LogMeIn: Powering Best Buy’s Managed Services (And Yours?)
MSPmentor recently noted that Best Buy is getting into the remote managed services game. The question then became: How can traditional MSPs best compete with a retail giant that has thousands of Geek Squad “agents” and massive marketing muscle?
I took that very question to LogMeIn, whose namesake product line provides the underlying engine for Best Buy’s remote managed services. Here’s what they had to say.
LogMeIn, founded in 2005, initially did nothing but provide a free remote desktop application, says Andrew Burton, their VP of products. These days, though, they have a complete line of solutions to help remotely access and monitor anything from desktops to BlackBerry devices.
I won’t go through their entire product line, but essentially, if you have a networked device, they have something aimed at helping a service provider extend a VPN to it and access it from anywhere. They don’t have a partner program, per se, but Burton says that MSPs are some of their biggest customers since they can build an offering on the LogMeIn platform.
Of special note to MSPs is their $299/year LogMeIn Central, which is a central console to administer LogMeIn services, and LogMeIn Ignition, which provides a remote desktop on an iPhone or an iPod Touch. Burton says he knows one MSP who actually uses Ignition to administer his client’s networks while on long bike rides — the user just logs into his home desktop, does what he needs to, turns it off and keeps going.
Thinking Beyond Tools and Technologies
So that brings us back to the original point. If LogMeIn is as powerful and versatile as Burton says, how can MSPs compete when Best Buy is leveraging the exact same technology? Burton says the really competitive services providers shouldn’t have to.
Instead, the “[MSPs] competing well,” as Burton puts it, are the ones who know their customers inside and out in a way a Best Buy can’t or doesn’t care to. An MSP, he says, should be able to use experience and a good business relationship to anticipate a customer’s IT needs and provide exactly the kind of remote managed services they need.
A Best Buy can’t be that flexible, and it’s doubtful a successful enterprise can forge any kind of meaningful business relationship with one. You may never get the same Geek Squad agent twice, and you probably can’t call them late on a Sunday to log in remotely when your printer won’t start.
“A lifeline to the MSP is critical,” Burton says.
I love LogMeIn and I got it from my techie who supports my empire’s 3 computers. My IT support gal, who admittedly is not an MSP and doesn’t desire to be one, swears by this product.
I am glad to see LMI getting some attention here. I have to share my love for the product…
Intel’s RPAT support from vPro is super easy to integrate with logmein products, so a customer with a boot error can do a 3 finger solute (ctrl alt f2) to open a remote support session in Logmein Rescue or Logmein Pro. Does any other RMM tool out there today even have bare metal remote control support?
Logmein Ignition and Central are excellent compliments to the FREE version of Logmein.
Above all the actual remote session is by far the best RMM experience on the market.
The chat feature negates the need for a phone call and allows techs to work on multiple issues.
~Andy
P.S. I have a former client (school system) with 4,000 FREE nodes and a few $30/year Ingition licenses, and the $300/year Central license and they can get into a machine in less than 5 seconds flat to remote assist. They are using some inexpensive automation/monitoring tool whose escapes me at the moment.
Remote support is only one piece of an IT Service. Full Managed Service Providers know this and can speak to the other highly valuable elements of their service (vCIO, best practices amp; automation).
It’s really easy to differentiate the two. Do they provide a technology budget and steering process? No. Do they demonstrate where you are in relation to industry standards? No. Do they support all of your technology, not just the common stuff? No. Do they work to streamline your technology so that you don’t have to call them with issues? No. They only answer the phone when you call.
Someone, someday, is going to figure out how to leverage the large organizations for common support tasks (answer the phone, general desktop issues, monitoring, patch management, etc.) and weave that into their broader Managed Services offering. To date, there hasn’t been a large amount of success from the companies that are doing it. The problem is how do you take something that is a key relationship point for your business and outsource it to a company that doesn’t understand your clients needs? The company that figures that out has a lot of running room in the Managed Services industry.
Bob Penland
CTO
TruMethods
http://www.trumethods.com
It’s not inconceivable to think Best Buy could “walmart” the support industry around some day. The vCIO service would be difficult to bring online nationally as talented information officers are few and far between (note I quantified “information officers” with “talented”).
Best Buy does have “special agents” in pilot locations and that program has been expanding. With all of their hardware margins slashed they will be looking at service to survive the next decade.
@Bob you make an excellent point and I believe that the great “land grab” in managed services is still ahead of us.
@Joe it will would be great if Dell would respond to you regarding their program. It is the most significant push I am aware of on a large scale. I saw in your recent post you are still knocking at the door and we all appreciate it!
We have used LogMeIn for several years and find it a great tool for assisting our Clients. We have over 80% remote resolution rate on first call. That said, don’t forget that a technology product will not make a difference in your competitive advantage, especially when it’s available to everyone…this goes for Best Buy too!
There are three components that must all function together for a service provider to be successful: people, processes, and technology. So yes, LMI is great but you better have the right people, following the right processes, using it!
Edward Stringfellow
CEO/Founder
http://www.stringfellow.com
Here’s another shout for LMI…we love it here at Logicomm, and use them(both free and Pro2 and Rescue) for many tasks. While Kaseya remains our principal RMM tool, there’s nothing faster for remote access than LMI that I’ve seen, and their suite of products is really impressive.
Now, back to the story. Best Buy. There are, unfortunately, SMBs that will flock to the service. Until something really goes wrong. Or until they really need a refresh, and don’t want to be sold a product they don’t need. Or until a new technology hits the business market and competitors are leveraging it.
Congrats to LogMeIn on the Best Buy deal, and best of luck to the GeekSquad in your dealings with the 9 trillion home users and home businesses (read: single computer, very needy) users you’ll attract.
Those who survive will grow, and most will likely outgrow your services. We’ll remember to thank you for making them aware of managed services in the first place….
Jim Van
Logicomm, Inc.
http://www.logicomm-inc.com
I would look at the warranty
I would look at the warranty offer. An extended one would be awesome.
http://www.protect-o.com