I know we have not always gotten it right with Managed Service Providers (MSPs) or the Small and Medium Business (SMB) community they support and so we have been spending time with the MSP community, listening, learning and taking in your feedback. Our “listening campaign” began in early 2018, when I organized an MSP Advisory Group in N. America consisting of ~15 very capable MSP’s. The objective behind the MSP Advisory Group was to dig in and truly understand the needs of the broader MSP community and have this group help us understand the macro and micro challenges MSPs face as they build, manage and grow their practices.
One of my first insights from the MSP Advisory Group was the reality that it takes much more than industry-leading technology solutions to create a successful, profitable managed service practice. We heard over and over that a strong foundation of business acumen and discipline are just as critical, if not more, than the technology. Why? As markets become saturated with more and more VAR’s and break/fix providers moving into the managed services space, we heard how imperative it is that MSP’s can deliver differentiated value-added services, drive more operational efficiencies into their practice and establish strategic relationships with their respective customers.
So, the team took these insights to heart and took action. In November of 2018, we launched MSP University with ConnectWise. Since we are not experts in the field of MSP business model evolution, we teamed up with renowned MSP guru Gary Pica of TruMethods to develop the “MSP Supercharger Course.” Gary has put together a series of topics that walks MSPs of all maturities through the MSP Framework, Technology Standards & Alignment, as well as Packaging and Pricing. Gary transforms years of experience in the MSP community into tangible, practical business practices that are being used by today’s most successful MSP.
These resources are free to anyone interested in taking their MSP practice to the next level. We hope they will inspire and help you on your journey.
We want to continue the conversation with you and understand how Cisco can help MSPs accelerate their success. For those of you attending ConnectWise IT Nation Explore June 13-15 in Orlando, FL, please swing by the Cisco booth (#107) and breakout sessions and say hello. You will have a big decision to make at 2 pm on Friday the 14th. Will you be spending the hour listening to Umbrella superstar Larry Guthrie talk about Malicious Cryptomining or security guru Mike Sweatt diving into the security powerhouse Meraki hides beneath its beautiful exterior? 
Can’t make it to IT Nation, we have you covered. Check back here as I share my experiences with the MSP community and how we are working together to bring the tools, technology, and training together to create a profitable partnership.
Cheers! Marc
Marc, thank you for all the work you are doing at Cisco to help make Cisco products & services viable ingredients in the 'chocolate cake' that Managed Service Providers like me are making! Of course my reference is to Gary Pica's analogy that when a customer buys a cake, the bakery does not give the customer a list of options for ingredients. The customer just wants a darn good tasting cake and trusts that the baker is using the finest ingredients! (https://smartermsp.com/msp-pricing-models/) Hopefully with your support, we can get leadership at Cisco to understand that the packaging & pricing for Cisco products & services needs to be easily consumable by MSPs or we will be forced to use other ingredients in our cakes!
One more thought. Every one at Cisco who has influence/oversight on packaging & pricing of products and services desired to be used by Managed Service Providers, should have this as a required read!
The MSP and Channel Partner Bill of Rights
https://www.channele2e.com/channel-partners/program/everything-as-a-service-bill-of-rights/
We had a fantastic IT Nation Evolve last week. So great meeting and speaking with MSPs who are excited to learn how Cisco solutions can help them grow MRR, become more operationally efficient, and provide a higher level of security as-a-service to their clients.
Wanted to share some of the great work the Meraki team has done with their recently launched Meraki MSP Hub that can be found by using this link: http://cs.co/meraki-msp-hub
We truly appreciate the time that you and your team take to truly listen, understand, and move to address our concerns and needs – thanks!
When it comes to picking which vendors we choose to deal with, we are always looking for those which fit with the way we work, listen to our feedback and truly offer something of value. We started with Umbrella and I've always appreciated how they care and change the products to meet our needs. The people involved really care on making the products better which enables us to protect our clients and reduce the effort required to support them.