Quels sont les éléments clés d’un modèle de services managés réussi ?

A couple key things that I find are critical to the establishment and success of a Managed Service engagement. 1) Transparency is key, our customers have a lot of trust in us, but sometimes few views, or windows into our operations, other than what we report. Be sure to expose telemetry, tickets, reports, etc... offering our partners the chance for a ride along if and when desired shows that we care, we have nothing to hide and we're competent. 2) Set limits, operating parameters in advance. We need limits to be set and agreed/understood during negotiations and captured in contracts. This helps to insulate our bottom line from our inevitable scope creep while on the job. In long term engagements this is crucially important.

A successful managed services model hinges on several key elements that ensure smooth operation, client satisfaction, and business growth for the Managed Service Provider. Here are some of the most important ones: Regularly assess your service delivery processes, client feedback, and industry trends. Look for ways to improve your service offerings, automate tasks, and optimize efficiency. Embrace a culture of continuous learning and improvement to stay ahead of the competition.

One thing I have found important is stressing security in our everchanging technology space. Hackers are being hired to digitally intrude companies and charge ransoms in order to retrieve their data. Pen Testing can help determine your weaknesses/strengths against hackers which helps to assess where your security is currently.

1.Define the scope and nature of services offered clearly to clients. 2. Implement systems and processes for proactive monitoring of client systems and networks. 3. Ensure that the managed services model can scale with the needs of clients. 4. Implement robust security measures to protect client data and systems and compliance. 5. Continual training and development are essential to stay abreast of evolving technologies and best practices. 6. Maintain open and transparent communication channels with clients. 7. Leverage automation tools and standardized processes to streamline service delivery 8. Foster strong relationships with clients through regular meetings, feedback sessions. 9. Continuous improvement.

Context is key. The era of generic managed services models is drawing to a close. Clients are increasingly looking deeper into what you bring beyond simply a price competitive "Keeping The Lights On" and "Operate a Service Catalog” offering. Todays value proposition increasingly speaks to how through your managed service you will free up resources to drive their digital business and how your offering will keep pace with new demand as clients execute their digital roadmaps. This demands knowledge of the operating domain, strong engineering depth within teams and understanding of how a client’s value stream operates.

It is important to express your service offerings in terms of KPIs that are relevant to enhancing the competitiveness and operational efficiency of clients. For example it is not simply about “managed cloud services” executed to meet some defined SLA - it is about how you can (for example) uniquely combine FinOps, Cloud security, DataOps and Site Reliability to help the client drive down compute costs, keep pace with emerging technology, empower their engineering teams and facilitate a faster pace of change. Pricing is another area seeing innovation - with risk-reward models beyond unit pricing becoming the norm.

When choosing your service offerings, it's essential to consider both the market demand and your own competencies and capabilities. Analyze the potential profitability of services. While some offerings may be in demand, ensure that you can deliver them cost-effectively while maintaining quality.

Your service offering will most likely be borne out of your current service capabilities. Investing in new skills could be risky so you need to balance risk with reward. Once you are bought in, create a portfolio of artefacts that are required to support the sales proposition and use "just in time" development activity so that your effort is expended in the right areas at the right time. If you are going to need resources from across your business to support you, ensure that they are engaged and are bought into your process.

Key elements include hiring for a mix of technical, analytical, and customer service skills to ensure comprehensive support. Emphasizing continuous training and certification ensures the team stays abreast of the latest technologies and best practices. Implementing a clear structure with defined roles and responsibilities enhances efficiency and accountability. Fostering a culture of collaboration and open communication encourages innovation and problem-solving. Finally, prioritizing customer-centric values ensures that the team is always aligned with client needs and expectations, driving satisfaction and loyalty.

Having worked at two very different organisations, this can be done in two ways: you can either build out the entire service delivery team or focus on key areas and utilise third parties to deliver. I would always prefer to do this in house however if you need to be up and running quickly using third parties to supplement you is always an option. As per Dr. Abilio's comment there is a mix of different skills and outsourcing some of them is an option.

One thing I’ve found helpful is doing it with the proper team and training in managing systems and processes and getting a better

Hiring new staff can be costly so building a service team should be mindful of the risk you are taking if this level of investment is made and how you will use these resources whilst in the sales process. The delivery team must be cognisant of what you are trying to achieve to make our sales proposition a reality. It's always good to have delivery resources who are multi-skilled and with client facing capabilities to bring a "realness" to our sales messaging and give technical depth to presentations if needed.

This is THE most important element. Without understanding a client's business, you are unable to provide the necessary service crucial to their success. If you do the right thing by them, you become a trusted adviser, retain their business and they will recommend you to others.

Um modelo de serviços gerenciados bem-sucedido é construído sobre uma base sólida de elementos essenciais que garantem eficiência, qualidade e satisfação do cliente. Entre os principais pilares desse modelo posso destacar: 1. Proatividade e Monitoramento: Antecipar as necessidades do cliente, fugindo do conceito "quebra-conserta" e agregando valor ao serviço. 2. Transparência: Comunicação clara em todas as etapas, incluindo relatórios, métricas e feedback para fortalecer relacionamentos e identificar oportunidades. 3. Escalabilidade: Flexibilidade para adaptar-se às mudanças, com processos e equipe atualizados. 4. Foco no cliente: Priorizar suas necessidades, oferecendo suporte proativo para garantir satisfação constante.

Consistently dig deeper and learn. Are your services making a genuine difference to the client? Do your clients recognise this? Have you been expanding your knowledge of the client’s businesses, goals and what they value in a partner? Have you been using this knowledge to enhance the value delivered to the client? Can this be expressed in terms of measurable value? Do you have a way to clearly articulate this value? This can be done with surveys, meetings etc. but at the core is always the abiding passion to keep challenging the status quo and improving for the client. If these are not done, then you have a serious risk of being replaced by either someone with better relationship or lower cost.

Getting leads is difficult. Maintaining a lead can be even more challenging. With a new sales proposition, you can make a decision about how open you want to be with your client. Complete transparency with financial incentives could be the way to create a long term relationship based on trust. Know when to listen. Selling something new is a complex process and it may be difficult to hear someone indirectly tearing apart your "baby". Be open to feedback as this could be the key to expanding your footprint. Know when to let go. You could spend months chasing a lead off the back of one conversation or being taken down a road with no end game from the client. Experience will tell you when to let go.

Know the Market & Client The success of the any organization is decided by those whom you serve, and how well you understand your target market directly impacts that success. Among the many methods for better understanding who your ideal customer is, target client profiles are one of the most effective & efficient way for aligning next steps.

To be successful and grow your business, I have always found it best to treat Managed Services as a partnership with your customers. By doing this both sides see value in the service and leads to more often that not customers renewing with you and marketing for you.

Part of our initial sales plan was to start small and grow, so our steps for growth should already be in place. Deciding whether it's more marketing to put the message out there, trying to sell into adjacent customers in the same industry, or trying the same messaging in new industries. Whatever your choice, have a method in place to measure success against the previous profile and find ways to tune and improve messaging until it hits the sweet spot.

-Cybersecurity and remote monitoring is quite important so customers can feel their data is secured. -Good Assessment and Planning -Taking responsibility for the management and services offered to the customers- ongoing support.

Our service model should operate simply effective and efficient! We should care alot how to keep quality of our service stable and consistent over time. With a sales after service function we get feedback from end users about our model and msy get some proposal for improving our concept

Before fully launching a new service, pilot it with select clients to iron out any issues and ensure the service can be delivered successfully at scale.