With so many companies sourcing Managed Service Providers where you begin at ways to improve your company?
Today’s post is by Mark Davis; Senior Vice President and COO at SafeSourcing.
Last week I attended the MSPMentor 100 Webinar that detailed the results of the 2013 edition of their survey on Managed Service Provider companies. Part of the review process was to also touch on the most commonly used services from these suppliers and what you can learn about what your company needs to do to begin investigating ways to leverage those same services.
Over the course of this week’s blogs we will take a look at the top 15 services being offered by these companies with some background on each. Some of these will be unique to the supplier offering it while others are things you can begin asking your current suppliers about today.
Remote Monitoring (94%*) – Remote monitoring and management (RMM) is the process MSPs use with IT tools to collect and analyze information and activity that is happening on a device or on the network the device is connected to. These statistics help many MSPs not only to resolve issues remotely saving companies in costly site visits but it also allows them to proactively monitor situations before they become issues. Of those companies using employing MSPs almost all of them are providing some type of RMM in their offering. The obvious cost benefits and proactive approach are why many companies are looking to MSPs to augment their IT Staffs.
Managed Storage, Backup, Disaster Recovery (91%*) – Dropbox, Sharepoint, iCloud, and Amazon Cloud Storage are all companies/services that specialize in managing the storage requirements of individuals and companies. This trend among MSPs is no different as 91% of MSPs are offering some type of managed storage for their customers. The fact is that most companies do not have the staff, hardware or resources to effectively maintain their data in a way that adheres to standard backup and disaster recovery procedures. By working with suppliers like Carbonite, companies can easily put a plan in place to protect themselves and their customers.
Managed Email/Anti-spam (90%*) – Like the protection of a company’s files, the protection, backup and disaster recovery plan for a company’s email is also critically important. Many of the major Internet Service Providers provide managed Email services (including backup and disaster recovery services) but it is a growing area for MSPs as well. The benefits from companies like Rackspace, allow companies the peace of mind that their email is protected without the huge costs of maintaining the equipment and software in-house, integrating with several mail programs include great support for mobile devices.
To understand more about how we can help you find vendors to meet some of these needs, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service Representative. Please come back tomorrow for the next top services we will cover in our Week of MSP Service Review.
* Source: MSPmentor 501 Global Report, February 2013, all survey participants.
We look forward to your comments.
