MSPs Moving Quickly to Cloud Management Services
In a poll launched May 19, we asked:
Apparently, managed service providers believe strongly in cloud computing. Nearly 20 percent of managed service providers already monitor and manage customers’ cloud applications — and a large percentage of MSPs plan to do so shortly, according to the latest MSPmentor online reader poll. Here’s a sampling of the results.
In a poll launched May 19, we asked:
How soon will you monitor and manage customers’ cloud applications?
Here’s how readers responded:
Or in other words:
- 18 percent of participants already monitor and manage customers’ cloud applications.
- 18 percent plan to add that service sometime in 2009.
- 34 percent plan to add that service sometime in 2010.
- 24 percent are unsure of their managed cloud services plans.
- And 6 percent think they’ll never offer such services.
Behind the Numbers
Admittedly, this wasn’t a scientific poll. But the stats are both encouraging and concerning.
To me, “the cloud” has become a catch-all term that describes off-premise or hosted applications and services — everything from the Google Apps Reseller program to Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS) to Amazon Web Services (AWS).
Some MSPs may surely struggle to get their arms around all of those emerging and competing technologies. Plus, they need to somehow offer customers clear guidance on how to leverage cloud services.
Still, some promising trends are emerging. I’ve noted multiple times that Level Platforms has clearly articulated a strategy for Managed Cloud Services — including tools to help MSPs manage BPOS and other third-party applications that run in SaaS (software as a service) configurations. And I’ve noted two solutions providers — Levementum and OpenBI — that are worth tracking as they deploy applications in the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud.
No doubt, most MSPs will require much of 2009 and portions of 2010 to sort out their cloud strategies.
Our Next Poll
In the meantime, we’ve kicked off our next weekly reader poll. This one asks: Which type of tool should MSPs deploy first: Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) or PSA (professional services automation)? Participate here now:
The poll above closes on Friday, May 29.
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Hey Joe,
Interesting question in this week’s poll, about whether MSPs should implement a PSA tool and/or RMM Tool first. It’s looking like most people think both are mandatory, and I agree.
But from our experience a minority of MSPs start out their businesses on “Day 1” as MSPs. We’re seeing this more as an ongoing transition, where service providers dip their toes in the MSP waters offering one or more managed services, and then steadily add more as part of their IT service portfolio.
Since every service provider needs to be able to manage their time, billing, projects, tasks, resources, people, etc. — whether or not they offer managed services — they all need a PSA tool, and ideally from “Day 1.”
Bob: No doubt, all solutions providers (VARs, MSPs, integrators, resellers) need business management software (CRM, finance, accounting, time management). I’m still seeing/hearing from far too many resellers running their businesses on Quicken (the base consumer product) and Excel. Scary.
Readers: If you take a look at the MSPmentor 100 — and check in with the companies listed — you’ll find that the vast majority of them run both PSA and RMM software. I’ll provide final results of this week’s PSA and RMM poll sometime on June 1 or 2.