24 May MSPs Benefit by Providing Recurring IT Assessments
MSPs often struggle to understand the full scope of a client’s needs. An IT assessment offers a straightforward and cost-effective way to gain a deeper understanding and know which services are critical.
IT assessments benefit both the MSP and the client. An assessment enables the MSP to better understand the client’s IT operation and provides details that allow the MSP to inform the client of weak points that need to be corrected for the security and the health of the business.
An initial IT assessment overview can be conducted at any time in the sales process — either when prospecting a qualified lead or proposing services during the contracting process. It’s then super useful to set up recurring IT assessments on every client.
Still not convinced this is something you should be doing? Here are the top 10 ways an IT assessment can benefit your MSP business.
Take Inventory
In general, SMB resources are stretched too thin to track every IT asset, let alone those brought in via BYOD policies or shadow IT. Not knowing what devices are accessing the network makes it nearly impossible to know what is out there. Ongoing IT assessments create a full inventory of everything that touches the network so devices and software can be secured, monitored, and managed. Know What Needs
Replacing
Regularly scheduled, comprehensive inventories enable an MSP to analyze what should stay and what should go. Legacy systems often have substandard performance, more maintenance woes, and security vulnerabilities.
Measure Risk to Improve System Health
MSPs don’t just maintain network and system health. The best ones improve it. Regular IT assessments that also measure risks is the basis of a continuous IT management plan. By measuring risk, you can prioritize and explain what issues to address first.
Understand (and Reduce) Costs
An IT assessment captures not only what your client has in-house, but also the cost of ownership of all this gear – pointing to ways to reduce it. This enables you to know which less-efficient systems should be replaced and what burdensome processes to revise.
Move from Reactive to Proactive
Less mature MSPs and IT shops tend to be reactive, fighting fires rather than thinking strategically. Ongoing IT assessments make IT service, and MSPs that provide it, strategic…delivering business value and competitive advantage, creating a fully proactive IT environment.
Prepare for the Cloud
MSPs are continuing to move client infrastructures to the cloud. Regular IT assessments identify security risks, compliance with policies, and overall health of the MS Cloud environment.
Identify New Services to Sell
A thorough understanding of the client IT system, along with an analysis of business drivers, helps MSPs create a roadmap for IT investment and strategic decision making. This prioritized roadmap can be a living document that guides the IT budget and implementation plans.
Identify Changes in the Network
IT never stands still. Regular IT assessments will identify changes to users, permissions, shares, hardware and software configurations, and more.
Show Clients Where They Stand and Prove Value
Regular IT Assessments provide a conduit for conversations with existing clients to help justify the value of the services you deliver. System-generated progress reports will help to communicate to your clients all the things that you are doing “behind the scenes” to help keep their networks safe and running smoothly.
Close More New Business
Smart MSPs already use solutions such as Network Detective Pro, especially for winning new clients. Network Detective Pro includes non-intrusive data collectors that can identify risks and issues without agents, probes or software installs. It generates compelling IT risk reports that summarize for the prospect all the issues that they (or their current MSP) have missed.
Learn more about IT assessments with Network Detective.