How To Be A Managed Service Provider: 7 Steps To Success!

IT provider looking to break up with break-fix and move towards a monthly recurring revenue (MRR) model? Are you ready to make the leap into becoming a fully fledged Managed Service Provider (MSP)? In our latest eBook, How to be an MSP: 7 Steps to Success, we sat down with industry-leading MSPs to learn their top tips and tricks for making their MSP business both profitable and successful.

If you’re just starting out as an MSP, or you’re changing the way you do business, each of these seven strategies will enable you to implement your approach confidently and effectively. If you’re looking to be the “go to guy” for your clients, then this is the ebook for you!

Step One - Getting Started: Services and Solutions.

Business Management Solutions 

As an MSP, your aim should be delivering best-in-class IT solutions to small-to-medium-sized businesses, or SMBs, without the enterprise-level price tag. Before we jump into pricing, let’s discuss the solutions you’ll need for your own business to ensure you’re truly set up for success.

Early stage MSPs should begin by investing in an MSP-centric professional services automation solution, or a PSA. A PSA is the brain of the business. It’s what you’ll need to have in place in order to efficiently run your own business (and scale). The next item on your list should be remote monitoring management, or RMM, solution. RMM solutions enable MSPs to monitor and manage their clients’ IT environments and proactively address issues as they emerge. Identifying and addressing risks before a client realises they exist is one of the best ways to prove the value in an MSP business.

There are a wide variety of RMM tools available today. For MSPs, selecting an RMM solution that is easy-to-use, provides comprehensive auditing, and features customisable reporting is key to delivering the best services for your clients. Help narrow down your RMM search further by focusing on the RMM solutions that integrate well with other technologies in your stack (like your PSA solution).

Solutions to Keep Client Downtime Minimal

Once you’ve selected your business management tech stack, you need to think about the solutions you are going to offer. For modern MSPs, a top-of-the-line business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR) solution should be the cornerstone of your solution set. Why? Because for today’s SMBs, cybersecurity threats are top of mind.

Whether it be caused by ransomware, disgruntled employees, or power outages, at some point, a business will face a roadblock that they likely won’t know how to overcome without professional IT support. BCDR solutions give your clients (and you the MSP) peace of mind knowing that, should the worst happen, the business will be able to get back up and running fast.

Today’s modern MSPs are now offering a “managed networking” service to clients and charging for these solutions on a recurring basis. When looking for networking solutions for clients, make sure you select a solution that is purpose-built for the MSP and offers clients always-connected internet and advanced security features. Strong networking solutions will have 4G LTE failover. This marks another way to keep clients free of lengthy downtime.

"When it comes to BCDR and networking, be sure to look for those products that integrate well with your RMM solution. MSPs will maximise operational efficiency the less they move between portals. Whenever possible, look to consolidate your view of operational platforms into a single interface, reducing the amount of time technical resources will need to respond and deliver services." said Michael Bienvenue, Product Marketing Manager, Datto Inc.

Want to find out the next steps? Download our eBook today!