Betrayal of Trust: Shocking Ways MSP Vendors Let You Down 2024
Vendors and the shocking list of ways they betray us will be the topic of today's article. When did this type of behavior start with IT vendors? Has it always been a part of doing business in the IT industry? Or has it developed at a particular point in time?
The reason I believe that betrayal hurts so much in both business as well as our personal life is because one party is giving a strong signal to the other that they see such little value in the business relationship that they do not care how much damage their actions cause and regardless as to how little effort is required to be gentle, because they no longer care, any amount of effort is too much effort.
While you are here, Take a look at some of our other I.T Consulting related articles below that may interest you:
- Shocking List of Most Damaging Ransomware Attacks Involving MSPs
- Shocking List of Ways MSP Vendors Betray Us
- Shocking Reasons MSP Clients Leave
- Shocking Reasons MSP Techs Quit
- Shocking Statistics About MSP Client Disatisfaction
This of course is a very painful place to be if you are in the situation where the relationship meant a lot to you. It has happened to me both in business and in my private life and I do not know if it's the same for others but it is a type of pain that never really goes away. It accumulates over the years and changes you as a person so that while you are less susceptible to being exploited, a certain amount of cynicism and mistrust festers in the background.
I am going to break this topic up into two sections of betrayal and that is the act of stealing clients from MSPs followed by grouping all other acts under the other topic. This is because my belief is nothing comes close in business as far as betrayal is concerned as when the following situations exist:
- You sign up with a new hardware or software vendor.
- They require you to give access or details of all of your clients.
- They do not and have never had your clients details prior to this.
- Evidence they have been contacting your clients using the details you provided.
- Evidence they are attempting to undercut you on the very service you offer.
- Denial when confronted with poor behavior or advising it was a mixup.
- Or even worse, admission of behavior and lecture about “it's just business”
I talk about some countermeasures in this article and discuss things as it relates to technology partners in a broad sense. Related to this topic however is an article I wrote a while back specifically relating to backup vendor experiences and that also touches on the common instances of betrayal of trust relating to backup vendors here.
These however are the questions I will be pondering on and attempting to answer for you. There are certain behaviors it seems in business that in our capitalist society get a free pass even though they are morally reprehensible. Even worse, we seem to hold our own MSP business to a higher standard in a moral sense than we do the large IT Vendors that we deal with on a daily basis.
While you are here, Take a look at some of our other Computer Consulting related articles below that may interest you:
- MSPs & Dealing with Burnout
- MSPs That Use CRM Tools & the Benefits Compared to Those That Do Not
- Optimizing Documentation Can Improve Profit Margins
- Shocking Antivirus Statistics for MSPs
- Shocking Facts About MSP Income
Imagine for a moment a situation where for instance as a service provider you are asked to undertake some work for another service provider, say for specific work on a documentation strategy project or hardware refresh project (It happens all the time) that necessitates allowing them access to your Professional services automation software such as Connectwise.
When that occurs, you have no choice but to trust them because if you are doing a client wide rollout for instance then they are going to have to know who your clients are.
How would you feel if a few months after the project completion, you noticed a worrying sign of your clients being approached by the company you partnered with offering your services at a discount?
Wars have been started for less and yet the likes of Dell, Microsoft and Cisco openly admit to trawling your client list and emailing them in an attempt to steal your business away. It is morally reprehensible and simultaneously an accepted behavior by these companies.
Vendor Betrayal - Definition
It is important to lay out a definition relating directly to this article because there is most certainly a gray area when it comes to betrayal. Some MSPs would say that they consider a betrayal of trust has occurred if say a shipment of rackmount computers arrived 3 weeks late.
The definition is exceptionally simple for me and as far as the example above is concerned, I would need more information to determine if an act of betrayal has occurred because betrayal always involves a breach of trust or deception in some way.
So if the reason the computer hardware turned up 3 weeks late was because I was told that it was ordered two months ago but I later found out that it was only ordered 4 weeks ago then that is a textbook example of vendor betrayal in my book.
