Trust is the cornerstone of any successful relationship, business or otherwise. In the world of managed service providers (MSPs), in which small- to medium-sized business (SMB) clients entrust their critical IT infrastructure and data to an outside IT organization, building trust is not just important; it’s essential. In this blog, we\u2019ll explore the significance of a trust program in the context of MSPs and how it can help you save money, maintain relationships, and grow your business.<\/p>\n
With the ever-increasing velocity of cyberattacks, and regulatory changes and news coverage around them, customer expectations for trust around security, privacy, and compliance are higher than ever before. And these expectations are likely to continue rising. At their heart, a customer\u2019s expectations around cybersecurity are about the customer\u2019s ability to trust that their service provider will protect and guide them. Put another way, trust<\/a> means that your clients believe you\u2019re committed to acting in their best interest.<\/p>\n A trust program is a set of principles specifically built to earn trust from customers that you operate ethically and will treat their information with due respect. It starts at the top with the C-suite and their commitment to make decisions with a focus on genuine care for customers. This, in turn, will instill confidence in your clients that your organization is acting with competence and intent<\/a> to deliver on its promises.<\/p>\n With MSPs, building, implementing, and maintaining a trust program is especially important because you\u2019re not just dealing with clients, but also their end customers and all their data.<\/p>\n In the absence of building an adequate trust program, you\u2019ll have to go through expensive and inefficient ways of maintaining peace of mind for your clients, such as security questionnaires, contractual requirements, and site audits. And if you have insufficient trust<\/a>, your clients can easily switch to a competing MSP.<\/p>\n Customers are not only looking for the partner with the best technical ability; they want a partner who cares about the things the customer cares about and will reflect those priorities in how they do business. Proactively and programmatically demonstrating how you do business, protect your customers, and align to the outcomes that matter to them can not only help win customers you otherwise might lose, but it can also reduce time in the sales process, by reducing the requests from potential clients who want assurance that their services meet the expected standards.<\/p>\n Without a solid foundation of trust, meeting these expectations can become an arduous task. You\u2019ll have to hire additional staff and resources just to prove you\u2019re doing right by your clients. This approach is not only costly but also inefficient.<\/p>\n Trust is not something that companies inherently possess; it must be earned. To build trust, MSPs must demonstrate a commitment to the principles and actions that matter to their clients.<\/p>\n MSPs can follow the three core principles below, which can be implemented in any order. While these principles are not binary and MSPs can operate within them along a spectrum, they serve as guiding stars for trust-building.<\/p>\n One key aspect of trust-building is the \u201csay:do\u201d ratio. This concept is deceptively simple: When you say you will do something, you follow through with it. If, for some reason, you cannot meet a commitment, you communicate proactively with your clients, explaining why and what steps you\u2019re taking to rectify the situation.<\/p>\n Conversely, when you are going to make a change, you should communicate this to your stakeholders in advance, avoiding \u201chappy surprises.\u201d The key is that you want to establish a reputation for being a partner that is predictable, consistent, and forecastable. That\u2019s the type of partnership that customers can rely on and build their business around.<\/p>\n Imagine you\u2019ve accidentally broken something that was important to your significant other \u2014 let\u2019s say, a figurine that was a family heirloom. You might be able to get away with it, hide the evidence, and blame the cat, but in a relationship in which trust is key, it\u2019s always better to just come out with it and say what happened. Your partner will eventually discover the problem and over time figure out that you\u2019re not willing to admit your mistakes, which makes them wonder what else you\u2019re not honest about. By ensuring that bad news comes from you before they can figure it out on their own, you build trust that they don\u2019t need to\u202fkeep looking for other hidden problems.<\/p>\n The same concept applies to your clients. Be honest and forthcoming with information, whether it\u2019s good or bad news \u2014 even if it\u2019s something you could reasonably get away with not telling them. By willingly engaging in difficult conversations and addressing challenges head-on, you establish a reputation for openness and trustworthiness.<\/p>\n Perhaps the most important of these principles is the concept of fostering aligned incentives. This means ensuring that your business incentives are closely tied with your clients\u2019 success \u2014 it\u2019s the concept of \u201cwe win when you win.