A Starter Guide to IT Managed Services A successful managed services business is reliant on a solid business strategy and service delivery model as well as finding the right technology for your needs.
Making the switch to MSP is worth the time and effort because MSPs are approximately 200-400% more profitable than non-MSPs. And MSPs are 3x to 10x more valuable than traditional VARs. This 21-page guide will help you: --Develop and execute on a solid business strategy for running a managed services company --Choose the right IT systems management solution to help enable your vision --Price your managed services fairly, competitively, and profitably --Understand MSP pricing and profit scenarios including cost, profit, and MRR/project/breakfix calculations and analysis --Avoid some common pitfalls --Understand the benefits that come with implementing managed services correctly --Understand how an IT service provider successfully rolled out managed services for its customers and transformed into one of the largest MSPs in the country. December 2012.
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1. A Starter Guideto IT Managed ServicesA successful managed
services business is reliant on a solidbusiness strategy and
service delivery model as well as findingthe right technology for
your needs.
2. Kaseya | A Starter Guide to IT Managed ServicesTable of
ContentsIntroduction: Why Should I Read This Guide?Part 1: The Role
of the MSPPart 2: Formulating the Right StrategyPart 3: Choosing
the Right ToolPart 4: Pricing for ProfitPart 5: Watch Out for These
TrapsPart 6: What You Can Hope to Achieve When Building a
Successful MSPPart 7: Safe Systems: The Right Way to Build a
Successful Managed Services BusinessThe Conclusion: What We
Learned
3. Kaseya | A Starter Guide to IT Managed ServicesIntroduction:
Why Should I Read This Guide? This guide will help you:Dear IT
Solution Provider & Services Professional, I Develop and
execute on a solid business strategy for running a managed
servicesI had an interesting conversation with one of our managed
services customers the other day. We were discussing the
companyjourney he took as his IT services company grew from a
one-man show to an 18-person managed services company I Choose the
right IT systems managementwith $3 million in revenue in just a few
years. He said it was a tough transition, but it was worth it.
However, what solution to help enable your visionstruck me was the
motivation behind transforming the business. I Price your managed
services fairly,Here is what he said: I had been working for years
in a break-fix model and was making enough money to be
competitively, and profitablycomfortable. Then it occurred to me. I
had built a nice job for myself but it was far short of a business.
And thats I Understand MSP pricing and profitwhat I really wanted.
I wanted to build a business, and I knew that I had to get serious
about managed services. scenarios including cost, profit, andIt was
the perfect light bulb moment. He had built a job but wanted a
business. MRR/project/breakfix calculations and analysisThats what
this Starter Guide to IT Managed Services is all about. Kaseya
works with hundreds of companies thathave transformed their one-man
shops into successful managed services businesses with thousands of
managed end I Avoid some common pitfallspoints. By embracing the
Kaseya IT Automation Framework, these customers have formulated and
executed on a I Understand the benefits that comemanaged services
strategy that allows them to manage thousands of systems robustly,
reliably and securely with with implementing managed servicesjust a
handful of technicians. correctlySo, take a walk with us. Read this
guide. Turn your job into a business. I Understand how an IT
service provider successfully rolled out managed servicesSincerely
and best of luck, for its customers and transformed into one of the
largest MSPs in the countryDavid CastroDirector, Marketing
4. Kaseya | A Starter Guide to IT Managed ServicesPart 1: The
Role of the MSPLets start with a joke.Whats the difference between
a traditional IT service provider and a managed service
provider?The will and the knowledge to succeed.Ok. Its not very
funny. In fact, its not funny at all. But its the truth. The only
thing standing in the way oftransforming your break-fix provider
into an MSP is you. You have to want it, and you have to know how
torun a business.The role of a managed service provider is to
provide quality IT services to customers quickly and efficiently
Why I want tofor a consistent, low price. But theres a second part.
The role of an MSP is also to make money. Remember, you be an
MSParent just building a job for yourself. Youre building a
business, and businesses need to be profitable. I MSPs are
approximately 200-400%Finding the right technology is the easy
part; management solutions are just tools. MSPs need to focus on
the more profitable than non-MSPsbusiness aspects of managed
services, blending a solid business strategy with the right tool
that will enableyou to implement your vision. I Pure play MSPs are
approximately 25-50% more profitable than hybrid model MSPs I MSPs
are 3x to 10x more valuable than traditional VARs Source: Kaseya
Worldwide Customer Survey, 2012
5. Kaseya | A Starter Guide to IT Managed ServicesPart 2:
Formulating the Right Strategy Top 10 List of IT Tasks Primed
forBuilding a successful business is more than just technology.
