During his keynote presentation at CompTIA Breakaway, best-selling business management author Chris Trimble made a watershed remark about the state of the IT channel, but I think most people missed it.
Trimble, author of “Ten Rules for Strategic Innovators” said the IT channel had undergone several revolutions:
“From reseller to VAR to total solutions provider to managed service provider.”
Sounds simple enough. You already knew about those revolutions. But remember: Trimble is mainly a business management expert. He doesn’t hang around the IT channel all day. Yet he’s studied it enough to say MSPs are the present and future of the IT channel.
Those were welcome words for many attendees.
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Tags: Chris Trimble | CompTIA Breakaway Orlando 2008 | Managed Service Providers | MSP
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I think that it is great that the term “Managed Service Provider” is actually being used in the mainstream – hopefully with that, over time, clarification and definition on what managed services are (and aren’t ) will follow – this kind of normalization will only help to drive large scale acceptance of managed services as a technology adoption and management strategy.
At Cisco we are increasingly seeing our customers ask us for guidance on business drivers for following a managed services route and how to select an appropriate managed service provider.
Will
Will Scott
wiscott@cisco.com
Hey Will: So how does Cisco help customers who are trying to select the most appropriate maanged service provider?
I know Cisco Systems Senior Director Al Safarikas has openly stated that the company won’t compete with managed service providers. But on the other hand, Cisco works with a lot of MSPs large and small. With all those partners in mind, how is Cisco is guiding customers who need info on how to select the most appropriate MSP?
Will, thats excellent to hear over at Cisco. I just sent you a private email asking you a couple questions, at least one of those being off topic…..
Stu
I am not the intellectual giant that Trimble is nor a prophet like Panettieri, but my prediction is: “From reseller to VAR to total solutions provider to managed service provider to Business Continuity Provider.” This is a new way of life. A paradigm shift in our thinking. It is Managed Services 3.O. It is no longer a technology play. It is a business way of life. We no longer sell technology, nor managed services. We sell “UPTIME”…What our customers want is no downtime. Business Continuity at its best. By the way it really works. When we implemented this vision, our managed services business increased 500%…and we felt humbled when MSPMentor voted us #14 in the world and #1 in the State of Nevada.
Lester: Never confuse a prophet with a blogger. I just spend my waking hours repeating what I hear from everyone else, then adding a little bit of flavor. You absolutely do sell “uptime.” But I think it’s more than that. Right now, most MSPs ensure uptime of third-party apps. Longer term, MSPs will ensure uptime of their own SaaS services.
Side note: MSPmentor didn’t vote you #14 in the world and #1 in Nevada. Your own performance — compared to more than 500 other MSPs worldwide — triggered those results. Thanks for reading.
-jp