If you run a managed service provider (MSP) or cloud service provider (CSP), you are facing some common business challenges. Apart from month-to-month cash flow management, you are looking for ways to drive new business, either from new products and services, or with value that will add new customers. At the same time, you need to ensure your business is managed properly. In the present world, where cloud and digital disruption are becoming serious concerns for most businesses, having a cloud integration solution can deliver benefits to your business, as well as your customers.
Business challenges of MSPs and CSPs
Drive new business, find new product
MSPs and CSPs need to find ways of generating additional business from their current accounts, and acquire new customers. To do so means looking for new or alternative solutions, and being considered as trustworthy experts on them. A new line of monthly recurring revenue can complement what an MSP/CSP is already providing.
Cloud
The emergence of cloud computing is one of the big challenges for MSPs and CSPs. Your customers and prospects are also challenged, on deciding the best way to migrate to the cloud, and on finding an appropriate cloud solution that meets the aims of the businesses. Because legacy solutions won’t go away anytime soon, helping customers to ensure they can integrate new cloud solutions with existing on-premise software will be an ongoing opportunity for service providers.
Billing and metering
MSPs and CSPs bill their customers by invoicing them based on metered usage, but they also need to keep track of their own expenses. In order to achieve all of this without losing control, MSPs have to implement a single system of record where they can have all their information integrated and so be able to bill properly.
Getting the right partners
The process of finding a successful and symbiotic partnership can be quite challenging for an MSP/CSP. You want to have partners who can provide your customers (perhaps via you) with superior support, but they must also be able to give you the tools to help you sell, and other resources to grow and support your customers.
How integration can help MSPs and CSPs
Grow business and add new products
It is a cliché that customers’ needs are always changing. MSPs and CSPs should also evolve to offer new technologies that help customers overcome challenges. By adding an integration solution that comprises full integration capabilities – application and data integration, and API management – an MSP/CSP can complement existing solutions, and ensure that it can integrate and orchestrate the management of new products.
Hybrid integration
Preserving business data is a major business concern. Hybrid integration – integrating data from on-premises applications and cloud-based solutions – is a new solution that an MSP/CSP can provide. When customers want to integrate new or existing business applications, whether in the cloud or on-premise, you have a complete solution to integrate their applications, and at competitive subscription rates.
Improve management and control
No matter what solutions you offer to customers, ensure data from those solutions are integrated with your management and accounting systems, allowing you to maintain controls on metering, bill accurately and timeously, and have a single source of information.
An integration partner that supports you
Having the right partner is not just a question of pricing, but also having a partnership that evolves as business grows and changes. An MSP or CSP wants to grow into its integration business, and should have the flexibility to start small in terms of financial arrangements. At the same time, you need to be able to rely on the integration partner to address the technical and other issues that you don’t have experience with yet.
Adopt an integration platform
Flowgear’s integration platform is able to provide MSPs and CSPs with the solutions they need to address their challenges. Because it’s a cloud platform, no installation or infrastructure management is required, and because it’s a SaaS (software-as-a-service) platform, the cost scales with demand. One of our customers has been using Flowgear to orchestrate multiple disparate systems into one platform, which has given it the ability to offer superior migration and co-existence solutions to their customers. The customer makes use not only of Flowgear’s library of standard enterprise integration patterns, but also its professional services team to help build unique integrations which provide competitive advantage.
You can partner with Flowgear to offer integration solutions to customers, see our Partner page for more information
