Today’s post is by Mark Davis; Sr. Vice President and COO at SafeSourcing.

This week we have been looking at the *MSPMentor’s Top 100 (actually it was the top 501) providers and the associated trends in this space among the suppliers and their customers.  In particular, we are focusing on the most commonly offered services and what they may mean to your company and its profitability.  Today we conclude the series by looking at the last three services.  Even though the percentages are smaller, these three services are ones that many companies are really beginning to look for.

Desktop as a Service (62%*) – Virtual desktops have been around for a while but many companies are beginning to leverage them in new ways especially as employees are using many different types of devices in their work day.  With all of the traditional benefits of a hosted solution such as managed maintenance, no hardware costs, managed backup and security, the big new advantage is the fact that employees can access their software applications, files and desktop from any web capable device from anywhere an internet signal can be found.  Trends indicate that this number will continue to increase as companies look to employ the capability in their business.

Hardware as a Service (62%*) – Hardware as a service has been a growing area for MSPs but is still yet to really become a consistently strong player everywhere.  Some of this has to do with the fact that not all hardware lends itself to the model, and some has to do with the fact that many companies are looking to spend more on software and services than they are on hardware.  All of this may change very soon as Amazon begins to introduce a concept with its Kindle Fire that looks a lot like the mobile phone industry where companies pay virtually nothing for hardware and upgrades while they continue to to renew their service contracts.  As this concept grows many new companies will be looking to leverage the service, taking the hardware and investing in the services and applications.

Managed VoIP, (47%*) – Standard phone services are becoming one of the hottest new services companies are looking for.  With improved hardware, data compression and cost effective bandwidth companies are beginning to realize how much more they can leverage with a managed Voice over IP phone solution.  Enterprise management, monitoring and control are just some of the benefits many companies are finding in this solution, making it an up and coming sourcing category.

To understand more about how we can help you find vendors to meet some of these needs, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service Representative.  We hope you have enjoyed this series on MSP popular services.

We look forward to your comments.

* Source: MSPmentor 501 Global Report, February 2013, all survey participants.

Today?s post is by Mark Davis; Sr. Vice President and COO at SafeSourcing.

This week we have been looking at the *MSPMentor?s Top 100 (actually it was the top 501) providers and the associated trends in this space among the suppliers and their customers.? In particular, we are focusing on the most commonly offered services and what they may mean to your company and its profitability.? Today we conclude the series by looking at the last three services.? Even though the percentages are smaller, these three services are ones that many companies are really beginning to look for.

Desktop as a Service (62%*) ? Virtual desktops have been around for a while but many companies are beginning to leverage them in new ways especially as employees are using many different types of devices in their work day.? With all of the traditional benefits of a hosted solution such as managed maintenance, no hardware costs, managed backup and security, the big new advantage is the fact that employees can access their software applications, files and desktop from any web capable device from anywhere an internet signal can be found.? Trends indicate that this number will continue to increase as companies look to employ the capability in their business.

Hardware as a Service (62%*) ? Hardware as a service has been a growing area for MSPs but is still yet to really become a consistently strong player everywhere.? Some of this has to do with the fact that not all hardware lends itself to the model, and some has to do with the fact that many companies are looking to spend more on software and services than they are on hardware.? All of this may change very soon as Amazon begins to introduce a concept with its Kindle Fire that looks a lot like the mobile phone industry where companies pay virtually nothing for hardware and upgrades while they continue to to renew their service contracts.? As this concept grows many new companies will be looking to leverage the service, taking the hardware and investing in the services and applications.

Managed VoIP, (47%*) ? Standard phone services are becoming one of the hottest new services companies are looking for.? With improved hardware, data compression and cost effective bandwidth companies are beginning to realize how much more they can leverage with a managed Voice over IP phone solution.? Enterprise management, monitoring and control are just some of the benefits many companies are finding in this solution, making it an up and coming sourcing category.

