Another great article from the folks over at Ziff Davis. The gist of this piece is "VARs" or MSPs as I now politely refer to them, need to spend more (do more) when it comes to marketing their services. Couldn't agree more.
However, I don't necessarily agree that spending more means having a better marketing or brand campaign. Nor do I believe that a higher cost marketing campaign will produce more or better leads. I have always been on the record as saying MSPs need to first understand who they are as a company and what they are offering in terms of services and products. Once they understand these two important factors the MSP will be better suited to educate their clients on what it is they are offering.
What are you guys doing in terms of marketing program/campaigns?
Friday, June 27, 2008
Monday, June 23, 2008
Managed Services Golden Rule
In a recent podcast by SearchSecurity Gartner analysts ask the question whether managed security services can actually cause harm. While some MSPs would say "Charlie, we shouldn't be talking about such things in public", I actually think it helps to advance the cause of professional grade managed services.
In the podcast the question is posed whether outsourcing security is a problem when the software is not "controlled" by the client. I think this is the wrong question to ask. While it is a very important question to constantly challenge whether or not software is being written properly and securely (in fact we have an entire sector of our industry dedicated to such a practice) the issue of "outsourcing to a MSSP" should not be relegated to software code. There are plenty of instances where data will become compromised due to lack of internal procedures, lack of human resources, or an inability of the client to acquire the necessary tools to safeguard their IT security. This is exactly why MSP/MSSPs are so important. But, it has very little, in my opinion, to do with whether the software resides within the control of the client's systems (please don't take this to mean that I don't consider such things unimportant).
Where the software resides is far less important than who is managing it and the processes they have in place to safeguard the client's data. This is the real issue that must be addressed. Of course, if a client has a MSP that adheres to the Managed Service Provider’s Code of Ethics & Conduct (the golden rule of the Managed Services profession) that might make all of this discussion irrelevant.
I'd like to know what you security folks out there have to say about this issue.
In the podcast the question is posed whether outsourcing security is a problem when the software is not "controlled" by the client. I think this is the wrong question to ask. While it is a very important question to constantly challenge whether or not software is being written properly and securely (in fact we have an entire sector of our industry dedicated to such a practice) the issue of "outsourcing to a MSSP" should not be relegated to software code. There are plenty of instances where data will become compromised due to lack of internal procedures, lack of human resources, or an inability of the client to acquire the necessary tools to safeguard their IT security. This is exactly why MSP/MSSPs are so important. But, it has very little, in my opinion, to do with whether the software resides within the control of the client's systems (please don't take this to mean that I don't consider such things unimportant).
Where the software resides is far less important than who is managing it and the processes they have in place to safeguard the client's data. This is the real issue that must be addressed. Of course, if a client has a MSP that adheres to the Managed Service Provider’s Code of Ethics & Conduct (the golden rule of the Managed Services profession) that might make all of this discussion irrelevant.
I'd like to know what you security folks out there have to say about this issue.
Friday, June 13, 2008
Trusted Advisor vs. Agent in Managed Services
Charles,
Thank you for pointing to Mike's article discussing vendor strategies and practices around security and backup hosted services. The points about business valuation and channel competition struck me the most.
Niche MSP's that are vertically or expertise focussed can command valuation multiples of managed services revenue under contract ranging from 2 to 4 times trailing 12 months revenue while "reseller" revenue is discounted to a fraction of revenue sometimes lower than .25 of trailing revenue. This article explains very clearly why this happens. The "agent' that represents the vendor is an account executive not an MSP and therefore will never achieve the trusted advisor status crucial to long term success and higher shareholder values.
Thank you for pointing to Mike's article discussing vendor strategies and practices around security and backup hosted services. The points about business valuation and channel competition struck me the most.
Niche MSP's that are vertically or expertise focussed can command valuation multiples of managed services revenue under contract ranging from 2 to 4 times trailing 12 months revenue while "reseller" revenue is discounted to a fraction of revenue sometimes lower than .25 of trailing revenue. This article explains very clearly why this happens. The "agent' that represents the vendor is an account executive not an MSP and therefore will never achieve the trusted advisor status crucial to long term success and higher shareholder values.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Mike Vizard for President
I don't do this as often as I should which may be why some people view me as having a negative opinion of the major tech media. Honestly, that is not true. This latest article by Mike Vizard is proof that there are people within major tech media that truly understand what is going on in the managed services profession.
I encourage all of you to read Mike's article because it is something a lot of people at the MSPAlliance (including myself) have been talking about for a long time.
