As the cloud and its various and seemingly infinite permutations fog up the IT landscape, questions have been raised about how and where managed service providers (MSPs) fit into the scenario. And many big companies have made their name in the cloud, leaving smaller service providers scratching their heads about how to remain competitive.
A recent blog post from eFolder, a provider of data protection and business continuity services, outlines how MSPs can play on their strengths in the competitive cloud market, when faced with big players like Dropbox (News - Alert) and Mozy. One of the key advantages MSPs have is trust and longevity in delivering services, as well as the ability to offer personalized and customized solutions – unlike the “big boxes” of enterprise cloud computing.
One of the first things an MSP can do to publicize their offerings is to brand IT services using their own name. Plenty of solutions are available to white label and market as custom services, and service providers need to take advantage of these types of offerings to differentiate their portfolios and stand out among the cloud crowd.
MSPs can also play up the fact that smaller companies with concentrated and niche offerings provide a personalized experience as well as top-notch customer service. Service providers should publicize their track records of quick response times through testimonials and customer references, differentiating themselves from big players with their complicated FAQs and unhelpful “help desks.”
Of course, services make the MSP and offering a comprehensive suite of IT services is a surefire way to differentiate your company. Being able to aggregate a variety of services and the related pricing, maintenance and monitoring, and deliver those offerings as a package is a huge benefit to your customers. Rather than dealing with numerous large vendors and trying to stay on top of updates, your customers gain peace of mind knowing your company will take care of all those tasks.
Ultimately, the best way MSPs can stand out in the cloud computing crowd is to play up their strengths, and that means being able to provide a one-stop shop with a variety of personalized and customized services. Many SMBs are looking for these types of solutions and would prefer to deal with another SMB rather than a “big box,” one-size-fits-all cloud company.
Edited by Alisen Downey