What made you decide to enter the awards?
We see our Service Desk as the “Jewel in the Crown” of our business. We felt an SDI Award would contribute significantly to us standing out from our competitors and give our offer more prestige in a crowded market place. The award in the Best Managed Service Desk category is a one we targeted specifically and that was highlighted at board level in 2016. We then agreed in 2017 that it would be a fitting recognition of the fact that Littlefish’s Managed Service Desk is different, better and, deserve to be crowned “the best”. We believe that being a finalist for this award gave us confirmation and a seal of approval from one of the most recognised industry bodies to that fact.
What was the best part of the process for your team?
We really enjoyed pitching our “Why” at the first round of judging. We put an enormous amount of effort to ensure our message resonated with the market. We also loved the challenge of trying to condense, what is an immensely impressive story, into just 15 minutes. However, there was a lot of fun, laughter and double takes as we have sat down as a team to try and decide on what our 2 minute “fun” video could be. That was the most entertaining, hence we believe the video prep and creation was the best part of the process so far (Although clearly, winning would have been the very best part!).
In the last 18 months, what was the most successful initiative your team implemented to help your business improve its performance?
In January 2016, we setup the Littlefish Academy to ensure continuous improvement in the quality of Littlefish’s services. The Academy is a training programme which encourages our service personnel to improve their technical knowledge and customer service skills. We believe happy employees provide better service. Therefore, apart from developing their expertise, engineers have an opportunity to also increase their earning potential. The initiative is a combination of three key attainments: Technical Examinations, Quality Assessments and Level of Customer Satisfaction. All relevant levels must be achieved before an engineer can ‘level up’. Engineers can pursue the levels from Bronze through to Gold, with different technical and service quality focused objectives being pursued at each level. The academy has been a roaring success from the start as around 80% of Littlefish’s Service Desk personnel are currently, voluntarily enrolled in the Academy at varying stages.
Which aspect of your service do you believe your customers appreciate the most and why?
Our customers appreciate the quantum leap in performance when they move to Littlefish from one of the usual suspect alternatives. Our clients have often commented on how much more pleasant dealing with Littlefish is, in comparison to their previous providers. They often mentioned that it’s the best experience they had with supplier and they have thoroughly enjoyed it. However, it is the consistency of our service that receives the most praise. Our clients appreciate being able to receive a better and better service, year after year, as we get to know their organisation. As a result, we resolve their incidents or issues more promptly, more successfully and thus reducing the frustration and lost productivity that they are used to enduring having dealt with other Service Desk providers.
What one thing do you think really makes you stand out as a service organisation?
It’s really difficult to single out one thing that truly makes us stand out. Because fundamentally, it is a combination of differences that we demonstrate. It is a collective of elements that make Littlefish the organisation that it is and the reason why our service is so exceptional. However, if we have to select just one thing, it would be the inordinate amount of incoming requests for engagement, proposals and dialogue as a result of word of mouth referrals and recommendations from existing clients. Our incoming queries outnumber our self-generated or marketing generated leads by around 2 to 1. We believe this is unprecedented, not just for our market, but our industry as a whole. Fundamentally these referrals and recommendations only come about as a direct result of the service that is being experienced by our clients . Therefore it is the single, biggest thing that makes us stand out.
What does it mean to your team to be a finalist in the Best Managed Service Provider category?
It genuinely means the world to us at Littlefish to be successful. There are so many reasons why being one of just three finalists has given us a boost, not just to our people and our organisation, but also to our customers and all of the smaller businesses out there, that are doing exceptional jobs and taking market share from traditional, monolithic providers.
Being a finalist has also given a boost to all of our employees. As we have high retention and low attrition, it helps reinforce our employees’ reasons to continue enjoying their employment with Littlefish. Equally, it adds weight to the arguments of our clients’ CIOs and senior IT leaders who have consciously chosen Littlefish over one of the larger alternatives. It also gives weight to our presence and value in the market and allow us to continue our journey of growth. Which means, we will continue to heavily invest in our people, technology and in driving the innovation that perpetuates further growth and success.
How can your MSP organisation become a finalist in 2018?
To enter simply take a look at the ‘How To Enter’ web page here. Or why not speak to a member of the SDI awards team? Simply email us at awards@sdi-e.com or call us on 01689 889100.