I encourage all of you to read Mike's article because it is something a lot of people at the MSPAlliance (including myself) have been talking about for a long time.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Why is the Managed Services Accreditation Program so important?
If you had the pleasure of attending the recent Boston Summit, you would have no doubt heard Greg Donovan’s key note speech. In this he made a plea for everyone to take the accreditation exam. Why would he think it so important that everyone take the exam?
There are many reasons this accreditation is important, but probably the most important reason is that it protects the integrity of the managed services profession. There is such fast growth in our industry and so many companies proclaiming to be a MSP. But in reality how many of these companies know exactly what it means to be a MSP? That is exactly what this exam focuses on. Setting the standards for how MSPs run their business.
I can tell you personally, we have been an MSP for nine years, and we have run up against competitors that claim to have similar services to us. There are lots of companies out there that have a website that looks like they are an MSP, they are touting that they are an MSP, but they are just not really an MSP. They advertise that they have a help desk, remote support, 24/7 monitoring, etc., but when you call into their help desk, you get the receptionist and he/she pages a technician. This is obviously not how a MSP operates.
When a customer is unhappy with their service, what do you think they will take away from the experience? I would wager to say that they might think that all MSPs operate this way and then decide to run everything in house. Everyone loves it when the competition does a poor job and the customer calls you to fix the problem. However, that won’t be the case if their opinion of our profession is that we do not operate as advertised.
So how can the accreditation program help with this? Once again I will stress by setting the standards for how MSPs run their business. Once we start growing the numbers of Accredited MSPs we will be able to grow customer awareness too. I know that everyone has been asked what your certifications are. Usually stating Microsoft or Cisco is sufficient for the customer when talking about a project, but these certifications won’t cut it when talking about Managed Services. If we can raise awareness enough to change this question to “What managed services specific certifications do you have?” then we will have achieved some standardization in our industry.
Is standardization the only reason for the program? No, but I will leave that conversation for another day.
There are many reasons this accreditation is important, but probably the most important reason is that it protects the integrity of the managed services profession. There is such fast growth in our industry and so many companies proclaiming to be a MSP. But in reality how many of these companies know exactly what it means to be a MSP? That is exactly what this exam focuses on. Setting the standards for how MSPs run their business.
I can tell you personally, we have been an MSP for nine years, and we have run up against competitors that claim to have similar services to us. There are lots of companies out there that have a website that looks like they are an MSP, they are touting that they are an MSP, but they are just not really an MSP. They advertise that they have a help desk, remote support, 24/7 monitoring, etc., but when you call into their help desk, you get the receptionist and he/she pages a technician. This is obviously not how a MSP operates.
When a customer is unhappy with their service, what do you think they will take away from the experience? I would wager to say that they might think that all MSPs operate this way and then decide to run everything in house. Everyone loves it when the competition does a poor job and the customer calls you to fix the problem. However, that won’t be the case if their opinion of our profession is that we do not operate as advertised.
So how can the accreditation program help with this? Once again I will stress by setting the standards for how MSPs run their business. Once we start growing the numbers of Accredited MSPs we will be able to grow customer awareness too. I know that everyone has been asked what your certifications are. Usually stating Microsoft or Cisco is sufficient for the customer when talking about a project, but these certifications won’t cut it when talking about Managed Services. If we can raise awareness enough to change this question to “What managed services specific certifications do you have?” then we will have achieved some standardization in our industry.
Is standardization the only reason for the program? No, but I will leave that conversation for another day.
Monday, June 2, 2008
Why So Much Concern Over Pricing?
I have talked to a few people over the span of a couple of hours today who are concerned about their managed services pricing. What they are really concerned with is whether or not pricing should be a marketing tool used to gather more clients.
I personally think this is bad as it forces the MSP to play a price match game with other MSPs (including other psuedo-MSPs). With so many firms cutting corners and trying to compete on price, I don't see how trying to outmatch someone else's pricing will ever yield a customer win. Pretty soon, what you will have is a huge price drop and no margins.
Here is a question I would really like your feedback on: what is the worst thing that could happen if every MSP out there refused to mention their pricing in their website or ther marketing/sales collateral?
I personally think this is bad as it forces the MSP to play a price match game with other MSPs (including other psuedo-MSPs). With so many firms cutting corners and trying to compete on price, I don't see how trying to outmatch someone else's pricing will ever yield a customer win. Pretty soon, what you will have is a huge price drop and no margins.
Here is a question I would really like your feedback on: what is the worst thing that could happen if every MSP out there refused to mention their pricing in their website or ther marketing/sales collateral?
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