MSPs Face Tough Engineering Challenge

Editor&s Note: Following is the second in an occasional series of guest commentaries about the challenges of becoming an MSP.

You will need to start thinking much differently about how you hire, train and invest in your technical staff as you become an MSP.

For starters, most of your existing field engineers will need advanced training on remote tools and techniques. Even very skilled field professionals are seldom exposed to the latest in advanced network management and forensics, although many are well-versed in reactive remote-access tools used to remediate problems.

For field professionals, it seems the sensory input of dealing face to face with customers, seeing the impact of their work firsthand, being in the thick of things and receiving customer appreciation are important factors of job satisfaction.

Being a NOC engineer, on the other hand, in some ways is more difficult on the customer relationship front. That&s because NOC engineers need to build trusting relationships with people they may never actually meet. These engineers have to work much harder to show their value because they are unseen. Ironically, the very nature of their work—if they do it well—prevents the need for contact. When they are providing support to customers from a remote location, it requires immense patience because often these engineers must walk nonprofessionals through tasks with which they may not be familiar.

One major value of the NOC support model, of course, is that technical engineers can provide support in minutes from thousands of miles away. In contrast, field engineers are limited by their proximity to the client, traffic and other mitigating circumstances that do not affect NOC engineers. In the time it takes to deliver a trouble ticket to a field engineer, the NOC team can resolve the situation. And if it can&t fix the problem, the team can arm the field professional with specific information needed to resolve issues more quickly.

NOC engineers must set thresholds, understand how to identify trends and correlate events before they lead to failure. Pinging for up-down status is little more than a race to see who will discover the problem first. Even with the best Internet connections, the customer will usually win that race. Why did a system go down? What is the prevention plan? Those are questions the NOC must answer. Identifying the problem is just the beginning. Knowing how to fix it on-site and from down the street—let alone another continent—is a very different scenario.

MSPs require highly trained staff who can watch over the systems, decide on action and intervene when necessary. Dispatching field engineers through automated systems too quickly can cause input overload, not to mention it is a disservice to the customer paying for the engineer&s time and could also pose a distraction at critical moments.

The key to being a successful MSP is the right balance of field and NOC professionals. These professionals must work together for the benefit of the client: The field team must design and implement stable systems, create information assurance plans and lay the groundwork for those in the NOC, who then can ensure 24x7 stability. So, think carefully before you make critical hiring and training decisions.

EDITOR&S NOTE: CRN welcomes letters and guest commentaries from solution providers. Limit comments to 550 words. Submissions may be abridged for space considerations. Send suggestions to CRN Editor Heather Clancy at [email protected].