Delivering a flawless user experience is critical to your business’s reputation as an IT solutions provider. As customers travel from their homes to offices, cloud computing makes things easier for businesses, but maintaining this standard can be tough for solution providers. This does not have to be the case; there are a number of steps you can take to future-proof your company. Continue reading to learn the five ways you can diversify your cloud offering to assure stability, customer loyalty, and a competitive edge.
Cloud Providers: Standardized vs. Diversified
Standardizing cloud and technology providers within your company has advantages. You can improve the consumer experience of the features accessible by using superior technical skills. But what if there’s a power outage? This method is too hazardous; no corporation is too big to fail.
It’s your responsibility to make certain that important workloads remain available 24/7/365 regardless of the Service Level Agreement (SLA) stated on the vendor’s website. There have been disruptions on AWS in the past, and it’s likely that other cloud service providers will as well.
A portfolio of vendors, on the other hand, poses a new set of problems. For vendor management to be effective, a person must keep track of numerous operational processes and ensure that they are all compatible with one another. The objective is to establish a balance between standardization and specialization, while still being diverse to guard against an outage, which is quite improbable.
To make it easier for you to visualize, you might use AWS as your primary infrastructure provider and have your failover configured in Azure. This safeguards your clients’ key apps in the event of an outage while you pay for two cloud services simultaneously.
Meet the needs of your clients, both simple and complex
How do you build a consumer base that is loyal to you? Simply ensure that you meet all of their IT requirements. Every company requires a phone, as well as cyber security, email, and collaboration software. Email and Microsoft Office are simple to use, but telephony and cyber security can be more difficult. Recognize the most effective strategy to provide these services while maintaining your primary focus.
What’s to stop your client from migrating all of their IT needs to a rival if they provide phones? Expanding your service to incorporate telephony doesn’t have to be difficult, and the residuals earned from the agent model can be substantial.
Cyber security may appear to be a difficult undertaking fraught with risk, but it does not have to be. IT solution providers can white-label a variety of services and do the task for you. You increase the client’s revenue by a small amount of profit. Recon is a proactive monitoring service that can save you time and assure business continuity in the future with little setup.
Offers and Services that are Complementary
Consider partnering with non-competitive businesses that will benefit both your customer and you. Referral models, cross-promotion, and specialist groups are all viable options.
Referral Model – How about teaming up with other businesses that would be logical referrals for your clientele, and vice versa? This might be as simple as referring clients to a company that offers cyber security insurance coverage (in exchange for a “finder’s fee”) in addition to your security package.
Collaboration and cross-promotion — Collaborate with and promote other businesses. Bartering with a community or professional group is an option. You get free logo placement on their website or access to regular meetings in exchange for promoting clients to join. Another option is to host a partner’s event in your office, place business cards in their retail space, organize joint charity activities, or even help each other promote one other on social media. Each of these can be turned into a fantastic public relations opportunity.
Groups of Experts – Consider arranging technology-related education events for your customers. While staying on top of IT developments may not be their top priority, it would be beneficial to your company if clients were familiar with the fundamentals.
Host a networking event, for example. Bring in a cyber security specialist from the local police department if the focus is on cyber security. Is there a professional organization in the sector that can help?
Expand into a different vertical (s)
Perhaps you already specialize in a market and want to expand your customer base and revenue? Consider expanding your offering into a new vertical or specialization. Can you adapt your solution to appeal to physician offices, using the dentist as an example?
Consider switching to a different vertical to achieve better results. If you specialize in healthcare, seek a similar-budgeting industry and customer group. If you’re already selling enterprise-level IT, attempting to apply the same solution to a small business will entirely overlook their demands, as well as the pricing point.
Implementing this long-term strategic approach may necessitate significant market research and corporate preparation. Consider using tools like the Business Model Canvas to analyze positioning and value statements, pricing, and client demands before taking the plunge.
