Welcome and MAX Keynotes - Dave Sobel and Alistair Forbes
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Welcome and MAX Keynotes - Dave Sobel and Alistair Forbes
- 1. MAX Customer Conference 2014 Welcome Dave Sobel, Director of Partner Community, GFI MAX
- 2. Dave Sobel Director of Partner Community • Joined GFI in 2013, putting the GFI community into the executive team of MAX • 2 years prior leading partner and community growth in vendor channel • 10 years experience as CEO of MSP, focused on Washington DC metro • 20 years experience in IT channel and consulting • Microsoft MVP for Virtualization • Author, Virtualization: Defined • CompTIA Community Chair and Executive Council • MSP Mentor 250 member, SMB 150 • Contributing writer: Channel Insider, CRN, Tech Target, MSP Mentor • Former HTG facilitator, member @djdaveet www.davesobel.com
- 5. Social Media
- 6. Twitter Hashtag #MAXCC @GFIMAX
- 7. Articles
- 10. Who’s who?
- 11. Community & Events Kelly O’Bray Community Manager Carissa Johnston Marketing Coordinator Nadia Karatsoreos Community Manager Jessica Schroder Vendor Alliance Manager Canden Hicks Marketing Associate Gis Johannsson Rockstar Debbie Lister Marketing and Events Executive Sarah Hill Marketing and Events Assistant
- 12. MAX Customer Conference 2014 Alistair Forbes General Manager
- 13. State of the Market
- 14. Industry Drivers
- 17. Source: Techaisle Global SMB Market Sizing, 2013
- 18. Top solutions SMBs need Small Business Medium Business SMBs
- 20. "2014 will be marked by a relative revival of the global PC market” - Gartner. Worldwide combined shipments of devices (PCs, tablets, ultramobiles and mobile phones) are projected to reach 2.4 billion units in 2014 A 4.2% increase from 2013
- 26. When it came to protecting company data, respondents were most concerned about these: 74% : Business data 69%: Customer/employee data 66%: Documents
- 27. 79% have “not fully implemented” BYOD policies, processes, and infrastructure” 24%did not even have a mobile device policy.
- 28. Most common security measures for mobile devices were: 67% : Passcode protection 52% : Remote wiping of data 43% : MDM 43% : Encryption 39% : Endpoint security tools 38% : Network access controls
- 29. 70% of Baby Boomer respondents never use “outside” apps to support their work, only 31% of the Millennials said the same 60% of Millennials “aren’t concerned about corporate security when they use personal apps instead of corporate-approved apps” because those apps aren’t up to the job 35% of the Millennial respondents say they use their own apps because corporate-approved apps can’t be used across different devices
- 30. Managed Security
- 31. 31
- 32. 32
- 33. 33
- 34. 34
- 35. Service Provider Business Models
- 36. Source: Service Leadership Newsletter, July 2013
- 40. 40
- 41. 41
- 44. 2014 and GFI MAX Changing Role of the MSP Value Added Reseller Network Engineer/ Consultant 1st Generation Managed Service Provider Managed Service Provider 2.0
- 45. 2014 and GFI MAX Changing Role of the MSP
- 46. 2014 and GFI MAX Changing Role of the MSP MSP 1.0 skills MSP 2.0 skills Technical expertise Service management IT-focused Business-focused Network design, configuration, installation Service and vendor research and selection Business development Business development Operations excellence Consulting and advisory skills Product sourcing Vendor management Infrastructure skills Application skills Hardware integration Service integration Recommender and implementer Trusted adviser, service aggregator
- 48. The Perpetually Valuable MSP
- 49. Three Questions Performance Evolution Change Cycles
- 53. Forces at Work
- 55. Core Advantages of the Business Model
- 56. Customer Scheduled, proactive management of IT resources to maintain up-time and peak performance MSP Predictable resource requirements that allow accurate planning and investments
- 57. Customer Consistent, reliable budget planning based on a clearly defined contract commitment. MSP Consistent reliable revenue based on long term commitments and regular payments.
- 58. Customer Access to a team of experts in real-time to quickly resolve a broad range of technical challenges. MSP Enhanced control of customer accounts that comes from ongoing planned engagements.
