Midsize businesses are booming. Revenues are growing, hiring is strong, and confidence is high. Midmarket businesses are reporting steady revenue growth—more than 8 percent for the first quarter of 2018. It’s a big opportunity: There are hundreds of thousands of midmarket companies in the US. And with growing digital business initiatives but a small or no IT staff, midsize companies typically rely on a solution provider for their IT needs. By partnering with a trusted solution provider, midsize companies can stay focused on strategic growth, and get easy access to the latest network technology.
Midmarket is also cloud’s next big wave. As cloud delivers on its promise of being ultra-reliable, flexible and affordable, midmarket businesses are increasingly adopting cloud for their critical business applications.
Growing Connectivity for a Digital Workplace
Fast-growing midsize businesses have growing networking needs. Everything from Skype phone calls and video chats to business applications and back-office operations depends on employees having ready access to the information they need anywhere, anytime, from any device. A quality user experience depends on fast, reliable Wi-Fi for laptops, phones and other mobile devices. Increasingly, great Wi-Fi is essential for building security systems, smart lighting and environmental sensors. With the shift to mobile and cloud, wireless traffic volumes are growing, and that’s creating more traffic on legacy wired networks thereby driving the need for an upgrade.
To thrive in an increasingly digital workplace, midsize companies face a choice. They can hire more IT staff and buy more networking equipment to expand the network capacity and try to provide a great Wi-Fi experience everywhere. Or they can turn to a trusted solution partner for their networking needs. With cloud becoming more reliable, you can design and install the network for your customer, and then remotely manage their network to ensure the best possible user experience. That way, your customers can keep their strategic resources focused on business growth, rather than expending precious time and money on the technology fundamentals of keeping the business running.
Predictable Costs—and Revenues
Cloud’s predictable, pay-as-you-go cost model has long been a draw for companies of all sizes. In the old capital expenses model, organizations hung onto network equipment for five or seven years—and sometimes longer. Buying new equipment has meant a multi-year capital investment, lots of management meetings, and a major undertaking to deploy or expand the network.
The managed services model lifts that burden for your customers. Technology becomes an operational expense, as businesses pay for their networks on a monthly or quarterly basis. Costs are more predictable, and budgeting for future expenses is simpler too.
From a solution provider perspective, shifting your customers to a monthly or quarterly subscription pricing model makes your revenue streams and cash flow more predictable too. And that helps even out the revenue ups and downs and so you can better plan for your own business growth.
Give Customers Access to New Technology Sooner
People don’t want to be locked into old technologies, and with managed network services, they aren’t. Just think about electric cars. The electric car market is changing too rapidly for people to want to make a decade-long investment in the same car technology. Leasing lets people drive the latest vehicles with the furthest range, most horsepower and the best amenities, and swap them out when they’re ready.
Likewise, when a managed services contract ends, customers aren’t stuck with outdated equipment. Businesses aren’t carrying obsolete technology on the books. That’s especially important today, as network innovation has accelerated to meet the demands of the digital workplace.
Elevate Your Customer Interactions
Managed network services also elevate your company’s business model. Interactions with customers transcend the periodic transactional purchases and the crisis-mode break/fix support calls. You don’t just install a new network and leave. Your company’s expertise is integral to the everyday operation of your customers’ workplace. That everyday visibility gives you greater insight that can help you guide their digital strategy. Moreover, it opens the door for strategic consulting services. You have more natural engagement points to sell new services and products. You are a trusted advisor to their business.
Offering managed network services also gives your customers more ways to buy from you. Whether customers want to buy network equipment outright, lease it, or embrace a managed services model, you can offer a choice. Because if you don’t, your prospective customer might buy from a competitor that does give them that flexibility.
Grow Your Managed Service Business with Aruba
Aruba has been a leader in building mobility networks for the last 15 years, and we bring our expertise in building mobile first networks to creating a managed service. Aruba Central, our cloud-based network management platform, operates at the highest levels of reliability and scalability, with cutting-edge features and pre-configured workflows that securely support multiple tenants in an MSP operations center.
You can rely on Aruba for robust expertise and support in selling managed network services, including training, demo resources, and additional margin opportunities. We offer an array of flexible financing options that enable you and your customers to choose the financing structure that is right for your unique requirements.
Learn More
It’s a great time to spin-up your managed network services business with Aruba Central. Learn how to capture more than your fair share of the opportunity.
If you’re interested in becoming an Aruba Central MSP, email us at aruba.cloudmsp@hpe.com.
Jim Harold is Vice President of North America Channels at Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company.
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