COVID-19: How MSPs are Helping Clients
Overcome Vertical Impacts

At Axcient’s Facebook Live Event on April 29, 2020, we discuss the impact of COVID-19 on the verticals serviced by two of our partners. Join Joe Johnston from Integrated Solutions, Luis Alvarez from Alvarez Technology Group, Adam Preeo, Axcient’s Product Owner, and our moderator and Director of Customer Success, Corey Banner, to see how innovation, long-term thinking, and community involvement is helping specific verticals adjust to the “new abnormal.”

With clients in healthcare, agriculture, hospitality, manufacturing, and education, this FB Live provides some interesting insights and takeaways to use now, and in the future. Get an overview of the conversation below or watch the recording.

Follow Axcient for weekly Live Events, see how other MSPs are navigating this unpredictable time, get best-practices for success, and stay up-to-date on the latest in the IT Channel.

Meet our guests!

Joe Johnston is a Technology Solutions Architect at Integrated Solutions in Birmingham, Alabama. Integrated Solutions has been in business for 25 years and primarily services the medical industry, specifically, medical clinics with anywhere from two to 25 doctors. The remaining 35% of their clients are in professional services, including law and design firms, and manufacturers specializing in engineering and electrical design.

Luis Alvarez is the CEO of Alvarez Technology Group (ATG), serving small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in Central California. For 20 years, ATG has provided IT solutions primarily to the agriculture industry, agribusiness, and related industries, including suppliers and manufactures of agriculture equipment. Additionally, ATG works with SMBs in professional services, healthcare and hospitality.

Focus on the future.

The immediate response required by COVID-19 safety measures hit industries differently. While hospitality came to a holt with shelter-in-place orders, agriculture is booming due to the influx of at-home chefs. With the initial shock now fading into normal, these MSPs are reflecting on what they’ve learned, what needs to change in the future, and getting creative in how services will be delivered, depending on what that future looks like.

The initial spike in VPN and hardware requests that Joe experienced, was not the best solution for all of his clients. He thought long-term about the amount of access really needed for each employee, device procurement, setup, and management, as well as the stress on the system, security policies, and necessary steps to reverse everything once people returned to the office, and it just didn’t make sense. Instead, he took advantage of our free Anchor licenses and says it, “has been a godsend solution for a lot of people… It’s bullet-proof.”

From crisis comes innovation and opportunity.

Luis and ATG are thinking positively about work from home policies for the future. Before we were forced to work at home, companies doubted employees’ ability to stay focused, maintain output and show up professionally. Now we’re seeing employees are indeed working, maybe even too much, and are being reminded to take breaks and check-in with their mental health. This could lead to more open policies about hybrid, or full-time work from home policies since remote environments are established and productivity is proven.

Another exciting innovation from ATG comes from their municipality clients. City governments were struggling to deliver the internet connectivity required for students to participate in their new online classrooms. ATG worked work local broadband providers and created a wifi hot spot at a park where students can now learn outside, or on a rainy day, in the car.

Staying connected while staying at home.

Acknowledging the toll a quarantined environment can take on people used to office socializing, Integrated Solutions created an opportunity for employees to engage at a distance. In an effort to relieve depression, social anxiety and other mental health issues related to isolation, Integrated Solutions engaged with local charitable communities to give back. So far, they’ve put in almost 400 hours of work sewing masks and delivering food. Joe says it’s important to make sure your employees are happy and that means understanding change isn’t easy for everyone. It’s difficult to spend eight full hours behind a desk – especially in medical billing and coding.

Luis spoke to the strengths of their partnership with clients as a business enablement specialist, rather than just an tech service provider. He says, “The pandemic wasn’t just an exercise in tech and relocation, but in altering business processes and helping our clients figure out how to do business in this new abnormal.” Since much of ATG’s tech team were used to working from home, they compiled their best tips and tools and presented them to clients to help make the transition easier. While it is their job to provide solutions, it’s more important for clients to understand how the solutions can be used to maximize success in their current environment.

Don’t forget to follow Axcient on Facebook to find out about our next Facebook Live Event and if you’d like to join our Community Chat – where MSPs can share ideas and help each other – reach out and we’ll send you a link so you can participate.

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About the Author: 
Liz Mellem // Technical Copywriter, Axcient

Liz Mellem has been a freelance copywriter for over three years in the technology, education, and alternative medicine industries. She produces content, sales collateral, and email marketing campaigns that contribute to digital marketing strategies for sales growth and brand awareness. In her free time, Liz enjoys reading, exploring Austin, and Netflix with her cat, Harlem.