I am heading to Las Vegas this morning for at least my 14th CompTIA ChannelCon, and thinking about all the opportunities that MSPs have today that didn’t exist 14 years ago. Lamenting might be a better word; it was 14 years ago that I sold my Ohio-based MSP and then crossed over to the Dark Side working with channel vendors.
So, what’s better? Let’s start with the ability to drive focus and become absolutely necessary to your customers. The cloud didn’t really exist as the mainstream source of software for business 14 years ago - but today there are more SaaS based solutions than anyone could ever become familiar with or monetize. That means opportunity. The opportunity to string together SaaS apps to increase the productivity of your vertically focused customers, integrate those solutions, and create massive competitive advantage for your business has never been more prolific. If you know more than the average bear about almost any vertical, you can solve their business problems and service the worldwide industry of whatever you know best; whether that is hotdog stands or drone training. The world is your veritable oyster.
Next - you can build scale into your business on so many different levels with tools that are already built, integrated and ready for you to go to market with. A couple examples - centralized ticketing available on your customer’s mobile phone so that when they are out drone training, they can help their customer submit a ticket when they run their drone into a building at 40mph. Or centralized online training that can focus on security, HR policies, and how to get great pictures from a drone flying low over the ocean at sunset. All right there. All at your customer’s fingertips. All of it generating revenue, and all of it is in a self-service, 24/7 available format. Don’t you look cool. Couldn’t do that 14 years ago.
There is so much more. Evolved peer groups, complete customer acceptance of the managed services model, more technically sophisticated customers (they are all digital natives these days) and lots of other MSPs who have been wildly successful and will happily trade a life’s worth of advice for a cup of coffee and a donut.
Is the industry more complicated? Absolutely. More driven? Beyond the shadow of a doubt. Chock full of opportunity? Yep. A great place for you to go out and make your mark - serve a vertical and make a difference? It's never been better. Never. Don’t wait. Figure out how you want to make a difference and go get it done. The tools and knowledge are finally in place to do whatever it is you want to. Don’t dream big - go execute big. CloudRadial will be here when you need help making your dream a reality.