MSP News
MSPs Must Demonstrate Value of Cloud-Based Offerings to Win Over Customers
March 22, 2011
Managed service providers (MSPs) understand the value of their service offerings and what a positive impact they can have on the bottom line for their customers. But demonstrating that value to SMBs in a competitive environment is a challenge. OS33, a cloud-based IT-as-a-Service platform provider for SMBs, has come up with a list of tips to aid MSPs in explaining the value of their offerings to prospects.
Emphasizing the cost savings of moving to the cloud is one of the biggest and most compelling benefits MSPS can offer their customers. The challenge for providers is how to effectively demonstrate specific savings to their prospective customers. OS33 suggests providing a detailed quote that clearly breaks down savings in hardware, management and operations costs is crucial in effectively demonstrating cloud benefits.
Offering SMBs an integrated platform as part of the solution is also crucial, according to OS33. Even less tech-savvy SMBs are becoming increasingly aware that scattered cloud-based assets can be tricky and difficult to manage, with limited benefits. Customers are looking for solutions that bring together all of their IT resources like infrastructure, applications, management and delivery on on simple platform that may be easily accessed and supported. Along those lines, simplifying management and administration of your offering for end users is equally important. SMBs require an interface that offers unified access to all their IT assets, on one screen and from any connected device, at any time.
An additional important benefit that MSPs must demonstrate to customers is assurance that application performance and SLAs will be met. OS33 believes most end users are willing to give up any and all perceived benefits of cloud computing if their applications do not meet their SLA or performance expectations. It is up to providers to demonstrate the reliability and performance of their cloud-based offerings.
Finally, providers should provide exceptional service and support at all times. This includes immediate response times since lack of support can result in a loss of productivity and unsatisfied end users. MSPs should support any cloud-based offerings as if they were their own products and ensure prompt, knowledgeable support is available at all times.
“SMBs range from having their most technology-literate employee overseeing their computing needs to having a full-blown IT department," said Jacob Kazakevich, president of OS33. “But regardless of size, all organizations are looking to leverage the economic benefits, simplicity, and accessibility of cloud-based IT. MSPs who understand what cloud services are in demand by SMBs and can tailor their offerings to satisfy these demands will ultimately be the most successful.”
Edited by
Tammy Wolf
