Going Beyond RMM

A recent study by Ovum, a consulting company that specializes in telecom and software, predicts a fast and growing market for managed services. This comprehensive study, based on data collected from over 1,300 enterprise managed service users in 14 countries, expects the global market for managed services to deliver revenues of $66B by 2012 with an annual growth rate of 18% over the next four years.

Commenting on this report, Ovum research director Peter Hall said, "CIOs and IT directors are increasingly looking to service providers and managed service specialists for deployment and management of their networks to reduce costs and improve efficiency."

Other studies also predict growing demand for managed services despite an uncertain global economy. In July, 2011 Visiongain, an independent London based business information provider, reported that the managed services market was around $55B in 2010, and projected to reach $86B by 2016.

While these and other reports are welcome news for most managed service providers (MSPs) and IT service providers, capitalizing on this anticipated growth is likely to be very challenging. N-able’s ongoing work with IT service providers around the world confirms that the top problem experienced by most MSPs is new customer acquisition. Specifically, MSPs report they are looking for new strategies, platforms and solutions for acquiring new small and midsize business (SMB) customers and converting more customers to a managed services model.