What does EOS have to do with becoming a Cloud Service Provider
I'm talking to you today because I've been getting a lot of questions about why I've been so focused on EOSTM (Entrepreneurial Operating System) and then other strategic methodologies and all of these teachings that I've been bringing to you regarding shifting from a traditional managed service provider to becoming a Cloud Service Provider (CCSP). And what I've realized as I've worked with different clients is that one shoe doesn't fit all...
Win new clients with it sales software
I could be far more prescriptive about the specific tools and execution strategies, and we'll begin to formulate that as we have more and more folks come together and get our brain share together in terms of these specific tools and tactics we can utilize in this journey. But I fully believe that not all organizations are built the same, and ultimately leadership needs to come together, create a great strategic plan and they need to know how to execute against that plan.
So all of my conversations have really come back to my core belief. And I happened to be an EOS implementer as well. And so I've been teaching people traction, EOS, and really helping folks utilize that methodology to execute well within their business. Once they begin to execute well, we can get a bit more depth around strategic tools such as 3HAG, I'm a big fan of 3HAG, Blue Ocean strategy and some others to really think about where they want to be, who they want to become over the next three years, and how that ties to their vision, their values, their purpose. Bring it down to that strategic three year map, that picture, and then know how to execute against it within that one year, 90 day, and one week rhythm that EOS brings to you as an organization.
So as I work with you, please know that my focus is going to be very centric around the EOS, that EOS mindset. And then everybody I'm working with is thinking about how Cloud is going to shift their business. And we're also going to layer in some strategic activities to make sure that we are aiming that rifle in the right direction, and we know where we want to end up three years down the road.
Monetize Microsoft 365 Cloud Services
On this interview Rich Anderson (Imagine IT) and Adam Walter (Virtual C) talk about leveraging Microsoft 365 for business discussions, differentiation and as a platform for growth.
Rich Anderson has been successfully validating the opportunities behind Microsoft 365 discovery processes and cloud services. Adam has built a remarkable audit process for turning productivity issues into projects.
Check out the chat if you're interested in these innovations:
- Imagine IT used Microsoft 365 IT Audits as door openers where a traditional MSP pitch did not work
- monetize Microsoft 365 related deployment, education and adoption services
expand business discussions and services beyond the owners and make it a scalable process - take control of personal, team and business productivity for your clients
- design projects and services that harvest the low hanging fruit with your clients and prospects
- position yourself as a business partner and differentiate your offering from your competition
- get your clients up to speed by proactively using Microsoft 365 products with them
Click on the image to see the complete report
Related Solution Sets
There are three different versions of Solution Sets available for helping you to monetize Microsoft 365 cloud services.
- If you're comfortable doing this on your own, the projects and report templates are available here
- Looking for a bit of guidance on getting this off the ground quickly? This includes 4 hours of 1 on 1 coaching. Pretty much your recipe for quick success!
- Want some help customizing the templates and report? This includes 3 months of guided implementation, coaching and accountability. You cannot fail!
How Slack app can be a revenue generator for your MSP
Last week we went through how we can stop giving out free advice and making consultation a revenue generator. Let’s see that in practice. Our example today is Slack app, the latest silicon valley unicorn (1B+ valuation). Slack, in most cases, is a free tool designed to enhance your internal communication. So how can we as cloud service providers deliver value and earn revenue with this great tool.
Customer Segment Profile
First, we need to understand a problem most of our clients have. The sector of the industry we’re focusing on now is companies whose teams work together on processes, projects, and collaborating with both vendors and clients.
Jobs to be done: Like so many other aspects of modern life, most of them need to deliver more value with fewer resources.
Pains: Typically they communicate over email, getting 100 or more emails a day, without a clue as to how to handle this volume. They cc each other excessively just to keep everyone in the loop, and use a host of applications like Project Management, CRM, plus service automation, and so on. Even these are mostly cloud based, with no integration, so every one of these systems needs to be checked separately if they want the whole picture.
They’ll also try out new apps on a weekly basis in their search for solutions, install a few, run the 30 day trial, all while not having the time to properly evaluate them - and like Sisyphus’ rock they keep finding themselves at the bottom of the hill again.
Gains they are looking for: They want an overall improvement in their communication each other, vendors, and clients, so they can focus on their work instead of emails, and would love to get answers, reasonably quickly, from a system, application, or from each other regardless of location - in the car, office or at home.
