In his seminal book In Search of Excellence, one of Tom Peters’ key points is to “Stick to the Knitting.” The idea is that business leaders should stay close to the core of their business and concentrate on investing in improvements on what you do best. The idea sounds obvious, and the business world has great examples of companies whose focus has brought success, and others where distractions have caused tailspins. Now decades after this insight, internet connectivity is a perfect example of a distraction that challenges leaders to focus on their core business, while for others communications technology is exactly in the bullseye of their core business.
Consider schools as an example. Their core business is educating students. As learning became online and more interactive with streaming video, the connectivity needs in the classroom jumped from one device per student to now three or more. Not so long ago, each school in a district had one or two IT specialists to support the communication needs of classrooms, offices, and public areas. IT teams needed to be certified, trained, and readily available to manage the network. The key functions of operating the network became increasingly expensive in an industry where budgets are tight. Any school – or any business – needs to have top quality wireless communications that do not distract them from their core business.
The good news is that internet connectivity, while a distraction for some businesses, is precisely the core business of Managed Service Providers. These communication specialists serve multiple businesses across many industries, and because they are focused exclusively on wireless connectivity, they provide:
- Centralized management of a network from the core to the edge
- Network design, planning, installation, provisioning and maintenance
- Improved network performance and operation efficiency
- Detailed reports on performance to prove value
Take a look at the Xirrus Command Center system for Managed Service Providers. The system enables MSPs to:
- Provision new tenants in minutes
- Monitor and manage up to 1,000 customer networks from a single console
- Color coded customer tiles enable fast issue identification and resolution
- Role-based administrative management of customer networks
One of our MSP customers recently said that he views his business as being a “Managed Services Partner” to his business clients. By partnering in the true sense of the word, both parties are able to focus on the areas where they have the most experience and yield the best performance at the highest efficiency.
Over the coming months, Cambium Networks will be sharing specific experiences of convention centers, school districts, universities and other major businesses that have outsourced their Wi-Fi management, and the MSP partners who focus on communications technology. This strategy enables them to have reliable connectivity to run the business while they “Stick to the Knitting” and focus on their core business.