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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 19 พ.ค. 2024
- A question from the audience. "What market focus and tool set would you start an Managed Services Provider (MSP) with if you started a new one today?" In this video, Dave Sobel, host of the Business of Tech Podcast, breaks down his answer to that question: "If I was starting an MSP today, what would I do?"
Bonus episode with Guidance releases on Sunday, June 14th on the podcast feed.
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Right on. This was basically my approach when I entered the healthcare space in 2013 (also in the DC area). Fast forward to 2020 and our focus (and market advantage) is on the line of business apps in healthcare (EMRs and practice management systems). Good advice. For my sake, I hope few follow it. ;-)
Hello. You developvrhis apps ? Are they saas?
This is a great video that uses a great rl example. Listening to his mindset, how he approaches it and his step by step actionable plan. This is $$$!!!
Thank you!
Just want to let you know how spectacular you were at communicating in an efficient and understandable way. When watching this video, it was really clear to me that you put thought and intentionality behind your advice, which means a lot to me in trusting your judgement. Looking forward to watching more of your content!
That is very kind of you to say, and I am glad you found the video helpful!
Great methodology toward building a new MSP today. I am sure most business owners would prefer their techs to be salaried, but making helpdesk techs salaried would conflict with the FLSA (Fair Labor Standards Act) and make you vulnerable to lawsuits and government fines. Assuming you made the techs hourly, you would need SOME sort of timesheet management or at least a clock in and clock out capability. As you scale though you may have to rethink this as it will become challenging to manage resources solely based on "issues resolve." Other than that I love the focus and do believe this is the competition the industry will face in the future. Great video!
Amazing future MSP walkthrough. Any new startup need to digest this it’s gold.
So glad you find it useful.
I' from Brazil and I just loved your content
Great content. Thanks Dave.
Glad you enjoyed it
Solid thinking 😎
Amazing video
Unless I totally misunderstand, this isn't about having an MSP. This is about creating a company that provides vertical SaaS solutions for an industry vertical and provide turnkey management if you can get an organization to transition all of its solutions to your bundled stack.
That's a smart take. That all said, why isn't what I outline managed services... too? Deliver turnkey technology management to a business on a contractual basis. Sounds a lot like a version of managed services. The goal with the piece is to illustrate starting with the industry and with the business value versus the core infrastructure. I offer that it's an "AND"... they both end up being a version of managed services. This one is without a legacy to carry with it.
I want IT services companies to focus more on this as a competitive threat OR the way their business should go rather than focusing on if it's managed services or not. If one loses business to this kind of new upstart, it will not matter what we called it.
You didn't misunderstand it at all.. in fact, I think you completely got it.
This is very helpful. Even in 2024. I'm building my own product (At Your Service) and realize it falls incredibly short of current MSPs. But what my service provides is better organization, team communication, and ensuring high service availability. However, securing _data_ is king. I love that you consider devices as mere inputs to that data. The service that allows them to create / modify / secure data is the play. I'll see how I can integrate that into my platform. Again, thank you.
Glad you found it useful. I'm working on my 2024 version, although I suspect it will lean in heavily on my recent video about distribution. th-cam.com/video/HniGWWwSULc/w-d-xo.html
Your approach sounds spot on, and I suspect you'll find good uptake with customers who value your services. That's a great place to be, as they really value the advisory services.
Great video very interesting
Glad you enjoyed it
keep it up
I love this
Thanks! That it continues to resonate means a lot.
Great video! Can you make an updated one? Do you think anything has changed in the past 3 years?
It’s a great idea .. I’ll consider! What would you want that new video to answer?
Loved listening this as a dumb basic server tech lmfao but ya gotta start somewhere haha
Everyone starts somewhere -- no such thing as a dumb tech! Glad you found value
so as a newish MSP with two staff in the the UK I have about half a dozen very small SMEs that I support on a break fix model. The big question is how do transition to the new model you speak about. What should be my service offering ? How do market these offering(s) to prospective clients ? What marketing tools/campaigns should I be using ?
There's a lot here. I'd encourage you to think about what kind of business analysis projects you can bring to your customers based on your experience and current capabilities. If you do not have those capabilities, you will need to build them, and that will involve either training or hiring. You'll analyze what you are capable of doing, and then create your messaging, which you will then convert into those campaigns. This is the basics of building a business plan, and then implementing that. If you need guidance, there are number of communities to engage with as well as individuals you can connect and engage with too.
I really like the idea of managing for ticket closure and customer service vs. timesheets. I understand how we might measure and rate customer satisfaction, and how to measure ticket closure. However, how does one rate ticket closure? Are there industry standard metrics such as how many tickets should be closed by a tech within a given time period, average age, etc.?
The only way stats make sense is when the volume is high enough. I would be focusing on managing by exception - set some baselines, then just watch to find out how many violate that. You want most to follow a standard path, and then just iterate. You don’t have to get it right on the first try.
I've been doing that for that past decade. I've never seen a point to manage timesheets, that's what bosses do not leaders.
