Making the most of your Managed Service Provider (MSP) is important, but with everything going on in your normal business day, it’s not surprising if you find it difficult to get past the “Yeah, we should do that” phase. Well, here we are heading into the second half of 2017. If you haven’t already started to make good on your goal, you will find the following paragraphs interesting as they describe trends in managed IT services in 2017. You are sure to find something that will help you accomplish your goals in concert with your Managed Services Provider (MSP).

Disaster Recovery. MSPs are turning to Recovery-as-a-Service from the cloud to provide their customers with the data and application protection they expect and need from their MSP. MSPs will provide recovery services through partnerships with other companies in the IT channel that provide such recovery services. Recovery-as-a-Service is sure to take another headache off your plate.

Cloud Opportunities. Harvard Business Review Analytic Services predicts that by 2020, 80% of businesses will operate in the cloud to some extent. Some businesses will move incrementally to the cloud, choosing to move one aspect of the business at a time. About half of businesses have begun the move or are developing a strategy to take advantage of the cloud disruption in their industry in the next three years. Management Services Providers (MSPs), too, will move forward to embrace cloud opportunities or pay the price later.

Cyber Security Network Safety. Cyber threats get more sophisticated every day. Businesses need help from their MSPs in threat detection and protection from malware of all types, including ransomware and phishing scams. Businesses cannot do it alone. MSPs have the IT know-how, the expertise, and the experience that comes from working with businesses in various fields and the exposure to cyber crime in various formats. Working in the cloud, MSPs can deliver the level of security services that their clients crave.

Internet of Things. The Internet of Things (IOT) is not just the appealing voice of Alexa helping Jr. find information from the web or learning how Mom like things done around the house. Everyone in the neighborhood may not have Alexa yet but those who step back a minute and look around will see that IOT has started in a broader sense.

There are already many IOT facets to daily life. Thermostats connect us to our homes and our utility companies. We have smart homes that can control the lights and our furnaces for better electricity usage. Automatic cars travel beside us on our roads. Refrigerators connect to our smart phones so we can order the groceries we need. Connectivity is the new norm for businesses and machines.

MSPs will help customers in this brave new world by integrating their old and new systems and by helping MSP customers deploy technology that provides the analysis of big data coming from all that IOT. Businesses will need MSP expertise to use the insights gained from the new technology to make better business and plan for the future.

RMM 24/7 Monitoring.  RMM, remote monitoring and management, is also known as network managing. We can also think of it as software that enables remote managing. RMM is the software magic that allows IT MSPs to remotely monitor their client’s networks and computers.

This is how RMM works. The MSP installs a small software connection on the client’s network/computers. The software sends messages back to the MSP on the status of the IT network. RMM allows the MSP to maintain and update the network, monitor the network for potential threats, and resolve issues proactively without ever setting a foot in the business’s office. If an IT issue arises, the system creates a trouble ticket which it then sends to the MSP. The tickets often classify the activity by severity and type of problem. The MSP can then determine critical from non-critical activity and resolve issues accordingly. Some RMM platforms add machine learning to make predict more accurately.

These platforms will continue to develop to provide MSPs choices for the best tools to help customers.

MSP as Channel Partners. Channel partners will evolve to incorporate MSPs as value-added sellers; that is, the MSP will provide services to its clients in concert with another company that is in the IT channel to sell that company’s products or technologies. These highly profitable partnerships will evolve to deliver top service through SaaS cloud services.

If you want to talk about this or anything else, please contact us. We look forward to helping you grow your business.