The vendors and resellers doing more with managed services
CRN hears from vendors asking partners to raise the managed services bar, and resellers who want more skin in the game
"It's the only way that we see being able to remain relevant to your customers and to provide them with real value and business impact," that's the view of a UK reseller on upping its managed services game.
Vendors and resellers are picking up the pace on the managed services front as the popularity of MSPs is higher than ever.
The global managed services market size was valued at $314bn in 2022 and is projected to hit $970.86bn by 2032, according to Precedence Research.
Owing to events such as Covid-19, inflation and the IT skills gap, more organisations are leaning on managed services for business automation and operational efficiencies.
According to The Channel Company research, 39.13 per cent of resellers in Western European countries have managed services skills.
Of these resellers, there are 10,117 in the UK, France, Germany, Netherlands and Sweden, and 3,959 managed service providers.
Due to this managed services demand, CRN has heard from several vendors who are actively encouraging traditional resellers to build their managed services offering, alongside resellers doing the same on their own accord.
Vendors
CrowdStrike
VP of EMEA channels for cybersecurity vendor CrowdStrike told CRN in August his top message to partners was to invest in services.
"I want them to invest in services. A lot of our partners understand our product, understand who buys it, and understand where the differentiators are," Taylor said.
"But where we're trying to encourage our partners to go and invest is on the development of services around that because if they develop professional or managed or support-based services that they can take to market, then the journey with CrowdStrike is going to be that much more profitable for them.
"It's going to provide them with a relationship that's much more than one dimension, and it's also got longevity."
Keep reading to find out which vendor thinks it is a 'must' for resellers to adopt an MSP model...
The vendors and resellers doing more with managed services
CRN hears from vendors asking partners to raise the managed services bar, and resellers who want more skin in the game
Zyxel
Networking vendor Zyxel launched an updated version of its MSP partner programme this year to encourage more partners to transition into managed services providers.
Its UK&I regional director Rachel Rothwell told CRN she believed traditional resellers need to start thinking about managed services.
"It depends on the type of reseller you engage with," she said.
"I believe, with the type of resellers Zyxel works with, it is a must.
"The adoption of cloud is growing year on year. It's very dominant in most industries, especially in networking today. And [managed services] makes it so much easier to offer those services.
"It gives the resellers the tools to be able to do it with almost very little investment, which obviously means they can utilise their staff in a much better way.
"I think resellers should and probably have to adopt this type of MSP platform."
Who is 'absolutely' seeing 'and encouraging' channel partners to expand their portfolio and add managed services?
The vendors and resellers doing more with managed services
CRN hears from vendors asking partners to raise the managed services bar, and resellers who want more skin in the game
Netskope
Meanwhile Netskope debuted its managed services provider programme earlier this year, telling CRN the launch signals a new focus on motivating its channel partners to start adding more managed services to their offering in order to capitalise on surging demand.
"We are absolutely seeing - and encouraging - many of our traditional channel partners expand their portfolio to add managed services," revealed Netskope VP of channel sales for EMEA & LATAM, Mike Herman.
"This is about offering customers options on how they want to procure and manage their Netskope SASE solutions. Partners recognise this trend and have been maturing their own business models to meet these new customer buying preferences."
Find out which UK resellers are upping their managed services game...
The vendors and resellers doing more with managed services
CRN hears from vendors asking partners to raise the managed services bar, and resellers who want more skin in the game
Resellers
Axians UK
Axians UK managing director Russell Crampin updated CRN on how 2023 is shaping up to be a bumper year for the company, in part owing to the development of the services business.
He added the technology services partner is relying more on managed services for sustained growth.
"It's a trajectory we've been on for a number of years strategically, ever since the original business was acquired by VINCI.
"It's the only way that we see being able to remain relevant to your customers and to provide them with real value and business impact.
"We've seen the impact of the hardware delays. The desire to increase revenues means that you are lowering your margins. And what we pride ourselves on talent and the service creation that we've been able to do and that's how we can differentiate ourselves rather than purely rely on value added resale."
The vendors and resellers doing more with managed services
CRN hears from vendors asking partners to raise the managed services bar, and resellers who want more skin in the game
SCC
SCC's head of strategy and corporate development Christine Olmsted provided a different perspective, having undertaken the managed services journey when the trend first began around five or six years ago.
"We made that pivot years ago and had a significant footprint in Romania to support those managed services long term.
"For us, we're on to the next pivot. Because we believe strongly in the first one, but now we believe in this one for digital transformation services. I think whoever's giving other resellers that guidance is good guidance. But I think we're one step further along in that journey."