ITR53 PageNetworks 20/9/07 16:26 Page 59
NETWORKING—SECURITY—UPS—STORAGE
Evolving the MSP model
The modern MSP must utilise the skills of third-party partners and
software suppliers to achieve 24/7 availability and service desk excellence,
writes Phil Sansom, senior vice president of Kaseya UK.
aving made a
customer retention. However, as night each week. That approach to make out of hours support
H
successful transition
the majority of VARs have now can only lead to burn out and high both affordable and effective.
from break/fix to
made the transition to MSP, the levels of staff churn. So how can Taking the outsource approach,
managed service
market is seeing increasing any MSP afford to the recruit the a service team can manage ten
provision in recent
pressure on margins and a numbers and breadth of skills times the customer end-points
years, many IT organisations have
growing expectation from required to deliver effective and that could be achieved in house,
enjoyed a radical increase in
customers that the quality and efficient new services customers? even with the improved productivity
customer numbers and improved
range of services will improve Yet without such services, just delivered by automated monitoring
profitability. Yet with increasing
year on year. So just where do how long will the MSP be able and remediation. A flexible service
client demands for 24x7 support
MSPs go next to achieve to survive in this fast moving charged by customer end point
and the need to add new services
competitive differentiation? marketplace? enables MSPs to extend customer
to achieve differentiation in a
Service Level Agreements (SLAs)
competitive, low margin market- The only way MSPs can address
to include a range of 24x7 support
place, managed services providers
Critical Support
this catch 22 situation is to learn
options, without significant up
(MSP) are struggling to achieve a At the heart of the new opportunity the lessons of their customers;
front investment.
scalable, low risk business model. is the growing customer awareness namely, to consider outsourcing
It is simply not feasible for most of the need for 24x7 support. many non-core services to third Critically, outsourcing provides the
MSPs to employ the numbers of Such support is not just about party organisations that can MSP with the ability to go to the
highly skilled staff required to making each engineer take turns deliver the economies of scale market with a cost effective and
diversify service offerings and with the ‘out of hours’ mobile one and overseas resources required efficient 24x7 support offering
deliver excellent 24x7 support with the full
to customers. confidence that
any level of
The alternative is to extend the customer demand
MSP model. By outsourcing the can be met
non-core business of out of without incurring
hours remote monitoring and the risk associated
remediation to a third party, with adding new
MSPs can safely and effectively staff and skills.
scale up to deliver new services Furthermore, by
that provide true differentiation using a third
without requiring the high-risk, party to undertake
up-front investment. Over the non-core tasks,
past few years the UK value- the MSP can
added reseller (VAR) community then leverage its
has responded positively to core expertise to
customer demands for more deliver additional
effective and efficient IT support. differential services
By combining this managed to gain further
services model with highly market advantage.
integrated remote monitoring MSPs must
and automation, MSPs have
“Taking the outsource approach, a service team can
leverage the skills of third
transformed a business model
manage ten times the customer end-points that could be
parties and exploit the existing
that was enduring upwards of 30
achieved in house, even with the improved productivity
skills base to achieve the
per cent annual customer attrition
delivered by automated monitoring and remediation.”
differential selling required to
to stabilise the revenue stream
– Phil Sansom.
achieve competitive differentiation
and dramatically improve without business risk. circlesolid
www.itrportal.com
IT RESELLER – SEPTEMBER 2007 59
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