Delivering exceptional customer satisfaction in managed IT services

When etiCloud launched in 2015, its founders had one big goal: stop the churn cycle that plagued traditional managed service providers. They’d seen it before, customers locked into three-year contracts, frustrated by poor service, and leaving as soon as they could. 
 
The team wanted something different: Always-on reliability for business-critical apps, speed and flexibility to scale without waiting weeks for hardware, control over infrastructure to keep performance high and compliance tight, and customer excellence as the foundation for growth. 
 
Competitors were stuck buying servers, shipping them to Tier 2/3 data centers, and hoping for the best. Public cloud was an option, but it didn’t give the control or proximity needed for hosting delicate, bespoke legal software.

With extensive experience working with large managed services providers (MSPs), the founding members identified an opportunity to differentiate etiCloud from their competitors and build strong customer relationships. Rather than focusing on continually acquiring new customers at the top of the sales funnel, they came up with a company philosophy centered on building loyalty and advocacy within their customer base.

etiCloud put this philosophy into motion by offering an extensive suite of products and services tailored to individual customer needs and proactively delivering high levels of customer service. This approach helped reduce churn and encouraged long-term relationships, leading to multi-year contracts and additional purchases from satisfied customers.

The availability of the core infrastructure that etiCloud delivered to their customers was central to the company’s strategy, as it helped run business-critical software.

Jonathan Ashley, Founder and Sales and Marketing Director at etiCloud, best describes how the company was able to solve for their customer churn with IBM Cloud: “As a relatively small business, we are able to pass on an enterprise-grade service to our customers, most of which play in the SME market. They wouldn’t be afforded that level of technology if they were trying to buy that themselves through various vendors.”

Keeping this ideal in mind, etiCloud seized the opportunity to further evolve their approach to customer service by collaborating with IBM.

One such customer, Wilson McKendrick, a Glasgow-based law firm, struggled with a managed services provider that had become increasingly inflexible. Mark Wilson, Founder at Wilson McKendrick, explained why they switched to etiCloud: “etiCloud is an SME, like us, and came across as very flexible, from the very start.”

etiCloud experienced substantial improvements in performance and overall customer satisfaction with the help of IBM. Specific benefits include:

• Decreased ticket volumes thanks to improved uptime and reliability
• Increased capacity to address low-priority issues promptly, fostering stronger customer relationships
• Freed up staff to have meaningful conversations with customers about how etiCloud’s technologies can improve their business strategies
• Exponential growth in retention rates, driven by exceptional customer service delivery

A few examples of how IBM helped etiCloud deliver value for their clients:

• Wilson McKendrick law firm (Glasgow): Needed flexibility and fast onboarding. Got a hosted environment, 24×7 helpdesk, and IBM Tier 4 data center reliability
• COVID-19 surge: While competitors scrambled for hardware, etiCloud scaled remote work environments in hours
• Brazil disaster recovery: etiCloud was able to provision IBM Cloud servers quickly in São Paulo to ingest local data and sync securely to the UK
• Texas weather crisis: IBM Cloud data centers stayed up during severe outages—etiCloud’s demo environment didn’t skip a beat

To elaborate more on Wilson McKendrick, this client saw the following benefits from their collaboration with etiCloud:

• Ability to add new users quickly and efficiently through hosted environments
• 24x7 access to a customer helpdesk, with issues resolved quickly and effectively
• Dedicated account manager providing hands-on support and advice as required
• All data hosted on IBM Tier 4 data centers, ensuring zero downtime

Thanks to the infrastructure implemented by etiCloud, Wilson McKendrick no longer spends valuable time waiting for IT issues to be resolved. Mark Wilson concludes, “People buy from people, and the overall experience and service we receive from everyone at etiCloud is excellent.”

Today, etiCloud continues to thrive alongside IBM, leveraging advanced technological capabilities to drive innovation and deliver outstanding service to their customers. 

Founded in 2015 and located in the UK, etiCloud as built their business by putting customers at the heart of all their processes and operations. etiCloud’s Agile Digital Workplace platform helps customers improve their digital agility by enabling staff to work securely anywhere, any time.