From The Editor | October 23, 2014

From ASCII Atlantic City: The MSP Evolution

jim roddy

By Jim Roddy, VP of Marketing, RSPA

Shannon Mayer

I really liked the slide titled “The MSP Evolution” presented by Shannon Mayer (pictured), the channel engagement manager for LogMeIn, at the ASCII Success Summit in Atlantic City on October 23.

I think this information is especially helpful for break-fix resellers who are making the transition to the as-a-Service business model. Before you move forward as an MSP, you have to know where the industry has been, right?

Here’s the data:

Yesterday’s MSP

  • Devices behind the firewall
  • Single device per user
  • Device management was enough

Today’s MSP

  • Data in the cloud
  • Device proliferation
  • Protecting data and devices in enough

Tomorrow’s MSP

  • Access, not devices
  • Data and apps in the cloud
  • Managing the entire user experience is enough

Mayer adds, “In the future, it’s going to be all about the users. They need to be productive and collaborative no matter where they’re working or what device they’re using or what time they are working.”

Think about how big a shift that is from break-fix. Back in the day, VARs set up equipment in an office and stopped by for upgrades or when the system went down. Now solutions providers need to be proactive and offer products and services that enable their users to have access to key data anytime, anyplace, anywhere.

The ASCII Success Summit – Atlantic City is being held October 22-23 at the Bally’s Atlantic City Hotel and Casino in New Jersey. It is the last of eight solution provider-focused conferences ASCII hosted in 2014. For more information on ASCII, go to www.BSMinfo.com/go/InsideASCII.