One VAR’s Story: Mastering Managed Services

You’ve heard the hype about managed services. The VAR Guy wanted a reality check. So he dialed Corporate Network Services Inc., a solutions provider that recently embraced managed services as part of an ambitious business transformation that most VARs have yet to begin. What was the outcome? Far better than The VAR Guy anticipated.

First, the bottom line: Over the past few months, CNS has transitioned more than a dozen companies to a managed services platform that greatly increases system availability while generating recurring revenue for CNS.

Other VARs are making similar moves. Check out this feature on the march toward managed services. The piece points out many of the challenges involved in the VAR-to-MSP transformation process.

CNS’s managed services strategy wasn’t completed overnight. Over the past decade, the company has offered basic server monitoring, database design and help-desk services. But that business model meant CNS was always in reaction-mode, notes Jason Tierney, VP of consulting services at CNS.

As CNS began to research MSP platforms, the company discovered some solutions required new hardware deployments at each customer site. Other platforms relied on proprietary code that didn’t interact well with mainstream security software.

By mid-2006, CNS had heard positive buzz about a managed services platform from Kaseya Corp. of San Francisco. By the close of 2006, CNS began testing Kaseya’s managed platform—and the results were startling. “It’s a phenomenal solution that improves customer satisfaction and enhances our own brand,� says Tierney.

During the first quarter of 2007, CNS transitioned more than a dozen customers to the managed services platform. Today, CNS remotely manages more than 450 desktops and servers, with dozens more coming online each week.

Frankly, it still sounds too good to be true. But Tierney insists the platform is the real deal.

Now, for an informative but somewhat shameless plug: The VAR Guy will take a closer look at the MSP market by attending CompTIA’s Managed Services Summit May 1-3 in San Diego. Details here.

Other MSP platform providers VARs might want to investigate include Autotask, N-able, Silverback, KLIR Technologies and Level Platforms.