontraditional offering, but it’s afforded Marco an elegant way to serve a broader variety of clients and demonstrate what a world-class provider can help them achieve.
Digital Collaboration Solutions
Over the past few years, providers who offered best-in-class collaboration solutions had a tremendous advantage over those who didn’t. And as with co-managed IT, the need for better collaboration tools to service remote and hybrid workplaces will only grow going forward. Larger organizations once assumed that workers would happily return to the office full time with the promise of a few additional perks. But they’re finding that many employees aren’t taking the bait. Therefore, in order to retain and maintain top talent, they need to provide flexibility as well as the tools to support it. This is where a strong technology partner comes in.
In this regard, Marco was fortunate to have a strategic partnership already in place with both Cisco and Microsoft, so we could offer our clients implementation and high-level support for Cisco’s Webex and Microsoft Teams. Both platforms have relieved the frustration collaborators frequently experienced with other digital tools, while also delighting IT departments with their easy-to-use security features. It’s a rare thing to find a sophisticated tool that also makes everyone’s job easier; a technology company that can simplify that tool’s adoption will find it easier to attract and retain clients.
Print Security
There’s one other nontraditional offering that all service providers should consider—print security. Prior to 2018, many well-seasoned IT professionals didn’t focus on protecting the lowly networked office printer, not suspecting it was capable of being used against them. Now that hackers have hijacked printers around the world, many MPS providers still haven’t countered this escalating cybersecurity threat with new offerings.
For businesses that must maintain compliance with HIPAA or other consumer privacy laws, cutting-edge printer security solutions are now a chief concern. Robust printer security is rapidly becoming a mainstream need to protect networked devices against attacks from outside, and as negligence from inside, their organizations.
Marco’s well-versed in serving health care, financial and legal organizations, as well as schools and other government institutions. Our clients have been pleased to find that the same solutions that safeguard their data also save them a tremendous amount of money without negatively affecting productivity. For an MPS provider, offering print security in addition to the usual arsenal delivers clients the rare win/win/win.
Get Ready to Get Uncomfortable
Nontraditional offerings require quite a bit of upfront investment. If you don’t already have a large, highly-skilled IT staff to provide co-managed services in addition to your regular offerings, creating one will be a significant challenge. In order to properly offer professional implementation and support of Microsoft Teams or Cisco’s Webex to clients, your staff may need a good deal of training.
Print security may seem like an easier option for a service provider looking to expand their operations, and in some respects, it is. But print experts and cybersecurity experts tend to speak different languages, and uniting the two skill sets into one simple solution is not as easy as it seems.
Change will always be uncomfortable, no less so for technology providers. Not only will we have to get comfortable with being uncomfortable, but our industry will probably also need to take this to heart—if you’re feeling comfortable, you might be missing something.
