By Raymond Vrabel, Director, Technical Account Management, Continuum Managed IT Services
The first installment of a new monthly blog series offering tips and
Throughout last year, in my Breaking Bad blog series, I discussed various tips on how MSPs can break the cycle of various “bad” business habits. We covered everything from getting to know your customers,how to combat business complacency, and how to bring out the best in your employee talent. In keeping with that same theme, I would like to welcome you to this year’s new blog series, “Better Call an MSP”. And, if you’re wondering whether we’re playing off the upcoming “Breaking Bad” AMC spin-off series, “Better Call Saul,” you are correct!
While we will stay with this same theme of providing MSP best practices and advice, we are changing how we choose each monthly blog topic for discussion. We would like to hear from you, the MSP community, and discuss what you need to know! Tell us about the current issues and challenges that you’re dealing with in your daily business practices. For instance, do you have a client that is interested in offering BDR, but is unsure of its value proposition? Maybe you have another client who is resistant toward upgrading their anti-virus and/or anti-malware protection, and you are looking for advice on how to help. Or maybe you’re looking to grow your business, but you aren’t sure where to begin.
Whatever is on your mind, we want to know, and we want to hear your stories. Think of this monthly blog as a call to action for MSPs. We want to deliver a solid “take-away” each month, in which you come away armed with knowledge and real-life best practices on how to handle a specific situation -- even if it’s a situation that one of your peers has gone through, though you personally have not. You might find yourself in a similar situation at some point in the future.
In speaking with Continuum’s MSP partners on a daily basis, we always discuss a specific issue that they are currently challenged with. I also encounter this every time I travel to an industry event, and have meetings and dinners with partners. When asking about their business, they always have daily challenges and struggles to share.
That being said, I want this monthly blog to be a forum and an interactive place where we can have a lively discussion about the issues and challenges you are facing. Let’s connect on social media, specifically Twitter, where you can follow me @rayvrabel. Tweet me a question or a specific issue that you have, and I will try to address it in this blog. If we have many questions, which I expect, we certainly have the space to focus on multiple issues each month. In 2015, let’s keep the momentum and discussions going! If your challenge or question is a bit more involved and you require more than a 140-character Tweet to explain, please feel free to reach out to me via the Comments section at the end of this blog.
I’m looking forward to a fun and fantastic (and successful!) 2015, filled with new technology innovations within our space and many MSP wins along the way. I encourage the partner community, who is at the center of this technology and the focal point of the SMB channel community, to reach out. I look forward to hearing from you and working through your challenges here so that others may learn as well!
Raymond Vrabel is Continuum's Director of Technical Account Management and participates in product and service growth initiatives. He manages Continuum's Technical Account Management team which supports over 3,500 partners worldwide. Vrabel has more than 15 years of experience in the IT industry, specializing in managed IT services, disaster recovery and cloud solutions. Follow him on Twitter: @rayvrabel.