The IT channel and many of its influencers, including us, are predicting a big year for managed services around the globe. Yet many of the aspiring MSPs I speak to don’t know how to go about evaluating and selecting a managed services platform. Here’s the secret: At the end of the day, what you want to do is match up the platform’s capabilities and support with the needs and goals of your business.
If you’re not sure how to go about this, start by asking yourself these simple questions:
- What does my client base need?
- What services do we provide today and how do we account for them?
- Do we want to monitor and manage our clients’ networks and desktops or just react and support them when issues are encountered?
And the last, and likely most telling question you’ll want to explore is this— where do I want to take my business? Do you want to become a managed service provider or simply add in remote capabilities to your existing service model? Are you looking to add fixed fee services? Specialize? Offer Software-as-a-Service? Hardware-as-a Service? or maybe even Technology-as-a-Service?
A good rule to follow: Don’t buy a platform until you know what services you want to provide and where you want to take your business.
Now when it comes to evaluating a platform, here are some key capabilities that you’ll want to look for:
1) Comprehensive Remote Management - At the end of the day, you want to avoid rolling trucks. You need to ensure your staff can reach out and touch a system regardless of its physical location and whether or not the device has a user in front of it or is turned off completely. Really good tools will allow you to support devices virtually anywhere, without disrupting the user.
2) Comprehensive System Monitoring and Reporting - You need to be able to detect systems that are having issues before client does. You also need to be able to report on these devices – for availability, performance, and capacity. Nothing demonstrates value to your clients like being able to backup an upgrade proposal with a project plan several months in advance supported by 6 months of data to support the necessity for the upgrade.
3) Cross Platform Compatibility – You need to be able to support what you sell and even what you might not. Increasingly, MSPs are being called on to support Linux, Mac OS X, and other non-traditional SMB platforms. The technology you choose should work cross platform.
4) Deep Windows System Management - To manage desktops, you need to be able to do more than remotely control them. Patch Management, Software Management, Script Execution, and Desktop Policy management all play a role in delivering a scalable and effective offering. Make sure your vendor partner can support your current and future needs in this area.
5) 3rd Party Integration – To help simplify and optimize your operational workflows and promote scalability you should look towards solutions with strong interoperability with other point solutions like Professional Services Automation (PSA) software and the like. This will help drive ROI.
Over the years, the MSPs that I’ve seen become the most successful were the ones who really took the time to evaluate the vendor’s partner support team, as well as learn the ins and outs of the platform’s capabilities. Much like purchasing a car, it’s usually best to test drive a managed services platform before you buy it.