Proactive Measures for the Next Pandemic

The past year has clearly shown us the extent to which a pandemic can impact us, both from a personal as well as a business perspective. If anything, it has certainly taught us that we must take proactive measures to minimize the impact should another pandemic hit.  

As an MSP, you may have seen how COVID-19 expedited several IT trends that would have otherwise taken years to establish. The demand for cloud-based collaboration, device security and data backup solutions are testament to this. 

To make your MSP more adept at surviving volatility, you will need a total business transformation. This article will help you get started and point you in the right direction. 

Perform Regular Business Continuity Testing

Did you know that 51% of enterprises experienced an increase in IT downtime during the pandemic? Considering the rising cost of downtime, you must ensure that your business continuity plan is operational and effective.  

Your business continuity plan must include the priority order of assets, steps to maintain system uptime, roles and responsibilities of different team members, and instructions on storage devices like what data should be stored where and how to safeguard the devices.  

You must test these plans once or twice every year. Use these simulations to review existing technology, discover implementation errors and malfunctions, and make the necessary changes. 

Re-evaluate Your Growth Efforts

The COVID-19 pandemic has made it abundantly clear that focusing your marketing and sales efforts on a single vertical is not a great idea. You may want to look at different, related industries where you can gain a foothold and where your existing expertise may come in handy.  

Get in touch with your existing customers and find out if they need new services. Considering the high demand for both at the moment, cybersecurity and vCIO services are two excellent areas to focus on — the former because of the recent shift to remote work and the subsequent rise in cyberattacks and insider threats, and the latter because not every SMB can afford to hire a CIO. 

Besides these services, remote work assistance is another service you could focus on. You could help your clients implement systems and processes that are remote-work-friendly and ensure all their devices are tracked and protected.  

Consider shifting a major chunk of your marketing and sales efforts online as well. During a pandemic, it is almost impossible to meet prospects physically. You need to ensure your sales and marketing teams are adept at social media outreach, virtual presentations, email marketing, and at using different marketing and sales applications. 

Make Device Security a Top Priority

With the shift to remote work, employees now log into company networks from home and, in some cases, from their personal devices. This has forced a lot of companies to deploy cloud servers and cloud-based SaaS solutions. While these changes have helped companies sustain their operations, they have also made them more vulnerable. 

This is why MSPs need to make device security more of a priority now. Every device used by client employees must be tracked, secured and updated at all times. You must also make sure that they can access company data and collaborate on a safe network.

As part of device security, you will have to take care of VPN management, SaaS data management and protection, third-party patching, regulate user privileges and much more. 

Take Advantage of New Opportunities

The pandemic has shown that MSPs and their clients have to be more resilient and agile. One way to do this is by making “cloud storage” a critical part of their business. In fact, almost 71% of global IT leaders substantially increased their investment in cloud technologies and services in 2020. 

As an MSP, you need to convince your clients about the benefits of shifting to cloud storage and how it can help them cope with unforeseen events, such as a pandemic, more effectively. After you have convinced them, help them migrate from on-premise servers to cloud-based ones, especially to host key business applications.   

On the whole, shifting to cloud storage makes it easier to start the digital transformation process, gives you access to better backup and recovery features, allows you to scale up quickly, helps your clients be more agile and much more. 

Utilize Digitally Integrated Systems

Working in a remote setting is something your MSP has to be prepared for. You will have to ensure that your co-workers can collaborate effectively among themselves and with your clients no matter where they are.  

You need to analyze your tech stack. Make sure your RMM, PSA and documentation tools integrate well with each other. For instance, IT Glue seamlessly integrates with your RMM and PSA tool, meaning your technicians would be able to view all the documentation concerning a client device as and when the ticket comes in. This allows your team to collaborate with the client easily and resolve the ticket quickly. 

The key takeaway is that if you have a tech stack that is deeply integrated, you will be able to automate several steps and drive greater efficiencies for your team. 

Wrapping Up

Post-pandemic recovery isn’t just about getting back to where you were. It’s also about compiling your learnings and using them to ensure your business is more prepared should another global disaster strike. 

Take a step toward total business transformation by deploying IT Glue. This structured and centralized documentation software facilitates cloud-based collaboration, makes information more accessible, standardizes your processes, reduces onboarding time and ensures client device security with a strong password vault. 

If you’re interested in learning more about how IT Glue can secure your information and enhance your team’s efficiency, sign up for a demo now!