Now that we've taken a look back at 2011 with our year in review, it's time to turn our attention ahead to 2012. What predictions can we make for the coming year? How will MSPs and cloud providers do? What are the likely opportunities and challenges? Let's take a look.
Continued Consumerization of IT Whatever barrier used to exist between consumer and business IT has largely been broken down, in large part thanks to companies like Apple, who have created products and services that bring business grade IT concepts to the consumer market. iPads that are becoming all the rage at the enterprise level, cloud concepts that demonstrate clear business benefits, these are but a few of the trends that we must be aware of in 2012. MSPs need to pay attention now to the consumer IT market because it is probable that these trends will eventually make their way into the business community.
Mobility and End-Point Management If you were wondering what might be a hot area for your managed services practice in 2012, you may want to look at mobility and end-point management. Sure, servers have been the bread and butter of the MSP industry but with the proliferation of end-point devices like tablets, smart phones, laptops, and others, the need for securing these devices and the data they contain has never been greater. New applications, new technologies, and new service offerings should be coming aplenty in 2012.
iOS Just like the point above, iOS has been the dark hose in the managed services race that has crept up silently and taken the field by surprise. Nobody saw the iPad as a serious threat to anything; now, it is firmly entrenching itself within the enterprise. iOS is coming along for the ride. MSPs who want to remain visible within their clients should to bringing on more expertise in the iOS space.
Channel Lines Disappear I'll be the first one to call it. The once clearly defined lines of the IT channel have all but vanished. MSPs are vendors, vendors are MSPs, the world has been turned upside down. I can't say it's a bad thing necessarily, since the evaporation of a traditional channel may suggest that we are finally seeing the birth of a true professional community of MSPs and cloud providers; a community where the end-user, not the reseller, is the primary focus.
