When David Mercer picked up a call from one of his clients, he was told their printers didn’t work. Not an uncommon problem, and something easily fixed, he thought.
However, he never expected the reason why.
The client had moved their entire business to a new location without notifying David Mercer Consulting, their MSP. They only reached out once the printers would not work.
“Why didn’t you tell us about this? You didn’t think to tell us the day you were moving?” he recalled.
Mercer’s experience is common in the MSP industry. MSPs often have to be persistent with client communication. Otherwise the IT asset management process can get derailed.
MSPs always want to be ahead of their clients, instead of catching up.
That’s why IT asset management planning with your clients is so important. Knowing the client’s business goals allows both the MSP and client to plan their asset management process to best serve their needs.
Start the IT asset management process by assessing your clients’ current IT infrastructure.
Are there any potential gaps or areas for improvement? Are their assets functional and healthy?
With a complete assessment, the MSP and client can work together to determine what the business needs are. Plan around warranty renewals, procuring new hardware, and budgeting.
Budget planning prepares clients for the cost of new hardware and software assets, warranty renewals, and licensing.
Once the budget is determined, MSPs can source the required assets and deploy them in the client’s IT infrastructure.
With a solid budget, MSPs will work to improve the client’s operations while reducing roadblocks and risk.
Spend less time manually tracking assets and more time growing your business
A client’s plans for their staffing also have impacts on the IT infrastructure. One important part of IT asset management is the ability to scale alongside the client.
If they know that staffing will expand over the next 12 months, MSPs can plan to onboard the new employees and enable them to do their jobs.
When the MSP takes care of the infrastructure, clients can focus on training and integration. They can transition the new employees onto the team.
New staff also opens questions about what type of IT assets the client wants to utilize as they scale up.
When a client is moving to a new location, or making other changes to the way the business operates, MSPs need to prioritize communication.
When Mercer’s client moved to a new office, he and his team had to react to make sure their IT assets were still functioning properly.
Understanding long and short-term goals can help MSPs be proactive with their service. They can make any transitions or changes as smooth and effective as possible because they understand their clients.
It all comes down to one thing: communication.
Despite the MSPs best efforts, some clients can be tricky to work with. One of Mercer’s former clients, an outdoor concert venue, had trouble communicating decisions. That led to disruptions in the service their MSP provided.
Three weeks before a concert, Mercer was told the client wanted wifi installed, but didn’t know where the hardware was.
Once the hardware was found, Mercer learned that the cables had been ripped out, and all the network jacks were broken.
When a technician arrived on-site to check if the network was working, he found that the client had moved the hardware without telling them.
Mercer places a lot of value in communicating with clients. The IT asset management process is one of the reasons his MSP has been successful.
Not only is coordination helping operations improve, but it can help save money for clients. Coordination gives existing expenses greater value because they play into a long-term plan.
As hardware approaches its end of life and warranties are no longer an option, MSPs need to have a plan in place for the disposal of old assets.
This final part of the IT asset management process is one of the most important as it requires a transition on the part of the client and MSP.
With a comprehensive asset management plan, MSPs know the assets that are approaching end-of-life. MSPs can work on their replacement early, avoiding unnecessary interruptions in the client’s business.
Approaching the disposal of assets early also allows time to troubleshoot technical issues with new assets.
Disposing of old assets also allows MSPs and clients to look forward to new equipment and plan for what will best work for them moving forward.
It’s an opportunity to look where the client wants their business to go in the future and to develop an asset plan to help them get there.
A successful IT asset management process is one that provides high quality service to the client, and sets them up for a successful future.
At the heart of every part of the process is a partnership between client and MSP that centers communication as the key factor.
Take control of IT asset management with Lifecycle Manager. Automate asset tracking, warranty quoting, reports, roadmaps, and much more. Book a demo or get started with the free edition today.
