Good news MSPs: These days, businesses increasingly choose to outsource their IT. And they’re not just doing so for cost savings; they want MSPs to help them achieve long-term strategic goals. Businesses are more likely than ever to see MSPs as delivering expertise that helps them improve compliance, eliminate technical risk, and upgrade to the cloud.
To meet current demands, many managed services providers have evolved their business models. Some have chosen to specialize in particular industries while others have expanded their service offerings. This means more money and greater client retention for MSPs that adapt, but it also means that customers demand more from their IT service providers than just round-the-clock monitoring.
Later in this post, I’ll tell you about a few services you can offer to meet these increased demands, but first, let’s look at where the opportunities lie for IT service providers.
What’s Beating Cost as a Buying Priority?
In the past, cost savings topped the list of reasons for outsourcing to an MSP. However, these days, businesses have more on their minds than the bottom line.
According to a 2014 survey conducted by CompTIA, the top five reasons that businesses use managed services are to:
- Improve security
- Gain a proactive approach to IT problems/initiatives
- Increase uptime
- Gain access to newer technologies
- Save costs over in-house IT
Cost remains a priority, but it’s lower on the list than you might think. As a result, MSPs can focus more on providing value and less on competitive pricing.
Below are five services that MSPs can offer to meet today’s business demands.
1. Managed Security
You can’t go a month without reading a news story about a security breach in a business. And believe me, small business owners have taken note: they’ve cited security as one of their top concerns in the CompTIA study. In fact, a 2014 study by the Ponemon Institute and IBM reported that breaches cost companies an average of $3.15 million. In other words, MSPs can seize an incredible and lucrative opportunity by offering managed security services to their clients. Help your clients avoid these breaches by offering remote security updates, patch management, antivirus, and anti-malware services.
2. Public Cloud Services and High-Grade Networking
Most MSPs currently provide some level of cloud services. Service providers must take a more active role in managing the cloud for their clients to keep on top of cost, compliance, and operations. And when it comes to networking, businesses need faster services to handle large data transfers. So, you should consider adding managed hosting as well as managed IP VPNs and storage to your list of services.
3. Mobile and Personal Device Management
These days, most employees bring their personal phones and tablets to work. Most personal devices aren’t as secure as a company laptop or desktop; as a result, businesses have to actively manage their bring-your-own-device policies to keep business assets safe. And because most small and medium businesses don’t have the in-house resources to enforce a strong device policy, MSPs have an incredible opportunity. MSPs can provide these services by using a reliable mobile device management tool.
4. Managed Printing
Despite rumors of their demise, printed documents still rule the day in the business world. MSPs can provide massive value by actively optimizing printing devices for their clients. This entails monitoring and managing business’ document infrastructure, pushing document management updates, and providing printing security services.
5. Bundled Communications Services
Managed services providers can offer voice, video, and data on a single IP network. This makes life easier for both the business and the MSP by reducing the overhead costs and time requirements of maintaining multiple networks. And MSPs can add even more value by providing smart IP call routing for call centers.
MSPs: From Cost-Saving Vendors to Full Strategic Partner
There’s a lot of great news out there for managed services providers. Businesses now see outsourced IT as part of their long-term strategy. When MSPs can support employees’ workflows and align with business’ goals, the providers embed themselves further into clients’ organizations and become true business partners.
Nadia Karatsoreos is a channel sales and marketing specialist at LOGICnow. Read all LOGICnow guest blogs here. Want more suggestions on how to grow your business? Visit the Max IQ blog for more strategies on marketing, sales, and productivity for your MSP.
