Why now is a good time to revisit your BCDR as an MSP

Why now is a good time to revisit your BCDR as an MSP

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. 

Some of the most common problems post the advent of this pandemic has been

  1. Failure to meet SLA for onsite support.
  2. Vendor's inability to ship parts within your SLA.
  3. Commonly refurbished parts that tend to be faulty

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.

Onsite support


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. 

Vendor shipments

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.



Phishing scams

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.

It's time to revisit your BCDR


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.

Preliminary subjects to be covered and reassured:

  1. Set clear expectations: Detail Client and MSP responsibilities
  2. Clarify the change in circumstance and establish amicable resolutions to be met when expectations aren't fulfilled.
  3.  Do NOT include conditions of cancellation, driving your business is the only oxygen you have when it is not very easy to breathe. 
  4. Remote work and setup: Emergency escalations

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. 

A tactfully crafted SLA can ease frustration and unhappiness while paving the way for a healthy and productive business relationship. 

Clarify the following options with clear metrics

  • Business continuity requirements
  • Network Downtimes
  • Network scalability in case of on-premise and remote configuration
  • The flexibility of how much load their existing configuration can bear.
  • Data safety, Data location, and security 

Cyber Security

Amidst various scams and cyber threats, it is imperative that you continue to keep your clients' data secure while negotiating new terms and conditions. 

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. 

BCDR

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.

SEO for MSPs PPC for MSPs
Definition Optimizing your website to rank organically in search engine results pages (SERPs) without paying for clicks. Paying for advertisements that appear at the top of SERPs, and you're charged each time someone clicks on your ad.
Cost Generally, lower cost as it's based on time and effort to optimize your website. Can be expensive, as you pay for every click on your ads, and costs can add up quickly.
Time to Results Takes time to see significant results, often several months to gain visibility in organic listings. Provides immediate results; your ads can start generating traffic and leads as soon as your campaign is live.
Sustainability Sustainable over the long term if you consistently maintain your SEO efforts. Reliant on a continuous budget; traffic stops when you stop paying for ads.
Click Quality Usually, it has higher click quality as users find organic results more trustworthy and relevant. Click quality can vary, and not all clicks may lead to conversions, potentially leading to a wasted budget.
Competition Competing with other websites for organic rankings, but the playing field can be more level. Competing with other businesses for ad placements can be fierce, and costs can rise in competitive markets.
Targeting Options Limited control over specific keywords that drive traffic; relies on keyword optimization. Precise control over keywords, demographics, and location targeting, allowing for more precise audience reach.
Performance Tracking Tracking and measuring results can be challenging, but tools like Google Analytics can help. Easily track and measure performance with detailed metrics and conversion tracking tools.
Long-term Strategy Builds a strong online presence and brand authority over time. Effective for short-term goals and promotions but doesn't contribute to long-term organic growth.
Click Costs No direct click costs; traffic is "free" once you've optimized your site. Direct click costs are associated with each visitor who clicks on your ad.
Advertisements vs. Organic Results Focuses on achieving high rankings in organic search results. Focuses on paid ads displayed above organic results.
Keyword Research Important for optimizing content and targeting relevant keywords. Crucial for selecting the right keywords and managing bidding strategies for ad campaigns.
Why now is a good time to revisit your BCDR as an MSP
Why now is a good time to revisit your BCDR as an MSP

Why now is a good time to revisit your BCDR as an MSP

Illustration of Why now is a good time to revisit your BCDR as an MSP

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. 

Some of the most common problems post the advent of this pandemic has been

  1. Failure to meet SLA for onsite support.
  2. Vendor's inability to ship parts within your SLA.
  3. Commonly refurbished parts that tend to be faulty

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.

Onsite support


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. 

Vendor shipments

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.



Phishing scams

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.

It's time to revisit your BCDR


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.

Preliminary subjects to be covered and reassured:

  1. Set clear expectations: Detail Client and MSP responsibilities
  2. Clarify the change in circumstance and establish amicable resolutions to be met when expectations aren't fulfilled.
  3.  Do NOT include conditions of cancellation, driving your business is the only oxygen you have when it is not very easy to breathe. 
  4. Remote work and setup: Emergency escalations

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. 

A tactfully crafted SLA can ease frustration and unhappiness while paving the way for a healthy and productive business relationship. 

Clarify the following options with clear metrics

  • Business continuity requirements
  • Network Downtimes
  • Network scalability in case of on-premise and remote configuration
  • The flexibility of how much load their existing configuration can bear.
  • Data safety, Data location, and security 

Cyber Security

Amidst various scams and cyber threats, it is imperative that you continue to keep your clients' data secure while negotiating new terms and conditions. 

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. 

BCDR

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.

Why now is a good time to revisit your BCDR as an MSP