As more and more enterprises are dependent on cloud services like Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace (G Suite) to operate their businesses, it has become essential for Managed Services Providers (MSPs) to teach clients how to handle app outages. From there, MSPs can give care and support to companies, offering a more advanced data protection than what online services can provide.
What’s tricky about an outage is that it occurs at any time and lasts for days, if not addressed easily. Although this may be frustrating for MSPs and their clients, the more bugging concern about a downtime is its effect on employee productivity as well as the efficiency of business processes. The frequency of outages even raises a concern, especially as Microsoft went down four times in a six-week period last fall. Over time, these outages can impact the growth of a business.
Other consequences of downtime include partial or complete service disruption, halting of critical processes, restoration costs, brand damage due to customer dissatisfaction, and federal regulatory penalties (when applicable).
An online services’ outage is beyond an MSP’s control, but it can do a number of things to avoid data loss and offer support to clients. It begins with a clear and concise communication and establishing an effective fix to protect data.
Here’s how Managed Service Providers can help clients whenever an online services outage takes place.
Be the first respondersDowntimes can shoot up a client’s stress levels. As such, MSPs need to be proactive in discussing the circumstances immediately. MSPs can reach out to clients as soon as possible and make them aware of the current state of the services. Clients would likely prefer to hear the news from MSPs instead of getting it from social media.
Be clear and conciseProvide clients with a description of which programs are affected and what the provider (Microsoft or Google) is doing to fix the situation. It's a good idea to send a simple email with all of the information in a list format.
Be organizedMSPs will be bombarded with questions from their clients. Creating a FAQ template that can be easily filled in with information about the outage and suggestions for how to proceed is extremely beneficial. Send it as an email attachment, post it on your website and social media, and keep it updated as new information becomes available.
Be reassuringSimply informing the clients of the situation is not enough. MSPs must also talk with clients that, if they are unable to restore cloud services, they have the resources in place to avoid data loss. Moreover, they have the ability to rapidly transition to offline work while the outage is ongoing.
MSPs that are acting fast and help ease clients' concerns become more valuable partners in the long run. Outages have a way of easily causing confusion, so the more that can be done to assist clients in coordinating through the chaos, the better.
Back up your clients' data in the cloud
It's imperative to prepare for the worst if you want to recover quickly from an online service outage. It's difficult to guarantee that data won't be lost during a cloud crash, and the only way to ensure that clients' data isn't permanently destroyed is to use a dependable third-party backup solution. In the event of an interruption or data loss, MSPs can still give access to any business-critical data necessary to clients.
MSPs, through its advanced tools, are able to back up and restore data easily, quickly, and effectively. Since email is so important to a company's day-to-day activities, being able to conveniently export all email exchanges is valuable to clients. This will allow them to continue remote collaboration without interruption during an outage.
While no company wants to hear the term "downtime," it is inevitable in today's world. Downtime involves the partial or complete loss of facilities. When this happens, cost and damage are not far behind.
With a managed service provider, you can get all the services you need for your IT infrastructure. The following methods can be used by the MSP to ensure smooth operations and downtime:
- Continuous support for critical IT operations
- Data backup and recovery options through data centers and cloud
- Cloud services
- Technology planning tailored to company’s needs
Do you need help in dealing with online services outages or downtimes? We can help you. Our team at ITarian can ensure that your business maintains smooth operations. Contact us today!
