As more of the big dogs come into the market, it will get interesting for independent service providers to decide who (if) they want to align with.

I’ve heard more and more people saying that Dell’s channel progam is a wolf in sheep’s clothing.  I don’t know enough about the details myself to say if that’s true or not, but it wouldn’t surprise me in the least.

I thought Peter Sandiford’s latest blurb in the Level Platforms newsletter was an interesting take on this subject.  Apparently LPI has recently partnered with Acer (Gateway) to help them roll out a managed services offering, but Acer seems to have a very pro-channel position.

As Peter mentions, more and more large companies with major firepower are entering the managed services space in one way or another.  The question that independent managed services providers will soon face is whether or not they should choose to align themselves with one of these large companies, or if they believe they can “go it alone”.

I wish I knew the answer.  My guess is that in many cases, it will make sense for a small MSP to join forces with one of the larger businesses.  On the other hand, I also believe that there is room for independent MSPs to shine by offering a differentiated level of service.

I’ve posted Peter’s article in full below.

Hows that title for getting right to a point?

This is part of an email announcement from the folks over at LPI a week or two ago that I thought was worth sharing in this conversation:

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Imagine receiving real time alerts every time “unauthorized” software was installed at a customer site, MSN, iTunes, etc.

As of today Level Platforms partners have the ability to receive real time alerts for software installed or uninstalled from Windows Workstations and Servers that they are currently monitoring with Managed Workplace 2009 R1.

This is accomplished by applying the Software Asset Change Policy Module to these monitored systems.

We have created two reports which allow a quick view of the software asset changes.

——–

I think it is a great feature and I know other tools provider are either offering similar features or busy building them and I look forward to the day when these tools are full baked. Ultimately these tools will make our job easier and more efficient, I look forward to it.

In the meantime we have been looking into standardization and lock downs (i hate calling it that) for our clients with mixed results. Lock down seems like a natural state for a managed network as it eliminates problems allowing you to provide service at a lower cost to clients while maintaining better margins – sounds like MSP nirvana.

It seems the scenario where you get to build the network from scratch on all new equipment gives you the ability to insist on limitations and lock downs, but still presents challenges for LOB apps that the company needs. The alternate scenario where you inherit a network certainly lends the opportunity to enforce minimum standards, which we do, but is much more difficult to lock down the desktops as there are a variety of apps running that cause challenges.

We have tested white listing and black listing, removing admin privileges, and creating a  new user level between power and admin that allows apps that need admin privileges to run all with mixed results.

I am curious what other are doing with success out there for small business clients? The industry experts I have spoken with range in opinion from “it is too much work to do and maintain for each network given the return” to “everything should be locked down tight with no exceptions.”

I am not often lost or flustered when it comes to figuring out cost benefits of products and services but I have to tell you that lock downs have me scratching my head.

Obviously as managed service providers we are always looking for efficiencies, ways to do more with less headcount and on the surface locking down PCs certain seems to fit this bill. I am curious if this is the case and how you are making it work, if you are making it work that is.

Let me know your thoughts if you would as I believe with all of our readers someone has a good answer and this could be a great shared learning conversation.

As always if you would prefer a private conversation feel free to email me: jclifford@everonit.com

Thanks,

Josh

This post is for those just getting started in managed services or having a hard time getting momentum…

I read a post/article from Level Platforms CEO Peter Sandiford today titled You Don’t Have to Be a Managed Services Provider and thought it was great (I’ve copied it in its entirety below).

Managed Services has become such a buzz-word that it has taken on some mysterious meaning or power in some peoples’ minds. I can hear them thinking:

“If only I could get into managed services.”

“If only I had more of a managed services business.”

Whether they realize it or not, they’ve made managed services into something more difficult than it is; they’ve made it something hard to achieve.

But it shouldn’t be.

Managed Services is really nothing more than good business fundamentals with a fancy name; people should be careful not to complicate things too much.

1. Sell recurring revenue instead of one-time revenue whenever possible
2. Position yourself as someone who provides a solution, not someone that puts out fires and charges a lot to do so
3. Structure your service so that you are more proactive and less reactive; it makes you look better and makes it easier to manage your business
4. Automate your service delivery whenever possible

If all of that is called Managed Services…great. But it’s very important for everyone to realize that you don’t have to do all of these things at once or in every situation to start building a better business for yourself. Apply what you can, where you can. Do it where it makes sense for you and your customer today, then look for ways to continue doing it in the future.

Start where you are today with what you have today, and before you know it you’ll be a “managed service provider” as well…if you want to call it that!

MRC

The below blog post by Peter Sandiford from LPI on MSP Mentor does a nice job of outlining the importance of SaaS to the managed service provider going forward. Peter is one of the brighter business people I have had the opportunity to meet and I have to say that he is right on with his comments about SaaS and the MSP.

For the first time we have reached the point where it is practical for a business to run with little to no infrastructure. MSPs will need to embrace SaaS, HaaS, PaaS, hosted phone systems, hardware as a service, and hosted application of all types if they intend to survive into the future.

Why purchase software licensing and hardware when you can have it turned on and maintained for a low monthly cost? It wouldn’t make sense to your business and it certainly makes less and less sense for your customers business as these technologies mature.

Let me know what your organization is doing to embrace SaaS.

JC

SaaS And Managed Services: Friends or Foes?

Posted January 14th, 2008 by Peter Sandiford

SaaS (software as a service) and managed services are often mentioned in the same breath as though they were part of some collective goodness, but for many MSPs they have actually been more like mortal enemies.

In fact most MSPs have focused almost exclusively on the bread and butter servers, desktops, networks and applications that reside within the walls of their SMB customers. If SaaS was considered at all it was generally seen as a threat that would hopefully just go away if ignored long enough.

One result is that SaaS vendors have made very little headway in the channel. Selling SaaS has often been viewed by the channel as the equivalent of selling their birthright. With visions of all those shiny servers that have kept them alive through good times and bad for the last 20 years suddenly disappearing off into the cloud.

However, the huge NetSuite IPO (initial public offering) proves that SaaS is not going away. Now even Microsoft’s Small Business Server is being delivered as a hosted service in the cloud. The money is beginning to flow into SMB SaaS and the MSPs need to deal with it. Here’s how.

Rather than watch this unfold from the sidelines, MSPs need to assert their role as trusted IT advisors and embrace SaaS as part of the expanded IT world of today. In fact never have the opportunities been greater to increase your relevance to your customers and make some good money along the way. This is because SaaS only operates in the context of the broader IT environment and introduces as many new problems as it offers business advantages in business process simplification.

Level Platforms was a NetSuite user in the early days and just like everything IT, sometimes it didn’t work. And then the finger pointing would start. “It’s the application”, “it’s the network traffic on the LAN”, “you need more external bandwidth”, “try clearing your temp files on your desktop” and in the end it still didn’t work and most importantly, there was no single point of accountability to fix it.

In order for SaaS to really impact the SMB market it needs managed services. It needs an MSP that is monitoring and managing the entire SMB environment whether that is on premise, hosted in a data center or offered as a pure Web-based application. And when they receive an alert that a SaaS application is not meeting its SLA, they need to be able to work from their central dashboard to diagnose the problem across all the possible areas of potential failure and deliver a solution.

Level Platforms includes full web site monitoring to allow our partners to address this opportunity with big plans to extend this even further in 2008. Many innovative partners are expanding their value to the customer as well as expanding the value of their business by recognizing that SaaS is not only inevitable, it represents the next big opportunity for managed services success.

Note: Peter Sandiford is CEO of Level Platforms.