Industry Voice: How to be a successful managed services provider for enterprise business continuity

Historically, pricing in the data protection space has been hallmarked by unpredictable and fluctuating pricing, leaving customers yearning for reliability from their backup, disaster recovery vendors and managed service providers (MSPs).

With so many businesses breaking into the MSP market and attempting to edge out the veterans, channel providers are growing concerned that MSPs will be perceived as commonplace and commoditized. Organizations' data continues to develop, living on-premise, in the cloud, within applications and across other platforms.

Therefore, the traditional MSP model needs to mature to stay in step with evolving cloud computing technologies in order to show the value of MSPs across enterprises. The good news is that there are several things that MSPs can do to adapt to the changing nature of enterprises with hybrid environments:

Suggest fixed pricing models

Find ways to offer clients predictable monthly cloud billing. In the past, partners may have modified their pricing based on their customers' finances, what they can afford and other factors.

This could result in unsatisfied customers with sticker shock or longer sales cycles. However, the best way to ease customers' anxieties about unstable pricing and to shorten sales cycles is to use consistent and fixed pricing models.

Customers will feel more secure knowing that their backup solutions are not only the best fit for data protection, but also for their budgets.

Make sure vendors provide 24/7/365 service

MSPs can set themselves apart in the market and guarantee that they have backup partners who are available at all hours to provide support for their customers.

Customers might have data backup plans, but if these plans don't include unfailing support, business operations could suffer from unnecessary downtime. MSPs will be the most successful in the wake of a disaster if they partner with vendors who have reliable and consistent support services.

Additionally, clients should partner with vendors that provide 24/7/365 protection of data to ensure emergencies don't require extra manpower.

Consolidate efforts with all-in-one platforms

Companies are finally realizing the value that comes from using the cloud as a resource for consistency and uniformity. However, various software and cloud resources interchanging with data has created anxieties for businesses.

Switching back and forth among these platforms can cause MSPs to lose revenue or time. The disparate dashboards can also confuse and overwhelm IT managers.

Data management on one dashboard will allow all services to work together and foster better visibility. A streamlined platform could simplify MSP and customer experiences, condensing applications and information to one view. As a result, MSPs can spend less time training or mastering disparate tech and more time developing their businesses.

For now, MSPs should adapt their offerings to combat apprehension concerning pricing, support and complication in order to keep up with the ever-changing nature of the industry. If they do so, they can create a comprehensive connection with their customers, while growing their businesses with the time and resources they gain.

• Rob Rae is the Vice President of Business Development for Datto

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