If the industrial computer hardware I ordered has been delayed at customs after a dead mouse was found in one of the boxes the computer hardware was shipped in then of course, that is not betrayal as the events were completely out of the vendors hands.
So the definition of betrayal is anything that involves a level of deception and the feeling of betrayal increases as the level of trust you had in the vendor is high. So as an example, companies like Dell and Microsoft have betrayed MSPs for so long now that we just expect it and have developed countermeasures to fight their open and morally bankrupt behavior.
It is actually pretty difficult if you are an MSP with any level of experience to feel betrayal from the actions of these larger companies because there is no longer any trust in the relationship.
It is a bit like having that ruggedly handsome friend that the ladies cannot say no to.
Sure you could leave your wife alone with him while you nip out to buy some food for the evening but it is a bit difficult to blame anyone in this situation other than yourself if you come back because you forgot your wallet to then find a bunch of clothes on the living room floor and some concerning sounds coming from the bedroom.
Just do not leave any lady that you care about in his company alone for any length of time. It is not so much he will betray you, it is just who he is. Prevention is always better than a cure and this holds true for the strategies involved in preventing vendors having the opportunity to betray you.
Poaching Clients
This is in my book the worst of all betrayals. There is a fairly high level of trust that needs to be given when handing over your client list to another organization even if they are not directly competing with you.
When that hardware vendor then uses that sensitive information to enrich themselves and even worse, does it knowing that it will have a detrimental effect on your business, quite frankly it leaves me speechless and I am left wondering when exactly did this behavior become acceptable?
I have searched extensively and cannot find an answer as to when tech companies began overtly betraying their own customers but I can hazard a guess. The pattern I tend to witness is that when a vendor is starting out and they need the support of their customers, they will offer generous incentives and make promises that these incentives are safe from being canceled.
They foster a large and helpful community where people feel proud to belong to. Connectwise is a good example, they used to have an amazing online community forum with nearly a decade of community contributions and then not too long after Arnie Bellini sold it to Thoma Bravo which is a large private equity firm that couldn't care less about the actual product they sell, the forum just disappeared and was replaced with an abomination that barely had a few questions asked about the product.
A direct decision designed to hurt the consumers that pay for the product they sell and why?
These companies with few exceptions tend to allow these incentives to get whittled down often with almost no warning before being eliminated. Along with this behavior is almost an intentional disregard for the people and businesses that got them to where they are now. In other words, they have reached a position where their size and profit margins are large enough that they do not have to concern themselves with small things like fairness or appearance. They turn into monsters.
Other Betrayals
I categorize all other betrayals by a vendor as less harmful than the act of directly trying to poach clients. Below are some of the less damaging instances of vendor betrayal.
Below are a few tables I have put together that lists some of the other forms of betrayal by vendors towards managed service providers. There are three columns and the first column lists the type of betrayal committed and the second column lists the amount of managed service providers that have experienced that type of betrayal in a business relationship. The third column is times where the vendor feels that they have experienced this type of betrayal in a business relationship.
It is quite surprising how much of a two way street this is and it is not uncommon for vendors to feel as though they have been betrayed by their service providers too.
Behavior Leading Up To Incident Of Betrayal
There are three columns and the first column lists the behavior leading up to the betrayal being committed and the second column lists the amount of managed service providers that have experienced that type of betrayal in a business relationship. The third column are times where the vendor feels that they have experienced this type of betrayal in a business relationship.
| Behaviour Leading Up To Betrayal | Experienced By MSP | Experienced By Vendor |
|---|---|---|
| Lack of commitment by one of the parties | 54% | 18% |
| One of the parties shows apathy | 36% | 39% |
| Partner caught lying about act of betrayal | 55% | 36% |
| Increasing instances of annoyance and criticism | 25% | 34% |
| Considerable uncertainty and relational stress | 47% | 26% |
| Threats the working relationship is going to end | 27% | 33% |
| Noticable half truths and misinformation | 45% | 22% |
Cause Of Betrayal
There are three columns and the first column lists the cause of the betrayal being committed and the second column lists the amount of managed service providers that have experienced the behavior that caused the betrayal in a business relationship. The third column are times where the vendor has experienced this cause of betrayal.