- 59. Customer Leverage of advanced skills and training to optimize the value and performance of IT systems. MSP Insights into future customer needs for IT systems and services.
- 60. Customer Comprehensive services to maintain systems at peak performance to prolong the lifecycle of IT investments MSP Ability to leverage tools and automation to scale capacity significantly beyond the direct limits of staff, which yields higher margins
- 61. Essential Characteristics of MSPs Process Knowledge Insight
- 65. Which must be adjusted? External Internal Customers
- 68. Customers
- 71. Business Agility Best Practices
- 72. Rolling Plans & Forecasts
- 74. One Test At A Time
- 75. Track Key Revenue Metrics
- 76. Test New Offerings With Rapid Deployment
- 77. MAX Customer Conference 2014 Alistair Forbes General Manager
- 79. ServiceDesk
- 80. PSA Integration
- 81. SNMP MIB Library Expansion
- 83. Hyper-V Backup
- 84. SendIt Better
- 86. Web Protection
- 87. App Control
- 90. UI – Phase 1
- 91. UI – Phase 2
- 92. Core improvements 17 releases to production (approx 1 every 2 weeks) 75 new features and feature updates 30+ IdeaFactory requests added 150 bugs fixed
- 93. MAX Customer Conference 2014 Dave Sobel, Director of Partner Community, GFI MAX
- 95. Sales Playbooks
- 96. Educational Webinars » Making Money on Cloud Management » Selling Security and Compliance solutions » Adding Mobile Management to your MSP offering » Using Managed Security Services to grow your portfolio » Building a Complete Managed Services offering
Editor's Notes
- Change this to be your own bio.
- Technology areas where there is growth – mobile and cloud leading the way, but MSP also a growing area.
- Things they need that you have.
- We have crossed the inflection point – there are now more smartphones and tablets than there are desktops and notebooks. The death of the PC is in consumer – but there is little expected growth anywhere.
- http://www.globalnerdy.com/2014/07/24/byod-news-roundup-millennials-are-the-biggest-rulebreakers-nearly-80-of-orgs-lack-byod-policies-mobile-is-the-new-desktop-and-some-want-their-blackberry-back/
- - Point out that this includes projections, so looking to the future shows MSPs as the growth areas.
- Three questions to answer what are the meaningful advantages of a Managed Services business model that you need to take advantage of in order to optimize your performance today? which elements of a Managed Services business model are most likely to need a significant change in the next few years & how will the MSP value proposition need to evolve to stay relevant? how can a Managed Services Provider manage their business today, keep track of shifting market conditions and prepare to adapt, & manage the business through multiple change cycles without losing control of the business?
- What are the meaningful advantages of a Managed Services business model that you need to take advantage of in order to optimize your performance today?
- Which elements of a Managed Services Business model are most likely to need a significant change in the next few years, and how will the value proposition need to evolve to stay relevant?
- How can a MSP manage their business today, keep track of shifting market conditions and prepare to adapt, and manage the business through multiple change cycles without losing control of the business?
- Based on research Our premise Sustainable success is possible in the MSP business model Achieved by balance between two competing forces. Force 1 is the ability to establish stable, consistent service offerings and operating processes that produce predictable results for customers and manageable operating conditions for the MSP … and then continuously drive efficiency and productivity through optimization strategies Force 2 is the ability to monitor and adapt to changing market conditions, adding new offerings and supporting new technologies to stay current with customer demands and outpace competitors, and manage the changes to the business without disrupting ongoing operations Icebergs – commodity below the surface, high value above the surface.
- MSP Model emerged and became established because It provides a unique value and alignment to both customers and solution providers If the general value provided by an IT channel company is to enable business customers to use technology to improve business performance the unique value of an MSP is consistency and predictability in technology operations. Let’s review the 5 core advantages again
- Theme is predictablity Customer gets predicable MSP gets predictable
- Theme is budget reliability for both Remember how peaks and valleys of break/fix Compare to consistency of MSP
- Theme is control for both sides Customer gets control over access to multiple resources MSP gets control of accounts and ability to drive consistency / standardization
- Theme is insight Customer gets advanced skills & training to optimize systems MSP gets insights into future customer needs
- Theme is tools and systems Customer gets selection of services that keep things running well MSP can use tools that scale beyond people The common goal is profitability based on uptime, not on time.
