Business Transformation: Why It’s Important for Our Partners

N‑able started its Business Transformation Program a few years ago, and since then it’s been helping N‑able partners boost their business growth. In a recent video shot during Empower in Prague, Robert Wilburn, VP partner growth, and Chris Massey, senior product marketing manager, Partner Success, discussed how and why it was important for N‑able to create this program for its partners.

You can listen to the full conversation here:

« When we talk about success with N‑able partners, we talk about in it three parts: product success, account success, and business success. Business Transformation was created to help our partners focus on that business success side, » says Robert. “The advantage of being in N‑able’s position is that we have approximately 25,000 partners around the world. This means we’re able to see patterns in terms of what successful MSPs are doing versus those that are maybe hitting some challenges, and then share that insight.”

He goes on to point to two factors in the MSP industry that everyone can learn from:

1. Top MSPs are playing a different game. “When you look at the top 10% of MSPs, the way they go to market, the way they run their operations, the way they hire their staff; it’s completely different, » he says. 
2. Most MSPs are undergoing or facing some type of business transformation challenge to get to that next stage of their development.  

Bringing MSP Leaders Together With Their Peers

“Understanding these things and bringing MSP leaders together with their peers in person to have conversations around these areas, were the driving forces behind us setting up the Business Transformation Program,” he concludes

Keeping the size of the events down is crucial as well, as it helps to foster connections. « As a former MSP, I think these programs are amazing, » says Chris. “I see it in our partners’ faces. They come into these events strangers, but within a few hours they open up and are sharing the challenges and successes that they’re going through in their businesses.

“We keep things small, inviting 15 partners, with each one bringing two people. This helps keep things really interactive. It ensures you’re not sitting there getting lectured to, but are having a conversation with the experts, and with the other peers in the room.”

Providing Actionable Insights

Chris explains how this helps N‑able partners walk out of the room at the end of sessions with a number of key takeaways to drive their business forward. “I remember that back in the day, being part of peer groups and small, tight knit groups, was really powerful in helping us grow our MSP as well,” he continues.

Unfortunately, there can often be a little scepticism at the start of the journey for partners as they consider the program. “A lot of times when we start the conversation about this program with our partners, they’re a little bit like, ‘you’re a vendor, you’re going to try to sell me something’, » says Robert. “But when we begin talking in detail, they start to get the sense that maybe there’s a little bit of a different conversation going on than they expected. When we start to dig into things like the benchmarking we do, suddenly they’re really interested to see how they compare against other similar companies in the space.”

A Business Conversation Not a Product Sell

However, things really start to click when they come to their first program. “At the dinner on the first night we’ll have between 25 and 30 executives. And right away, that first night, they’re like ‘Hey, this is a different experience’,” he continues. “They see the quality of the peers that they’re surrounded by. They see that the focus is really on them, not on N‑able. Once they realise this, they allow themselves to get into some really thoughtful and challenging conversations.”

All N‑able Business Transformation sessions are expert-led and peer informed. This means that the emphasis is on bringing in experts, facilitating challenging conversations, and encouraging debate. “We’re bringing in people to direct what we think are the smartest conversations in this space,” adds Robert.

He goes on to recount how at a recent event, the chief strategy officer of a 100-person MSP, told him, “This is the single best event I’ve been to in the industry in 25 years.”  

A Different Kind of Event

« That’s really the bar we want to set, » says Robert. “To get the folks—particularly CEOs or senior executives that haven’t really engaged with us before—to recognize this is not a sales conversation, this is a business conversation.”

If you’re wondering what’s in it for N‑able? Robert is pretty transparent. « It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that when our MSP partners grow, we grow as a company, » he says. “Most of our growth as a company actually comes from our partners growing, so we have an aligned incentives to help our partners grow.”

Ultimately, the Business Transformation Program is not designed to sell more products, or to go out and get new logos. It’s designed to help N‑able’s existing partners get new clients and grow. “If they’re growing their businesses by 20% a year, then our business is growing healthily, » Robert concludes.

If you’re an N‑able partner and you want to get involved in the Business Transformation Program contact your Partner Success Manager, or email Chris Massey.

Pete Roythorne is senior brand content editor at N‑able