End game approaches for the channel
End point management is the big opportunity for MSPs and VARs in 2011
Two ongoing and fundamental changes in the way IT is provisioned and used seem only likely to accelerate in 2011. First, there is the move towards cloud based infrastructure for processing and storing data. Then there is the proliferation in the number and variety of user end points for accessing that data.
Both trends have many benefits for businesses, such as keeping costs down, better business continuity, more flexible working practices and more efficient business processes. However, there is a downside: it can be tough ensuring consistent management, security, compliance and access across all the devices where data may be.
Many businesses will struggle with this, but it represents an opportunity for managed service providers (MSPs) and VARs with the right offerings in place to sell additional services to existing customers, and win accounts from competitors that fail to rise to the challenge.
Discussions around business continuity plans often focus on high-profile disasters such as flooding, fire and power failure. However, data from Plan B, a disaster recovery specialist, suggest that the most common reason that users can no longer access applications is due to communications or equipment failure.
When it comes to equipment failure, this is more likely to be the user end point than a server, and with user end points the problem is as likely to be accidental loss or damage as it is to be a malfunction. This problem is only going to get worse as business processes become reliant on user access from an increasing range of devices. This includes point-of-sale (PoS) devices, ATMs, ticket readers, video displays -- all usually in remote locations -- as well as all those easy-to-lose smartphones, tablets and laptops.
To manage this it is necessary to have management tools and services that enable a consistent security and compliance policy across both centralised and distributed IT infrastructure. In addition, it is necessary to ensure that services are in place, so when the inevitable happens and user end points are lost or broken, data is not compromised and replacements can quickly be reprovisioned.
One of the attractions of cloud based infrastructure, especially for SMBs, is that service providers take on the responsibility for ensuring availability; they can also gain economies of scale with suppliers and have the expertise available to ensure they can do this at a cost which is hard for businesses to achieve if their core value proposition lies elsewhere.
All these arguments also apply to user end point management.
However, the tool types required are different. All the end points need to be discovered, registered, and made known so valid end points are recognised when they request access to centralised resources. The sheer number of end points means that many repetitive tasks need to be automated, bearing in mind that the execution of such tasks may need to be asynchronous, depending on when the end point next comes on to the network.
There is no need to reinvent the wheel here. There are end point management tools vendors including Kaseya, NTR Global, Symantec/Altiris and IBM/BigFix that have the tools an aspiring MSP or VAR can use to expand its system management services to cover user end points.
Only those that do rise to this challenge can consider themselves to be providing a comprehensive service and be regarded as a total MSP.
Read our Total MSP report.
Bob Tarzey is analyst and director at Quocirca