The Intricate Dance: MSPs, Product Vendors, and You (The Customer)
In today’s complex digital landscape, Managed Service Providers (MSPs) provide trusted advice that affects cybersecurity, productivity and especially your bottom line. They handle IT infrastructure and security, allowing companies to focus on their core operations. But MSPs don’t operate in a vacuum. They rely on partnerships with product vendors who provide the tools and technologies that power their services. This three-way tango between MSPs, vendors, and customers has its own set of advantages and disadvantages.
The Benefits of the Dance
Customers:
- Expertise on Tap: MSPs have access to a vast pool of vendor expertise, allowing them to offer a wider range of solutions for your specific needs.
- Cost Efficiency: MSPs can often negotiate better pricing with vendors, potentially leading to cost savings for you.
- Simplified IT Management: Offloading IT management to an MSP frees up your internal resources and allows you to focus on your core business.
MSPs:
- Access to Cutting-Edge Solutions: Vendors provide MSPs with the latest tools, technologies, and strategies to keep their clients’ systems secure and efficient.
- Improved Margins: Negotiated discounts with vendors can boost the profit margins of MSP services.
- Intellectual property: MSPs can invest time in their people to learn the product, get certified by the vendor(s), and own the solution for themselves and the client.
Vendors:
- Expanded Market Reach: By partnering with MSPs, vendors gain access to a wider customer base, extending their market reach.
- Recurring Revenue: MSP subscriptions provide vendors with predictable and reliable revenue streams and pus
- Delivery: The vendor no longer has the overhead, worry or problems that come with delivering a solution to 1000’s of clients instead teaching 10’s of clients on how to deliver without the obligation to do so in future.
The Potential Missteps
Customers:
- Vendor Lock-In: An MSP heavily reliant on a single vendor’s products might limit your choices and flexibility when seeking solutions or their ability to deliver a secure and productive outcome for your business.
- Limited Control over Costs: MSP pricing often reflects vendor costs, their investment in learning the product, warranties and conditions and its potential management overheads can great reduce your ability to negotiate the best possible deal or move providers if the solution is not working.
- Focus on Vendor Products: There’s a risk that MSPs may priorities selling specific vendor products over finding the most suitable solution for your needs. Be sure your MSP is transparent about its vendor partnerships, how it relates to industry secure outcomes like ISO27001 and prioritizes your best interests from both a cost, productivity and security standpoint.
- Long term and sticky contracts: A large portion of vendors have created solutions that are based on creating stick clients tied to their solution. Buyer be wary of a solution that is not easily changeable, movable or removable.
MSPs:
- Limited Control over Pricing: Vendor-set pricing can impact MSP profit margins or ability to service agile or cost conscious clients.
- Focus on Vendor Products: Over-reliance on specific vendor products can limit the range of solutions MSPs offer to clients.
- Reduced Customer Relationships: Heavy dependence on vendors might limit direct interaction with end-user clients, potentially making it harder to fully understand their specific needs.
Vendors:
- Reliance on MSPs: Vendors depend on MSPs for product sales, potentially limiting control over the sales process and customer relationships.
Finding the Right Rhythm
A successful partnership between MSPs, vendors, and customers requires clear communication and a focus on shared goals. Here are some tips to ensure a harmonious dance:
- Customers: Ask your MSP about their vendor partnerships and their selection process for solutions. Why do they use their solutions over modern cloud solutions? What does a user experience look like with this product when it comes to day-to-day work and productivity? Is this solution market leading or leading the market in sales?
- MSPs: Prioritize solutions that best fit your clients’ needs, not just those offered by specific vendors. Be transparent about your partnerships.
- Vendors: Work collaboratively with MSPs to understand their clients’ needs and develop solutions that address those challenges.
By understanding the dynamics of this three-way relationship, you, the customer, can make informed decisions. Choose an MSP that prioritizes your needs and openly discusses its vendor partnerships. Diligence and a focus on modern and secure occurs ensures you get the best possible service and value for money from your IT solutions.
