Robots, predictive analytics and selling without a salesforce: Where the UK's leading MSPs think the market is heading

MSP bosses to share their thoughts on the future of the managed services market

A trio of the UK's top MSP bosses will be revealing their thoughts on where the managed services market is heading at CRN's upcoming Channel Conference.

Held at Cavendish Conference Centre in London on 10 October, this year's event has a particular slant on emerging technology and trends for MSPs, and - for the first time - the audience will also hear from an end user on what they seek in their MSP suppliers.

If you're an MSP or reseller, the event is free to attend.

In his keynote, Ultima CEO Scott Dodds (pictured, above) will be revealing the opportunities facing MSPs in the sizzling hot area of robotic process automation (RPA) after Ultima rolled out RPA across its own business.

Although RPA isn't without its detractors - not least due to fears that it could cost jobs - Dodds will argue that MSPs can use ‘cobotics' to actually free up human capital to help clients drive innovation.

Predictive analytics is not a new term, but one MSP - Milton Keynes-based Managed 24-7 - is earning plaudits from its peers on the technology it is developing in this area.

Its CEO, John Pepper (pictured), will be revealing his views on the future of monitoring, analytics and automation, to 2020, and beyond. You can read his Q&A here.

After he spoke so energetically at our MSP North Conference in June, we have invited Air-IT founder Todd McQuilken back to deliver his controversial views on how to build a successful MSP in today's market.

"I believe that selling managed services should be a consultancy-focused sale," McQuilken says in his Q&A ahead of the event.

"Pressure sales, hunters or using the VAR sales approach do not work in our world. My approach may be contentious with some of my peers - I will be happy to debate with the panel and the delegates on the day."

In a first for the event, we have also invited Ian Golding, interim chief information officer of the Natural History Museum, to open up about what he seeks in his IT suppliers. This will be a rare opportunity for MSPs to hear a first-hand account of what an end user really thinks of them.

At the event, CRN will present figures showing how end users are - by and large - planning to entrust a greater proportion of their IT estates to third-party providers.

This theme will be pursued by one of the day's two panel debates, which will look at how to present the value of an MSP over an in-house team.

In another addition to the format, the day's other panel will see four marketing experts face off about how MSPs should be changing up their marketing tactics in the wake of GDPR.

You can view the full programme here.