Successful companies understand how to take the art of
Automationproviding a service and turn it into a business. They
make sure they get the basics right. They are good companies 1.
Patch management and softwarefirstand then they get the technology.
deploymentCompanies that get the business part right and flub the
technology part wont grow very fast but will chug along and 2. User
and group maintenancesurvive. On the other hand, service providers
that use the right technology but cant handle growth or manage
daily 3. Network security sweepsoperations will most likely fail.
However, its companies that get both the business right and choose
the appropriate 4. Disk usage scansmanagement solution for their
needs that are wildly successful. Running the business the right
way is that critical. 5. Device and network performance
monitoringHere are six tips that you can use to build a profitable
business model: 6. File transfers 7. Code promotion (from staging
to1. Take a Proactive, Preventative Approach production)Any dentist
will tell you that its much easierand less painfulto prevent a
cavity than it is to pull a rotten tooth. 8. High-level, routine
administrationIts also a better business model because years of
semi-annual checkups likely are more profitable for the dentist
than 9. Rebootsa one-time tooth extraction. Its the same with IT
systems management. Identifying and heading off minor problems 10.
Malware scansbefore they become major issues is a more efficient
and more successful way of maintaining the availability
andperformance of your customers systems. Source: Kaseya Community
Postings & Script Utilization Statistics, 2012Automation is the
key. Make it a standard business practice to identify and resolve
issues before users are aware.Set thresholdscapacity and memory
ceilingsthat your customers systems need to meet to be in
compliance.If they fall out of compliance (or come close), have
automatic and manual processes in place to fix them.Being proactive
reduces downtime and speeds time to resolution, ensuring your
customers users have access tothe tools and information they need.
At the same time, preventing problems helps avoid fire drills where
your teamis forced to run around putting out fires to maintain
availability and performance standards. If theyre not
constantlycleaning up, theyre able to focus on more strategic
(read: more revenue-producing or more
customer-focused)projects.
6. Kaseya | A Starter Guide to IT Managed Services2. Stop
Managing Individual Machines and Start Managing Policies and
Machine GroupsThe days of managing machines one at a time are over.
Successful MSPs create, update and apply policies to groupsof
machines, managing exceptions while keeping systems in compliance
of predetermined conditions. Create, editand push out base images
for each type of machine in your customers environmentsWindows 7
desktops,Exchange servers, iPads, Finance Departmentand spend your
time making sure the images are robust and appliedconsistently.
Aggregate your management tasks and think how you can apply changes
by machine group (ie,Exhange servers) across your entire customer
base. Focusing on exceptions rather than each machine streamlinesIT
systems management, eliminating the repetition typically associated
with one-machine-at-a-time maintenancewhile ensuring consistent IT
service across environments.3. Talk CashMoolah. Greenbacks. Clams.
Money is the universal language. Every conversation you have with
customers needsto be based on how much budget you can save them or
how much additional revenue you can generate. A customerneeds to
upgrade to Windows 7? Position it as a way to increase the
productivity of users and to streamline licensingcosts. A backup
process needs to be made more efficient? Mention the price of a
typical data recovery job and thecost savings of using less
bandwidth.When going after new business, calculate how much the
customer spends on managing IT and show how muchthey can save by
outsourcing to you. Stress that they will be able to focus on their
core business because you have ITcovered. Get internal IT staffs on
your side by quantifying how you can enhance their efforts, create
efficiencies andmake their lives much easier.4. Get Your Head in
the CloudsSuccessful MSPs manage a variety of IT services for their
customers delivered through the cloud. This allows themto pick best
of breed solutions and deliver these services to customers in an
efficient manner. Customers deserve achoice of solutions that work
best for themrather than what is available through their technology
provider.For the MSP, delivering services through the cloud allows
it to become a manager of services rather than simply atechnician.
