Building a small business is incredibly exciting, rewarding and, at times, a little bit scary. There is so much involved, and it just gets more complicated the more you grow. After 16 years developing Daystar, I have learned a lot… yet there is always more to learn.
In my role, I talk to a lot of businesses. When we sit down to meet, I work hard to listen to more than what’s being said. I listen to understand. And what I am hearing is good!
Traditionally, service providers, whether technology or otherwise, made several assumptions about their clients –
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That their services are too complicated for the average business user to understand… so….
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Bombard them with an exhaustive list of technical jargon the client won’t understand but positions the provider as the trusted expert.
By no means am I suggesting that the list was deceptive. On the contrary, those services are often the backbone of a good technology infrastructure. And in the past, that was good enough. But businesses change, and so should the services that support them.
With mobile devices, touch screens, and social networking, technology has become so much more personal. And this rise in personal usage greatly impacts the business technology environment. People have become smart users – they understand what technology can do and the value it brings. And they have brought this knowledge into the workplace, spurring on initiatives like Bring Your Own Device, Big Data, and the Internet of Things. These advances are not instigated by technology; they originate by people using technology to do more.
Now, businesses are pushing their providers to do more too. It’s not about whether I can install a firewall or configure your antivirus. Of course, I can do that! It’s more about how do I help reduce your risk of data loss and protect you. Rather than talking about software updates and server patches, we discuss how to keep your employees productive.
When I sit down to talk to a business today, I am not talking about a menu of technology service offerings. Yes, we are a managed services provider. Yes, we proactively support your technology. Yes, we do data backup, network maintenance, network security, server installs, email migrations, and on and on!
No, now we talk about your goals and challenges, and strategize on how technology can help. We’re not stuck in the muck of bits and bytes; we focus on the end result and a positive impact for your business. We align technology with your business to make sure it serves your needs, and doesn’t create more issues.
Thanks for taking the time to read my ramblings. Launching a new website always causes me to reflect on the changes we’ve undergone, and these past couple of years have seen tremendous change. We truly embrace it, and hope to help others in their journey as well.
It really is an exciting time to be running a business!
