Service level agreements (SLAs): Many MSPs offer them. But do you really have to? And if so, how can you design SLAs that give your customers peace of mind without putting undue stress on your own business. Get Started: Register to enter our Resource Center, where you’ll be able to download numerous guides to building and running your managed services business. And check back often. We post new guides in the MSPmentor Resource Center every week.
During a panel discussion at the Kaseya User Conference, an interesting debate popped up: Do managed service providers really need to offer service level agreements (SLAs)? And if so, how should they be written? I heard a range of opinions, but here are the three I heard most often.
We were meeting for breakfast, but Autotask CEO Bob Godgart wasn’t ready to pick up his fork. Instead, he opened his HP notebook and walked me through his vision for multi-partner customer engagements. Everyone from ConnectWise to OnForce (and soon, Partnerpedia) has communities to help VARs and managed service providers outsource work to one another. But I could tell Godgart has something different in mind. So we pushed aside breakfast, and dove into conversation.
I’ve been especially critical of Hewlett-Packard in recent months, openly wondering how the company has so badly missed the managed services market in the US. But a new partnership in India may provide some clues abou where HP is heading in the MSP space.
A case in point: Netmagic Solutions, a managed IT service provider in India, has inked a partnership with HP to service midmarket customers in such markets as retail, healthcare, utilities, education and manufacturing, according to a release from Netmagic. In order to win over potentially skeptical customers in the US, Netmagic promotes the fact that its data centers are ISO 27001 and SAS 70 Audit (Type II) compliant.
Other MSPs should follow that lead. Here’s why.
At first glance, managed services platforms represent the perfect business opportunity for VARs. But take a closer look — and talk to companies like Kaseya and Nimsoft — and you’ll discover a completely different target customer for MSP-centric systems. Here’s the scoop.
I’ve been on the road all week, moderating events in New York, Minneapolis and Boston. Reliable WiFi connections have been critically important to me during this extended road trip. But unfortunately, a lot of big-name hotels and conference centers still don’t understand how to deploy and manage WiFi networks.
Instead of offering WiFi on their own, hotels should leverage managed service providers to set up, maintain and troubleshoot WiFi systems.
The situation is particularly shocking when you consider how many homes now have super-fast, highly reliable WiFi networks. Upscale hotels are supposed to offer all the comforts of home — and more. Yet when I visited the Millennium Hotel Minneapolis, the Hilton New York and the Park Plaza Boston, I was greeted by weak or non-existent WiFi networks.
Here’s why and how things have to change.
First, let me clarify the headline: I’m not pressing a panic button. Cisco’s overall profits and revenues, announced May 6, were impressive. But if you’re a managed service provider, there’s a note of caution: Cisco’s sales to big U.S. service providers were weak this quarter. Here’s why managed service providers should care.
What’s the single biggest threat to managed service providers:
Actually, I think it’s something else. Read More >
Sometimes, managed service providers (MSPs) struggle to scale their business while fulfilling service level agreements (SLAs) with customers. With that challenge in mind, Kaseya has launched Network Operations Center (NOC) Assist, which allows MSPs to leverage Kaseya’s talent pool without hiring more full-time employees.
From where I sit, NOC Assist is part of a bigger trend in the managed services market. From Autotask to ConnectWise, OnForce and Kaseya, many MSP platform providers and IT market places are striving to help MSPs find more talent (through partnerships or vendor relationships) without increasing full-time payroll. Read More >
