What successes and what failures have you had in transitioning to using a managed services partner for infrastructure? What advice would you give to those looking to consider an MSP?
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Director in Manufacturing8 months ago
Our most significant achievement involved transitioning from a Service Level Agreement (SLA) penalty-oriented approach to an SLA Reward strategy. SLAs have a long history but have consistently posed challenges in enforcing and recovering "Penalty Payments." Providers, aware of occasional or frequent failures, often factor these into their pricing, almost anticipating failure.We decided to shift our contract strategy, turning the system into a reward-driven framework. Under this approach, the timing of additional payments becomes our control point rather than relying solely on vendors. We have successfully implemented this strategy across various contracts, extending beyond infrastructure agreements.
Digital Transformation Executive in Software8 months ago
As a former CIO of an $8 billion organization, we learned that transitioning to a managed services partner (MSP) for infrastructure led to cost savings, increased focus on core competencies, and access to specialized expertise that we didn't have. Success hinges on clear communication, robust security assessments (frequent pen testing), and aligning the MSP's services with the organization's goals. Potential pitfalls include communication breakdowns, security concerns, vendor lock-in, and failure to align with business objectives. When considering an MSP, defining clear objectives, prioritizing security assessments, establishing effective communication channels, and planning for scalability and flexibility are key factors for a successful partnership.
Thorough due diligence, including checking references and assessing the MSP's track record, is crucial in making an informed decision.
CIO in Telecommunication8 months ago
One of the biggest issues I've had is finding MSPs that can/will become your Partner rather than an income stream for their own company. From that perspective, I think you are better off being a big fish in a little pond. You need the power of the purse to motivate your MSP to focus on you. Like many others have already said in many different ways, the biggest risk is that you lose control of managing and maintaining you own infrastructure. If you get to the point that they effectively "own" your infrastructure, you're in trouble.
My advice is to always have control. Never allow the MSP to own your cloud root accounts, key systems, hardware, software licenses, sole superuser access, etc.
You need to be able to fire your MSP on a moment’s notice for any reason or no reason at all. Anything less than this creates risk that is simply unacceptable, at least for data and applications that matter..
Unfortunately, some MSPs do some very shady things when they have leverage over their customers. This can become particularly problematic if a client wishes to terminate service, switch MSPs, has a billing dispute, or otherwise has some conflict with the MSP.
Also beware MSPs who use your cloud spend as an informal line of credit. Just because you pay them does not mean they are paying AWS, Azure, GCP et al. Always pay the cloud provider, SaaS providers, etc. DIRECTLY and do not route the payments through a MSP or reseller unless you have a very good reason for doing so. Same reasoning: Never give a third party this much leverage or control over your crown jewel assets.