Comments on: Update: Symantec’s SaaS Strategy http://www.mspmentor.net/2008/06/16/update-symantecs-saas-strategy/ Managed Services & Cloud Services Blog for VARs & MSPs Tue, 14 Feb 2012 04:20:53 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Joe Panettieri http://www.mspmentor.net/2008/06/16/update-symantecs-saas-strategy/comment-page-1/#comment-17767 Joe Panettieri Thu, 19 Jun 2008 23:08:47 +0000 http://www.mspmentor.net/2008/06/16/update-symantecs-saas-strategy/#comment-17767 Simon: Good to hear from you. Curious to know if all of your customers are in UK, or if you've pushed into other countries as well. If so, which European countries are most acceptive to your services? (And I say services meaning online as well as on-site). Best -jp Simon: Good to hear from you. Curious to know if all of your customers are in UK, or if you’ve pushed into other countries as well. If so, which European countries are most acceptive to your services? (And I say services meaning online as well as on-site).

Best
-jp

]]> By: Simon C http://www.mspmentor.net/2008/06/16/update-symantecs-saas-strategy/comment-page-1/#comment-17756 Simon C Thu, 19 Jun 2008 21:42:50 +0000 http://www.mspmentor.net/2008/06/16/update-symantecs-saas-strategy/#comment-17756 Hi Joe and Jeff. Thanks for the insights - the Symantec vision is ultimately a guiding principle for us independent guys to look at. Everytime I read strong articles like this there is one word that dominates the page: service. Is service a technical platform or is it a state of mind ? Perhaps it is increasingly easy for me to offer you an additional item you can buy or rent from me - but will that really be a service ? I have posted before about the differentiation between commodity products and a service someone will pay for. I believe many vendors esp the big boys have no clue how to convert product availability into a service. Please feel free to quote me but in my opinion: product availability DOES NOT EQUAL service. Service is an emotive business deliverable from one person to another. The old adage of "people sell to people" has never been so true. Right now any MSP who can capture the hearts and mind of any customer base will succeed and make margin. But beware. Increasing availability of different products is not automatically increasing your service. Sure now you may be able to offer mail + backup + network monitoring + storage + VOIP ...... But YOUR customer is buying a service off YOU - and you need to be able to look him in the eye (or over a Web session!!) and you need to tell him you did right by offering the product you offered as a service. Choose your partners carefully..... Life is no longer the break and fix world most of us grew up in. But that does not alter the core factors of a supplier caring passionately about the service a customer receives. Every day I weigh up whether to offer my happy backup punters something else I could easily deliver over the same platform. But I am scared to dilute what I do - and god forbid - sell my happy punters something that lets them down and screws our relationship. Its not very catchy but I think I have come up with a new acronym that sums up my vision: GasaaS - Giving a shit as a service :-) Simon www.backup-technology.co.uk Hi Joe and Jeff. Thanks for the insights – the Symantec vision is ultimately a guiding principle for us independent guys to look at.

Everytime I read strong articles like this there is one word that dominates the page: service.

Is service a technical platform or is it a state of mind ? Perhaps it is increasingly easy for me to offer you an additional item you can buy or rent from me – but will that really be a service ?

I have posted before about the differentiation between commodity products and a service someone will pay for. I believe many vendors esp the big boys have no clue how to convert product availability into a service. Please feel free to quote me but in my opinion:

product availability DOES NOT EQUAL service.

Service is an emotive business deliverable from one person to another. The old adage of “people sell to people” has never been so true. Right now any MSP who can capture the hearts and mind of any customer base will succeed and make margin.

But beware. Increasing availability of different products is not automatically increasing your service. Sure now you may be able to offer mail + backup + network monitoring + storage + VOIP …… But YOUR customer is buying a service off YOU – and you need to be able to look him in the eye (or over a Web session!!) and you need to tell him you did right by offering the product you offered as a service. Choose your partners carefully…..

Life is no longer the break and fix world most of us grew up in. But that does not alter the core factors of a supplier caring passionately about the service a customer receives.

Every day I weigh up whether to offer my happy backup punters something else I could easily deliver over the same platform. But I am scared to dilute what I do – and god forbid – sell my happy punters something that lets them down and screws our relationship.

Its not very catchy but I think I have come up with a new acronym that sums up my vision: GasaaS

- Giving a shit as a service :-)

Simon
http://www.backup-technology.co.uk

]]> By: Jeff Kaplan http://www.mspmentor.net/2008/06/16/update-symantecs-saas-strategy/comment-page-1/#comment-17726 Jeff Kaplan Thu, 19 Jun 2008 19:17:18 +0000 http://www.mspmentor.net/2008/06/16/update-symantecs-saas-strategy/#comment-17726 Thanks for giving my perspective additional visibility. As you know, Symantec and other vendors are facing serious challenges balancing their newfound direct service capabilities with their longstanding channel relationships. This is complicating all of their go-to-market strategies and slowing down their market penetration. Thanks for giving my perspective additional visibility. As you know, Symantec and other vendors are facing serious challenges balancing their newfound direct service capabilities with their longstanding channel relationships. This is complicating all of their go-to-market strategies and slowing down their market penetration.

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