Peter Melby says there’s always been a “love/hate relationship” when it comes to customers and their ties to IT departments. Clients needs the services of their IT department, yet they have a hard time communicating and dealing with their managed service providers. That can breed a hateful love affair. Melby, president of the Denver, Colo.-based Greystone Technology Group, informed a room of MSPs at Continuum’s recent Navigate conference in Boston that he had a negative view of IT when he started out, too. He said there are rules every business should break to be sure they’re servicing their customers appropriately. “Our reputation is that we’re egotistical, self-serving, protective, cold, disconnected…,” he said. “Our industry has bred a service model that shuns innovation and protects margins at the expense of real impact and actual profit. It’s ironic.” Here are Melby's six rules to break the cycle to make your business better, and your clients happy.