MSPmentor’s 2010 Platinum Sponsors contribute timely insights through our guest blogging system. Our guest bloggers avoid the temptation to give you sales pitches, and instead share key observations to help you evolve, build and grow your managed services practices.
The managed services market is never without its intrigue. Vendors, application developers, tool providers, platform aggregators, managed service providers, solution providers, and end customers all swimming about in the fragmented, highly competitive, primordial soup that is a growing market. Now, for the challenge…
Why isn’t every VAR a successful managed service provider (MSP)? There are many paths to success, but aspiring MSPs also make many common mistakes that hinder their ability to become profitable. In part 1 and part 2 in our series, we covered eight common errors that MSPs make. Interested in becoming a successful provider of managed services? In this last part in the series, here are five more common blunders you need to avoid.
At some point in their evolution, most mid-size MSPs will come to a critical juncture — one that will determine whether the future will be characterized by minimal growth and stagnancy, or by dramatic expansion. This juncture comes when the MSP looks to land a major, large account; one that can establish an entirely new level of validation and revenue.
When it comes to choosing SaaS (software as a service) or an on-premise solution, one size does not fit all. Indeed, enterprises and small businesses have different IT needs and considerations. As a managed service provider, here are some key issues you need to keep in mind as you formulate your own SaaS, cloud and on-premise solutions.
Why isn’t every VAR a successful managed service provider (MSP)? There are many paths to success, but aspiring MSPs also make many common mistakes that hinder their ability to become profitable. In our previous guest blog, we talked about four common errors MSPs make. Interested in becoming a successful provider of managed services? Here are four more common blunders you need to avoid.
Successful managed service providers understand the basic truisms of technology: Clients just want it to work, so don’t bother them with how it works. Second, technology is the means to an end, which is to support business operations and goals. MSPs who understand these realities also understand the importance of addressing clients’ common IT pain points. Here’s how to get started.
Managed services as an IT service delivery model is here to stay. Now for the risk: As with any other relatively new market, the SMB managed service space is highly fragmented. There are hundreds of existing application and service vendors and just as many new entrants to the industry competing for solution providers’ mind share and market share. So how do you tell the good partners from the bad ones?
Last month, I offered you four keys to ongoing managed services success — regardless of the economy. With those previous thoughts in mind, let’s look at new client acquisition in healthcare — which is a ripe opportunity for managed service providers. I’ll even show you how to find leads for healthcare companies that are 10-99 employees in a 50-100 mile radius around your office.
Despite the falling economy, business is looking up for top managed service providers. Indeed, top MSPs are generating better margins and more revenue per customer than ever according to the latest MSP Partners/Institute for Partner Education and Development (IPED) research into the state of the managed services market. Check out these highlights.
Our VirtualAdministrator partners often ask us how to package and price their managed services offerings. Structuring your offering correctly can be vital to the success of your business. If you charge too much, you risk scaring customers away — charge too little, and you cheat yourself. Too many plan options confuse customers, while too few limits your market. A great method to use is a tiered offering. The Silver, Gold, and Platinum approach as we call it. Here’s how to get started.
Why isn’t every VAR a successful managed service provider (MSP)? There are many paths to success, but aspiring MSPs also make many common mistakes that hinder their ability to become profitable. Interested in becoming a successful provider of managed services? Then read, learn, and avoid these common blunders.
Generally speaking, IT managed service providers are technologists, both in training and previous professional pursuits. The managed services market is also highly fragmented, with a long list of small technology and software companies all battling for the attention and business of end users and IT service providers. The value focus in all of the selling and marketing efforts has resulted in a disturbing trend carried over from the hardware selling models: A focus on tools, technology, and features/functions. Here’s how to avoid that trap at all costs.
Many managed service providers talk about good business strategies for the bad economy. I prefer to look at what you can do to increase your chance of success in good times as well as bad. In this blog entry, I offer four tips for ongoing business success — regardless of the economic climate. And in my next blog entry, I’ll take a closer look at a specific vertical market opportunity that’s ideal for managed service providers.
With Heartland Payment Systems’ potentially record-breaking data breach now sparking a class-action lawsuit, there are some important lessons for managed service providers and their customers. Here’s what went wrong at Heartland, and some practical guidance for security-minded MSPs.
From time to time we hear about “zero-day” or other critical viruses that garner national interest, and require immediate action. The most recent example was the Conficker virus. Naturally, business owners started asking “am I protected?” As we looked at the steps necessary to resolve this issue for our own customers, we were again reminded why being a Managed Service provider is so critical.
As regulation creeps into all phases of data lifecycle management, managed service providers are assuming greater data protection responsibilities on behalf of their customers. While many customers understand that they have regulatory compliance gaps, challenges persist in how to translate these requirements into data protection policies that are actionable, enforceable, and auditable. The natural place for businesses to turn to is you, their trusted MSP partners to help them translate their data protection requirements into actionable policies that can be centrally managed, enforced and tracked.
If you are a start-up managed service provider, I would recommend taking a look at Amazon Web Services. It is very promising and it helps you host your software on Amazon EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud), store the data on a networked drive EBS (Elastic Block Store), and backup the data on to the S3 (Simple Storage Service) with an uptime guarantee of 99.95%. All for less than $99 per month. Here’s what that means for MSPs.
The current economic crisis is a monster – no doubt about that. If you are under the age of 80, this is shaping up to be the worst market downturn of your life. Cautious and prudent fiscal, managerial, and operational policy in our personal and business dealings is critical. But what many companies and managers, in the midst of a crisis like this, may not recognize is this: Downturns are significant opportunities that don’t come along very often.
Making the switch from the traditional “Break-Fix” model to a “Managed Services” way of doing business can be a frightening prospect. One of the most common questions we hear from our partners is “How do I sell this to my clients?” Most VARs feel hesitant to present an MSP way of doing business to their already existing break-fix customers, and understandably so. Here’s how to overcome that issue.
President-elect Barack Obama will make history when he takes over the White House Jan. 20, and much of the world will be counting on the new U.S. president to revive an economy that has been stalling for at least a year. But how will President Obama impact managed service providers? Here are some thoughts.
I have a neighbor who really gets into Christmas. His house is covered with lights and ornaments. The combination of bright lights and shiny objects captures lots of attention, even prompting a local TV crew to broadcast in front of his house.
In a number of surveys, various researchers have determined that nearly 70% of companies are at risk for an e-discovery litigation headache. The root cause of the litigation headache is the fact that everyone from government agencies to regulators to judges views electronic communications as business records that must be produced and, in many cases preserved, by organizations.
If you have been dilly-dallying with the idea of starting a managed services business, look no further, 2009 is the ideal year for you to become an MSP. For a complete guide on how to setup a managed services business, plan for resources, and run it like a pro download this guide “How to become an MSP in 2009.”
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