If you aren't already offering managed services, you might be more inclined to start after reading the cover story in this issue. One question might come to mind, however: Does your company have the skills needed for success?

According to a February 2006 survey of 250 solution providers performed by CMP's Institute for Partner Education and Development (IPED) with CRN, consulting skills are key. Some 57 percent of those surveyed thought technical consulting skills most important, and 54 percent considered business consulting most vital.

Experts believe the two types of consulting -- business and technical -- work in concert to discover the client's concerns and provide a solution.

"Business consulting says: Let's talk about things in a nontechnical mode that C-level customers care about, like how to increase revenue, reduce costs or reduce risk," says Brian O'Connell, principal at Service Leadership, a consulting organization to solution providers. "Technical consulting says: Knowing what I know about your technical issues, here are the technologies and services that will do the job."

Making the Effort
Working at this level means participating in clients' business discussions. "It's important that consultants sit in at client meetings to understand the implications of business moves from an IT perspective," says Ethan Simmons, partner at NetTeks Technology Consultants, an MSP. "They need to know: If we do this, do we have the IT systems and processes in place to make this successful?"

At Micro Symplex, president Arun Patel writes into his managed services contracts that his consultants must attend clients' staff meetings every month. Says Patel, "We need to make clear that we're not just another outsourcing vendor. Rather, we're there to provide ideas and solutions to help them reduce downtime and increase productivity."

Where MSPs Need Help
As solution providers tend to be technology-first organizations, most MSPs need help on the business consulting side. "Most solution providers are strong when it comes to technical consulting, but business consulting is more difficult," says Tim Larocque, director of partner programs at Level Platforms, a managed services software provider. "It requires a different skill set."

Some MSPs beef up their business consulting skills by selling owner-toowner, some train engineers on business issues, while others go outside the industry to recruit and develop business consultants. "You can bring in people with more of a business and project management focus, and train them on the engineering," Larocque says. "That's the best of both worlds."

Whatever the origins of your staff, successful business and technical consulting means using the data collected by the remote monitoring and management platform. "Leveraging the data can help clients become more proactive in monitoring and managing their IT budgets," Larocque says. "The data can be useful at periodic business reviews to create performance baselines of where clients are and where they should be." Not a simple task -- but the kind of consulting that makes the MSP model work.