An update from the managed services talent pool: Nancy Williams, a veteran of MSP Services Network (MSPSN), has joined SecureMyCompany as VP of community relations. Here’s a bit more on the move.
SecureMyCompany veteran Stuart Selbst — now at MSP University — disclosed Williams’ move on his personal blog. Williams will oversee SecureMyCompany’s channel management, services delivery and community partnerships.
SecureMyCompany and MSP Services Network (MSPSN) are Master MSPs that host services for peer VARs and managed service providers. SecureMyCompany specializes in hosted Kaseya services (with more services coming on regularly), while MSPSN recently migrated to the itControlSuite platform.
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Tags: Kaseya | Master MSP | MSP Services Network | MSP University | MSPSN | Nancy Williams | SecureMyCompany
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I think Nancy also worked at SMB Nation at one point. I am curious to see how the “master msp” trend evolves with securemycompany, mspsn and others. Is it more than hype? How many VARs depend on master MSPs? Who is profiting and how much?
Richard,
Here are some follow-up thoughts.
1. Nancy/SMB Nation: I heard the same thing but I haven’t spoken with Nancy so I need to double-check.
2. Master MSP trend: I think it’s more than hype for many companies. Do IT Smarter and MSPSN both landed on our MSPmentor 100, and I’m speaking with a newer Master MSP (VirtualAdministator) later today.
Still, there is some hype in the market. Many MSPs claim to be Master MSPs when they’re not. Do your research. Ask around. Post comments here and on other MSP-oriented sites to determine which Master MSPs are the real deal.
I don’t know which Master MSPs are truly profitable nor do I know how many VARs they are supporting. But we’re asking those questions in ongoing interviews. Stay tuned. And thanks for reading MSPmentor.
-jp
There does seem to be a lot of hype around the Master MSP model right now. I believe that many of the companies claiming to be a Master MSP have yet to fully understand exactly what it means. Just because a company is hosting a RMM platform and reselling it to other MSP’s does not make it a Master MSP, rather I would say they are a SaaS provider.
The premise behind a Master MSP model is that other VARs, resellers and MSPs can go to the Master MSP for all of their managed services needs. This generally includes a hosted RMM tool as well as a suite of other SaaS tools (antispam, antivirus, remote backup, PSA, etc.). More importantly though is a fully staffed NOC that not only understands how to support an indirect customer base but knows how to support other resellers, whose requests are generally more demanding and of a higher level of difficulty.
In addition to the standard MSP services a Master MSP needs to provide a full suite of services that will help their reseller base close business, at a most basic level this includes collateral that can be branded (sales slicks, proposals, agreements, SLA’s, presentations, etc..). On top of that you generally need to put training sessions together that are taught in webinar, classroom and one-on-one formats. Finally a Master MSP needs to have some presence with their resellers, this means either having local resources throughout the country or resources that are willing to travel.
As for the who is making money question. I believe that the MSP benefits the most in this situation. Most of our services can be marked up 100%-150% of cost. It will take a new MSP (that builds and staffs their own NOC) many years before they start to see this level of profit margin.
Lane Smith
Do IT Smarter
Lane: No doubt, there are a lot of Master MSP “pretenders” in the market right now.
I know definitions vary from company to company but one thing is for sure: The market will ultimately settle the definition, because a year or two from now — when the pretenders implode — the successful Master MSPs will have an even stronger voice in the market.
Update: I got a note from Nancy, confirming previous work with SMB Nation. Thanks for connecting with me Nancy.
Lane’s definition of a Master MSP is excellent. We can’t forget the biggest differentiator between so-called ‘pretenders’ and true Master MSP’s: Knowledge, and the ability to transfer that knowledge effectively. There are, at this point, perhaps a handful of outfits, Do IT Smarter included, that are truly Master MSP’s.
Joe: I think your prediction for a year or two down the road is, as usual, an accurate one:)
Jim Van
Logicomm, Inc.
http://logicomm-inc.com
It’s interesting as a “newer Master MSP” to watch this thread. I can tell you from our experience at Virtual Administrator (http://www.VirtualAdministrator.com), our success has come from individualized service and great ongoing concern that what we’re doing is providing ongoing and increasing value.
There are, as you’ve said, many “pretenders” out there, some of them directly breaking licensing agreements (currently only Virtual Administrator and SMC are US licensees for hosting Kaseya), and I think in most cases, these are companies that overbought and couldn’t figure out how to market effectively enough to gain clients to use their licenses, so they hung a shingle and decided to go into cost recovery mode. This is the last type of company that VARs should use, as their advice won’t be coming from a company that’s actually had proven success.
There’s another value to using a Master MSP that goes beyond knowledge and low cost of entry, however, and it’s illustrated by one of our primary partners, SpamSoap. For those who don’t know SpamSoap, it started as a program based upon the Declude engine and hosted and run by inHouseIT in California. For quite awhile they maintained their own platform, and always, they’ve been very quick to respond to both sales and support requests on our behalf. After years of “growing their own”, they came across the MXLogic engine and realized that they would be able to scale better if they developed a meaningful partnership with MXLogic than if they continued down their current path. They announced this to us, we adjusted and have stayed SpamSoap partners.
Here’s the thing. We could probably pay a touch less for mailbox protection if we went direct. We could probably have more control over provisioning. But because of the sheer size of the primary vendor, we’d also wait on hold for 30 minutes instead of getting someone in 30 seconds. We’d deal with (potentially) employee churn. We’d be a smaller fish in a bigger pond. The primary value in our relationshp with SpamSoap is their accessibility and their level of genuine concern. Plus they’re fun guys, but that’s a whole other story
I hope that as we move forward we’re not judged by the quantity of our offerings (used earlier as a definition point for MSPs) but by the quality of the services and the people providing it. Soon we’ll be rolling out our Hosted SonicWALL GMS platform, and we’ll be announcing our official support of the Kaseya Hosted NOC solution soon. That’s it for awhile. Once we’re sure we’re able to handle the response and maintain quality, we’ll move on, likely with some custom solutions for our partners. If that makes us less of a Master MSP, so be it, but I’d like to think that another potential definition of a Master MSP is someone who’s taken the time and energy to master what they offer.
Rich Forsen
Virtual Administrator
http://www.VirtualAdministrator.com
I suspect the Master MSP definition will evolve like every other definition.
Look at operating systems, for instance. In the beginning, the OS was nothing more than a software layer that allowed applications and hardware to more easily work with one another.
Then came the GUI, built in TCP/IP, built in browsers … and things got really fat… now we’re all slimming down again with thin clients, netbooks, mobile internet devices… and fat servers running multiple virtualized services.
Back to the subject at hand: The real Master MPS definition will come down to one thing: Success.
Whoever succeeds in the Master MSP market will be able to write and communicate their own market definitions. Those who fail will move onto new markets, and won’t take the time to re-write/edit the definitions from those who succeeded.
-jp