7 Ways to Be More Strategic: Manage Clients, Not Devices!

Note: This blog is part of a series highlighting insights shared at Autotask Community Live 2017. Check back regularly as we highlight the success and expertise of our partners. 

Thanks to the great Autotask Community, this year’s CommLive was another one to remember—lots of learning and amazing networking. I was excited to be a presenter this year and lead a session for my peers. 

For those of you that couldn’t attend, I’d like to share why I believe in the power of being more strategic to grow your business profitably. 

Here are 7 ways to break free from just managing devices and do more of what matters: help clients by strategically managing their entire technology estate and be their trusted partner. 

1. Customers don’t understand technology so you have to keep it simple. When your sole focus is on selling the next piece of software or hardware you’re putting yourself in a difficult spot. These are commodities and 9 times out of 10 your customers don’t understand the intricacies of the technology you’re offering. Try bundling and offering less “stuff.” Instead offer them MORE attention and expertise to help them get the most value out of the solutions you’ve deployed for them. What they need is someone who can understand their business needs and apply the right technology solutions to keep their business running smoothly.
2. Build your Dream Team. To offer the best services and customer experience to your clients, you need a team that can think strategically while delivering to meet and exceed client expectations. And you need that team to support your mission 100% and be fully invested in your approach.
3. Aspire to be a Business Technologist, not Just the “IT Guy.” Sell your knowledge and expertise as-a-service and focus on making strategic recommendations. Quarterly business reviews and annual planning sessions are ideal for evaluating risks and opportunities as well as budget and performance. Tie technology decisions to bottom line business results and track the metrics to show them the value.
4. Be Standards-driven. Define your standards and align your customers to your approach. Take the time to create a repeatable, standardized process for as much as you possibly can. Follow a model of continuous improvement: always strive to be better at what you do and how you deliver.
5. Define your Best Practices. In life, we are taught to learn from our mistakes and this carries over in business, especially a service-focused business. When you make a mistake use it as an opportunity to create a process to avoid that situation in the future. The same goes for when you do something great. Repeat your approach as much as possible and then share how to achieve efficiencies, increase accountability and make better decisions with your team and your clients.
6. Automate. I can’t stress the importance of doing this enough. Tools like Autotask PSA and Autotask Endpoint Management are designed to reduce time spent on monitoring, maintenance and remediation and automate billing and provisioning. This results in huge time savings and better service delivery.
7. Build your Belief System. Don’t let customers dictate how you ultimately make decisions about your company’s growth (in other words: remember you’re the boss, don’t compromise your integrity). Show how valuable you are to clients by framing your discussions around strategic recommendations based on your deep IT expertise.