Advanced Managed Services Education and Tools Introduced in Community Meeting

With a flurry of activities underway and planned for 2010, the Managed IT Services Executive Forum convened for a conference call to reconcile all the undertakings. The discussion included the latest updates on the MSP Partners program and a multitude of new resources being developed for the managed services community.

As many of you know, CompTIA acquired MSP Partners late last year and brought the program under the fold of this managed services community.   Jim Hamilton, Senior Director of Member Relations for CompTIA presented the group with an overview of all the new resources and education tools that are being added to the program website over the next few days. These include a newly developed video on demand (VOD) series and a just completed IPED/MSP Partners research report, which was conducted in December and January among the managed services community.

Next week the 2010 education program will be released on the MSP Partners site, including updated sessions on best practices, selling managed services, business finance and, of course, a variety of technical topics. As I mentioned before, a catalog of VOD courses is all new for 2010, and a survey is being conducted in the community to determine topics for this year’s webinar series.

A Master MSP Partners membership is included as when you sign up for a CompTIA membership and, as of next week, they will be able to log into program portal using their association credentials. If you are involved or interested in, managed services, you really should check out the features listed on the website and use the available resources to improve your business.

Another key initiative for the Managed IT Services Executive Forum is development of MSP Templates, including service level agreements (SLAs), pricing and costing options, a new customer checklist and best practice MSPP offerings.  The group collaborated on a long “wish list” in 2009 and, from subsequent meetings and an analysis of community needs, pared it down to the most critical needs of MSPs.

Each of these templates will allow providers to advance their managed services business, with customer satisfaction a top priority. Members will work in teams to complete these individual projects, and their progress will likely be on the agenda of the group’s breakout at the CompTIA Annual Member Meeting April 7-8 in Chicago.