Takeaways from IT Nation 2018

I had a wonderful time at IT Nation 2018 last week, getting to know many of you at the OnPage booth and during networking breaks. I also learned so much from the breakout sessions, not only from the knowledgeable speakers who shared ideas, best practices and experiences out in the field but also from the audience questions. Presentations are so much more valuable when there’s a lot of interaction!

Here are my takeaways from IT Nation 2018 and how OnPage solutions can make a difference:

Focus on the customer experience
In his keynote presentation, Craig Fulton, chief product officer at ConnectWise, spoke about the value of delivering a great customer experience. In fact, by 2020 customer service will be viewed as even more important than price and product as a factor for making buying decisions.

One important way to differentiate your services and to delight the customer is to respond very rapidly and effectively to critical incidents. With OnPage’s Incident Alert Management system integrated with ConnectWise Manage, tickets are converted to smart alerts sent right to the OnPage app on your tech’s phone, ensuring a streamlined and rapid incident alert process.

Ensure retention of high performing staff
The shortage of IT talent continues to be a challenge. MSPs must come up with creative ways to retain IT staff without breaking the bank.

Ticket overload is at the top of the list of tech frustrations, and we can help to minimize it. By having a clear incident alert process that’s seamlessly integrated with ticketing, IT teams can streamline resolution, reduce time to response and document progress automatically in real time. Everyone on the team knows who is responsible for each step and can review the status of the ticket. This level of clarity and pre-planning ahead of a critical incident sets clear expectations and reduces stress.

After-hours support can also be an area of dissatisfaction. By having a clear on-call schedule that’s a shared responsibility among the IT team, the burden can be reduced for each individual. Our eBook How To Handle After Hours Support For MSPs provides ideas on the topic.

Make the internet safer for everybody
During the Torch Talk on Friday, the panel urged the audience to think of security as a moral imperative because MSPs deal with customer data and help protect clients from threats. Panelist Eric Foster (@performify) recently published a CyberSecurity 101 article chock full of resources, including courses and research.

At OnPage, we help MSPs address threats right away by enabling clear on call and alerting rules so when a security issue does occur, response is immediate and the problem can be resolved as fast as possible. In addition, OnPage can tie into websites and applications to notify techs when downtime occurs. Check out our whitepaper, From MSP to MSSP to learn more.

Seek opportunities for growing your business
MSP execs thronged to breakout sessions that discussed ways to expand their business and increase profit margins. These included presentations on adding cybersecurity services, exploring Hardware-as-a-Service, M&A strategies and more.

At the booth, I spoke to MSPs who serve the healthcare market about our latest Partner Program offering. MSPs can now resell our HIPAA compliant messaging and alerting services to clinics and hospitals, replacing antiquated pagers. Contact us to learn more about the program.

In addition, check out ideas for 3 Easy Revenue Streams for MSPs.

As I review this post, it sounds like IT Nation was all work and no play. That’s absolutely not the case! We danced all night at the MSP Block party, had great conversations during the Pub Crawl, screamed during most of the Mako rollercoaster ride and sang along with Walk the Moon. I can’t wait to see you all again next year!