\u201d<\/p>\n This tenet of trust is so important because it helps eliminate friction in the sales process. Potential clients may question the motives of those selling their services, and disagreements may arise about how much liability each party is willing to assume. By aligning your incentives so that continued MSP success is tied to measurably increased client efficiency and security, for example, this removes concerns about your intentions and strengthens the partnership. Everyone wants to enter relationships in which they know the partner is rooting for their success.<\/p>\n Implementing a trust program is not the responsibility of a single department or leader within an MSP. It requires cross-functional commitment from nearly every department within the organization \u2014 including, most of all, the C-suite \u2014 to fully align on priorities. Every aspect of the organization plays a role in trust-building.<\/p>\n There are a number of tactics you can employ within the previously discussed pillars of a trust program, detailed below.<\/p>\n A simple yet powerful way to set expectations is through maintenance windows. This is a time frame commitment for any disruptive changes that you share with your clients so they can plan accordingly. Striking the right balance is crucial; failing to use the window can inconvenience clients, while constant \u201cemergency\u201d fixes outside of it erode trust.<\/p>\n Some leaders obscure the details of their teams\u2019 activities, whether due to lack of planning or a desire for flexibility. But this lack of transparency leaves stakeholders uncertain about what to expect. MSPs, and particularly their security teams, must open up about their operations to build trust. Utilizing status pages, public root-cause analysis for issues, and making security and privacy pages available and easily understandable are some of the ways in which you can increase transparency.<\/p>\n Presenting and following product roadmaps are a vital component of achieving transparency and a 1:1 \u201csay:do\u201d ratio. Sharing major milestones and changes expected over the next year allows clients to prepare for these developments. Overcommitting or under committing can both harm trust, so finding the right balance is essential. Then, when you miss on a commitment (as happens to everyone eventually), honestly talk about the miss. Even misses can help build trust, when properly communicated.<\/p>\n Aligning incentives is easier said than done, but there are some effective tactics you can take. One way is to \u201csolve for the customer,\u201d<\/a> meaning you place the focus more on keeping current customers happy by solving their problems rather than hitting sales quotas for netting new clients. You can achieve this by giving both sales and service teams similar revenue retention bonuses so that internally, your team is working toward the same goal of customer satisfaction.<\/p>\n Because getting new customers can cost five times as much<\/a> as maintaining existing client relationships, this is just smart business. And when a customer hears that you\u2019re incentivizing your employees to keep them happy, they know that you aren\u2019t taking them for granted.<\/p>\n To build trust in your MSP, it should go without saying that you should also be using and implementing the best in cybersecurity<\/a>. Take steps<\/a> such as creating a solid security stack, staying on top of cybersecurity education, and standardizing your processes so your clients are confident in your ability to handle your own cybersecurity as well as theirs.<\/p>\n Not every organization may find it necessary to establish a trust program, but for MSPs, it makes perfect sense. SMBs, in particular, seek MSPs to outsource security and privacy decisions because they lack the expertise to navigate these complex landscapes themselves.<\/p>\n MSPs often find themselves having to educate clients about what \u201cgood\u201d looks like in terms of security and privacy. Over time, this education contributes to building trust. Aligned incentives play a crucial role here, as clients appreciate the sense that the partnership benefits both parties equally.<\/p>\n Ultimately, boards and officers are not primarily seeking the strongest security program from their MSP. Instead, they aim for more business success by reducing regulatory implications and increasing brand awareness. Achieving this success hinges on building trust, which includes having a robust and reliable security function within the organization.<\/p>\n When a trust program is implemented consistently and executed well, it offers:<\/p>\nWhy is trust so important?<\/h2>\n
How to build trust<\/h2>\n
The \u201csay:do\u201d ratio<\/h3>\n
Proactive transparency<\/h3>\n
Aligned incentives<\/h3>\n
How to implement a trust program<\/h2>\n
Use maintenance windows<\/h3>\n
Don\u2019t hide the details<\/h3>\n
Follow product roadmaps<\/h3>\n
Solve for the customer and provide satisfaction incentives<\/h3>\n
Leverage the best in cybersecurity solutions<\/h3>\n
MSPs and trust: a natural fit<\/h2>\n
What a well-implemented trust program provides<\/h2>\n
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Our approach to trust<\/h2>\n