Services are where the money’s at right? One hundred percent margin! What about when you sell a hosted solution, can you still wrap the same services around it? Maybe not, but maybe you can sell more profitable services. The way I see it there are 3 basic service groups that most solutions providers and MSPs offer. Here are the implications for partners.
They are:
1. Installation Services
2. Maintenance
- Break fix
- Updates (patches and service packs)
3. Management
- Reporting
- Threat outbreak management
A closer look at hosted options
With hosted services you can still provide installation services and management, but the maintenance moves to the hosted service provider in most cases. This can free you up to focus on more strategic initiatives like vitalization, infrastructure design, future growth planning, or client education to name a few.
Hosted solutions are growing at rates that can’t be ignored and as their marketshare numbers grow to surpass that of traditional software we are going to see a shift in how VARs and MSP adapt to this change. Similar to how cable companies that used to offer just set top boxes with varying levels of channels, now offer DVR’s inside their boxes. The rapid growth of Tivo and other DVR’s drove the need for the cable services providers to adjust their service models.
So what are the options? Where is this going to go? Some vendors have created hosted web-based management consoles that allow you to monitor all your customers from a single console with a single login. Some MSPs are rolling all the costs into a flat monthly charge for all services, software, hardware etc. amortizing the cost of all their IT in a monthly payment.
So I ask you, if you have read this far, what are you doing to embrace hosted offerings and wrap your services around them?
TJ Alldridge is product marketing manager at Trend Micro. Guest blogs such as this one are part of The VAR Guy’s annual sponsorship.
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