MSPs must learn to differentiate what they offer, and this needs to be built around customers and customers' customers. Managed services providers are starting to get momentum from the idea of being customer-facing - how to use your offer to compete differently in a market which used to be technology driven. Tiffani Bova, Salesforce.com global evangelist, told the Managed Services and Hosting Summit in London this month: “Disruption and innovation are terms used widely, but everyone has their own understanding and a big problem is that customers have differing views and they begin to feel uncomfortable at the diverse nature of the issues.”
The trends in managed service are driven by a couple of factors- the combination of business thinking and how to address customers. “We need to provide what our customers need but recognise that they also need to grow, so put on the hat of the customer – it is not the speed of technology so much as being there for the customer when they need you.”
In 1990s, everyone wanted to be in the same room as their data. This has changed – end users now understand as-a-service and that business can buy such services on a credit card. Thinking about speed in a different way means being there when the customer is ready. The next effect is that your brand is the combination of every single touch you have with a customer, not just the visit of the sales rep that it once was. It is being at events, like this, it is the brand in a marketing campaign, it is the machine to machine touch as you manage things, it is every email. The sum of all these things creates a customer experience.
“Think about the brand – customer satisfaction surveys – it is harder to think about what your customers is looking for. Don't just do them around the technology – are you helping them be better to their own customers?”
There really are no differences in the B2C and B2B experience – it is now everything and everyone to everything and everyone. “Each of us in our consumer lives has an experience that is not always the same as our business life. This disconnect is a problem.”
Thinking about innovation in the business life means thinking about the lessons in the consumer world and applying them. “Innovation is where it is changing – but while tech companies love the technology the challenge is that we are focused on taking it from the inside out – we need to focus on the customer – outside-in.”
“At Gartner, rarely would I talk to a vendor who created a product by starting with the customer and asking them what they wanted. Are you looking to have customers help you design product.”
There has been a lot of research on this area and it shows that data and analytics is popular, but the successful ones are guided by their customers. What are you customers' customers looking for from them? Companies are going to be defined by their own response to external forces. Where are they getting new ideas from? The best get them from their customers.
So the idea is that managed services providers have to become externally focused – when they talk to customers, they have to ask them how they plan to grow, what their goals are and how do they want their customers to experience their brand? “I guarantee that they cannot power this in any other way other than to use technology.”
The question may be how does data backup and restore get them to a better customer epxerience – this is perhaps a stretch, but if it is about real-time access to customer data that is reliable, then you may be able to deliver a solution. But first of all you have to be able to understand the customer goal, and then look at how you meet that. Don;t just stop at what your customers want – look at what the customers' customers want – everyone is part of the supply chain.
“When we talk about disruption and innovation and look at those who have done the best jobs, the facts are that that most of these are small companies – Uber and fitbit were very small once. SMBs top goal is growth, but the unintended consequence of growing is that customers become far more disruptive. So an SMB who says I don't have access to the technology will find that cloud has changed that – they can now be much more nimble and agile. Because of innovation they can be more responsive to customers.
"In turn, managed services providers can be more responsive to customers, using that experience as a competitive differentiator. You want new customers and lean on partners to get leads, she said. Then you want to create deeper customer relations – churn is a killer.
"So you try to build recurring business. Your greatest sales force today is customers advocating on your behalf – your sales people can never be as effective for you as customers saying how good your service is. What customers expect from you is a seamless experience of buying – just like they have come to expect in the B2C world. If you have predictability and can offer a service that gives the customers what they want when they want it. Customers surveys show that that they don't like is suppliers who cannot anticipate their demands and needs. Proactive and predictive systems are powered by the technology. As an advocate, it is not lead to close and then done – it is about providing a continuing experience"
It may be that having your customers advocating on your behalf means that the trust level is a lot higher. This external voice drives trust and customers will spend much more money for a better customer experience – think about hotels and travel – the quality and cleanliness means spending increases. Even if you are more expensive, the customer experience is hard to displace.
So the important elements are responsiveness, and a simple order processes, leading to a better customer experience and engagement.
Learn more about the next Managed Services event - Amsterdam, December 2016 here
For more information contact alan.norman@ITEuropa.com 01895 454558