With margins under ever increasing pressure, many IT solution providers and VARs are looking to the brave new world of Managed Services as a route to survival and hopefully long term prosperity. It's one of the few growth areas during this Recession, and we recently brought to market a new Managed Service offering for a major technology client. In doing so we learnt a few things about the marketplace...

One of the key challenges that existing IT providers face is not a technology one; it is a commercial and personnel issue. Talking to many small IT companies it became clear to us that their sales approach has always been about leading with the technology. This has resulted in haphazard sales with limited opportunities for regular, retained revenue.

If they are to benefit from the retained revenue Managed Services can bring, they require a very different approach to how they present themselves, moving away from delivering technology projects to delivering business solutions. It's is about the following:

- Simplifying the language and removing technospeak

- Learning to speak to the Managing Director not the IT Manager

- Demonstrating benefits to the business not the features of the technology

- Offering an insurance against failure not a fix to a problem

For many smaller firms this can take them outside their comfort zone and one many will struggle to achieve. Take a look at many small IT companies’ websites and you will usually see a plethora of vague, unquantifiable services littered with technology jargon.

We believe the first step to building a successful Managed Service business is to create a really clear offering. Prospective customers need to understand what is being offered, how it will benefit them, and how much it costs. A website is the shop window and should reflect this and present this clearly and concisely. Pricing should be transparent with different services for different types of customers.

We have lots of experience helping to market Managed Service offerings, making them viable business growth oppotunities for the IT solution providers and VAR marketplace.