You have probably been in business for a while and noted that many clients take longer to settle their dues, have you not? Well, this ought not to be the case inasmuch as it is rampant. There are indeed ways and means of ensuring that the clients honor their obligations faster.
You may also have some that so many startups find it difficult to recruit a competent managed IT services brand or company to handle their computer networks and server infrastructure. This may not be unconnected to the fact that startups or small businesses lack sufficient capital to hire professionals or competent hands to manage their IT needs. Leveraging managed IT services to improve your business processes and offer value-added services to the customers cannot be overemphasized.
First, Managed Services can help you move all your business data, customer data, and every important information relating to your business to the cloud with ease. Secondly, Managed Services will also help you protect your business infrastructures such as computers, servers, routers, and networks. Without a competent team managing this infrastructure there’s a high likelihood that cybercriminals and fraudsters may take advantage of the vulnerability of your employees, which will result in a decline in sales and a nosedive in your revenue projection.
Larger organizations understand the need for things like CIAM, but smaller businesses are often unaware of the risks associated with account takeover and other serious cybersecurity threats.
What You Need To Know About Managed IT Services
1. Managed IT Services Help To Request prepayments and deposits
The biggest benefits of using managed IT services is to request deposits and prepayments. If possible, you may even ask that the project or merchandise be paid up in full upfront. This is particularly necessary if you deal with larger projects that take longer to conclude and cost a lot more.
Demanding this ensures that you are guaranteed some income whether or not the project is completed. Then again it somehow binds the buyer to remit the remaining portion. For this strategy to work fine, the deposit has to cover the bare minimum costs like administrative or supplies.
That is the only surety that you will scarcely run at a loss even if the client whom you work for or sell the merchandise to defaults in the final analysis. Complement this by stipulating when exactly the outstanding dues have to be settled. This is to eliminate any unnecessary ambiguities.
This money that you receive upfront is important in that it helps you to pay your staff and meet other standard expenses like utilities. That is the only surety that you won’t have to disappoint your staff or any other people whom you may be interacting with.
2. It Helps To Spell out clear terms of payments upfront
Every game has its own rule. And, it is important that the rules be clearly spelled out beforehand so that any forms of ambiguities be avoided beforehand. This means you should clearly stipulate the terms of the payments of any amounts due way beforehand. A typical payment structure has many components.
The first is the deposit or down payment. This is a small amount of money that is given as soon as the project kicks off or the first batch of merchandise is dispatched to the buyer. Then comes the periodic installments that are to be remitted on a regular basis. Last comes the number of installments to be repaid later.
A great agreement has to capture all these days and display them vividly on the contract form. Also, it has to further to that and even break down the exact amounts of money that shall have to be paid at each stage. If possible, the agreement should also specify the exact dates when the amounts ought to be due.
Studies have deduced that when the contract is properly structured, chances of there being any ambiguities or misunderstandings are greatly reduced. The end result of this arrangement is zero likelihood of there being any defaults or too long repayment times.
3. Makes You Receive Payments In Supported Methods
At some times, it could be that the client wants to remit money through a means that you, unfortunately, do not support. What does that imply? You have to make every effort to accommodate as many payment options as can possibly be the case. This of course is to give the clients the freedom to act as per their convenience.
Some of the payment options you should never forget are PayPal, MasterCard, Visa, and checks. Also, see to it that you work with many banks and financial institutions possible. In case your business transcends many boundaries, see to it that you work with institutions that have a presence in all those countries.
Apart from many payment platforms, you should also cater to as many platforms as possible. These include mobile, cards, online, and agent platforms, to name but a few! There can never be an excuse of whichever nature if the clients refuse to meet their obligations.
Some of these payment options as a matter of fact may be implemented at the comfort of the homes, day or night, and even on weekends. Providing these many payment options is not enough. Do send out timely reminders to prompt the clients to pay up quickly.
Improves Your Business incentives
Lastly, you may also wish to dangle some incentives to the clients probably as a way of enticing them to pay up quickly using managed IT services. For instance, you may promise hot discounts if the whole amount is repaid within a certain timeframe. Most clients of course will naturally want to leverage these discounts.
As a result of this, they will want to pay faster than they would under normal circumstances. And the opposite of course is true. Do promise some penalties if the amount is not repaid promptly within a set deadline. For instance, you may surcharge the client a certain percentage of the total fees in case of a default.
Just as is the case above, the client will never want to incur these extra charges. As a way of escaping the penalties, he will see to it that he clears the debt as soon as practically possible. Be sure to live up to what you promise. You read more about managed services and how Merit Technologies help you out in this.
Conclusion
Okay, that’s it. It goes without saying that the steps we have deliberated on above are not all that may be of help. We hence ask you to proceed from where we have left if you find the steps above irrelevant or unsatisfactory to your needs. Having said that, we ask you to pay keener attention to the ones above.
There is a reason why we have placed them there. They are by far the ones that are more likely to yield forth more satisfactory outcomes for you. And because trends and times change rapidly, we ask you to be constantly on the lookout for any changes that may arise just so you stay on top of issues.