Vertical Specialization

The ability of MSPs to demonstrate an expertise inside a particular industry – rather than running a jack-of-all-trades like practice -- is a growing trend that D&H Distributing sees its more successful partners adopting.

“We foresee more VARs and MSPs taking advantage of the benefits of vertical specialization. Knowledge of general networking is becoming marginally valuable. Expertise on the complexities of wireless networking in a high-density academic environment is very valuable. Knowing how to successfully demonstrate that value repeatedly in vertical markets, e.g., to key school business decision-makers, is incredibly valuable.”

“Many independent VARs selling into the SMB space find it a challenge to get into the services market because of their scale. They often do not have the time or manpower to do much more than keep up with current demands on their time. Going into the future, distributors can partner with services organizations and make services available as SKUs, helping resellers to maximize their opportunities. This will enable more SMB VARs to grow into offering higher-margin services. It also will allow the distributor to strengthen its relationship with the VAR. And it will generate recurring revenue for both.

Partnering with services organizations also enables the MSP to enter growing markets that they otherwise would not be able to take advantage of. Unified communications, digital signage, and DaaS are all avenues we see opening to the MSP in this manner as forthcoming areas of opportunity.”