When you’re talking to prospects, how do you sell your MSP? Do you sell technology? Are you a service provider? A bit of both, most likely. At the heart of it all, you’re selling your expertise. Your clients are undergoing digital transformation, and you are guiding them through the process. Two major changes brought about by digital transformation are the radical pace at which companies acquire and manage data. You can learn more about that at Build IT LIVE 2024, where we have an entire track dedicated to AI.
The other major change is the shift to a borderless world. Most leading MSPs are already well into their borderless strategy. On the bad side, this means threats from malicious actors operating from anywhere. On the good side, it means there’s an opportunity for you, too, to operate anywhere.
The most obvious advantage is the labor cost arbitrage—borderless teams save you money. Upwards of 70%, in some cases. Caveat emptor: you get what you pay for. To avoid a bad experience, you’ll need to know what to look for in addition to cost savings.
Here’s four things that you’ll want to think about when going borderless:
1. Culture Matters
For all the superficial aspects of culture that seem to have gone global—luxury brands and fast food chains alike can be found everywhere, as can Hollywood movies and people who speak English. But cultural training is still a bedrock of borderless work. Differences in communication styles, accents and cultural know-how all matter, especially in borderless customer service.
If you’re taking your service desk or NOC operations to the borderless world, pay attention to the communications and cultural training the technicians receive. Technical training is standardized; cultural and communications training is not. Look for companies that operate in a borderless manner themselves; cross-cultural fluency is critical to delivering seamless, exceptional service to your clients.
2. Legal Matters
I didn’t want to lead with legal because it’s not much fun to talk about, but it’s one of the most important things to think about when you’re building a borderless team, or an entire borderless company. What recourse do you have should something go awry? Unless the offshore operations are wholly owned subsidiaries of the US company, their insurance will not cover you in the event of an issue. It’s one of the loopholes some providers use to cut costs but opens their customers up to a significant amount of risk.
3. Where They Work Matters
A borderless team, wherever it is located, is still representing your business to your clients. Trust is imperative. You want to reduce your costs, not the trust you have in your team. Some borderless teams work remote from goodness knows where while some others won’t even tell you up front where their people work. Your borderless talent provider should have its teams work in modern, secure offices, with leadership on site and available to you when you need them.
4. Career Matters
It’s easy to forget about career when you’re saving money, but career is a critical component of borderless work. The best talent works as though they are an extension of your team, or better yet as a fully-fledged member of your team. Hiring borderless should not mean sacrificing all the things that matter to you—getting great talent that is just as invested in the success of your business as you are, and just as dedicated to building a career in managed services as your local team. That’s borderless talent you can build with.
The same digital transformation that you help your clients with also provides you with opportunities to gain a competitive advantage by leveraging today’s borderless talent markets. When you’re focused on big picture matters like increasing your profits, attracting bigger clients with 24/7 service, or shoring up your security posture, sometimes the details get lost in the shuffle.
But details do matter—not all borderless providers are alike. Some are downright sketchy. Others, like IT By Design, have been serving the channel for over 20 years, and have all the little details down pat. When all those details that matter are taken care of, the only thing different about borderless talent is the borderless part.
Schedule a conversation with us to learn how borderless talent can drive exceptional success for your MSP business.
