Your customers are coming to me…

I wanted to bring up an interesting trend that I have been seeing in my website’s contact form. I still get plenty of messages from IT Pros, independent consultants and Managed Services Providers. But, in recent months, I have also been seeing an increasing number of SMB customers coming to me directly.

And that is strange, because when I write, I am not speaking to them. Typically, I am speaking to the folks who should be serving them (that’s you). Generally, these customers of yours are coming to me because they liked what they read on my site. Usually, they want to know if I could work with them to implement Microsoft 365. Or to double-check the handiwork of their own local IT person/company. And I generally reply with some version of “I don’t really do that; but I could recommend someone else. Or perhaps I can help the person/provider who helps you.“

It is not my goal to service these folks, but they keep coming my way, and more each month. So recently, I just asked one of them if they have any Managed Services Providers or IT Consultants in their area who could maybe do this work–and that I would be glad to meet them and work with them remotely, if needed. They replied, “Well I doubt it–they don’t think it is possible to replace my server with 100% cloud services. But it sounds like you believe otherwise–that’s why I’m talking to you.“

That is true: I do believe it is possible. In fact, perhaps 95% SMB’s I have ever worked with would be solid candidates for an all-in cloud-based computing model. Once in a blue moon, there is some lingering attachment to a legacy app that prevents them from going completely untethered from the traditional server infrastructure, but that is becoming more and more rare with so many good SaaS products available. And any business launching today is born in the cloud; they would never even consider buying server hardware.

So why are so many consultants out there still pounding the pavement, selling the on-prem model of yesteryear? The reason I bring this up is because if you do not serve your customers, they will go somewhere else, even to complete strangers on the Internet (who may or may not even be human)! So that should worry you.

The rivers are on the rise…

Now as I have also had many MSP’s email me, or reach out to me on LinkedIn, Twitter, etc., I know that there are more than a few of you struggling to update your services and offerings to accommodate for the additional pressure you are no doubt hearing in the marketplace. The demand for Microsoft 365 is high, and especially because many are waking up to the fact that you can ditch that clunky old server in the closet at the same time if you’re smart about it.

And ditching server hardware is just part of the story. There is also the so-called “digital transformation” aspect that is getting harder to ignore–we are now at the point where many are starting to wonder whether it is “just a buzzword” after all.

Things are changing: the hard rain has been falling and rivers are on the rise. The current is moving very quickly now, and most of us are still clinging to the safety of shore. But that’s how you will get left behind, my friend. Better to push off from the river banks and be carried by the flow of the river to its next destination. You would not be alone, as there are plenty of us who have learned to swim in this strong current already, and who are willing to help you do the same.

And yet for every MSP I have helped, there have been 3-5 more that were apparently just “kicking the tires.” We speak once, they get excited about working with me, and then I hear nothing more from them. Happens all the time.

I know it is hard to take time out of your day to sharpen your axe, but it is so important; many customers out there are getting smart to the fact that certain MSP’s just cannot (or are not willing to) keep up with the pace of change in the cloud, or worse, some are learning the hard way that these same MSP’s cannot keep them safe from the latest cyber threats. If you would just embrace Microsoft 365, you can solve both problems at once.

Why do customers want Microsoft 365?

Honest to Goodness, I still get this question in my inbox from MSP’s, who just cannot understand the mass exodus they are seeing from on-premises Windows Server and Active Directory to Microsoft 365 Business Premium and Azure AD. So if you’re one of those still scratching your head, here is the deal:

Your customers do not care about the servers and things that make up their “environment.” Small businesses want to focus on whatever it is they do: whether they are retailer, construction company, manufacturer, financial services, or healthcare provider, or whatever. All they care about are the applications and data that make their business run. Applications actually provide value for the business in terms of productivity, communication, automation, insights, etc. The “stuff” that makes applications possible does not add one bit or byte of value on its own; it is merely a cost center (and a commodity). So they will outsource as much of the technology headache as possible. That’s why they don’t care about their servers. They would rather trade out the responsibility for an easy $20/user/month subscription.

Where you come in is helping them move to the cloud platform in a safe and secure way, and afterwards, helping them to take advantage of the goodness that is built-in to the more modern software. They will always need cybersecurity support and business process support no matter how much of the technology stack they outsource. See this article for more details.

Many SMB’s also struggle to get the full benefit from the new hotness in the cloud. They often do not even realize that there are opportunities to “get more productivity” out of their modern software. So there is ample opportunity for you to get to know their business processes as they exist today (likely somewhat “clunky”), and then upgrade those experiences with applications such as OneDrive, Teams, and SharePoint. Maybe even getting into Power Automate and PowerBI in some cases. So your future is rich, but you have to be willing to learn some new stuff.

Help me, help you

I do not want to start writing to your customers, I would rather continue to help you, and have you help them. To that end, I knew that writing volumes of blog posts and ebooks in my spare time after work wasn’t going to be enough anymore, and so I had to move on to the next adventure. I want to dedicate more time to you, so that you can better serve your customers (and so they don’t keep coming to me). Therefore, I left my former employer this year so that I could do exactly that! I was planning on retiring early in 2022 to basically do the same thing anyway. But the demand is very high and the time is ripe for change, so I just moved the date up a bit. I still consider myself basically retired. What I do now, I do for fun.

I am currently collecting some data and feedback from my audience so that I can best prioritize my time, but I anticipate launching some new offerings soon, so that you have even more support than what I am able to offer today.

Once I have a sufficiently large sample of responses, I will work to launch quickly. But in the meantime, you can always refer to some of the help that I already publish right here on this website:

• a series of published books and best practices guides
• training courses, so far focusing on the foundation of good cybersecurity hygiene
• you can also book an appointment with me if you have some immediate needs and don’t want to wait for the next development

And the above linked survey is not the only way to give me feedback. Reach out anytime; let’s start a conversation! Let me know how I can help you, and what sorts of resources you need most to modernize your practice.