‘So before you all start your first climb, we’ll give you a briefing of what to expect and show you how to put on your safety harness and use the ropes.’

You hear this this announcement before your first mountain climb and… reluctantly attend? feel relieved because you have some questions and want to be sure of everything before you start out?

Which one are you at the briefing session, the reluctant attendee or relieved attendee? I know which I would be. (This topic just came to mind because a friend is away overseas on a climbing expedition, it’s not something I am interested in doing but if I did, I sure would want to know I was as safe as possible!).

Now how do you regard your agreements? And how do you think your customers regard them?

Why Some Managed Service Providers regard agreements as a Waste of Time (and why they need to start seeing agreements as helpful to their business)

Suppliers can assume that customers will have the same understanding of an offering and the same expectations as they, the supplier, does. This is an unwise (and potentially costly) assumption.

Many customers, and importantly their legal teams, are new to managed services. They have far less understanding of what you are offering than what you might realize. We get asked to help upskill inhouse counsel and IT teams on what to expect in managed services agreements. It’s quite an eye-opener when you start to understand the limits of their knowledge and experience in these areas.

The customer, the people whose job it is to review, compare and sign up to managed services offerings, need clear guidance from managed service providers on what to expect. The agreement you provide should match what you tell them and provide additional details. The agreement needs to give your customer a ‘briefing’ on what to expect and also act as a safety harness to help them recognize that risks will be minimized. Much like the briefing session for your mountain climb. An agreement that does this is helpful and will not give your customer confidence to sign up with you but will also save you time in responding to their queries.

If you’re a non-believer on the benefits of good agreements, please allow me to try and persuade you otherwise.

Message us NOW or email me at anne@itagree.com.