Podcast: Using an MSP for Business Impact

by Gary Audin Resellers evolved into value added resellers (VARs). We now have the managed service provider (MSP). What organizations are candidates for an MSP? What are the benefits? If you want to go this route, how do you evaluate a MSP for your organization? I had the opportunity to interview Dave Sobel, the Senior Director, MSP Evangelism from SolarWinds www.solarwinds at the Channel Partners conference in Washington D.C. Dave spent 10 years as the owner and operator of an MSP. He now helps MSPs understand how to deal with evolving technologies. In this podcast, Dave focusses more on the business rather than the technical outcomes of applying IT. He believes that a successful MSP must deliver: Reduced IT costs Increase revenue Rollout new technologies This is done by knowing more about the customer’s business that just the technologies available. He then moves on to provide his opinions about data security, protection, use, and compliance. Dave believes that even if the data is used legally, there is the question of ethical miscues that can harm a business’s reputation. He points that although the EU GDPR efforts are geographically limited; SolarWinds has decided to adopt GDPR worldwide. He went on by discussing how MSPs need to be agile and pose questions to get the customer to consider a wider view of IT and it impact on business. SolarWind’s www.solarwinds business is built around helping technology professionals—IT operations professionals, DevOps professionals and managed service providers (MSPs)—solve today’s IT challenges. Their relationship and engagement with them provides insight and understanding they rely upon to deliver products designed to solve IT management problems the way technology professionals want them solved. This relationship is fostered through daily engagement on THWACK, their online community of over 150,000 registered members.