Managed service providers are an important element of many organisations’ digital efforts, especially for those with limited staff and other resources. But are you sure you’re getting the maximum value from your investment? Does your MSP properly understand your business and business goals? Have you given enough information and taken the right steps to ensure that they do?

According to Jorge Silveira, the Australia-based group chief digital health officer with global healthcare firm Virtus, many organisations are not careful enough to set out the goals and terms of engagement at the outset, leaving them vulnerable to disappointment down the track. He relates the story of a global service provider which secured a large and lucrative contract with a previous employer of which he was the senior member of the tech team.

After a short period of time, key performance indicators (KPIs) started being missed, while the client become harder and harder to contact and when they did respond, it was increasingly junior and/or inexperienced staff the picked up the phone.

In effect, the MSPs original ‘dream team’ brought in to broker the sale had suddenly gone AWOL. It later transpired that in between that period and the contract signing, the MSP won a much larger contract in another Australian territory. And after that, all of the early good will, earnest promises and best intentions went out the window.