By out-sourcing the nitty-gritty to cloud providers, MSPs can focus
on high-level strategy, helpingcustomers manage relationships and
integration with cloud vendors.
7. Kaseya | A Starter Guide to IT Managed Services5. Keep Up
with the Joness Top NeedsIts important to stay on top of innovation
in the IT industry, constantly improving your services while
finding newways to benefit customers. Get certified. Take classes.
Participate in the social conversation taking place in the growing
of IT Usersnumber of community-focused destinations. Connect with
evangelists within the industry so you can pass that I End-to-end
device protectionknowledge on to your customers. And be creative
when marketing yourself. I Guaranteed services levelsThere are many
smaller companies that could benefit from managed services but may
not know any better. Spend theeffort educating potential clients,
investing now for a payoff down the road. Your goal should be to
create a community I Minimal disruption to user productivityof
like-minded business professionals who can share best practices and
contribute to the common good. Its also and core business
processesimportant to be wary of high-maintenance customers who may
not be worth holding onto and may drag down yourmore put-together
clients.Keeping on top of trends and innovation in the industry
allows you to be nimble and flexible so you can take Top
Needsadvantage of market opportunities. And it keeps you locked in
with the needs of your customers and it virtually of MSPseliminates
any thoughts they may have of replacing you. I High customer
satisfaction rates6. Target the Suits I Low administrative
expensesMany MSPs have solid relationships with the boots on the
ground, the guys who plan and operate their customers ITstrategies.
Thats great, but dont forget to embrace users and the management
team. Talk to users about their IT needs I Strong profitsand get a
feel for the business so you can help the company achieve its
goals. Be seen as a technology partner in the I Industry
credibilityboardroom rather than a service provider beholden to the
IT department. Its also important to manage expectations I Scalable
foundation for long-term growththrough monthly and quarterly
meetings, making sure everyone is on the same page with ITs role
and capacityplanning. These regular meetings can go a long way
toward ensuring management knows the good work your team Source:
Kaseya Worldwide Customer Survey, 2012is doing and how you can help
the company in the future.Properly engaged, users can be an asset,
used to conduct basic maintenance on distributed machines so
youdont have to. Set up policies that allow them to make authorized
configuration changes, downloads, patches andapplications (and make
sure you block unauthorized changes as well). User self service
saves you time, saves userstime, gives them a stake in the health
of their system and ensures consistent IT service across the
organization.
8. Kaseya | A Starter Guide to IT Managed ServicesPart 3:
Choose the Right ToolThe managed services business model is enabled
by the technology you use to deliver IT services to your
customers.However, there are dozens of solutions. How do you choose
the right one for your unique needs?IT systems management solutions
come in several flavors based on thesoftwares architecture.Point
ProductsSingle-feature point productssuch as an asset management
solution, a help desk solution or monitoring softwareare a common
option for smaller network deployments or for IT professionals with
a lot of patience for integrating dis-parate management solutions.
They work well for what they are engineered to do but should not be
an option for aprovider that is serious about managed services. The
initial cost may be tempting, but you have to weigh that againstthe
long-term overhead burden from implementing, learning and
maintaining multiple tools.AppliancesAppliances are advertised as
simple to install, simple to configure and simple to useessentially
a tempting way toshort-cut the complexities of initial IT systems
management deployment. But they tend to sacrifice functionality
andflexibility for ease of use and cost. Feature sets tend to be
more limited than comparable toolsets, which can leave youwith gaps
in service when it comes to implementing a complete and proactive
IT systems management strategy.Agentless SoftwareAgentless
management solutions typically provide a richer feature-set than
appliances and dont require that softwarebe deployed on each
system. Instead, management functions and services are provided
over the network (or even overthe Internet). However, agentless
software is completely dependent on network connections. If the
network goesdown so does your management solution. Uncertain
reliability could take away the visibility into your network and
in-hibit your ability to manage systems just when you need those
capabilities the most.
9. Kaseya | A Starter Guide to IT Managed ServicesAgent-Based
SoftwareAgent-based software solutions can provide the kinds of
feature sets, reliability and robustness required by just aboutany
sized customer from small SMBs to large enterprises. By placing
natively written agents on each managed device,MSPs are given the
greatest level of control to perform any task necessary. Some of
the leading solution providers offerlightweight agents (