| Cause Of Betrayal | Experienced By MSP | Experienced By Vendor |
|---|---|---|
| One partner becomes dissatisfied with the other | 14% | 31% |
| Partner incompatibility | 39% | 21% |
| Increasing conflict in relationship | 27% | 17% |
| Withholding critical information | 47% | 24% |
| Denial of assistance especially under pressure | 40% | 13% |
| Escalating pattern of broken promises | 54% | 15% |
| Disclosure of confidential information to a third party | 42% | 12% |
| Using confidential information for self benefit | 65% | 15% |
| Excessive power and pressure being applied | 34% | 33% |
| Engaged in fraud and deceptive conduct | 29% | 22% |
| Breach of agreement and contract | 12% | 26% |
Effects And Actions Caused By Betrayal
There are three columns and the first column lists the effects and actions caused by the betrayal. The second column lists the amount of managed service providers that have experienced the effects and actions caused by the betrayal listed. The third column lists the amount of vendors that have experienced the effects and actions caused by the betrayal listed.
| Effects And Actions Caused By Betrayal | Experienced By MSP | Experienced By Vendor |
|---|---|---|
| Loss of trust | 92% | 31% |
| Disapointment and Anger | 65% | 38% |
| Relationship disengagement | 49% | 18% |
| Passive punitive measures applied | 35% | 20% |
| Actively sought revenge | 10% | 4% |
| Forgave the betrayal | 19% | 37% |
Actions To Move Past Betrayal
There are three columns and the first column lists the actions undertaken to move past the betrayal in either a positive or negative way. The second column lists the amount of managed service providers that have used the actions listed after a betrayal has occurred. The third column lists the amount of vendors that have used the actions listed after a betrayal has occurred.
| Actions To Move Past Betrayal | Experienced By MSP | Experienced By Vendor |
|---|---|---|
| Effort put in to understanding expectations | 75% | 67% |
| Make expectations between parties clearer | 68% | 47% |
| Redefine relationship between parties | 39% | 23% |
| Establish a mediation process between parties | 46% | 26% |
| Invest in stronger contractual wording | 46% | 29% |
| Behaving positively to a parties offence | 24% | 29% |
Conclusion
As can be seen from the survey results above, it is not always clear cut, sometimes either the vendor or the MSP is the instigator when it comes to betrayal and sometimes it can be a mixture of both.
It is always important to attempt to keep a clear head in business and avoid allowing emotion to drive your response no matter how tempting it is. While there is often a massive power imbalance when it comes to especially the larger vendors, if you keep your cool and remain focused, you will always achieve the best outcome that is going to be possible even if it is not optimum.
Finally, always, always create contact details for clients that you control and hand those over to the vendors that you use. Create email accounts or a single email with multiple aliases that you only create for the specific purpose of completing IT vendor signup forms and ideally give out a different email or alias for every MSP vendor and for each client. Example below:
- Client 1 Dell = cathy1.dell@clientmail.com
- Client 2 Dell = cathy2.dell@clientmail.com
- Client 3 Dell = cathy3.dell@clientmail.com
- Client 1 Microsoft = cathy1.ms@clientmail.com
- Client 1 Microsoft = cathy2.ms@clientmail.com
- Client 1 Microsoft = cathy3.ms@clientmail.com
One email alias will only have ever been given one time to a vendor for an individual client. This means you can monitor a single email address every month or so and determine which one of your vendors is actively trying to steal your clients.
We have a number of other Technology service provider and consulting articles listed below that will provide you with more detailed information on a number of related topics:
https://optimizeddocs.com/blogs/consulting/consulting-index-page-01
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