Managed Services is the new buzz word in our industry. Everyone with any sense in the computer world is trying to make the transition from break-fix to managed services or risk not having a client base within the next five years. But what sets us apart? What makes "managed-services" something your company needs, and what does it offer you that's worth the price?

I can only speak for Twisted Networx when I answer these questions, so bear that in mind. This doesn't necessarily represent the offerings at all managed services providers.

The Relationship

The single most important factor that we try to make clear up front: we are not your "computer guy." We are a team of industry professionals, consultants, and engineers you employ to prevent problems. Our job is to be your trusted adviser within the realm of what we know.

If you are considering impending legal action, you don't call a "law guy." You call a professional consultant; an attorney. The same holds true for our industry. "Computer guys" are a dime-a-dozen, are usually self-taught, and sometimes do a good job at resolving problems.

As a team of professionals, Twisted Networx is accredited within our industries. We maintain licenses in our fields, just like other professional industries. We undergo constant continuing education every year to maintain our accreditation.We have to; we work in the single fastest-evolving industry in the history of the industrialized world.  Just like medical and legal professionals, our services are insured against our industry version of malpractice.  All these things are important to understand at the beginning of our relationship. We don't want you to call us to be your fix it guy. We want you to call us when you're ready to join into a relationship with someone who can advise your business on how to prevent problems in the first place, and to make your business run more smoothly and more cost effectively.

What We Don't Do:

From the very first meeting, our clients recognize a difference between Twisted Networx and every other company they've ever dealt with. We have no intention of walking in, cracking open your computers, and starting work. How would you feel if your attorney walked in and, without knowing your situation, started telling you how they were going to fix your problems? You wouldn't expect that  from a professional in that field, so why would you expect it from us?

We get to know our client. We need to know on day one if your company can benefit from our services. If we have nothing to offer you that will improve your business long-term, then both you and Twisted Networx are better off if we establish that quickly in the beginning. Otherwise, neither of us is happy in the relationship.

When I have the opportunity to sit down with a new prospect, it always seems to surprise them that I don't start in with "Here's how we can help" and "here is a great service you need" conversation. Why? How do we know what you need if we haven't talked to you? We also don't schedule meeting without an executive officer from the prospect company present, ever. Well, that's just silly you say. Not at all. I don't need to impress upon the person who writes the checks how we can help. Our mission is to find out what the person that signs the checks considers important from us. We don't send the repair technician to handle business negotiations. We send executives. We are business professionals who run our own businesses. We understand the pressures other business owners and manager's deal with on a daily basis because we deal with them too.

Tell Us Your Nightmares

I like to ask two questions to all of our new prospects, and if you ever sit across from me in a room, you'll hear these exact same two questions.

  1. Tell me everything that keeps you awake and unable to sleep at night.
  2. Tell me where you want your business to be in one, three, and five years; technologically.

The answers to these two questions tell me all I need to know to service you better than anyone else. I'm not meeting with you to sell you new parts and repair services. I'm meeting with you to discover how my company can make your company's executives happier and help them meet their goals. Once I know what those goals are, I know if we can help achieve them.

The reason we can't have this discussion without the executive decision makers is simple. Unless you happen to sleep in the same bed with them, then you don't know the answer to those questions.  Employees, managers, and friends think they know what makes their CEO stay awake at night, but it's rarely true. The person who does is likely the one employed directly under the executive, which is why they have their job. They are the only ones that can accurately predict some of those answers, some of the time. The way we tell the difference? How long they hesitate to answer.

There is almost never any hesitation from the owner after they get past the first initial confusion at the question.  Every business owner has problems that keep him or her awake at night and probably have been for years. If Twisted Networx can make those problems go away, we will become your first and last resource for IT-related business issues.

Why Do We Care?

Let me use a comparison to make it more sensible. Rather than being your down-the-street podiatrist who has one specialty and one set of skills, we are more closely designed like John-Hopkins. By that I mean we have amazing resources, all the best tools, and a variety of each we can implement depending on your needs. If we need a specialist in something, we'll go get you one. That's our job.

This level of service brings with it a distinction that, yet again, can't be fully realized by those who aren't signing the checks. Guess what? We aren't cheap!  We certainly are affordable, and most of the time even less costly than the competition in your area, but not because we try to be. We charge what we need to make a profit, and to enjoy what we do.

As the owner of Twisted Networx, at the time of this blog post, I'm 35 years old. I've got one child about to go to college, one half that age, a wife that had a taste for nice wine, and I really want that new truck I've been saving for. I've got a business just like yours that has expenses, and that needs to retain a 30% profit spread for future growth, and staff to care for and keep happy. Sound familiar? I bet it does. I only tell you that last part to make the rest make sense; because I too have things that keep me up at night.

Will I be able to afford my kid's college? How will I improve profits enough in the next quarter to justify that new $30,000 fusion splicer I need to replace or get that new truck outfitted with tools and on the road. I told you before.. I'm a business owner. I can relate!

Our core business model is to do two simple things; make our clients happy and make a profit. Doing the first correctly is directly proportional to the second, and inversely so.

So why be expensive? I didn't say we were. I said we're not cheap. There's a difference. Let me give you an example of a client we took on about two years ago.

