IPED Webinars

MSP Partners’ exclusive IPED webinars explore three critical questions facing Service Providers as they consider the challenges of implementing and growing a Managed Services business:

1. Why Managed Services Is a Real Business Imperative for Solution Providers
2. Specific, Practical Steps for Starting, Growing and Maximizing a Managed Services Practice
3. Selling the Fundamental Advantages of Remote Monitoring & Management Services

Session 1: Beyond The Hype

Why Managed Services Is a Real Business Imperative for Solution Providers

The topic of Managed Services has been all the rage at every level of the IT industry. What gets lost in the buzz is one very basic and important reality: your customers need you more than ever due to the complexity and importance of IT and the higher standard in customer responsiveness. Which means as a solution provider you have two choices: you can learn to sell what your customers want, the way they want it … or you can lose out on the customer opportunities of today and tomorrow. In this session, the Institute for Partner Education and Development (IPED) will help solution providers cut through the clutter of the "market hype" and determine the specific, business-centered reasons to consider getting into the managed services business. Information in this session is drawn from the latest IPED proprietary research into proven best practices used by managed service providers today. Topics covered in this session will include:

• The importance of remote monitoring and management in transforming service cost structures and
• Strategies around new customer acquisition
• Generating recurring revenue
• Utilizing remote monitoring and management to generate incremental project and product sales
• Operational efficiencies for solution providers

Session 2: One Solid Step At A Time

Selling the Fundamental Advantages of Remote Monitoring & Management Services

At a high level, the concept of managed services is very broad and complex – even overwhelming for a solution provider just starting to consider this delivery model. But don't get lost in the details: getting started in managed services can be as simple as selling software IF you understand the basic benefits of remote monitoring and the value it adds to your customer relationships. There's no need to change your business or reinvent your processes – just learn to sell the advantages of real-time monitoring to each of your customers today. In this session, IPED will outline a simple "quick start" program for adding remote monitoring to your existing services and solutions without having to completely retrain your sales or technical teams. Armed with this information, you learn how to add the option of managed services to your business without cannibalizing any of your existing product or service sales. Topics covered in this session will include:

• Identifying Ideal Customer Profiles
• Developing Fast & Effective Sales Messages
• Building and Managing a Pipeline of Opportunity

Session 3: Make Managed Services Happen In Your Business…Now

Specific, Practical Steps for Starting, Growing and Maximizing a Managed Services Practice

Once you've determined that managed services are a viable strategy for growing your business, you'll need a simple, low-risk roadmap for building a recurring-revenue business practice. But there's no need to make massive investments in software, systems, or tools – the key is understanding the basic operational model of managed services, what's different from your traditional product / service business, and how to take the right first steps today. Then you can evaluate what resources you need from vendors or other partners and how to leverage those assets to your advantage. In this session, IPED will diagram the structure of a managed service practice and how you can maximize the value of the data you capture from monitoring your customers systems. In addition, you'll learn how to plan ahead for growing your practice from startup to maturity, one step at a time.

• Implementing a step-by-step process for continuously improving the productivity of technical service processes
• Designing a predictable, repeatable new customer launch process
• Building and executing a business plan to meet specific revenue and profitability targets