The phrase managed services can be tempting to use when marketing your business because it’s been heavily used and branded in the minds of consumers for years. However, if you employ the term managed services when selling IT support, it will only confuse your prospects. The reason is that every computer support provider uses the same term managed services to describe their model even though there all their business models are vastly different. How can we use more concise language for marketing IT services?
Managed Services Version One
The first version is a monthly monitoring model that just cost a little very little but it doesn’t provide any substantial IT support since any real technical services would be billable by the hour. This version is much like the credit monitoring commercial that shows a security guard standing watch while the bank is robbed. When asked by victims why he’s just monitoring when there is a robbery in progress instead of providing real security he says, “I am not a security guard, I am a security monitor. I notify people if there is a robbery…there’s a robbery!”
The problem with calling this model managed services is that it really doesn’t deliver on the promise of what the term really supposed to be all about. The core principle of managed services is to align the interest of the end user with the MSP business. When the fee structure of a so called “managed services model” is designed so there’s no cap and is billed hourly then the MSP has no incentive to prevent problems or work diligently to keep cost down. Trying to use the Managed Services label for this model is more like trying to put marketing lipstick on a pig…
This model requires a better name so I vote for renaming it Managed Services Lyte!
Managed Services Version Two
The second version is often referred to as all-inclusive managed service but this term is deceptive because these plans typically don’t include everything. In most cases, the backup and disaster recovering solution is not included neither is project work nor office moves and many other services are not covered by the “all-inclusive” managed services marketing agreement.
Attaching the Managed Services moniker this is version can also be a little deceptive since many end users that switch to the all-inclusive because they experience wildly unpredictable bills and were nickeled and dimed to death. Often, the MSP salesperson doesn’t stress the fine print in the agreement that describes what’s not covered in the ‘all-inclusive’ contract. Instead, they just hammer away their marketing message by continually stressing that their plan is “all-inclusive.”
Often these uneducated end users will wake up to the realization that they are still getting billed by the hour and many critical IT services are not included but will cost them extra! This reminds me of the funny airplane video produced by Mad TV where passengers are literally nickeled and dimed to death!
This model deserves a better name, so I vote for calling it Managed Services Basic!
Managed Services Version Three
Finally, there is a real all-inclusive plan that does include everything, even the kitchen sink. I have personally worked for MSPs that have a true all-you-can-eat model and are still marketing it today. Often the very wise businesses that select this plan are continually surprised each time they discover a different technical service is included and it’s not billable. This reminds me of a Prego spaghetti commercial I saw when I was a kid.
We’ll call this one managed services full throttle.
Fin
Therefore, I propose that we rename these three IT models as the following: managed services lyte, managed services basic, and managed services full throttle. The IT industry should adopt these labels instead of continuing to use the plain vanilla term managed services which confuse so many companies in the marketing process. MSPs should do their part to clear up the mud by recognizing which type of managed services they are really delivering and come up with a specific label that distinguishes it from the bland and confusing term managed services.