To understand more about how we can help you find vendors to meet some of these needs, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service Representative.? We hope you have enjoyed this series on MSP popular services.

We look forward to your comments.

* Source: MSPmentor 501 Global Report, February 2013, all survey participants.

Today’s post is by Mark Davis; Sr. Vice President and COO at SafeSourcing.

This week we have been looking at the *MSPMentor’s Top 100 (actually it was the top 501) providers and the associated trends in this space among the suppliers and their customers.  In particular, we are focusing on the most commonly offered services and what they may mean to your company and its profitability.

NOC Services (80%*) – Virtually everything in your organization connects at some point to your network.  Those connections may be limited and have various levels of security but the connection is there nonetheless.  In the old days (read that early to mid 1980’s) network administrators would carry pagers with them at all times in case anything happened and the network went down.  Today dozens of MSPs are taking the burden of monitoring and troubleshooting problems on your network 24 hours a day.  Companies like INOC offer a variety of monitoring solutions to ensure your network is safe and running at all times.

Virtual Servers in the cloud (79%*) – With as many articles that have been written on the cloud and cloud based servers you would think this number would be at 100%.  In time, and as companies retire older servers and applications, the move to virtual servers is a foregone conclusion even if they don’t reside in the cloud.  The list of MSPs that offer this service is one of the fastest growing in this area as specialized companies like Inhost and  powerhouse ISPs like GoDaddy look to continue to offer their customers to services that provide all of the benefits of owning your own servers without the cost, staff or headaches.

Software License Management (77%*) – Similar to patch management, MSPs that provide license management partner with your company to accomplish three specific goals: reducing cost, maintaining legal compliance, and optimizing software use.   Working with their customers, MSPs who offer these services ensure that their customers have the licensing that really supports their use of the applications without overpaying for necessary licenses.  They can also recommend alternative licensing models to their customers that can decrease the load on their IT staff.  Companies like Flexera claim to be able to produce results that can drive 5-30% savings in annual software spend by helping their customers using these techniques.

To learn 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 throughout the week for the other 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.

Today?s post is by Mark Davis; Sr. Vice President and COO at SafeSourcing.

This week we have been looking at the *MSPMentor?s Top 100 (actually it was the top 501) providers and the associated trends in this space among the suppliers and their customers.? In particular, we are focusing on the most commonly offered services and what they may mean to your company and its profitability.

NOC Services (80%*) ? Virtually everything in your organization connects at some point to your network.? Those connections may be limited and have various levels of security but the connection is there nonetheless.? In the old days (read that early to mid 1980?s) network administrators would carry pagers with them at all times in case anything happened and the network went down.? Today dozens of MSPs are taking the burden of monitoring and troubleshooting problems on your network 24 hours a day.? Companies like INOC offer a variety of monitoring solutions to ensure your network is safe and running at all times.

Virtual Servers in the cloud (79%*) ? With as many articles that have been written on the cloud and cloud based servers you would think this number would be at 100%.? In time, and as companies retire older servers and applications, the move to virtual servers is a foregone conclusion even if they don?t reside in the cloud.? The list of MSPs that offer this service is one of the fastest growing in this area as specialized companies like Inhost and? powerhouse ISPs like GoDaddy look to continue to offer their customers to services that provide all of the benefits of owning your own servers without the cost, staff or headaches.

Software License Management (77%*) ? Similar to patch management, MSPs that provide license management partner with your company to accomplish three specific goals: reducing cost, maintaining legal compliance, and optimizing software use.?? Working with their customers, MSPs who offer these services ensure that their customers have the licensing that really supports their use of the applications without overpaying for necessary licenses.? They can also recommend alternative licensing models to their customers that can decrease the load on their IT staff.? Companies like Flexera claim to be able to produce results that can drive 5-30% savings in annual software spend by helping their customers using these techniques.

To learn 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 throughout the week for the other 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.

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.

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.