$X per server and $Y per desktop is unlikely to represent the future of managed services for MSPs providing high touch services to their local base of customers.

It is up to the platform providers to build out the new service capabilities required to support the innovation that all MSPs need to be thinking about as the basic services become commoditized.

Peter Sandiford
http://www.levelplatforms.com

I’ve got a meeting scheduled with my partner next week to go over these items and see what we need to do to get the others moving forward.

Joe, do you think MSPs might get more like telecom companies w/regard to pipe? (like how AT&T owns the last mile on the network?)

Great article and discussion by all.

I really enjoy this topic for the simple fact that this problem represents the true value of our industry. I think our industry, more than many others, is in a constant state of growth and expansion. The temperature of technology is one that is always rising with new offerings and opportunities and the products we deal with obviously affect all of us by requiring a nimble and ever changing offering and value to our customers.

I like the idea of added technology services to the customer, but was really intrigued by a speech presented by Alex Rogers of CharTec at the ConnectWise summit this last month.

Alex touched on business services that MSP’s often overlook. Burglar alarm services, fire sprinklers, elevated flooring, etc. The process to offer such services could be readily available through local partnerships, expanding the reach of the MSP even further.

Now, why I don’t believe that you should include burglar alarms, and fire sprinklers, etc., the question begs to be asked: What are we not doing that will lend true value to our customers?

I have every confidence that someone in this industry will come up with the answer soon, and another wave will build.

Sean McDonald
http://www.labtechsoft.com

1. Don’t overlook a personal touch. I hate calling the TelCo as part of vendor management – they probably feel the same way. Our people know each client by first name, will the TelCo’s do the same? We’ll bend over backwards to make a client happy, you can’t quantify (or execute) on that through and SLA.

2. Get better clients. Sounds silly, but bad revenue can actually be worse than no revenue. Clients that don’t value you, and just sap your time and resources, should have less value to you. Start evaluating profitability on a per-client basis, select those that make you the most money, and use them to model/profile your ideal client after. Then target your marketing messaging around finding more like them.

There isn’t a silver bullet, but a series of small changes amount to big difference.

Niv Dolgin
Director, ITS
SADA Systems, Inc.
http://www.sadasystems.com

Some key ways to differentiate from the telcos…

1. How’s your annual employee turnover? Can customers reach the same trusted voice each month if they call your company with a question? Can the regional telphone ISP match your personal service?

2. How’s your brand? Is everyone in your company using the same terms to describe your business? Does your web site, your electronic communications, your voicemail, your biz cards — everything — reinfoce your company’s brand/value prop?

3. What one new managed service are you introducing in 1H 2010, and how are you promoting/testing that service right now? Repeat the process for 2H 2010. You’ve got a pipe into your customers. Keep adding new services pumped through that pipe.

4. Are you seemingly “everywhere”? Branded cars? Attending local business conferences? Quoted in newspapers about business and tech issues? Helping out at a school or local organization?

5. What are you giving away? I admit, I’m a convert to the “freemium” trend. Google it. It works.

6. Readers, what else?

Thanks everyone.
-jp

In the past, I never really worried about the competition, but now… these guys have unlimited funds, they include ad’s for their services in their telephone bills, and since they provide internet for a lot of our customers, we’re now in direct competition.

We’re working on our strategy to combat them and we have lots of advantages and experience, but now, it’s a commodity and we have to be able to compare “apples to apples” which cuts into our margin and our offerings.

We use the same approach in our media business. There’s no faster way to strengthen/reinforce/expand a business relationship than face-to-face discussions.
-jp

Right now, we’re actively engaged in re-inventing our Managed Services offering to be bigger, better, faster, easier and include more, all to combat the dwindling returns of our first-movers advantage sited herein.

I’d also offer to Bob that although revealing value during the sales cycle is paramount to winning the deal, there is more insidious threat to us AFTER we sign the deal. The paradigm of a Managed Services practices is that unless we constantly show an INCREASE in value, the MSP client perception of value actually decreases. As we improve things, and make the run better, longer and with fewer problems, clients begin questing ‘what are we really paying for?”

We find it more challenging to justify service delivery in a long standing account, than doing the same with a client who is fresh off the heels our sales efforts.

Getting ourselves in front of the client consistently with new/fresh information, ideas, recommendations and options the client can use to improve their business is where the real opportunity to demonstrate leadership. This is how MSP’s fulfill their roles as true trusted advisors; By not settling and maintaining the status quo. Rethinking “what’s next” and how to integrate that into your service offerings will only serve to elevate you in the minds of your clients and prospects.

Niv Dolgin
Director, ITS
SADA Systems, Inc.
http://www.sadasystems.com

The one thing I hear no one talking about is the real value that MSPs deliver to their customers. This comes from being a trusted advisor for their business, similar to an accountant or lawyer. What most MSPs aren’t able to do is articulate that value to their customers and package it in such a way that enables them to charge more than the trunk slammer down the street.

Regardless of the technologies that are used to deliver your IT services (which are important) it has to come back to the relationship you have with your customer. If you have a technical relationship, you are a commodity. If you are a trusted advisor then you are not.

The top MSPs in this industry know how to package and price their relationship along with their services to drive their business.

Bob Penland
CTO
TruMethods (http://www.trumethods.com)