- Not everyone can be a MSP It has advantages, but not everyone can do it. Some companies want to be MSPs and others don’t For all that want to be MSP, not all are successful So what are the three traits of MSPs that are most likely to be successful, so we can get those traits. :
- Trait 1: Operating Process Discipline The most successful MSPs are built on a foundation of repeatable process and the commitment to address and resolve big or small customer IT challenges in a continuous flow of daily operations. The ability to design processes that can effectively address customer technology challenges is one thing … but the desire to actually operate those processes is apparently a rare commodity among IT companies
- Trait two: Understanding of Customers Requirements Beyond the ability to understand and operate technology, the most successful MSPs must also have a detailed understanding of how customers use technology, what meaningful business outcomes they are trying to accomplish with technology, and how their operations can be improved. Again, tech expertise is reasonably widespread in the IT channel, but deep knowledge of customer environments and priorities is significantly more rare.
- Insights into Market Developments & Technology Progress In addition to established knowledge of today’s technologies and best practices for effective operations, the most successful MSPs also have the ability to stay in touch with new releases, developing trends, and products that actually do what they say they will. Even more, they have to know which technologies their customers will bet their businesses on and hedge their bets accordingly.
- The objective is to determine whether the current offerings, pricing, messages, and other elements of an MSP’s value proposition are sufficient to win and retain a customer’s business … or if changes need to be made to create a more favorable position. According to our research, MSPs must have the ability and discipline to track the status and implications of factors that fall into three categories
- Economy: How do changes in the national / regional / local economy affect customers’ ability and willingness to spend on IT solutions and services? Competitors: Are there new competitive offerings available to customers that provide better value and would require changes to services, prices, etc.? Industry: How do conditions in your target customer’s market segment affect their priorities for buying and using specific technology solutions?
- Resources / Capabilities: What changes to your internal resources could affect your ability to deliver current solutions or adopt new solutions? Capacity / Financial Position: How does your current financial health affect your ability to acquire resources, make investments, and appear healthy to customers? Strategy / Objectives: What is your attitude about investment, growth, and change, and how open are you to changes based on your short-term and long-term goals?
- Internal Resources: What changes to your customer’s internal IT and business resources might affect your relationship and their willingness to spend on your services? Financial Position: How does the customer’s financial health affect their behavior with regard to IT solutions and services, and what would cause those changes to occur? IT / Business Strategy: Do your customers see IT solutions as a strategic investment for advantage, as a normal element of current business operations, or as a necessary but unpleasant expense?
- All of these factors affect your ability to engage with customers and deliver value, but none of these factors is inherently positive or negative. your goal is to determine the current conditions regarding each of these factors and track changes for the better or for the worse – and determine whether you need to adjust your business strategy. For example, the economy could improve … which may allow you to introduce new offerings or increase prices; or the economy could decline … which may require you to streamline operations or reduce prices. There is no “ideal” set of conditions that are required for an MSP to succeed – your goal is simply to adapt your strategy according to these conditions and present the most appropriate offering to your customers.
- Business Agility = Present Fitness + Future Vision x Agile Development Present Fitness: Optimize performance in current operations to generate investment resources and the flexibility to pursue alternatives Future Vision: See and understand new opportunities that will provide value for your business and for your customers, and plan a roadmap for when to adopt relevant options Agile Development: Assess the impact of market drivers and take fast, deliberate action to incorporate new offerings, retire offerings that are no longer valuable, and maintain predictable results Future of MSP theme
- Let’s discuss 10 best practices now that these MSPs embrace
- Instead of conducting big, slow, complex annual planning processes, companies should adopt a more responsive quarterly planning cycle in which long-term forecasts are adjusted according to real-time feedback and experiences and updates are planned in to numbers several times within a year.
- In addition to seeking and reviewing customer feedback on technical offerings and services, companies need to engage non-technical leaders and users in conversations that are deliberately not about technology … but instead, about what the customer is trying to accomplish. Creative responses to business challenges often take the form of technical solutions, but they must not be initially conceived within the boundaries of current technical capabilities.
