MSP Tips and Solutions for Client Standardization and Efficiency

Running an MSP is a challenge. Clients are more technologically savvy and often know how they want technology to contribute to business success, plus organized crime is getting ever more persistent and nastier in their attacks. On top of that, you’re building the technology solutions you offer your clients on top of shifting sand, no longer upgrading their Small Business Server version every 2-4 years, instead Microsoft 365 is changing daily. 

Furthermore, every client is a snowflake, with unique needs and requirements. But the key to scale in an MSP is standardization, not artisanal, hand-crafted, custom deployments for every client. These are the pain points we’ll look at. 

MSP standardization and efficiency isn’t a new problem, and there are some solutions available.  

Microsoft 365 Lighthouse 

Microsoft offers Microsoft 365 Lighthouse, not to be confused with Azure Lighthouse which is a completely different service.  

This Lighthouse is a work in progress and offers centralized account management so that your help desk staff doesn’t have to open individual M365 tenant portals to reset a user’s password for example. There are some device management options and some centralized visualizations of app performance and data protection, but it only really works well if you have the full Microsoft Security stack deployed for your clients. If you’re using third party services for things like email hygiene, this isn’t going to show up in Lighthouse.  

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