Though unfortunate, COVID-19 has and will continue to affect the sales cycle of modern MSPs. Especially when you are an MSP without the MRR to pick and choose your clients, field services continue to be a part of a happy customer relationship. With remote offerings, work from home setups, you as an MSP are already flooded with numerous requests. However, it is now imperative more than ever that you involve your clients and prepare a BCDR plan.Β
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Some of the most common problems post the advent of this pandemic has been
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A culmination of such shortcomings can hamper a network revival and may lead to angry customers and troubled business. Here are a few pointers that modern MSPs can consider to set up a solid BCDR plan.
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With the sudden influx of remote working population, MSPs are choked to their maximum capacity with customers asking employees to work from home and requiring remote setup. This will most definitely impact vendor abilities to provide their typical levels of support.Β
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Many vendors have already been handicapped with the deterring flight operation throughout the globe. Lack of parts availability, shut-down of china, has severely bottlenecked logistics to ensure timely parts shipment to meet the target service level agreements.
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With numerous new smart and innovative scams propping up and demanding parts, the shipment has put MSPs in a tough predicament to second guess every genuine request. Though not a novel scenario, the unlikely circumstance of Covid-19 has paved a path for the scammers and phishers to surge, which inevitably causes delays in shipment of alternative/new parts.
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With the advent of the Covid-19 alerts, it is imperative you reassure and assuage any inhibitions about your quality of service amongst your clients.
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A well-drafted BCDR for the Covid-19 term period will help you establish order amidst chaos, and will reflect extreme professionalism on your part amongst your clients. Even if you have clients who haven't had to face the immediate brunt of the situation, inevitably all your networks will undergo a stress-test when they try to relocate in vast numbers.Β
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A tactfully crafted SLA can ease frustration and unhappiness while paving the way for a healthy and productive business relationship.Β
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βClarify the following options with clear metrics
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Amidst various scams and cyber threats, it is imperative that you continue to keep your clients' data secure while negotiating new terms and conditions.Β
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Write an SLA that you can ensure to prevent data leakage and data theft. Ensure to use a trusted DraaS provider, and prioritize restriction of unauthorized data access.Β
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By clarifying serviceability, both you and your clients know what to expect for post-disaster recovery. Both parties have clear expectations of subsequent steps that need to be taken to meet recovery objectives.