The Government estimates there are more than 12,000 managed service providers (MSPs) in the UK – ranging from the micro to the multi-national.

So, what makes clients including local authorities, police forces and government departments choose de Novo Solutions to oversee their vital systems? Here, our VP of Managed Services Hayley Barber reflects on how her team’s expertise, knowledge sharing, and focus on relationship-building has helped set de Novo apart from thousands of others.

What can clients expect from working with the managed services team at de Novo?

“As you might expect from our MSP offering being called Value as a Service, our focus is on clients achieving the maximum return on their investment. We don’t just want Oracle to work across their HR, Payroll, Finance and Procurement functions, we actively score usage against key factors which are adoption, efficiency, innovation and optimisation. That means both the de Novo team and the customer themselves understand exactly where they are on their journey, with the way forward mapped out clearly and proactively.”

What makes de Novo different from other MSPs?

“I truly believe the difference is our people. Not only does almost every member of the team have direct experience within HR, Finance, Payroll or Procurement, many have also done those roles within the same sectors many of our clients operate within. We’ve had many team members join us from councils, police forces or multi-academy trusts, for example. That means they don’t just have the expert knowledge around Oracle, they also truly get the business needs of our clients – they’ve been in their shoes, they understand the pain points, and they know what support is needed.

“Ultimately, that means we form strong relationships with our clients, and they very quickly begin to trust us to fix any issues with their cloud applications, but also to bring new ideas to the table and guide them towards more efficient and effective usage of Oracle.”

How important is the MSP/client partnership?

“At de Novo, we believe it’s crucial to deliver value. We don’t want to be sat here simply fixing problems when they happen – we want to be a trusted partner to all of our clients, and I truly believe that’s what we offer rather than a basic service which they could get anywhere.

“I’m proud to say we have a high retention rate within our team, and because we’re not a huge multi-national corporation, clients get used to meeting with the same experts over time, and building those trusting relationships which means they know they can come to us for sound advice, and rely on the team.”

How does the partnership change over time?

“We believe in knowledge sharing, which means training and resources for the client’s team; over time, they’re upskilled. That usually results in them being less dependent on us to resolve issues, but then that enables us to focus on upgrades, enhancements and new implementations. In fact, we have created a specific MSP project team so often we’re now able to work directly with clients on these projects in addition to their ongoing support.

“Because we build up that trust, it’s important to us that we have honest conversations – we’ll never advise a client to adopt something just because it’s new. Instead, we’d assess the value it would provide to them specifically.

“As well as gaining knowledge from us, we believe clients can learn from each other too – hence our Xchange Customer Forums where everyone comes together and shares the lessons they’ve learned along the way, what’s worked well for them, and their advice for others getting ready to adopt applications they’ve already implemented. We believe these forums and the knowledge we freely share in the form of the ServiceNow customer portal, template approaches and guides contribute hugely to the great feedback we have – and our clients’ willingness to recommend us to others.

“It’s absolutely an evolving service, where we are shifting the focus away from people bringing issues to us (although we’re always there to help, of course), towards us bringing innovation to them.”

Find out more about Value as a Service here.