How to Get Your Team Onboard with a Managed Services Partner

Onboarding a managed services provider can introduce plenty of advantages and benefits to how you run and manage your business. However, the change can also bring up new questions from your staff about how things will change and what the new processes will be like.

Fortunately, experienced managed services providers will bring established onboarding practices, tools, and methodologies to streamline the process and help the new partnership hit the ground running. But what else can you do to get your team onboard with a new managed services provider? Here are three key actions you can take.

Explain Your Thinking

A move to a managed services provider can inspire a lot of questions and uncertainties for your team. Questions like “How will my job change?” and “Why now?” may be among them.

Before the questions and uncertainties spread, use this opportunity to share with your team the rationale behind your decision. Talk about how you believe it will ultimately help your organization—and your team—move to the next level. In fact, there are likely several drivers behind your interest in partnering with a managed service provider and many IT leaders see it as an opportunity to better balance IT services growth with tightening budgets.

Be open about your reasons, expectations, goals, and expected improvements with your internal team, as well as with your larger enterprise. In turn, listen to their unique needs, requirements, and concerns to help shape the overall experience.

Involve Them in the Process

When there may be hesitancy about the transition, one key way to overcome it is by including stakeholders from both your IT team and the larger organization. In addition to listening to their concerns and feedback, take into consideration their preferences and constraints around timeframe, scope, and key players to involve in the selection and management process.

In particular, include key representatives in the process of researching, evaluating, and selecting the managed services provider. Document their requirements and questions to fulfill during the selecting process, so their voices are heard. Ultimately, steps like these can help to build buy-in and introduce more of a collective ownership of the new partnership.

Demonstrate What’s in It for Them

In addition to involving key stakeholders in the process, sometimes people need to see concrete data and numbers to understand how a managed services partner can make a difference.

To help, identify which tasks the potential managed services partner will be responsible for and the expected benefits they hope to deliver. Then, identify key metrics, contractual guidelines, security controls, and communication methods that can be used to structure the partnership. 

Next, compare those outcomes with the current processes. For example, demonstrate how system reliability, management, and maintenance can not only be improved and cost less, but these tasks can be taken off their plate so internal experts can take on other more strategic or complex tasks.

Take the Next Step

The decision to partner with a managed services partner can be a real inflection point in the growth of your business, but it is important to communicate with and involve key stakeholders to help facilitate a smooth transition. This can help to not only create a sense of excitement around the change, but emphasize the benefits to the entire organization. 

An industry-leading managed services provider, like VectorUSA, will also bring their tools, processes, and decades of experience to the table to make the transition as smooth as possible. Take the time to ask questions about onboarding and ongoing communications as you are making your decision.

If you are ready to take the next step, request a consultation with our team today!