Too often, I see hesitation when it comes time to recommend a change in the tech stack. Whether it’s swapping out a firewall, ditching a misaligned backup platform, or recommending a different EDR, vCIOs sometimes hold back out of fear of seeming overly pushy.
That hesitation is understandable, but it can also be costly.
Clients Don’t Want Tools—They Want Outcomes
Let’s be clear: your client didn’t hire your MSP because they’re emotionally attached to their current firewall or backup tool. They hired you because they believe you can help them achieve business outcomes: secure data, great support, scalable IT, predictable costs, and peace of mind.
When you tiptoe around a necessary change to keep the peace, you’re actually putting those outcomes at risk. You can’t fully deliver on your promises if you’re stuck supporting products you don’t know well, don’t trust, or can’t integrate into your processes.
Confidence Is Key to Client Trust
Clients look to you for leadership. If you waffle on your recommendations, they’ll pick up on that uncertainty, and it will undermine the trust you’ve worked so hard to build. But when you speak with clarity and confidence about why your preferred stack is essential to their success, that confidence becomes contagious.
Let’s say your team is built around supporting Fortinet firewalls, but your new client is using a SonicWall. You could try to bend over backward to support the existing setup, but that opens the door to inefficiencies, security gaps, and inconsistent support. Or you could explain how switching to Fortinet aligns with your service model, improves responsiveness, and delivers a better long-term result.
That conversation might feel tough in the moment, but it pays dividends in results and relationships.
You’re Not Being Pushy—You’re Being Strategic
This isn’t about “selling” a stack for its own sake. It’s about ensuring your team is equipped to deliver exceptional results, using tools you can stand behind. Standardizing on a stack reduces complexity, accelerates troubleshooting, and improves the customer experience. That’s a win for everyone.
You might even frame the conversation like this:
“We want to be held accountable for your success, and to do that, we need to work with technology we know inside and out. Our stack is carefully chosen because it enables our team to support you at the highest level. Let’s talk about transitioning to tools that let us deliver on what we promised.”
Be that partner. Own your stack. Lead with confidence.
Simon is the President of S3 Technologies, a leading Canadian MSP he co-founded in 2003. He built and scaled the vCIO team which eventually lead to him co-founding Propel Your MSP in 2018 to help MSPs with their vCIO services.
