CompTIA ChannelCon: MSP Thought Leadership

By The Business Solutions Network

This week I’ve been at CompTIA’s ChannelCon conference in Chicago. Talking with attendees and listening to speakers, I discovered a theme I’d like to share. At ChannelCon, the organization’s president and CEO Todd Thibodeaux took to the stage Tuesday morning to deliver his state of the industry keynote. During his presentation he shared some keys to success in managed services and one of them was to get your customers on a transition plan. That is, he said that it’s unlikely you’ll be able to shift your customers from break-fix to the as-a-Service model quickly. “Getting them to go from 1 to 10 won’t work,” he said. Rather, work with each to establish a timeline for transition. It might take a while.

Coincidentally, while eating breakfast with an MSP just prior to Thibodeaux’s presentation, the MSP was remarking how he wants more customers but many balk at the price of a managed services contract. One prospect told the MSP, upon seeing his monthly rate, that he doesn’t spend that much on IT in a year. Now, there were lots of ways the MSP could respond and did, but my point here is that not every customer is ready for managed services, or at least not on your timeline. You might have to walk away from some business if it’s not the right fit. Or, you might be able to offer a small service and ease the customer into the model. Office365 is a great way to introduce your customers to the cloud and a subscription service.

Also, as a big proponent of the managed services model, I and the other writers at BSM have been pretty “in your face” about the need to make this transition due to its financial benefits. However, if you’re thinking about transitioning your business, take your time and do it right. Sure, the benefits can be business altering and you’ll want to experience them as soon as you can, but your best move might be to ease into it. Get yourself on a timeline to transition and be committed to making the change.

While I’m here at ChannelCon, our President Jim Roddy is at RSPA RetailNOW. He spoke to a VAR there who had some words of wisdom regarding being committed: “The owner of the business has to be 100% committed to as-a-Service,” the VAR told Roddy. “They can’t hand this off to someone else because as-a-Service affects every part of your organization.” It’s interesting to read Roddy’s notes on his conversations and see how they relate to what I’m hearing at ChannelCon. While the IT reseller channel is further along in the adoption of managed services, there are still common problems everyone’s dealing with. Thankfully, with organizations like RSPA and CompTIA providing great education and leading their respective industries, solutions to these problems are available.