Could Push Messaging Push MSPs Into Mobile Services?

As smartphone usage has exploded—up 55% last year in the United States (comScore)—the popularity of push messaging has increased on a parallel track. Messaging gives workers more collaborative power with immediate access to what’s new in their e-mail, contacts, calendar, and social media. Push messaging makes utilizing applications on mobile devices more convenient and consistent—factors that are sure to drive the market even further. But where do MSPs fit into this market trend?

First, let’s take a closer look at the user benefits. By utilizing push notifications on mobile applications instead of background application processes, users can minimize the network footprint for each device. In layman’s terms, these notifications run lean because the server does all the heavy lifting. A user won’t drain the battery on a mobile device by logging in and out all day. In addition, push notifications relieve some of the bandwidth overcrowding as carriers scramble to keep up with demand.

There’s been a lot of buzz about push notifications during the past week. HyperOffice announced beta testing for its push messaging service (HyperSync) across a variety of smartphone platforms including the iPhone, BlackBerry, and Android. On the same day, Urban Airship, who has been very successful on iPhone, announced that its push notifications application is now functional for BlackBerry and will soon be for the Android as well.

If this market were to expand to the reseller space, it would help solve the question of whether smaller MSPs should delve into the mobile arena. As consumers become more dependent on mobile devices for everyday business functions, small business on the whole will soon follow suit.

All in all, the ongoing development of mobile services will make offering these as part of a comprehensive managed plan an imperative—maybe not this year, but soon. Sure there are big players like Orange in the game, but don’t let that be a deterrent. There is a good share of profit-making potential by adding mobile managed services to your portfolio. If your clients aren’t utilizing mobile data yet, all trends predict that they soon will be.

Eric Webster is VP of sales and marketing for Intronis. Find Intronis partner program information here. Guest blog entries such as this one are contributed on a monthly basis as part of MSPmentor’s 2010 Platinum sponsorship. Read all of Eric’s guest blog entries here.