A medical clinic client of ours has 5 doctors, 10 supporting specialists, and a support staff of about 50 to keep those 15 people working efficiently. When we were called in they had headache after headache; HIPAA compliance, Medicaid problems, poor record-keeping, and just plain bad computer practices that were inefficient and costing them thousands of dollars in lost payroll productivity. They honestly wanted to do better, but were failing in every way possible. They're doctors. What do they know about technology compliance? Nothing, nor should they. They know how to fix people. We know how to fix businesses.

If I simply told you that they pay us about $5,000 a month every month of the year, you'd think I was absolutely nuts! Who would charge that to someone and think it's fair, right? Five-grand a month for IT services? That sound crazy to you?

Let's break it down, using them as an example, and these are approximate figures for their business, not exact ones:

  • $35,000 a year to maintain ONE quasi-skilled "IT guy" to work inside the practice, who can only be at one place at one time and can only work so many hours in a day. ($35,000 a year does NOT buy a professional IT engineer)
  • $4,000 a month in payroll expenses divided among the 50 person staff who was spending WAY too much time doing things the hard way.
  • 10-15 hours per week taken away from the doctors themselves dealing with HIPAA and Medicaid concerns at whatever they think their hourly salary is worth.
  • Various legal and statutory concerns weighing on their mind because they KNOW they aren't compliant on things they need to be, but they have no idea what those things are.
  • $500 or so per week in accounting charges that could be reclaimed by teaching the staff how to better enter information into their billing system.
  • $11,000 a year to their ERP provider for the service.
  • Email and data-retention policies that aren't enforced, resulting in approximately $200,000 of liability.
  • $2000-$4000/month in lost medicaid reimbursements due to poor paperwork and improper filing.
  • Absolutely ZERO readiness if HIPAA or CARF or any other accreditation agency walked into audit them

Take a moment to add that up. This practice is paying somewhere between $140,000 to $200,000 a year to do business like they were. Now they're paying $60,000 a year and all those problems have gone away. They're fully accredited and ready for an audit anytime the agencies want to come. They even ask to be audited now because they pass with flying colors every time they get one.

To the person that pays their bills, they aren't paying us $60,000 a year. Instead, they're continually saving $80,000 to $120,000 per year. That's the entire salary of another doctor they can now bring on with no more overhead costs than they had two years ago.

Do you see why we want to deal with the business owner? Our job, our mission if you will, is to find the pain points in your business and make them go away. Once we do that and show you how to cut costs or improve the effectiveness of the costs you're already paying to make them reflect in your ROI, THEN you're ready do business with a trusted adviser. When you can go home at night and sleep comfortably, knowing that the technological responsibilities of your business are in good hands that you KNOW you can trust, THEN we know we've got a client for life.

 How We Do It

I'll skip the details and give you the bones of what you want to know. After all, the "how" has to remain slightly secret or we'd be telling our competition exactly what to do to succeed against us in our own market.

We listen: to the issues that you feel are important to you.

We watch: to see how your company performs daily. Yes, we literally want to take a day or so and walk around and get to know your staff, peer over their shoulder, see how they do things and why they do them the way they do.

We analyze: What equipment are you using? Why did you choose that brand, model, etc? What features do you get from it? What do you wish was better about it?

We document: We make notes on every single aspect of your business that we think we can help with, every aspect you tell us you need assistance with, and then we look for things you haven't thought of yet.

We compare: Are there solutions you're using that could be replaced with less costly or maybe more efficient pieces of equipment or software? What impact would that have on your productivity and business expenses? Is there a better multi-function copier that could cut your printing time by 40%? Is there a grant or tax credit in your industry for going paperless? If so, let's save you some more money! Can we make suggestions on computer practices to save time? Can we implement solutions to decrease repeat tasks? Can we make your staff more productive with their time on the computer and therefore free them up to do other things that generate a profit for your business?

We strategize:  Oh yes. We do this a lot! We  run business scenarios, customer scenarios, practice scenarios, and anything else we can think of and put it up against our proposed solutions to discover if any of them fail. If a particular idea costs less in money but more in time or usage, we replace it with something else and start the entire process over again. We do the best we can to put ourselves in your shoes and to determine how you would react if something happened.  If it's a negative, we toss the idea and start again.

We deliver: When it's done, we meet again with the executives and show you how we can help meet the needs you've asked us to meet. We do NOT come in and tell you what you NEED to do. We never deliver ultimatums. You're the customer and you need choices. We deliver the best two or three options for every aspect of improving or maintaining the technology aspects of your business.

We remain fluid: Even after you have decided to work with Twisted Networx, thing will change. Businesses are evolving and struggling today. They are constantly changing to adapt to pressures in their industry. We flow with you. We don't lock you into anything.

We win: If we perform our job to your expectation you will continue to call us forever to handle your needs. If we are failing you, then we deserve to be replaced with someone who can serve you better. If your owners and staff feel like they've picked a winner with Twisted Networx, then we can't be replaced by anyone! The good news: We've never been replaced!

 

This is managed services.
This is what we do.
This is why we help businesses succeed!

I should never,ever, post this publicly, but we say it in-house all the time when no one is around to listen. When people ask us what we do, we always want to shout with pride: "We take the  SH out of IT."

What's Next?

In conclusion, if you're ready to transition your company from calling the fire department every time something catches fire and would instead just like to prevent the fires in the first place,  click on the Contact Us link and get in touch. We're ready to help. We've got a lot of talking to do, a lot of getting to know each other, and a lot of paperwork to get started. Don't wait until one more emergency strikes your company before you decide to change your plan.