Are Their Business Incentives Aligned with Yours?
When it comes to selecting an IT service provider for your company, a key question to ask is, “Are their business incentives aligned with yours?” This blog highlights the importance of selecting a provider whose business model complements your company’s vision. We’ll examine three IT service provider types, each with a unique business approach, and how their alignment with your goals can boost the success of your IT infrastructure.
Large MSP IT Service Providers
Growth through Large Customer Acquisition
Large Managed Service Providers (MSPs) often focus on growth through extensive customer acquisition and standardizing their services across customers. They can provide geographical coverage and scale. While this strategy can bring efficiencies for them through economies of scale, it’s essential to evaluate whether services align with your company’s unique business requirements. As an emerging company, will you matter to them when you have specific requests outside their standard services? Will they react quickly to accommodate rapid changes in your business? As larger organizations, your initial contacts are not the people who will be responsible for the quality of your service. That’s fine for a larger customer but is not ideal for an emerging company with dynamic needs.
Regional Generalist MSP IT Service Providers
Breadth Over Depth:
Regional Generalist MSPs cater to a specific geographical area across various verticals. Understanding their target market and growth ambitions is crucial for assessing alignment with your company’s goals. They have roots in your community and an established reputation. However, the team serving you will not have a lot of experience with a company like yours and can’t anticipate some of your challenges. Most of their customers will be more static and not have the same scaling pressures. Their recommendations may fit more static customers, but may not be ideal for venture-funded growth companies. Many of these providers are working to grow and sell their companies to larger organizations, which can have a disruptive impact on their services and the people you work with. They may also rely on product resale to bolster their margins, influencing their objectivity. Often they will own the software licenses used by your people and infrastructure, creating a mess when you want to separate. It’s best to examine their model in detail to make sure it works best for you.
Industry Focused IT Service Provider
Referral-Based Approach:
Industry-focused IT service providers, such as KalioTek, rely on referrals from satisfied customers in the same industry. Their goal is to build deep expertise and trust servicing a specific type of customer and adding higher value. KalioTek’s focus for over 20 years has been venture-funded growth companies in the life sciences and technology sectors. Our goal is to be valued for our unique expertise in these markets, producing high customer satisfaction, lasting relationships, and reference-ability. This leads to highly tailored services and recommendations that will serve your company through its periods of dynamic growth. KalioTek’s principals actively engage in the sales process and lead service delivery, so there are no misunderstandings about what was promised and what is delivered. Ongoing involvement of senior veterans of your industry means customers don’t get passed off to second tier performers who can’t appreciate your challenges and make decisions.
Conclusion:
Choosing an IT service provider whose business incentives align with yours is a strategic decision that can significantly impact your company’s success. Whether you opt for the scale and standardization of large MSPs, the regional focus of Generalists, or the industry-specific expertise of providers like KalioTek, ensuring a match with your business goals is paramount. By doing so, you not only enhance the efficiency of your IT infrastructure but also forge a partnership that contributes to your company’s growth and long-term success.
