In a recent post on EDGE360, Comstor’s David McNicholas discussed how, “(T)he biggest step VAR businesses took in 2015 was formally accepting that they must offer some type of managed services.” McNicholas goes on to assert that an expanded managed services suite is critical to value added resellers (VAR) and their ability to remain relevant and successful.
To that end, EDGE360’s editorial staff thought it a good time to reflect on the past year in managed services and its ever growing importance in the New Year.
Keep reading below for practical tips on managed services from the EDGE360 editorial team:
Sales from the EDGE: What the Farmer’s Market Can Tell You about Your Business’s Future
In the above linked post, Dan Forbes- Director of Business Development Comstor U.S.- discusses the importance of businesses embodying a sense of knowledge and expertise within their respective trades.
Forbes, utilizing the Farmer’s Market as an analogy, explains- “…the depth of knowledge around the products they (farmer’s market artisans) individually sell creates an experience you don’t get from a grocery chain. There’s an intimacy with some of the vendors that far exceeds the selection.” He then goes on to expound that an extensive and knowledgeable pool of dynamic value partnerships can lend this same level of knowledge and intimacy to managed services.
Success from the EDGE: Taking Time to Educate Today Can Lead to Greater Success Tomorrow
In this post, Larry Allen of Allen Federal Business Partners shares that “(E)ducation, as always, is vital,” explaining that when working with government businesses you can’t assume that contracting officials know the ins and outs of your business. It is your job to educate them.
Allen then continues to explain the importance of relationships to successful business when working with government contracting officials, sharing that success within government business is “equal parts processing knowledge and building relationships.”
Tales from the EDGE: Drop Your Mile Time: A Story on How to Improve Business Outcomes
Kyle van Hoften- a Business Development Manager at Comstor- explains the importance of education as well. In the above linked post, van Hoften discusses the value of making your value known to customers.
Employing a learning moment with his own daughter as a segue, van Hoften reveals the importance of checking in with customers from time to time to ensure that their needs are being met, even ones they don’t know they have yet.
The level of time and attention that van Hoften suggests is the type of attention that can enable customers to improve cash flow and mitigating risk.
Thoughts from the EDGE: How Hosted Cloud Solutions Can Help You Manage the Complexities of Your Business
Collab9’s Bryan Birchfield- a Cisco Collaboration Pre-Sales Engineer- discloses in the above post the many cost and time saving aspects of implementing a hosted cloud solution similar to collab9’s offering.
Birchfield also imparts that “collab9 is a flexible solution that meets the stringent security requirements set forth by the Federal Government,” making it a viable choice for government businesses.
Want to learn more about Managed Services and Value Added Resellers? Click here.
