Back in 2018, we wrote, “we are delighted to report that Smart Dolphins was named to the 2018 Channel Futures MSP 501 list of the top IT providers in the world. Wow! Awesome news for the POD — a smart and friendly IT support team hailing from British Columbia.”
We could have written that same blog in 2019, 2020 and we are pleased to report that again we are a world-ranked managed service provider (MSP) for 2021.
There are tens of thousands of MSPs around the world. Being ranked in the top-200 is a great accomplishment that we are enormously proud of.
So, how does an MSP rank on this list?
MSPs from all over the world submit applications. Key indicators of success that are considered include:
- Hiring trends and workforce dynamics
- Business strategies
- Service delivery
- Revenue growth and business model
- Tools and automation
As we said in 2018, thank you to our valued clients, our vendor partners, and the POD for making this distinction possible! To learn more about the MSP 5010 visit: https://www.channelfutures.com/msp-501
Check out all our awards at: https://www.smartdolphins.com/about/
What does an MSP do?
Before we answer that question, we also call ourselves a Technology Success Partner (TSP). The results are similar, however, Smart Dolphins, by leveraging technology and aligning it with an organization’s vision and goals, becomes an integral part of our client’s success. Consider us your IT department, a natural extension of your business.
Smart Dolphins is leading the way in BC by offering a world-class TSP that focuses on partnership first and foremost, TSP-ing highlights ways an organization can work strategically. As a result, we consult on budgeting, planning and road mapping of those services.
How TSPs streamline business processes
Technology is evolving. For example, advanced fields like robotics, artificial intelligence and computer vision are all changing the way we work. Technology needs to adapt to the changing requirements of remote-workers. It needs to offer solutions that improve customer service and modernize business processes. We fully endorse the work from home and work from anywhere migration, if it fits with the business’s specific needs.
The information evolution continues, therefore, by aligning with a TSP to help navigate the changes, you stay ahead of the curve. In short, it shows initiative and the agility to adapt. Clients, customers, and stakeholders want to work with companies who are responsible, technologically minded, and computer literate.
So, what about all that bragging about being a world-class MSP?
Right, that.
A managed service provider (MSP) delivers services, such as network, application, infrastructure, and security, with ongoing and regular support and active administration on business’s premises.
MSPs focus on centralized services, proactive planning with long, medium, and short-term goals. For example, Smart Dolphins prioritizes 73 per cent of budgets to proactive planning, as per our assigned virtual chief information officers. So, we offer one vendor or technology and a dedicated professional to manage the business end of the relationship (vCIO).
Smart Dolphins also assigns a dedicated virtual IT manager (vITM), to be the technical eyes and ears for clients.
The term MSP traditionally was applied to infrastructure or device-centric types of services but has expanded to include any continuous, regular management, maintenance, and support. However, key to the MSP-501 ranking with Channel Futures MSP means so much more than that. Technically speaking any company can charge a flat monthly fee for service and throw a few tools into the mix and declare that they are an MSP, but that does not mean they are an MSP in the eyes of the True Methods (an MSP education service) or Channel Futures model of providing managed service in the IT realm. Far from it.
And, when not providing the many processes, tools, and well-crafted planning that our vCIOs and vITMs provide to all our clients the MSP/TSP partnership is a universe away.
But let’s not stop there (while we are boasting)
Another feature of Smart Dolphins IT Solutions service offering that separates us from everyone else is our education and training program. The education and training that we provide manifests in several ways.
Smart Dolphins has a host of instructors who are subject matter experts (SMEs) in the courses that they teach. Some of the courses — not an exhaustive list — include Microsoft Teams, SharePoint, Outlook, OneDrive, Excel among others. Also, cybersecurity best practices and privacy and the laws around privacy acts, such as the provincial, federal, and international laws that govern privacy.
We provide these courses to our clients and to the greater business community. Smart Dolphins also offers instructions to MSPs and TSPs all over North America as a service. That business arm is called PoplarMSP.
Additionally, to keep ahead in the technology knowledge race, we have our own certified Pearson VUE testing room. The public is welcome to book the room for exam-taking and of course, in parlance to our Elevate the Team core value our technical staff are in and out of the exam room all the time — being Smart Dolphins, as it were.
Lastly, our vITMs teach new client employees or users how to use their brand-new hardware that we procure, set-up, deliver and deploy to our clients in accordance with the road map schedule.
Are you getting a fully managed partnership from your current IT help? Do you have a well-crafted, long-term roadmap to help guide your technology future and to keep your business strategically IT literate and cyber-safe?
If not, reach out to one of the POD through our website at smartdolphins.qa.caorda.com
About Smart Dolphins IT Solutions
Okay, you have spotted our wrapped cars with the dorsal fins on top from time to time. Don’t be afraid to say hi to your friendly neighbourhood dolphin, who knows, perhaps you have a technology question that you just don’t want to pose to co-workers.
Even though 96 per cent of the work we do can be done remotely, we still visit our clients. Our vITMs know more about our client’s technology than anyone else, including our clients. They love what they do.
Feel free to contact the POD!