Leveraging shared values is a powerful way to build a company culture around employee and client success.
Reaching this goal is challenging in an industry known for overpromising and underdelivering quality IT support. Yes, the MSP business is complicated.
Several factors create cultural problems for leadership, tech support, project management, sales, marketing, and human resources at a typical MSP.
- Most MSPs make the same marketing claims. And when businesses get confused, they buy on price because undifferentiated IT support is a commodity. Why should I pay more? Every MSP is highly responsive, fixes problems immediately, and guarantees 99.999% uptime.
- Many MSPs support clients without minimum technology requirements. When MSPs support businesses that don’t maintain IT standards, system performance is erratic, and client response times suffer.
- Even worse, MSP engineers get blamed for everything; and usually leave the company.
Integris avoids this disarray by embracing our market niche and tying four shared values to every operational activity that influences company culture.
Company Culture Value #1 – “People first.”
By putting people first, Integris creates a positive culture for qualified talent to do what they love under circumstances that lead to client success.
Although we’re a technology services provider with a deep bench of technical certifications, this subject matter expertise is useless without ongoing leadership, soft skills, and communications training.
We’re in the people business and hire exceptional individuals who like helping people solve IT problems. To succeed, we listen, simplify technical terms, decode trendy acronyms, and minimize confusing jargon.
Most of our client contacts are non-technical and appreciate this people-friendly approach.
Learn More: Being a People First Company
Company Value #2 – “Do the right thing.”
“Doing the right thing” means building a culture of transparency, consistency, and stewardship.
Integris is a premium MSP, so we can’t be all things to all people. And that’s okay!
We put pricing information in plain view on our website and talk numbers upfront. Pricing is uniform across our client base to promote fairness. Fee standardization also prevents aggressive negotiators from being subsidized by less aggressive negotiators.
Regulation and compliance expertise is foundational to our IT practice. So we seek like-minded clients with high operating maturity, assets to protect, and the budget to hedge against risk.
We’re fortified with SOC 2 Type II Compliance certification and heavily insured, which means you’re partnering with an MSP who invests in protecting you.
Learn More: Benefits of SOC 2 Type II Compliance
Company Culture Value #3 – “Get it done right.”
“Getting it done right” is our cultural mantra for focusing on the small details.
Small client misses make or break client relationships—every encounter matters. Missing minute details on a discovery call with a prospect is equally damaging.
Integris follows a proven IT process that aligns standards, budgets, and best practices to maximize client performance and reduce risk. The success of this mission requires the client to adopt Responsible IT Architecture as a condition for partnership.
Every company needs IT controls and products for baseline cybersecurity and productivity, regardless of which MSP they hire.
We’re transparent about this, even if it scares a prospect away. Getting it done right is a two-way agreement.
Learn More: 10 Steps to Navigate Security & Compliance
Company Value #4 – “Own it.”
“Own it” is our cultural commitment to accountability.
Every Integris employee follows the principles of Traction EOS, tracked with individual KPIs using:
- ConnectWise for IT system management, help desk, procurement, cybersecurity, and compliance administration
- HubSpot for sales and marketing
- Teamwork for project management
We live by the numbers, guided by SMART goals, recording all activities, tasks, and rocks.
For example, the tech support team logs into ConnectWise Professional Services Automation every morning, where they:
- Open and respond to client tickets
- Track time expenditures
- Document each detail from start to resolution
Since their goal is to dazzle clients while maximizing resource utilization, their KPIs measure client satisfaction, and ticket volume. If their resource utilization rate is 70% and their client satisfaction scores are high, management knows they’re “owning it.” And ready for a raise.
On the other hand, if they hit 80% (which is unusual) and their client satisfaction scores are lower, they are probably running hot and making mistakes. With this data, leadership can provide additional training or add another member to the support team.
Make it easy for your team to embrace company culture.
Integris has four company values: short, impactful, and easy to digest.
While I’ve worked for values-based companies for as long as I can remember, I don’t recall all of the company values from my previous employer.
How is this possible? Their values were rock solid. Here’s the issue: all six of them included fifty words of bullet points. It was overwhelming.
I embraced our culture wholeheartedly. However, I didn’t share the values very often because they were too complex to transmit.
Make it simple, and you’ll reap the rewards. Have any questions?
Schedule a free consultation to learn more about selecting an MSP with a healthy company culture.
