At the MSPAlliance networking dinner in Chicago last night I got the opportunity to ask some MSP executives for their thoughts on an issue that has been on my mind for some time now: whether providing cloud computing was fundamentally any different than providing managed services. Their answer was unequivocally no, cloud is not fundamentally different than managed services. Why does this matter?
In the most simple of terms, what this means is there is no business model shift required to be in cloud computing, assuming you are already a provider of managed services. While there has been a lot of talk of late the so called "transition" from MSP to CSP (cloud service provider), in reality these terms are one in the same. The term cloud is not a different and unique business model but merely a term of art, or more accurately, a marketing term, used to describe the complex in an easy to understand way.
For MSPs who accept this notion, leveraging the power of cloud can become a very useful tool. Now, I will say that for those break/fix and reactive IT companies, switching to cloud computing does require a business model transformation. This transformation, however, is no different than what VARs went through years ago when they became MSPs.
What the MSPs last night seemed to be saying was that cloud, for the first time in our profession's history, has given us the ability to clearly and easily explain the value of proactive IT services. Cloud is an effective marketing device. A simple word that can quickly explain the complexities of managed services and the intricacies of proactive IT management. This is the true value of cloud.
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