But they’re already too busy...the last thing they need is the added task of creating this solution. What’s missing is someone to listen to their issues, understand them, figure a solution, and then not only implement it, but also train their people and support them in the learning curve so that they can get back to the business of their business.
We’ve observed that this is quite typical. even though we know the tools are out there...they just don’t get used or aren’t implemented and trained properly. That’s nothing new to us in IT: Owning tools is easy...finding the right one and using it properly is another matter.
Value Proposition Map
Discover how Slack with the proper consultation and implementation can help them achieve this communication improvement.
Gain Creators: As a product Slack helps teams communicate within a single space. This can happen in private channels, one to one communication, public channels, you name it, and it can manage topics according to need. It also integrates with thousands of applications, and so ususally gets the sought after information from disparate sources without logging into those applications. In essence it creates a unified platform for company-wide communication and replaces internal emails almost completely.
The tool is the first step. Also required however is the creation of the business case, context, and the process to properly implement it, training users, creating basic policies and enrolling the entire team and the company overall. Of course we could leave them to do all this on their own, but our value proposition is to make this process successful from the get-go. This is actually more important than the tool itself.
Pain Relievers: Teams are now working in all kinds of venues and access the information from a myriad of devices, anytime, and anywhere. They always have to share files and documents with each other. Even with cloud based file sharing it’s a time wasting task - to copy / paste the links, then use another app to send. Another problem is after sharing, nobody’s aligned on where the file came from, and have to re-check the email to access it again. Slack eliminates this speed-bump entirely, leaving the file in context, and with its robust search engine, one can find it easily with any other system of communication.
Still, most users will have questions, and Slack doesn’t have real one-on-one support that incorporates an understanding of their business context...it’s rather more general help on features. Our support can fill this gap. We’ll often be able to offer our technical skills in integrating many other applications into Slack - a not so obvious task. We can be the ones to make those integrations work and enhance them over time.
Product & Services
The ultimate solution for the opportunities / problems of the client is a Slack Implementation Project.
- Needs assessment
- Project kickoff
- Implementation
- Project management
- Training
- Documentation
Because this implementation project is largely common among all who would have it, it can be templated easily, so from our perspective is streamlined. A Slack implementation project in this sense with initial consultation, implementation, technical set up, training and initial support can fall into a $2500 - $3500 range. It leads to an additional MRR for support and subsequent enhancement projects.
Marketing/Sales
The best way to market this is with an eBook or a Grader. You can see an example of a Slack grader here. It asks the following questions from the client:
We can quickly score their answers and see whether Slack can be useful to them to show, try, and implement. It can lead us to a quick product tour and a kickoff meeting for the needs assessment.
Delivery
The delivery part is a canned project with
- Project Plan
- Process descriptions, hints and tips
- Pricing and packaging document, contract, agreement
- Task lists for the milestones
- Tasks for the necessary deliverables
- Meeting memos, agendas to manage the project efficiently
- One-page checklists for the discovery meetings
- Presentation decks for education/training
- Basecamp.com live client facing workspace with everything necessary to facilitate smooth communication with the client
Conclusion
Slack is a great tool, and boosting the tool with our implementation services is a big hit. Clients will understand that we’re no longer just a general infrastructure service provider but a real business ‘wingman’ or ‘wingwoman’ for them with respect to the creative use and implementation of technology solutions. It ushers us into the trusted advisory role and helps us reframe our clients to see that IT is not just cost-savings, but a huge competitive advantage.
Monetizing Client Apps and SaaS Solutions the Smart Way
If you’re like me, you’re often evangelizing cool applications, services, and vendors to your clients. You have a cool feature on your Todo application, or you were able to integrate your CRM with LinkedIn, or you just collaborated with your team with an awesome project management tool. We spread the idea because we are advisors by nature. The question is how can we capitalize on this habit? How do we create service offerings around SaaS-based applications?
I hope you have read our monster blog article about the business model changes of the MSP. In this model there is an item called "Marketplace" in the partnership section, there are revenue streams called "Marketplace Commission" and "3rd Party project management," and there is an activity called "Resell Vendors, Applications."
The idea here is quite a common practice among IT managed services providers - finding a problem on the client side and helping them with an application. After deploying, manage the usage, subscription, and processes of the application. IT companies are mostly infrastructure providers, so they do these types of activities but in an ad-hoc way. What’s new here is the proactivity and a defined structure for these types of services.
