Managed services providers (MSPs) attending ARN’s recent roundtable claimed a proactive approach around delivering technology could be a business enabler for end users. It also allowed the service provider to move up and talk to higher levels of management, which brought about a better understanding of the business requirements and demands.
“The trend we’re seeing, especially in this economic climate, is people looking at managed services to buy business enablement,” Seccom Global’s Gavin Matthew said. “They’re looking to tick compliance checkpoints, or a competitive edge, or to add value to an organisation and efficiencies. They’re already downsizing staff, but the core business functions still need to operate.
“You’re also seeing growth in server-less companies, which used to be those in the 50-100 space, but it’s now going past 1000 seats as things move into the cloud and customers look more at what they actually do and aim for more productivity.”
ComputerCorp’s Michael van Zoggel saw MSPs giving organisations the ability to drive and enable change in their business.
“You can either take your business and arrange the staff and processes around it to create compliance, or you can out-task that and you don’t have to drag the business kicking and screaming through that process. It’s often the easier route to take, and it’s obviously quicker,” he said.
S Central’s Craig Stones said it was imperative for services providers to forget the technology and tackle the business requirements by giving them a business outcome.
“Give them an SLA to fix that issue they have at that stage, and move forward. You have to understand their business and processes, not just be a service provider selling them hardware or software,” he said.
According to Matthews, managed services providers also needed to secure stakeholder buy-in to ensure their model was successful.
“Without stakeholder buy-in on managed services, the value tends to be lost in the long term. You can’t keep reselling the value all the time,” he said.
