The spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus has impacted supply chains and people’s ability to work at the office, putting enormous pressure on collaboration and communication software and the businesses that help install and maintain them.
A quick glance at the MSP subreddit – it currently boasts nearly 70,000 members and continues to grow rapidly – supports this notion.
From panicked clients to customers that expect a flip of a switch to solve their remote working challenges, we’ve collected some of those discussions from the r/msp subreddit below.
All of IT World Canada’s stories and podcasts involving COVID-19 can be found here. For a running list of cancelled or postponed tech events, click here.
Just had a client tell all of their employees (100+) to take their work computers off of their desks and take them home. They did not talk to us about this in advance. from r/msp
Isn’t it great when customers don’t inform their MSPs about massive internal changes? In this case, when a client sends 100-plus workers to work from home? That’s exactly what happened in this case. The user behind the original post summarized the situation perfectly: “The point is not that this can’t be done, the point is that we had about a million better options for this client and we weren’t consulted.”
While the initial post doesn’t deliver much substance, the comments that follow highlight some solutions for remote work, as well as their clients’ current state of mind. Some Redditors suggested pushing Citrix Remote PC Access that’s hosted in Azure, others said their solution consists simply of remote desktop access off a Windows 2019 server. Many clients don’t appear to have any remote work action plans in place and are scrapping one together with MSPs at the last second. Supply chain issues, specifically when it comes to laptops, are also cited throughout the comments section. Sources have told us that they’re facing supply chain issues with laptops across Canada as well.
The following thread also sheds light on the situation globally from users claiming to work for MSPs.
How are you weathering? Is the pit in your stomach gone yet? from r/msp
Naturally, many MSPs have sent email blasts to clients, providing them with guidance and updates on how to make work-life at home as functional as possible. This one got lots of support in the thread, and a few suggested these types of emails be sent to clients multiple times per week. The message needs to be hammered home.
