https://www.channelfutures.com/wp-content/themes/channelfutures_child/assets/images/logo/footer-new-logo.png
  • Home
  • Technologies
    • Back
    • SDN/SD-WAN
    • Cloud
    • RMM/PSA
    • Security
    • Telephony/UC/Collaboration
    • Cable
    • Mobility & Wireless
    • Fiber/Ethernet
    • Data Centers
    • Backup & Disaster Recovery
    • IoT
    • Desktop
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Analytics
  • Strategy
    • Back
    • Mergers and Acquisitions
    • Channel Research
    • Business Models
    • Distribution
    • Technology Solutions Brokerages
    • Sales & Marketing
    • Best Practices
    • Vertical Markets
    • Regulation & Compliance
  • MSP 501
    • Back
    • 2022 MSP 501 Rankings
    • 2022 NextGen 101 Rankings
  • Intelligence
    • Back
    • Galleries
    • Podcasts
    • From the Industry
    • Reports/Digital Issues
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
  • Channel Futures TV
  • EMEA
  • Channel Chatter
    • Back
    • People on the Move
    • New/Changing Channel Programs
    • New Products & Services
    • Industry Honors
  • Resources
    • Back
    • Advisory Boards
    • Industry Organizations
    • Our Sponsors
    • Advertise
    • 2022 Editorial Calendar
  • Awards
    • Back
    • 2022 MSP 501
    • Channel Influencers
    • Circle of Excellence
    • DE&I 101
    • Channel Partners 101 (CP 101)
  • Events
    • Back
    • CP Conference & Expo
    • MSP Summit
    • Channel Partners Europe
    • Channel Partners Event Coverage
    • Webinars
    • Industry Events
  • About Us
  • DE&I
Channel Futures
  • NEWSLETTER
  • Home
  • Technologies
    • Back
    • SDN/SD-WAN
    • Cloud
    • RMM/PSA
    • Security
    • Telephony/UC/Collaboration
    • Cable
    • Mobility & Wireless
    • Fiber/Ethernet
    • Data Centers
    • Backup & Disaster Recovery
    • IoT
    • Desktop
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Analytics
  • Strategy
    • Back
    • Mergers and Acquisitions
    • Channel Research
    • Business Models
    • Distribution
    • Technology Solutions Brokerages
    • Sales & Marketing
    • Best Practices
    • Vertical Markets
    • Regulation & Compliance
  • MSP 501
    • Back
    • 2022 MSP 501 Rankings
    • 2022 NextGen 101 Rankings
  • Intelligence
    • Back
    • Galleries
    • Podcasts
    • From the Industry
    • Reports/Digital Issues
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
  • Channel Futures TV
  • EMEA
  • Channel Chatter
    • Back
    • People on the Move
    • New/Changing Channel Programs
    • New Products & Services
    • Industry Honors
  • Resources
    • Back
    • Advisory Boards
    • Industry Organizations
    • Our Sponsors
    • Advertise
    • 2022 Editorial Calendar
  • Awards
    • Back
    • 2022 MSP 501
    • Channel Influencers
    • Circle of Excellence
    • DE&I 101
    • Channel Partners 101 (CP 101)
  • Events
    • Back
    • CP Conference & Expo
    • MSP Summit
    • Channel Partners Europe
    • Channel Partners Event Coverage
    • Webinars
    • Industry Events
  • About Us
  • DE&I
    • Newsletter
  • REGISTER
  • MSPs
  • VARs / SIs
  • Agents
  • Cloud Service Providers
  • Channel Partners Events
 Channel Futures

Uncategorized


The Pros and Cons of Specializing in Niche Markets for MSPs

  • Written by Michael Brown 1
  • September 30, 2015
In an increasingly competitive cloud marketplace, companies hoping to find a way in are looking towards niche markets to create a viable business. MSPs can choose to specialize for a market with growing data management needs, such as the finance or medical industries, or several smaller, emerging markets.

In an increasingly competitive cloud marketplace, companies hoping to find a way in are looking towards niche markets to create a viable business. Though the big players like Amazon Web Services are here to stay, what does this mean for managed service providers (MSPs) that want to stay relevant in the new cloud-based file-sharing climate?