- No matter how many good ideas a company can come up with, the only way to accurately test whether an idea is viable is to approach them one at a time. Too many new ideas being tested at once can lead to a chaotic lack of focus, as well as false indicators (a problem with one test can contaminate the results of another test). This approach requires companies to adopt two vital agile behaviors: first, prioritize new opportunities based on the combined values of customer relevance + adjacent skills + potential value; and second, deliver fast prototypes and capture real-time feedback targeted to short-term, incremental milestones.
- Agile behavior is critical … and it can be measured in real financial metrics. Four key data points can be used to keep score of the ultimate effectiveness of this approach to business development: Percentage of revenue from new products / offerings: Share of total revenue generated by things that were not in your portfolio 2 years ago. Percentage of revenue from modified products / offerings: Share of total revenue generate by things that were already in your portfolio but have undergone a significant change within the past 2 years. Growth percentage: YOY change in total revenue for the organization from all revenue sources. Profit growth percentage: YOY change in total profit production from all revenue sources and accommodating all investments / expenses.
- New products / services are, by definition, less capable and less predictable than established offerings. Companies need to adopt a mindset that new offerings do not need to be perfect, but are tested in limited rollouts when they have achieved “minimum viable functionality” for initial customer adoption. In other words: this is the opposite of “paralysis by analysis;” do not insist on perfection for new offerings … improve them incrementally over time based on lessons learned.
- A concept borrowed from the legal profession: inside your private development meetings, adopt the position of your competitors and argue why your customers should not continue to buy from you or why new prospects should choose someone else to provide their services. Too often companies get “tunnel vision” when they only argue their own position and promote their own value. To find weak spots or vulnerability, companies need to actively challenge their assumptions and attack their positions. Do this reasonably frequently (i.e. quarterly or monthly) at regularly scheduled times to get your whole team to buy in.
- When people are paid only to sell / deliver existing offerings, they will actively avoid any effort towards new initiatives. In order to convince your team to try new things, they need more than just the direction … they need a reward. Companies need to reconfigure compensation plans to require the right participation from the right resources. Pay attention to balance: you can’t afford to take too much emphasis away from the current business, but you need enough emphasis on new offerings.
- It is much more difficult to build new capabilities by using a portion of time / energy from a larger team than it is to use the full effort of a small portion of a team. Instead of asking all members of a team to spend a little effort trying to do a new thing, companies need to identify willing participants who can jump in, give full effort, show early results, and then spread the lessons learned to more members of the team incrementally.
- Based on experience and best practices, companies need to establish a scripted, repeatable approach to finding, developing, testing, and launching new offerings. If a company only launches something new very infrequently, it’s easy to miss big and small details; the more frequently a company launches new things, the easier it is to develop a “muscle memory” for doing the right things. But you can’t afford to wait for the successful completion of several new launches before you get good at it; so leverage peer resources to identify best practices and build a script to minimize uncertainty and maximize efficiency for launching new products.
- As a mirror to the concept of a Launch Methodology, it is equally critical that companies develop a systematic approach to ending activities that no longer produce value. Without such an approach, companies tend to unnecessarily drag out the ending process, clinging to things that used to work, resting on past successes, and missing out on future opportunities. Plus, when your De-Commission Methodology includes a scripted approach to re-allocating resources (i.e. staff) to new activities once the old ones have been ended, your team is much more likely to participate willingly without sabotaging the process to protect their own job security.
- Welcome Alistair to talk about the platform and what we’re doing to support their business
- Remember to mention the two way integrations we have with the PSAs and how we continue to invest.
- App control for office 365
- Waiting on Eric Harless – could be a problem though as he can’t get screen shots for this – something to do with the platform he is running??
- Waiting on Eric Harless
- New products / services are, by definition, less capable and less predictable than established offerings. Companies need to adopt a mindset that new offerings do not need to be perfect, but are tested in limited rollouts when they have achieved “minimum viable functionality” for initial customer adoption. In other words: this is the opposite of “paralysis by analysis;” do not insist on perfection for new offerings … improve them incrementally over time based on lessons learned.
- App control for office 365
- These are the new features coming out
- MAX Mail Integration
- Talk about what the community group is doing
- Four Sales playbooks coming out Basic Managed Services Advanced Managed Services Managed Security Services Backup / DR services
- Launched five new webinars. Do you subscribe to the YouTube channel?
- White paper content, and how it’s being presented and broken up