Hopefully, you have read my previous blogs on the Pros and Cons of creating a Managed Service Practices, as well as comparisons between ways to build or buy or cobble a practice together. While these are options, creating, growing, and maintaining a successful Managed Services Practice using one of these approaches is not easy.
You can make it easier on yourself – and increase your chances of success – by partnering with a Managed Services Provider (“MSP”) rather than doing the heavy lifting of expanding and establishing your own in-house capabilities. To experience all the benefits of a solid managed services practice, you should establish partnerships with MSPs early, so you aren’t trying to find one at the time of the sale or regretting spending millions by establishing your own capabilities.
InterGrid currently is working with multiple “traditional” resellers that have decided to expand their current offerings. InterGrid helps them establish a solid managed services practice by partnering with MSPs for the “back-office” delivery aspect so the reseller can tailor a solution quickly and easily for their clients. From IT infrastructure, service delivery, network operations centers, and security operations centers, to infrastructure technology as a service and infrastructure management services, InterGrid does the heavy lifting of finding the best providers in each area, vetting them, establishing service agreements, etc. for resellers. The reseller can focus on their customers to create the best solution, all while they retain the contracts and intimacy with their clients and provide value-added services them.
This approach still requires the managed services reseller to establish business operations (contracts, renewals, etc.) and to create a sales force that is consultative in nature. However, it enables VARs to get to market faster and reduces the overall risk of investing in technology and resources that require constant refresh. In support of this approach, InterGrid has established our JetStream program, in conjunction with Comstor. The JetStream program allows managed services resellers to sell and brand services as their own without the risks typically associated with establishing an MSP.
With JetStream, the managed services reseller aligns the delivery approach with the customer’s needs. In the past, you sold what you had even if it did not really fit customer needs. I call this the “everything is a” syndrome, meaning that if the only tool I have is a hammer, then everything is a nail. Even if it is a screw, and I should have used a screwdriver, I went ahead and used the hammer anyway. We help you choose the right tool for the right situation by enabling managed services resellers to align price with different offerings and levels. This not only increases closure rate, but also reduces your cost of sale. It also increases margins, as you are not negotiating on price, but aligning scopes and levels to budgets.
Here’s what the JetStream approach looks like:
Partner, Sell & Grow
Financial
• Minimal Investment
• Low Risk
• Speed to Market
Integrate & Align
• Standard Processes and Terms
• Deal Registration
• Integrated Marketing and Collateral
• Template Business Processes
Manage
• Sales
• Delivery Oversight
Refine
• Go-to-Market Approach
• Marketing
• Collateral
• Agreements
• Sales Job Descriptions
• Compensation Plans
As I’ve shared previously, the best way to approach managed services is with a strategic approach that includes partnering with experts who can help mitigate risk, increase speed to market, and expand capabilities. InterGrid and Comstor can help.