The Changing Cloud Market

The cloud industry, which includes Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), and Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), is predicted to grow astronomically in the next year. Spending on cloud services will skyrocket to $118 billion, with more businesses competing to enter the market.

Choosing Niche Markets

One of the best ways that smaller, unknown, or start-up companies can gain a foothold is to cater to the needs of niche markets. MSPs can choose to specialize for a market with growing data management needs, such as the finance or medical industries, or several smaller, emerging markets. Tap into the opportunities of the future early, serving sectors that will eventually operate complex, automated machinery from the cloud, such as energy, utilities, transportation, security, retail services, aviation, and manufacturing.

Specializing to a Niche Market

In the new cloud climate, providers will need to partner with their clients to create platforms that accommodate the unique needs of their company. Cloud platforms can no longer simply provide a data management system. Clients are seeking out MSPs that can, according to Scott Swartz, VP, CTO Enterprise and Cloud Billing at Ericsson, “build, run, and integrate their products and services into the ecosystem.” In other words, the cloud should not be a separate entity isolated from the rest of the company’s systems—the cloud should flow to the company’s other systems. Clients will also be looking to team up with their cloud providers to develop programs and applications that are specific to their company on the cloud.

MSPs will be tasked with helping their clients to decide which specialized cloud is best for them. As their relationship becomes more collaborative, building and maintaining individual partnerships with clients and MSPs will be vital to an MSP’s success.

Risks of Specializing

While specializing is certain to gain MSPs more clients, it will also reduce the transferability of each cloud’s services and content. Unique platforms and cloud applications that match one client’s needs exactly will not meet those of another client. They might not always even be able to run on another cloud. Generic platforms and templates are easy to transfer between different clients, but the more customized each cloud, the less likely an MSP will be able to use it again.

MSPs must be cautious to manage lock-ins correctly so that they don’t leak into other areas, which can often be difficult. MSPs will have to weigh the benefits and risks of specializing, but as Swartz says, “If a cloud provider has added so much value that it’s worth being locked in for certain loads, then they’ve done their job.”

Catering to niche markets is an effective way to grow your brand and gain new clientele. Just ensure that the industry you target has staying power and will only continue to grow as it becomes more reliant on data management.

Tags: Uncategorized

Most Recent


  • MSPmentor 501 2017 North America Rankings 100 to 51
    MSPmentor 501: 2017 North America Rankings 100 to 51
    MSPmentor 501 annual rankings of MSPs also offers regional lists. You've reached the page that ranks the top North American MSPs for 2017 from 100 to 51
  • MSPmentor 501 2017 North America Rankings 200 to 151
    MSPmentor 501: 2017 North America Rankings 200 to 151
    MSPmentor 501 annual rankings of MSPs also offers regional lists. You've reached the page that ranks the top North American MSPs for 2017 from 200 to 151
  • MSPmentor 501 2017 North America Rankings 150 to 101
    MSPmentor 501: 2017 North America Rankings 150 to 101
    MSPmentor 501 annual rankings of MSPs also offers regional lists. You've reached the page that ranks the top North American MSPs for 2017 from 150 to 101
  • MSPmentor 501 2017 Edition  Asia Australia New Zealand  Top 25
    MSPmentor 501: 2017 Edition - Asia, Australia, New Zealand - Top 25
    MSPmentor 501 annual rankings of MSPs also offers regional lists. You've reached the page that ranks the Top 25 managed service providers (MSPs) in Asia, Australia and New Zealand (AANZ).

Leave a comment Cancel reply

-or-

Log in with your Channel Futures account

Alternatively, post a comment by completing the form below:

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Content

  • The Pros and Cons of Specializing in Niche Markets for MSPs
    FinancialForce
  • Microsoft Inspire: News Summary for Day 3
  • Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella gives the 39Vision Keynote39 speech during a Microsoft Inspire event at the Verizon Center on July 10 2017 in Washington DC
    Microsoft Inspire 2017: 5 Must-Watch Sessions for Partners
  • Microsoft Inspire: Beyond Three Launch Vendors, Azure Stack to Provide Wider Ecosystem Opportunity