PROBLEMS - VALUE PROPOSITION
Your clients have probably been using a lot of cloud-based applications for a while now. The average 20- to 50-seat company solves niche problems with niche applications. Some examples are sending bulk emails, using surveys on websites, organizing meetings and schedules, taking notes, sharing files, managing online marketing and sales activities, and automating processes.
The problems they have are the following:
- Finding out if there is an application for the specific problem (discovery services)
- Finding the right application for the problem (evaluation services)
- Buying the application or managing the procurement (negotiation services)
- Deploying the application to devices (deployment services)
- Creating the necessary processes (process management services)
- Integrating the application to other systems (integration services)
- Teaching the application to people (educational services)
- Supporting the application (support services)
- Managing the billing (vendor management services)
So, in a way they have the same problems they had in the good old days except they now with "technological" problems like installation, server setup, etc. We usually refer to this as an "IT management" problem. Usually clients simply swipe their cards to get access to applications in no time. They don’t know or understand that buying an application is only 10% of the entire process. It is easy to get onto this slippery slope. Users buy applications, then have problems, stop using them, and conclude the technology failed. The trick is education and storytelling.
My favorite story for this is Evernote's business-card-scanning feature. This is a nearly-free tool that can scan business cards, send LinkedIn invites on the spot, and then populate their CRM application with the contact data. I usually go through the process with clients/prospects and explain how it works and that it’s very affordable, because very few people use and leverage its true functionality. They just get it and use it, but the non-obvious features are going undiscovered. After this story, they understand what they are missing. This is a small reframing :-)
The value proposition here is to make your company more effective and vital by harnessing applications.
SERVICE DELIVERY
The delivery side is not rocket science, and very close to what traditional IT managed services providers are doing. However, to do it seriously, there are a couple things to think about:
Problem - Solution library:
Creating the problem library means you collect all the non-obvious problems you could solve with applications. Populating a CRM with Evernote’s business-cards-scanning feature is not an easy one to realize; it might be connected to a CRM through Zapier's integration feature.
You should create a knowledge base of the different business pains of CEOs and package your solutions for that. I bet you have a couple of geeks in the team who know every cool and popular service and app around.
There are also ready sales in managing people, meetings, delegating tasks, managing calendars, personal effectivity tools with the integration of mobile devices. Here, you could offer a bundled solution with to-do applications and shared project management tools, etc.
Integration method:
To make the process happen, you need to use a cloud-based integrator platform like Zapier to connect Evernote and the CRM application. It’s a pretty neat tool - you just drag and drop the two applications you want to connect, select your triggers and actions and you’re ready to go.
Partnerships:
Most of these applications have a partner model. That means if you sell them, you receive a commission. The best win-win way to use it is to share this commission with the client. In this case you remain independent, while still getting the client to choose your recommended provider - they enjoy the benefits of a discount and trust of your partners.
Pricing and packaging
There are many options here, but sooner or later you are going to shift to the managed model, which is very clear and easy to enroll.
Just think about it—they want to buy this service for the same reason they would want to buy a cloud based-application: as a service with a monthly flat fee, a package of their choice, and within their budget.
This is a flat fee based on application per user. You could use Light, Medium, and Pro classifications based on the difficulty of the application. For example, a ToDo app is classified as a Light app while an Online Marketing Tool is classified as a Pro app.
Then, you need to categorize your services, for example into Silver, Gold, and Platinum. The Silver covers basic services, but the Platinum includes integration with five other applications. A must-have is the hard edged definitions of the service, clearly stating what is included and what is extra. This is critical to smart delivery of the service.
At the end you are going to get a decent sized spreadsheet with all the applications and all the packages. The big idea is to aim at managing all their applications, so consider a quantity discount.
Of course, for bigger projects like a CRM or Accounting Package, you could always use the "3rd-party project management" method to monetize on the evaluation and implementation after the application of a flat fee. These are not just "apps"; these are serious business applications.
CONCLUSION
There are huge opportunities in the application world because even when there are no technical problems it doesn’t mean MSPs have nothing to do. There is plenty of work that can propel the success of our clients but they aren’t aware of it...the apps come from the cloud, so they must be ready to go with no more concern.
Teach your clients to build their own marketplace, deliver services, and create more recurring services!