The Business Solutions Network

This MSP’s (managed services provider’s) decision to become MPS-certified paid off when it landed a six-figure project with the Major League Baseball (MLB) Network.

Whether you’re a VAR, MSP, or CSB (cloud services broker), there’s a good chance that part of your success comes from being your customers’ outsourced IT departments. With that said, how could you ever conceive of turning the hiring process over to a staffing agency or some other outside firm?

One of the recurring themes I hear from MSPs is that it’s possible to do such a good job fixing a customer’s network and other IT issues that things just don’t break like they used to. So, where’s the problem, you ask?

When I ask most managed services providers about what kinds of IT assets they monitor for their customers, answers such as “servers, routers, switches, firewalls, PCs, laptops, and even mobile devices” are common responses. Less common responses include...

I recently had the privilege of interviewing Joe Amaral, owner of The Amaral Group, an IT products and services provider that earned the #92 spot on the prestigious Ingram Micro SMB 500 list of top-performing partners in 2012.

The Business Solutions magazine article, "Don't Assume Your Salespeople Can Sell Cloud Backup," stresses that your success as a subscription-based IT service provider hinges on your sales team.  In the article, Tiffani Bova, VP, distinguished analyst at Gartner, says only about 30 percent of salespeople will be able to make the transition from the type of selling they did with traditional IT sales and the type of consultative selling required for selling recurring revenue solutions and services. Looking at the potential hurdles involved with selling cloud backup and other subscription-based IT services will cause some resellers to want to postpone their migration to managed services indefinitely. However, you need to consider that risk as well.

This MSP turned to professional coaching to improve its business and realized 30% revenue growth last year as a result.

Adapting its mobile communication platform to changes in the transportation industry is key to this VAR’s continued double-digit growth.