By Insight Guest Blog 1

What does the term “managed service provider” mean? It’s actually a better question than you may think. Ask 1,000 MSPs how they define MSP, and you’ll get about 1,000 different answers. 

Perhaps the best clue to an effective definition is to think of an MSP as a provider who manages services. Which services? Any IT-related services. Delivered by whom? It could be any IT service provider.

In other words, you can’t do all things better than everyone else, or satisfy everyone on your own. But you can provide all services. To illustrate, let’s look at another industry in which services are managed: construction.

When you engage a general contractor (GC)–to build you a house, for example–the GC is not typically the architect who designed the house. There are firms that design and build houses–just as there are IT companies that design and build networks.

If you were to check GCs’ payrolls, you’d see they have no carpenters on staff. They don’t have any electricians or plumbers on staff, either. They may have some tradesmen on staff, but more often than not a GC subcontracts all the electrical, plumbing, woodwork and other trades. Their job is to manage the services. That’s managed services.

Feed the Growth of Your MSP Practice by Becoming an ITGC

There is an endless “Mobius loop” in the IT business. 

Whenever we finish a project to install, upgrade or otherwise enhance something, the residue of that engagement should be the addition of whatever we enhanced to a managed services agreement.

If we’re proactive, we’re constantly analyzing the performance reports for each customer’s network. Often we will find something that could be improved, so we propose a new project.

So, the residue of each managed services agreement leads to more managed services, which lead back to more projects, and those lead back to more managed services, and so on. It’s an endless loop of revenue.

Managing All the Services

The key to success in the project business is to deliver every project on time, within budget and at a level of excellence in excess of expectations. The best way to consistently achieve this lies in carefully selecting great subcontractors and learning to be highly effective in managing all of their services.

You may not want to be all things to all people. However, by managing the provision of all things to all people, you dramatically expand the scope of services you offer to customers. And the sources of revenue available to grow your company.

Senior Resultant Howard M. Cohen has more than 30 years of experience in the information technology industry. He’s an authorized CompTIA instructor and a regular contributor to IT industry publications, including Insight’s Learn, the information portal within the newly re-imagined insight.com. As a Fortune 500-ranked global provider of hardware, software, cloud and service solutions, Insight’s 5,400 teammates provide clients the guidance and expertise needed to select, implement and manage complex technology solutions to drive business outcomes. Through world-class people, partnerships, services and delivery solutions, Insight helps businesses run smarter. Guest blogs such as this one are published monthly and are part of MSPmentor’s annual platinum sponsorship.