Problems we face as cloud managed services providers: part two

Quiss‘s head of professional services, Nick Hayne, continues his two part series on the barriers in the way of delivering a valuable service to law firms.

In part one of this series looking at the problems we face as a cloud managed services provider, we considered how size and sector expertise matter, the fact that we have to be agnostic in choice of cloud we recommend and changing behaviours are impacting the way we do business.

In this second part, we look at more ways in which our service delivery is changing – what is driving change and how will these changes will affect your business in the future? These are our challenges and our solutions as we strive to deliver the service for which Quiss is renowned.

We are always keen to discuss technology and the benefits on offer, so please get in touch if the following raises any questions.

Consistent quality

One of the major problems encountered by a managed services provider is maintaining the quality of the service we provide, while also retaining a strong professional relationship with each client and understanding their unique needs.

We have to ensure we provide all that is needed to a satisfactory standard and at a cost that our clients find acceptable – whether our services are delivered on-demand or in a proactive manner. All of this requires us to manage a host of disparate internal systems which risks the introduction of inaccuracy, wasted time and increased costs.

While we deal with applications, pricing, provisioning, billing, invoicing, remote monitoring, backup and recovery, support and helpdesk and a range of management functions – we must never lose sight of the quality of our service, which could easily fall over time if we do not remain focussed.

Pricing matters

To win and retain clients there is a temptation to undervalue our services or develop unsustainable pricing models that pitch fees too low. However, in the long term this approach delivers no winners, as a service provider that cannot survive is a problem for clients too.

However, recognising the problem and trying to increase prices after winning a client’s business is tough because few clients are ever happy to pay more, regardless of the validity of any arguments made. A race to the bottom between service providers will have no positive outcomes.

Cloud billing

Cloud billing, which has come under greater scrutiny with many of the promised cost-savings failing to materialise, presents major problems for service providers such as Quiss. Catering to multiple clients requires us to have visibility on each one, including their multiple accounts.

We have to keep records and accounts updated, while verifying account synchronszation – all of which takes time and resources, despite automation advances. Effective account deployment, proper resource removal and efficient customer coordination will help us deliver the most appropriate cloud services to each client

Integrating applications

Just one more matter to challenge our service delivery is the integration of applications and service delivery, which can be exacerbated by having to adjust workloads to another environment while justifying the operational lifecycle.

We have to maintain a constant, consistent and strong infrastructure, but manual start-stop procedures and tightly coupled apps make it challenging for us to manage operations. We also have to make sure the applications are compatible with each other before we integrate them.

People count

Like many sectors post-pandemic, the managed services sector is experiencing recruitment and retention issues, with talented technicians in demand. It requires us to provide good remuneration and training packages with more incentives, which increases our costs and prices as a result.

We recognise that competing against other managed service providers purely on price is a problem. This explains our commitment to leveraging the unique skills and unrivalled sector experience within our business, to ensure we deliver a better service to our clients and a bright future for all.