Channel Transitions: Why You Should Adopt Managed Services, Where You Can Find Help
In a webinar, now available on demand, Business Solutions provides a preview of the educational content planned for its Channel Transitions VAR/MSP Executive Conferences, June 4 in Newark, September 24 in Chicago, and November 5 in Orlando. The conferences continue Business Solutions magazine’s commitment to educating IT solutions providers on the as-a-Service business model.
During the webinar, BSM president Jim Roddy and BSM editor-in-chief Mike Monocello discuss the objective of Channel Transitions conferences, now in their third year.
Monocello says the conferences reflect the magazine’s mission to help VARs and MSPs thrive. He says IT solutions providers may grow their businesses by breaking into a new technology or by specializing in a vertical, but regardless of the direction of the business, an IT solutions provider needs a smart business model.
With the as-a-Service or recurring revenue business model, solutions providers receive monthly payments for services, rather than lump sum payments project-by-project. “Predictable revenue streams equal financial stability,” Monocello says. He adds predictable revenue can also help a business grow: “Break-fix VARs we talk to hesitate when it comes to business investments because they aren’t sure what next month, next quarter, or next year will look like.”
Roddy comments, “One of my favorite quotes about comparing the break-fix business model to the recurring revenue or as-a-Service business model came from our Channel Transitions Conferences last year in Chicago. David Wilkeson, a former managed services provider and now owns channel consulting firm Tech Advisor said, ‘Do you want to slaughter the cow or do you want to milk the cow? If you slaughter the cow every month, you have to try to find a cow to replace it.’”
Joining Roddy and Monocello for the discussion on the as-a-Service model is the owner of Small Biz Thoughts Karl Palachuk, who is also the keynote speaker for the Channel Transitions event in September. Palachuk, the author of Managed Services in a Month and the Managed Services Operations Manual, says when transitioning to this model to keep in mind it has more to do with you than with your clients. “How you develop your business model is going to determine how you deliver service and get new clients,” he says.
Palachuk adds that with remote monitoring tools and with dramatic changes to the way IT services are delivered, “I think everyone is going to be an MSP very shortly.” He says VARs currently may sell phone services or remote backup: “Most people have one foot in the managed services already.”
The webinar discussion — as well as the education planned for Channel Transitions — stresses that the process of adopting a managed services business model is filled with decisions regarding funding your company until you build recurring revenue streams, compensating your sales team, bundling and pricing services, agreeing on terms of service level agreements, and drafting standard operating procedures.
The good news is help is available. Monocello says, “Unlike some industries where people like to keep things secret, the managed services community is very open. “If you come to the Channel Transitions event or you go to any other managed services event, talk to other MSPs and ask them how they’re handling compensation or how they’re handling this issue or that issue, and I think you’re going to find people are very open and willing to share and help you along.”
Throughout the webinar, Roddy suggests BSM articles on a variety of topics related to the conference agenda, including “Channel Transitions East: Panel Shares Candid Advice For MSPs.”
To listen to the complete webinar, including a Q&A from audience participants, click here, and to register for Channel Transitions conferences, click here.