I have a friend who enjoyed a lot of success integrating systems for law offices. He has great relationships with his customers, but was resistant to proposing Managed Services to them. He was afraid that his customers would be insulted by the proposal and terminate the business relationship. It could be that he was fearful of venturing into the unknown; this is common with entrepreneurs who have known success and are faced with a change in circumstance. A change like the one facing the Channel now – the one dictated by the inevitable evolution of technology. As devices become smaller and embedded, the business opportunity for the Channel logically shifts to providing services for its customer base. There are fewer desktops to build, and service is the essence of the Channel’s value proposition; it seems natural to transition to a service-based business model. Despite the press evangelizing this opportunity, Managed Services has very little traction in the Channel.
Part of the problem lies in understanding what is meant by Managed Services. Most of my peers tell me that the term conjures up visions of a Network Operations Center (NOC), enterprise remote management software and a programmer, and three to five support engineers providing 7 x 24 support. And this is true – if you are providing Managed Services to major enterprises like Parkland Hospital or Allstate Insurance. More than likely, you are proposing Managed Services to Bob the Dentist and all the other dentists like him. Ask Bob the Dentist how long he can afford to wait for a support response. Ask Bob if he wants you to manage his virus updates and backups, or if he would rather do it himself. And ask Bob if he would prefer a more proactive approach; a service that would allow you to monitor his systems remotely. The thing to remember about Managed Services is that quality is user-defined. It’s all about setting expectations. With the remote monitoring option, Bob could rest easy knowing that all those things he knows nothing about are your responsibility: thinks like viruses and updates and upgrades and backups. And it doesn’t take a NOC to provide Bob with the level of service that he defines as “quality”.
A channel company builds the foundation for basic Managed Services by using motherboards featuring Intel AMT technology or the standards-based Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) in the machines they sell and communicating with them. This statement will be decried as blasphemy and totally bogus, but (since most of today’s monitoring software is a browser-based) all you really need is a workstation and an engineer to begin your monitoring program. You may need more engineers if you man your “support center” 7 x 24 (but the chances are your SMB customer will not require around-the-clock support). You will certainly need more equipment when you gain momentum with your service business. And I know that this setup is a little skinny, but it serves to dispel the notion that Managed Services is too expensive or too complicated for the Channel to provide its customers. On the contrary, it is exactly what we should provide our customers. Our customers expect us to provide it.
Our fear of Managed Services (if that’s what it is) has caused us to freeze like a deer in the headlights and we know how that story ends. There is no reason to freeze in the light of this opportunity. Service is high margin business, it’s the future, and it’s the Channel’s claim to fame. However uncomfortable the change, we must learn to sell that for which we are valued.
