CHALLENGING ASSUMPTIONS
How we helped Managed Service Provider Workspend make a success of arriving late into the MSP market.
Workspend Inc. entered late as a player in the Managed Services Provider (MSP) market, but it did so in the knowledge that it was a pioneer in the use of technology to ‘upside down’ the incumbent model for MSPs.
Fishing for business in a market dominated by large established players like Kelly OCG, Pontoon and ProUnlimited, the management team of Workspend knew they had a challenge ahead. That said, they know only too well that these established companies were committed to delivering their services through the use of large and difficult-to-deploy Vendor Management Systems platforms like Beeline and FieldGlass. Workspend instead wanted to go to market with an entirely new proposition aimed at the specific needs of the mid-market that focus on adoption of agile vendor management tooling, enabled by artificial intelligence and software robotic automation.
After exploring its options, the management team appointed Newton Day to lead its brand activation, marketing strategic planning and go-to-market approach.
The management team elected to adopt a brand story that embraced its ‘late to market’ credentials – arguing the benefits of new fresh thinking and designing ‘MSP small.’ Prospects responded well to the rewards of partnering with a smaller player that has to be good at what it does and be highly automated, in order to gain a competitive advantage.
“We knew that we needed something different from our marketing machine to stand out. That fresh perspective wasn’t going to come from our internal resources.” Manoj Agarwal, Group President
The ‘re-think MSP’ campaign slogans poked at existing assumptions of the benefits of MSP. This messaging was underpinned by powerful imagery that encouraged buyers and influencers to question the efficacy of the ‘fat MSP’ approach and its rewards to SME businesses. Often, these buyers would find the MSP options in the industry were too large and cumbersome for their needs. This, at a time when the ROI on MSP contracts was heavily scrutinized by the industry.
The brand story and campaign messaging led to a series of sales successes. The messaging around technology disruption and questioning the fit of slow-to-deploy VMS systems has helped the company win a succession of large corporate accounts; many far larger than the original target audience. The company is now exploring territorial expansion around the world.
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