Hiring an MSP? Corporate culture and values matter more than you realize.

The best Managed Services Provider (MSP) relationships are partnerships. They extend over the long-term, with the MSP’s team becoming integrated into the customer’s team. This allows the MSP’s skilled IT professionals to fully understand the client’s business and deliver strategic guidance to help the company achieve its goals and weather any storms.

But this can only happen if there’s a good cultural fit.

Regardless of how much experience the MSP has, or how amazing their capabilities look on paper, if their corporate culture doesn’t mesh with yours, the relationship isn’t going to work.

How can you tell if there’s a good fit?

Most likely the idea of cultural fit isn’t new to you. After all, we all know that we work best with people who share our vision for what success looks like, and whose values, beliefs and policies integrate well with our own.

And, when you’re undertaking a search for an MSP, all candidates will put their best foot forward. That can make it hard to tell if there’s a good cultural fit that will drive your relationship forward – and ensure your IT is in the best possible hands.

How do you know that you are truly compatible, and that you can trust an MSP with one of the most important functions of your organization? While the relationship will take time to evolve and mature, there are a few key areas to consider during the selection process:

• How effectively they communicate: Look for honesty and transparency, as well as speed of communications. If you have an issue and need help, you need your MSP to pick up the phone or respond to your email quickly, and answer your questions in plain language so the problem can be fixed as soon as possible. Pay attention during the hiring process to ensure there is clarity in their communications – and that they are professional and proactive in getting you the information you need.

• How well they think and act as a team: Observe how well their team works together. Are they integrated in their approach? If a vendor’s own team is disconnected or dysfunctional, there’s no way they can become an extension of yours. They should be able to work well together, with each role clearly defined, and egos firmly in check.

• How well they deliver what they’ve promised: You can measure this by talking to customer references and asking specific questions about the MSP’s ability to get the job done. You want the MSP whose customers rave that they went above and beyond – and that they were great to work with. You can also get a feel for this yourself during the selection process: did the MSP submit their proposal when they say they would, and does it cover what you were asking for? Do they show up for calls on time or are they sometimes running late and making excuses? Trust what you experience in the getting-to-know-you stage of your relationship. If they’ve made a commitment, you need to have confidence that they will deliver.

A great business relationship is one built on trust and collaboration. You should expect your MSP to be able to show you examples of how they’ve built that kind of trust with other clients and outline their processes for collaboration which will define their relationship with you.

To learn more about what to look for in a Managed Services Provider, check out our eBook here.

Cultural fit matters at FSi

At FSi, we believe in the importance of cultural fit, and we have several guiding principles that shape who we are and how we deliver managed IT services. We make sure our customers know that our approach to every engagement is framed by our core values.

The FSi Strategies Culture:
• Customer-centric: We truly care about our customers. When you contact us, you won’t get an automated message. You get a real person, dedicated to helping you, every single time. No voicemail. No waiting on hold forever. We’re committed to ensuring that our workplace solutions and services are focused on your user experience.

• Strategic Partner: We pride ourselves on our strategic capabilities and make it a priority to get to know our customers’ business goals so we can develop a strategic IT vision and roadmap that supports your corporate strategy, along with guidance to build a modern workplace that empowers your employees to work better.

• Innovative: We have established our expertise and reputation as pioneers of the modern workplace through early adoption and integration of Microsoft productivity tools into our own processes. Our years of experience delivering strategic business value through technology allow us to think creatively and provide smart, innovative solutions to customer challenges.

• Focused on continual learning: We believe in a growth mindset where curiosity fuels our work; we never stop learning and we value the development of new skills. Technology is always changing, and our team strives to stay ahead of it so we can bring the best, freshest, most strategic thinking, and ideas to our customers. Training is important to us: all of our employees, from the CEO to the administrative staff, are required to obtain Microsoft certifications around Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Azure.

We’re proud to say that over the last 17 years, 99 percent of our clients have renewed their contracts with us after the first year. This is a true testament to our ability to connect with them and provide a valuable service. We’d love to talk to you about how we can become an extension of your team, too.

Contact us today to learn more.