SMB MSPs – A New Business Species?

[Audrey McNeil <audrey () riskbasedsecurity com>]

http://midsizeinsider.com/en-us/article/smb-msps-new-business-species#.VVOUWPlViko

SMB MSPs are managed service providers (MSPs) that provide managed cloud,
big data, security and mobile services to small to mid-size businesses
(SMB).

According to an article in Channel Partners Online, there’s a tremendous
opportunity for MSPs in the next four years, 2015-2019, as small to
mid-size businesses recognize the need for these types of services.

While that’s good news for SMB MSPs, it is also good news for small to
mid-size businesses, if they choose to see it this way.

Small to mid-size businesses are traditionally marginalized by consultants
and vendors, who prefer to chase accounts with larger companies offering
greater ROI on the time spent cultivating that account.

This scenario leaves many SMBs on the outside, looking in, when it comes to
cloud, mobile, security and big data.

This opportunity favors SMB MSPs who are dedicated to working with small to
mid-size businesses. These are a special set of folks. Like me, they
recognize that the key to economic growth and recovery is working with that
portion of the U.S. business sector comprising as much as:

“99.7 percent of U.S. employer firms, 64 percent of net new private-sector
jobs, 49.2 percent of private-sector employment, 42.9 percent of
private-sector payroll, 46 percent of private-sector output, 43 percent of
high-tech employment, 98 percent of firms exporting goods, and 33 percent
of exporting value”.
https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/FAQ_Sept_2012.pdf

Then there is the size of the global sector to consider and the
opportunities afforded to SMB MSPs.

Why are SMB MSPs a new business species, in my humble opinion?

Small to mid-size businesses have a different persona than their larger
cousins. If you, as an MSP, have honed your business development and sales
skillsets on selling to large companies, you are in for a shock which will
test your team’s patience.

Many small to mid-size businesses are family-owned. Again, if you are used
to working with large corporations with multiple locations and legacy
business models, your sales cycle will not look like a straight-shot down
the bowling alley presented by your latest sales training program.

SMB MSPs will deal with companies who may not even have a dedicated IT
department. Or that IT department may be a department of less than 5 folks
(or even one), who is a family member with some IT knowledge.

And here’s the critical factor: in order to grow, expand and sustain a
small to mid-size business, that SMB eventually will outgrow the capacity
of their IT department.

That means SMB MSPs will need to become artists at prying the
family-fingers off ownership of the IT department. MSPs already know that
moving ownership from inside the company to outside the company can be the
rate-limiting step in closing a deal or not.

Do SMBs need MSPs who specialize in their size companies? You bet.

In today’s unsecure digital business universe, any SMB who still is working
on launching a pretty new website and straightening out their email
situation is going to be left in the dust. That’s not IT.

Many SMBs aren’t enthusiastic about taking the necessary steps to source,
specify, purchase and manage the technology that is mandatory to drive
their organizations to growth.

So they put their heads in the sand and ignore the obvious. What are they
waiting for? A security breach?

There’s tremendous business opportunity for SMB MSPs to cultivate small to
mid-size businesses. Who will step up to specialize in this important
business development and economic segment?

_______________________________________________
Dataloss Mailing List (dataloss () datalossdb org)
Archived at http://seclists.org/dataloss/
Unsubscribe at http://lists.osvdb.org/mailman/listinfo/dataloss
For inquiries regarding use or licensing of data, e-mail
        sales () riskbasedsecurity com 

Supporters:

Risk Based Security (http://www.riskbasedsecurity.com/)
YourCISO is an affordable SaaS solution that provides a comprehensive information security program that ensures focus 
on the right security.  If you need security help or want to provide real risk reduction for your clients contact us!