It's Not Rocket Science

My epiphany? While we&ve been busy pontificating about the wonderful opportunity in so-called managed services, many forward-thinking VARs have migrated there naturally. You&ve already figured out a way to package monitoring, security assessment and infrastructure maintenance tasks into an offering you&ve priced on a predictable, recurring basis. In short, this is the simplest way to think about managed services.

Some of you, like New England Network Group CEO Sarah Ducharme, have seen your revenue from managed services offerings climb to 30 percent of your overall business from about 5 percent one year ago. Others, like Network Management Group President Steve Harper, have embraced the approach as a core geographic differentiator. The fact is, when you&re in a place like Hutchinson, Kan., where Harper&s company is based, you have to handle services like this in order to keep a handle on support costs.

While the case for managed services seems pretty obvious—think about all that money you&re spending now on gas—I&m not suggesting this shift is easy.

For one thing, you&ve got to get your employees thinking differently, and that will take time. Technical types need to stop thinking reactively and start acting proactively. Your sales team needs to think beyond products and focus on process—understanding what role various pieces of infrastructure play in a customer&s day-to-day existence and devising strategies to thwart glitches before they happen. And, you need everyone onboard.

Whether or not you choose to build your own network operations center—obviously an expensive proposition few small solution providers can afford—you need to understand how this simple philosophy applies to your overall business plan.

Look for CRN to aid in that mission by reporting news about business model implications, managed services platforms that actually work and vendors that actually have a clue.

What&s news to you when it comes to managed services? HEATHER CLANCY, Editor at CRN, can be reached at [email protected].