Q&A: Easy Steps To Move Your Managed Services Practice Forward

By Peter Sandiford, CEO, Level Platforms

A handful of actions can have a great impact on your managed services growth and profitability.

What do MSPs need to do to take their practices to the next level?
The tag line on Level Platforms' website is "See All. Manage All." For years we have been advocating that MSPs move beyond PCs, servers, and basic networks. There are two key directions. One is to expand the business to manage the full range of IP devices. This includes telephony, printers, physical security, POS, audio visual, and environmental controls, all of which can now be monitored and managed with a strong value proposition to the customer. The other direction to look at is emerging technologies. MSPs need to monitor the cloud services to ensure end-toend performance as well as the exploding proliferation of mobile devices such as smart phones and tablets. These devices have all the challenges of PCs and more as employees are increasingly using their own devices to connect to their networks with a wave of new issues impacting performance, security, cost control, applications control, and more. Expanding managed services to the total office — and beyond to the cloud — is the most important strategy for any MSP right now to expand their revenues and maintain their relevance to their customers.