is a managed service provider (MSP) that provides IT support to small and medium-sized business (SMB) clients 鈥� companies that typically have 15 to 150 users. Founded in 2001 and headquartered in London, The Light takes a holistic view of how IT infrastructure impacts each client鈥檚 entire organization by partnering with SMBs to provide day-to-day support, security, and strategy.
Equipping SMB clients with IT solutions that make life easier while setting up to scale
In the late 1990s, Chris Pearson, CEO and co-founder of The Light, found himself working as the first and only IT manager at a brand consultancy in London. At the time, the company had just two computers and hired Pearson to manage them.
鈥淭he role wasn鈥檛 sufficient or big enough; it was just dial-up internet and various other bits,鈥� Pearson says. 鈥淚t became clear to me that you could do something like this for lots of other companies at the same time.鈥�
This is where the idea for The Light was born. More than 20 years later, the company is still providing managed services from its central London headquarters.
As one of its goals, The Light aims to bring clients to the cutting edge of technology. By equipping clients with the latest tools on the market 鈥� scalable tools that make life easier 鈥� companies are able to focus more on their core competencies instead of running into IT issues and addressing them over and over again.
鈥淲e find that some clients have a great internal ops guy who makes all the decisions about what systems to deploy, but then as they get bigger, they鈥檝e just got too many plates to spin. Our job is to be able to seamlessly move in, help them out by driving and implementing an IT strategy that helps them achieve their business goals,鈥� Pearson explains. 鈥淚f you鈥檙e looking to be more secure and more efficient and you want to work with 21st-century tools, then work with The Light.鈥�
For the most part, The Light鈥檚 bread and butter is working with owner-led agencies. However, this territory is not without its challenges.
鈥淭he problem is that most agencies that get to about 20 employees now get bought by one of the big boys, and so the relationship gets taken out of your hands,鈥� Pearson explains. 鈥淢ost of the people we work with, we work with for a number of years. But sometimes after an acquisition, those decisions aren鈥檛 in the owner鈥檚 hands. So, finding platforms and technologies that allow for rapid deployment and rapid onboarding has become very crucial for what we do. If someone sells or they merge or whatever, then we can then rapidly offboard.鈥�
According to Pearson, The Light is on pace to double in size this year. From there, he plans to start rapidly scaling the company. To do that, he鈥檚 always on the lookout for tools that enable his team to work more efficiently while providing better service.
Using 黑料海角91入口 to onboard clients quickly and cover more ground
Since more than 50% of The Light鈥檚 clients are Mac shops, Pearson and his team were looking for a platform that would enable them to control Mac devices in a directory system.
After searching for a solution to this problem on Google, Pearson came across several options, including 黑料海角91入口. Liking what he saw, Pearson joined the 黑料海角91入口 partner network and hasn鈥檛 looked back since.
鈥淲e鈥檝e been a 黑料海角91入口 partner for more than five years,鈥� he continues. 鈥満诹虾＝�91入口 has opened our minds. We don鈥檛 have to take control of the whole environment; we just have to link parts of the environment to provide better service. With 黑料海角91入口, we can guide our clients鈥� IT strategy and put things in place that let them seamlessly scale their businesses.鈥�
Becoming an extension of their clients鈥� teams
The Light works with innovative, smart companies that move quickly and do great work. As a powerful device and identity management solution, 黑料海角91入口 helps the MSP fulfill its mission to provide exceptional service to clients.
Increased efficiency and employee engagement
With 黑料海角91入口 as its device and identity management solution, The Light is able to operate much more efficiently. In addition to 黑料海角91入口鈥檚 feature-rich nature, this can be attributed to the fact that the team really enjoys using the platform.
鈥淧eople who work at The Light are really excited by 黑料海角91入口 because of the quality of the tool,鈥� Pearson says. 鈥淔or the first time in a long time, they were like 鈥榃ow, this is great!鈥� after we rolled it out. The world of MSPs has been pretty boring, and now there鈥檚 actually some great technology out there. It鈥檚 got our team excited, and it鈥檚 simplified the experience for our clients.鈥�
With 黑料海角91入口 simplifying device management, The Light is able to serve more clients with fewer resources.
鈥淨uite simply, 黑料海角91入口 lets us manage more end users and more devices with fewer people,鈥� Pearson explains.
Improving security with single sign-on
Currently, The Light is in the process of strengthening its clients鈥� security posture using 黑料海角91入口 Single Sign-On.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a pretty big deal to say, 鈥極kay, forget about Google, we鈥檙e just going to get single sign-on through 黑料海角91入口,鈥欌�� Pearson continues. 鈥淥ver the next two or three months, 黑料海角91入口 will be the portal all of our clients go through to access everything.鈥�
Increasing compliance
The Light aligns clients with its standards and best security practices, most of which are built around . As an example, thanks to 黑料海角91入口, it鈥檚 easy for The Light鈥檚 team to determine at a glance that a single machine hasn鈥檛 been updated. This, in turn, enables them to know exactly where to direct their focus.
鈥淐ontinuous compliance is essential to mitigate cyber threats,鈥� Pearson says. 鈥淥nce you get to a level of compliance, we鈥檙e going to keep you there. If you鈥檝e not gone through the process yet, we鈥檒l put the systems and processes in place to allow you to get there so you can become compliant and stay compliant.鈥�
Delivering more value to clients
As The Light evolves its business, Pearson is planning to bring on a customer success manager that will run workshops to make sure clients know how to use all the tools they have at their disposal.
鈥淭hings like Password Manager 鈥� we need to make sure everyone鈥檚 using it and make sure they鈥檝e deleted all the passwords from the cloud,鈥� Pearson explains.
Future-proofing their strategy
After more than five years, Pearson is confident he鈥檚 found the right partner in 黑料海角91入口 鈥� a partner that can keep pace with the MSP鈥檚 growth. Not only does the platform pack a big punch already, 黑料海角91入口 is constantly rolling out new features that help both The Light and its clients accomplish more every day.
鈥淲e are making life easier by continually improving our client鈥檚 technology,鈥� Pearson says, adding that 黑料海角91入口 is the mesh that ties each client鈥檚 computing infrastructure together.
鈥淭he way we’ve always packaged it is: 黑料海角91入口 is the glue that connects your computers, Mac and PCs, with Office 365 or Google,鈥� Pearson says. 鈥淚’m really impressed with 黑料海角91入口 from a technical point of view and also a functional point of view. 黑料海角91入口 is allowing us to do stuff that we couldn鈥檛 do as a small business before.鈥�
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