The IT services market is an area that is experiencing significant growth, and it is the role of managers of these companies to find ways to deliver more productivity and quality in the services that are offered . One of the ways to ensure that activities are carried out in accordance with the company's planning and expectations is through engagement. However, keeping your technicians engaged can be a real challenge.
Having IT technicians who are engaged and determined to contribute to business growth is essential to putting your company on the right path to success. Improving employee performance is a strategy that can have a direct impact on the organization's results.
Managers of technology companies, especially MSPs, need to develop strategies and find solutions that help optimize the performance of these workers. We have prepared this complete content with everything you need to know about the subject with unmissable tips to keep your technicians engaged.
What is engagement?
The origin of the word engagement is “engager”, a French word that refers to commitment and commitment. In Portuguese, engagement means obtaining and delivering commitment to a cause.
Understand more about this concept:
Currently, engagement can refer to different purposes, but within the corporate environment it is related to the processes and functions performed. Engagement in the workplace is connected to the ability to work as a team and stay focused on what is really important for the business.
A report developed by the company Gallup demonstrated that a fully engaged team can transform the reality of a company, delivering the following benefits:
- Increase in customer satisfaction by at least 10%;
- Reduction in absences by 41%;
- 21% increase in profitability;
- 20% increase in conversion;
- 59% reduction in resignations;
- And much more.
This means that, if your team is fully engaged in the processes and activities carried out, your company's performance in the market will be better. Taking into account that the company's most important asset is its team, having IT technicians who are interested and concerned about the activities carried out can bring improvements to both parties.
How important is engagement within MSP?
For employees to be able to sell more, it is necessary to invest in solutions that help increase engagement. Your growth strategy will only be able to deliver the expected results if the team members are completely motivated and stimulated to achieve the business goals and objectives.
Team engagement will deliver exercises such as:
- Increased productivity;
- Greater emotional balance;
- Improvement of the organizational climate;
- Increased job satisfaction;
- Retaining talent;
- Reduction in turnover.
Given these advantages, investing in team engagement is essential for businesses that want to reach a more competitive level and achieve customer satisfaction. Since the technology market is one of the most competitive today, investing in your team and their motivation can make all the difference to the business.
Engagement within the sales process
The structuring of sales processes will introduce a more assertive methodology for the tasks that are carried out within this sector. Employees need to undergo training and receive detailed guidance on how this process should happen , in order to guarantee the expected results.
Firstly, it is important to remember that in order to meet business expectations, your employees need to understand and collaborate with the company's culture. The lack of a consolidated and well-established culture can cause problems for the organization, damaging employee engagement. These dissatisfactions, as a result, can compromise the sales process.
For this reason , it is very important for managers to collect information about their employees' satisfaction and possible points for improvement that can be optimized so that these employees feel valued and engaged. This analysis will demonstrate what your company's real results are and how they can be improved through some simple measures.
Read our article with 6 tips for selling more IT services .
How to keep your IT technicians engaged in your MSP?
Employee engagement will initially come from the company’s culture. This is because this process is directly related to what is required and how managers behave when faced with the needs of these employees.
Here are some tips to boost morale and bring more engagement among your employees:
Recognize good work
The first step is to ensure the appreciation and recognition of employees for activities that are carried out with quality. The constant exchange of feedback will help your team understand their role within the company and deliver valuable data on improving managers' attitude towards their IT technicians.
The search for respect and recognition is intrinsic to human beings, and it is the company's responsibility to show its good employees which attitudes are being valued and recognized. Rewards, positive feedback and public praise will help increase your IT technician's satisfaction and, consequently, their engagement.
Develop leadership
Being a leader is much more than just delegating tasks and demanding results. It is very important that your managers and leaders take into account the behaviors that most drive employee engagement.
Your company's leaders must be results-oriented and create a fully inclusive environment within the team, keeping a close eye on the well-being and satisfaction of IT technicians . Your team needs to have a leader who has technical and human skills to advise and guide employees to success.
Have realistic and coherent goals
The goals set by managers must be realistic and achievable , so that employees do not become demotivated if they are unable to deliver the expected results. Achieving the goals set by leaders will help your IT technicians to remain engaged and motivated with the activities carried out.
Even if it is necessary to increase goals, this process must happen gradually so that employees' efforts can keep up with the changes. Your team will only be able to wear the company's shirt if they feel that their work really makes a difference in the business processes and results.
Maintain open communication with employees
To resolve doubts regarding the work to be carried out or to deal with personal matters that interfere with the company's activities, the communication channel between managers and IT technicians must be easily accessible. Whenever necessary, managers should listen to their employees to help solve problems and maintain a more comfortable working environment for everyone.
It is also necessary to give employees a voice, paying attention to suggestions for improvements that can be implemented in the processes. Often, there are processes that can hinder the achievement of good results and employees need to understand that the company is willing to listen to them and implement suggestions aimed at improving the tasks carried out in the workplace.
Invest in training
Investing in your team is the same as investing in your company. And for this reason, adopting development and training strategies can help keep your technicians engaged. Your team members need to see how relevant and important they are to the business , showing how much your company values and invests in its workforce.
Training , qualification processes, continuous feedback, among other approaches, can help your employees understand their role within the business. Exchanging information can also be useful in helping these employees understand their development and find ways to improve their performance.
Constant updating of services and tools
Constant technical problems can increase employee dissatisfaction, generating friction and conflicts with customers. Frequently updating services and tools will help avoid technical issues and reduce the need for support.
In addition to updates being essential, as they increase the security of tools, they also optimize the end user experience. Since, the more complete the services, the better the consumer satisfaction and, consequently, the lower the burden on your technicians.
Constant calls for support and maintenance have a major impact on routine and result in stress for IT technicians. Tools like Lumiun DNS present an intuitive and complete dashboard, without many changes to the end client. This tool, in addition to security and reliability, generates good visibility of delivering value to the customer, being an excellent alternative for companies looking to reduce calls and keep their technicians engaged.
Use efficient tools
Technology can be a valuable ally in the internal engagement process . This is because there are some tools that can help your employees stay focused on what is really important for the business, avoiding distractions that can impact their productivity and demotivate them while carrying out essential tasks.
An example of this is access to the internet during working hours . Although the internet is essential for carrying out most activities within a company, it is also a tool that poses great risks. Access to entertainment pages, social networks, gaming and betting platforms, etc., can significantly harm the engagement of your technicians.
Having an internet access blocking will help your managers to have more assertive control over the activities that are carried out in the digital environment. Blocking certain pages will make all the difference in your team's engagement and productivity, helping your employees stay focused on the tasks that are really important for business continuity.
The best strategy for your MSP is the one that works for your team
It is very important to know how to measure your employees' engagement, using metrics and continuous satisfaction assessments, in order to understand the team's point of view and establish possible points for improvement. Maintaining an open and assertive communication process will help your managers understand the results obtained and find ways to keep your technicians engaged.
Internet access control can be a valuable ally in this transformation within your company. Although it may seem like a very radical change to implement in your MSP, this control will help to avoid many problems within the company and ensure that your team remains engaged and motivated to achieve business objectives.