VARs Man The Controls With Remote Managed Services

Remote managed services have long been a staple of solution providers, notably those that count SMB customers as their primary client base. But putting people on-site at a customer&'s location is expensive, and it is limited by the number of service technicians a solution provider employs as well as geographic proximity.

But new software tools that allow solution providers to remotely manage a customer&'s IT infrastructure from their office rather than on-site could propel remote managed services into one of the most profitable niches over the next 12 months, CRN research shows.

Solution providers ranked remote managed services 11th out of 14 on the list of services with the highest gross margin, but it placed second on the list of those services they think will see the biggest gross margin increase. Meanwhile, 42 percent of survey respondents said that they plan to invest a moderate to significant amount of time and money in the next 12 months to grow their capabilities in this area.

Pat Taylor, president of Proactive Technologies, a custom-system builder in Carrollton, Texas, specializing in digital infrastructure for prepress and publishing operations, said he plans to offer remote managed services using Intel&'s Server Manager. With Server Manager built into his custom publishing systems, he said Proactive can offer remote management to its customers. He predicts that this should increase his hardware revenue by 20 percent next year.

Proactive&'s initial foray into managed services is with Enovation Technical Services, a division of Fuji Photo Film USA. Proactive has built Fuji&'s digital prepress and publishing systems under an OEM relationship for the past seven years. Proactive will have Fuji engineers sell the managed services and provide support, while Proactive will monitor systems for Fuji from its Dallas-area headquarters.

“Our hardware margins have been decreasing, but this gives us an opportunity to demonstrate our value-add,” Taylor said.

He points out that the ability to offer remote managed services through Fuji will allow Proactive to expand its footprint in the market and develop tighter relationships with its customers and with its Fuji channel.

“We have nine employees,” Taylor said. “This [remote managed services] will allow us to have 40 more [Fuji] engineers on the street. We are transparent, and they get the credit for the value-add. It strengthens our relationship with our business partners; it strengthens their relationship with the end user; and, of course, it bonds them all to us.”