Today on the show I’m joined by Carolyn April, senior director of industry analysis at CompTIA.
CompTIA has just released a new report on operational efficiency in the channel and we’ll be looking at some takeaways from the research, such as who is operating most efficiently and some of the biggest problem areas where MSPs are leaking efficiency and profit.
Listen here
What’s Going On
[01:04] Richard is at home in England and Karl—lucky guy—is in Maui, Hawaii, getting ready to do his roadshow this afternoon.
[01:49] Richard has met three of his heroes over the last two weeks.
[01:57] He sat down with David Allen, the author of Getting Things Done. They had dinner in Amsterdam.
[02:24] GTD is a popular productivity methodology among IT service providers.
[03:02] GTD was life-changing for Richard.
[03:13] It’s a book Karl keeps multiples copies of on his bookshelf and gives away.
[03:46] GTD is a movement more than a book now.
[04:07] GTD has a specific system for organizing and processing emails.
[04:38] One of Karl’s rules of life is slow down to get more done. Processing emails immediately uses a small amount of time upfront and saves a great deal of time down the road.
[05:18] The principles of GTD helped Karl and one of his technicians create a more efficient process for tickets.
[06:04] GTD has enabled Richard to boil down big projects into next steps.
[06:38] It’s tremendously helpful to understand your next step in a big project.
[07:16] Richard also had dinner with another hero of his, a woman named Grace Marshall who is the author of How to Be Really Productive.
[07:40] Grace’s advice takes GTD to the next level.
[07:50] Richard also had fun recording a live episode in New Orleans with his tech hero, Karl.
[08:23] Office Depot bought IT service company CompuCom.
[08:55] Office Depot already has 6,000 technicians. Now they’re bringing CompuCom technology into their stores to really go after the managed services business.
[09:26] We’ve seen a merger like this before in the UK, but it never took off.
[10:19] Office Depot already has relationships with thousands of businesses. They’re going to deliver a brand that includes fixing your network.
[10:58] As we move more to cloud services, a company like this can help businesses move to the cloud.
[12:57] A.I. researchers are making more than $1 million, even at non-profits.
[13:30] If you have any kids going into college, have them learn A.I.! The technology is becoming so vital.
[14:04] An OpenAI researcher recruited from Google made over $1.9 million in salary and signing bonuses.
Interview with Carolyn April – The Biggest Operational Efficiency Leaks for MSPs
[17:13] CompTIA offers many industry reports, a podcast, and tons of resources. Carolyn April is here to talk about a new report about operational efficiency in the channel.
[18:16] Carolyn has been at CompTIA for eight years now. A couple of years ago they added an operational efficiency drill down to their questionnaire. This year they did a dedicated study.
[19:30] There’s more momentum moving into different business models. It’s important to be running your business, and the new business you may be thinking about getting into as optimally as possible.
[19:50] There has been a high degree of business transformation in the channel.
[20:15] More attention is being paid to things like calculating customer acquisition cost, automating processes, and improving profitability.
[22:07] The biggest margin leaks are pricing pressure and inefficient sales processes.
[23:16] Inefficient service delivery and inefficient accounting are also issues.
[23:30] There are quite a few MSPs that that have not made the transition to using commercial software.
[24:15] The main reason is pricing. Many MSPs are small businesses, even micro-businesses. They don’t realize how much automation will save them.
[25:25] More education is needed around the benefits of automation to raise awareness.
[26:27] MSPs with a high level of business transformation run more efficiently.
[27:53] Around a quarter of the companies are in low business transformation modes.
[28:32] There are huge opportunities for MSPs who are willing to focus on efficiencies.
Links from this episode
What’s Going On
- Getting Things Done, by David Allen
- How to Be Really Productive, by Grace Marshall
- Office Depot, Inc. Announces Completion of CompuCom Acquisition and Transformation Towards a Services-Driven Company in Conjunction with Third Quarter 2017 Results
- CompuCom website
- A.I. Researchers Are Making More Than $1 Million, Even at a Nonprofit
The Hosts
- Karl Palachuk: Small Biz Thoughts
- Karl Palachuk (Twitter)
- Richard Tubb: Tubblog
- Richard Tubb (Twitter)
Interview
- Carolyn April (LinkedIn)
- Carolyn April (Twitter)
- CompTIA report: Operational Efficiency in the Channel
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