Upcoming Events

View all

MSP Summit

September 13, 2022 - September 16, 2022

Channel Partners Conference & Expo

May 1, 2023 - May 4, 2023

Galleries

View all

The Gately Report: Black Hat USA Edition with Cisco, IBM, CISA, More

August 12, 2022

7 Channel People Making Waves This Week at Microsoft, Rackspace, RingCentral, Avaya

August 12, 2022

Oracle Cloud & AT&T, AWS Lead Cloud News Roundup

August 12, 2022

Industry Perspectives

View all

How to Take Shared Responsibility for Securing Cloud

August 11, 2022

Seize the Application Modernization Opportunity

August 2, 2022

A Growth Mindset: Your Organization’s Strategic Differentiator

August 1, 2022

Webinars

View all

Outsmarting RaaS: Implementation Strategies To Help Your Clients Before, During, and After a Ransomware Attack

August 23, 2022

Why it is Important to Upgrade Aging Servers and How to use Live Optics to Upgrade Efficiently

August 25, 2022

Executives at Home are Not Alright: An Intro to Digital Executive Protection

September 8, 2022

White Papers

View all

Work Goes Remote – (and Other Top ITOps Trends)

May 25, 2022

The New Bottom Line: How MSPs Can Meet the Healthcare Crisis While Evolving Their Businesses

April 19, 2022

How to build a Security Operations Center (on a budget)

April 4, 2022

Channel Futures TV

View all

ThreatLocker Preaches Zero Trust, Addresses Industry Competition

ScienceLogic Debuts New Partner Portal

August 9, 2022

Vonage a ‘Single Communications Stack Provider’ for Partners, Customers

June 27, 2022

IBM, Partners and the $1 Trillion Hybrid Cloud Opportunity

June 26, 2022

Twitter

ChannelFutures

In a new @juniperresearch study, @twilio ranked No. 1 for its flexible CCaaS product offering. Which companies plac… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

August 15, 2022
ChannelFutures

A few more booths left! Join an industry-leading lineup of 100+ suppliers at THE channel event of the fall. Partner… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

August 15, 2022
ChannelFutures

.@splunk vet Bill Hustad named @Okta's new #channelchief. dlvr.it/SWXmws https://t.co/ILQesul0Cz

August 12, 2022
ChannelFutures

The Gately Report: #BHUSA edition with @Hacker0x01, @Cisco, @SaltSecurity, @CISAgov, @ExtraHop, @IBMSecurity, more.… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

August 12, 2022
ChannelFutures

Channel People Making Waves Include: @kencarnesi, @szebenisz, @vasujakkal, @brettsmith52, @DaveMichels… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

August 12, 2022
ChannelFutures

Nancy Henriquez, VP of Sales & Marketing at MSP 501 award-winning @synetek, touches on the importance of gathering… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

August 12, 2022
ChannelFutures

.@Equinix's new hire is a familiar face in the telco channel. dlvr.it/SWXV6v https://t.co/jIg0LrZ4DO

August 12, 2022
ChannelFutures

Missed the news this week from @OracleCloud and @ATTBusiness? We've got it here. Plus, news from @AWSCloud and… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

August 12, 2022

MSP 501

The industry's largest and most comprehensive partner awards program.

Newsletters and Updates

Sign up for The Channel Report, Channel Futures Update, MSP 501 Newsletter and more.

Live Channel Events

Get the latest information on the next industry-leading Channel Partners event.

Galleries

Educational slide shows and images from live events.

Media Kit And Advertising

Want to reach our audience? Access our media kit.

DISCOVER MORE FROM INFORMA TECH

  • Channel Partners Events
  • Telecoms.com
  • MSP 501
  • Black Hat
  • IoT World Today
  • Omdia

WORKING WITH US

  • Contact
  • About Us
  • Advertise
  • Newsletter

FOLLOW Channel Futures ON SOCIAL

  • Privacy
  • CCPA: “Do Not Sell My Data”
  • Cookie Policy
  • Terms
Copyright © 2022 Informa PLC. Informa PLC is registered in England and Wales with company number 8860726 whose registered and Head office is 5 Howick Place, London, SW1P 1WG.
This website uses cookies, including third party ones, to allow for analysis of how people use our website in order to improve your experience and our services. By continuing to use our website, you agree to the use of such cookies. Click here for more information on our Cookie Policy and Privacy Policy.
X