The major themes for the Managed Services and Hosting summit in Amsterdam in May will be on the continuing growth of the sector, with the implications of this for the MSP sector. Customers in uncertain times are looking for answers, MSPs need to be in a position to provide answers. In particular, the key note sessions will examine the changing nature of the customers. Gartner Research Director Mark Paine (pictured) will present “Working with customers and their chaotic buying processes”.
This will set out the Gartner view on how the changed customer buying process has become hard to monitor, hard to follow and can be abruptly fore-shortened. “Who are the real customers anyway?” he will ask, using research into changing buying processes.
The latest Gartner predictions shows continuing growth for enterprise software, driven by the cloud and managed services, but the market is very competitive with a wealth of new players. Customer IT departments are falling behind in their skills, says Gartner, so outsourcing to a managed service makes sense, but only if trust can be preserved. MSPs have to be prepared to discuss the wider range of issues – while reliability and service are prime needs, security, compliance and strategies are all on the table and these issues will be discussed at the summit.
As well as external, customer facing issues this is a fast-changing industry with a wave of start-ups, merger and acquisition activity, consolidation and buyouts. The smart money is still looking to invest in managed services companies as part of the wider IT marketplace.
Tech M&A expert Jonathan Simnett from Hampleton Partners will present an essential report on who is buying what and why in the sector, entitled: “Building and realizing business value in uncertain times”.
In this he will give expert advice on “what your business should be doing next”, This will include “How to tell if it’s a good time to put your managed services business on the market”, the managed services segments currently in demand and the values are they realizing. He is in a commanding position to say what the smart money looks for in acquiring technology companies and the steps management teams can take to achieve the best valuation for their company. He will explain what a transaction process involves and how long it takes.
Other speakers will talk about what works for them as leading MSPs, how they are building and guiding their businesses and what good practice looks like.
Attendance is free, but limited to qualified strategic management in the managed services, integration and channel sectors. More details: http://www.mshsummit.com/amsterdam/
