By Michael Claxton
No two businesses are the same, so why is it that most Managed IT Service providers see their needs as being identical?
This is the question that I asked myself back in 2003, when Daniel Avinir and I were launching our new company, then known as Attract IT. Our aim was to simplify the way that businesses viewed their IT. And to provide exceptional customer service, of course.
We would take the complicated aspects of technology planning, implementation, management and refinement on ourselves, while our clients could focus their efforts on their core business.
It’s been two decades since Attract IT opened its doors, and a lot has changed. The name for one thing – we rebranded as Solid Systems in 2010. But though the world has become steadily more digital, and the way that people work has shifted significantly, particularly over the past two years, our vision has remained just as clear.
We want to enable every human to live their best possible life. We have this goal for the humans in our own business, and in our clients’ businesses as well.
No one wants to be stuck behind a desk staring at a computer screen, tearing their hair out because their servers are running slowly. Or because they forgot to save a file and their computer’s just thrown them a blue screen of death. Or because they’ve just clicked on a link in an email that they should never have trusted. That is absolutely no one’s vision of their ‘best possible life’. And it isn’t necessary.
But what does ‘living your best possible life’ involve?
As a business, it means making profit. It means seeing a measurable outcome for every cent that you spend on technology. And that’s another of our goals as a business. To take on the risk that adopting new technologies involves. Because there is risk in literally everything a business does, and we want to reduce that risk and take as much of it on ourselves as possible.
Why? Well, that’s where the living your best life comes in. Because as an owner of a business, as a CEO, a manager, an employee, every second that you spend worrying about IT is a second wasted. And when time is your most valuable asset, we want to make sure that your time is being spent focusing on the areas of your business that mean the most, so that you have more of it at the end of the day to spend with the people that mean the most to you.
That’s why businesses operate. They are run by people. By humans. Who want to make money so that they can afford to do the things they love doing, with the people they love. That is living your best life. And the technologies that help you reach that point, that’s where we come in.
As a Microsoft Gold Partner, Solid Systems we are dedicated to not only helping businesses to adopt Microsoft’s Cloud technologies, but to put them to the best possible use as well. We’ve seen first-hand the impact that Microsoft’s Modern Workplace tools can have on businesses. We’ve seen the impact that it’s had on our own business, our teams’ productivity and efficiency.
Being a Microsoft Gold Partner to us isn’t about lip-service. We see the value in Microsoft’s range of products, and we help other businesses to see that same value.
This is yet another way that we set ourselves apart. We don’t see ourselves as your average Managed Services provider. We’ve been in the industry long enough to see what most MSPs offer, and for the most part it’s quick fixes and troubleshooting. And while that’s fine for some businesses, it’s not what we’re about. Don’t get me wrong. We do still offer exceptional customer service and IT support. In fact, we it’s one of the areas that our clients repeatedly compliment us on. But that’s not where the most value in our offerings lie.
We focus on planning and strategy. On ensuring that your technologies are not just working well right now, but are going to help you meet your goals in future as well. We want to see businesses investing in solutions that will see them growing from strength to strength. And that’s where most MSPs fall short.
They are all about solving the immediate problems, but not about finding the root causes behind those issues, and putting future-proofing plans in place for advancing a business’ solutions.
Take, for example, some of our clients in the finance sector. We often have accounting firms, investment companies and financial consultants approaching us, wanting us to take over the management of their on-premises servers. Or wanting to find a company that they can rely on for the IT support needs. Or, more recently, wanting to make sure that their data is being stored in compliance with the POPI Act.
And while these are certainly things that we can manage and handle and do, we want to go beyond just meeting their immediate needs. We talk to them about cloud solutions that will evolve their business. We plan and outline the technologies that will both help them right now, and see them thriving in future.
This is the future of Managed IT Services. And we like to think that we are at the forefront of it.
We’ve been in business for 21 years already, and we can’t wait to see what the next 21 will bring.
If you want to see for yourself the way that Solid Systems sets themselves apart, the services that they have to offer, and the solutions that they specialise in, visit their website at https://www.solidsystems.co.za/solid-managed-it-services.
More about Michael:
Michael Claxton is a father of two, and a mentor of many. His calm focus makes him a natural leader, both in and out the office, and he has a unique skill in nurturing leadership qualities in others as well. But most of all, he understands the true value of time and the ways that technology can optimise efficiency within a business and see humans making the most of the time available to them, both in terms of productivity, and in terms of personal growth.