Any thoughts on how you would start a security focused MSP, akin to an MSSP but for the traditional SMB market that MSPs tend to fall into?
The idea then is to avoid the regular IT support needs and focus purely on Security, which sounds safer based off your previous video "Don't start an MSP", where you highlight the huge risk in being an outsourced IT partner for any business...when targeted attacks are now mainstream.
When I say "safer" I am referring to the focus being on the most risk in this market...security. Sure it doesn't make it easier or reduce risk per se, but having security the focus area, you do reduce the surface area of overall responsibilities.
It is still service based and won't be as straight forward as offering a highly locked down Cloud solution, as Security requires actually working to protect all those insecure endpoints with EDR/XDR/SIEM type solutions, Backup/DR, Phising, DNS Filtering, Darkweb monitoring, patch/vulnerability management, 2FA, among others.
Or perhaps one could focus on core areas like EDR and merely report on/highlight areas like Patch Management and Backups to offset the risk (to the MSP)?
@@damianpfister1 It’s a great question. I’m not sure you can entirely avoid the basic IT support needs of an SMB. Most SMB customers are going to expect everything from a single provider. At best, you can probably partner with a traditional player. The best move would be to deprioritize those traditional IT needs. If everything for the customer is cloud based, you are going to be reducing the level of complexity you deal with at the end point, and then consider something like an outsourced help desk, or one of the offerings from a distributor, to handle the vast majority of that work. The trick is making that far less a need.
great video. I am at point in my IT career that i can finally start making decision. recently, i was apporached by small startup company that did some MSP *sort of*. This company is asking me to build a plan to be fully MSP in a way. When i first started IT, i was at a non paid intern at a small town in CA where we/I would be deployed to client site to provide any IT helpdesk support. At the office I was to provide small IT support managing Google for business for the companies I was deployed to.
any who, 10 years later with much more experience and in different country with better position to make a change and decisions, I am tasked with this on how to start it up from ground up. I am more afraid of getting contacts and learning to get our company names out there right now. Any tips on that? (ive never done sales or like it but if i have to..ill do it).
Build your plan and interate. There are a number of approaches out there -- several consultants have approaches, including my colleague Karl Palachuk who has his "Managed Services in a month" approach. Mine is here in the video, of course.
what country
I'm still a little confused as to what you would Zapier for - Yourself and your MSP team, or the customer? If you can specify a use case that would be wonderful.
Bit of both. On the back end, link any cloud systems that don't natively talk to each other via Zapier for my own business, and then beyond that, this is the kind of consulting and services that a customer would pay for. Linking cloud services that don't necessarily talk to each other natively would be a big area of consulting.
@@MSPRadioAhhh, I see now :) Thanks for taking the time!
Unification, consolidation, integration.
cool
Association Management Software, I'm confused in this when it comes to integrating with Microsoft Azure. How would an AMS integrate with Azure, benefits from that?
An association management software is an example of a line of business application -- a particular product focused on running the business. In this example, you'd either find a AMS that was delivered as Software-as-a-Service, and thus not need Azure directly, or you might leverage on that requires installation, and thus might use Azure as the infrastructure below the product. I'm going to favor the SaaS solution every time.
so, what's the key to finding that application/service to base your marketing around for your niche?
The short answer is research. You'll need to dig into that market and understand the requirements, learn it, and then select.
@@MSPRadio Why limit it to one vertical application? That feels limiting.
@@CanesApt33z I don't disagree, although think one is best served by mastering one before trying another if I assume the typical provider is resource constrained.
Omg can I work for you?!!!! 😂😂😂
I’m tired of working for mismanaged MSPs
If I ever come back to an MSP, I'll call! As for now, I try and provide insights to make those MSPs better.
i would've paid money just to hear these words
Well, even better, it's available on TH-cam!
What about today? Anything different?
I’m working on an update. Some subtle changes - the principle is the same with some additional strategies, particularly with ways to scale faster. Video to come soon on that.
@@MSPRadio looking forward to it
what if you get erased by google or microsoft like parler?
You must get a lotta flak from "MSPs" huh?
Productive feedback, perhaps ;). If someone disagrees, I encourage them to find their own path and then come back and tell me how their business is doing. The goal is insightful guidance (and that can include going another way!)
@@MSPRadioI like your style. I've found that most small businesses want technology to support their business objectives, whether that is efficiency, profits, growth, client centered. Start there. Most already have "good enough" IT support/systems.
These days business owners are looking for "good enough" IT reliability, yes, but they are asking more about "okay, how can I use technology to move my business forward?"
It's all that matters. When they wake up, when they are commuting, when they are with their family...how can I drive my business forward? Can technology help? If so, how do I make that link? Not one wakes up thinking "IT infrastructure" unless it's down, slow, ransomwared, which means business is down.
@@AndreBaptiste-ir5opI would agree. Business outcomes is the best measurement of success, and you are right “How can I use technology to move my business forward?” Is the key question. Deliver here and you’re leading the pack.