Seems like these days you can't get away from trade journal headlines, market research reports and Web blogs touting managed services as the next big business boom. What these sources fail to mention are the huge costs of creating and maintaining a managed services infrastructure, the impossibility of elegantly scaling that structure, and the very real possibility that those efforts might fail.

Is the answer, then, to maintain a traditional break-fix practice then? Of course not! The benefits of a successful managed services provider (MSP) practice are simply too compelling. Managed services put you in close contact with customers, let you build a recurring revenue stream, increase your margins and profits, and make your customers happier than ever before. Clearly, managed services will be an anchor for many solution providers in the future.

Fortunately, it's not an all-or-nothing decision. By partnering with Ingram Micro Seismic, you can hop on the MSP bandwagon without the fear that you may fall off. Computer ER, a solution provider in Missoula, Mont., can attest that asking for help is often the best way to go. The firm initially launched its managed services offering with its own server and Internet connection. The system was brought to its knees when two large customers, each with 250 desktops, signed up for the service simultaneously. After realizing that the cost of upgrading would be thousands of dollars, the company moved to Ingram's full-service managed IT program, which includes the Ingram Micro Seismic Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) solution, as well as the Seismic Network Operations Center (NOC), Seismic Online Backup and Restore service, and Seismic E-mail and Web Defense. Today, the company is supporting all of its customers with plenty of room to add more.

Similarly, i-Tech Support, based in Maitland, Fla., had adopted a do-it-yourself approach until it realized that its Internet connection couldn’t handle the traffic of monitoring updates and its budget couldn't accommodate the necessary infrastructure upgrades. By moving to Seismic, the company found that it could proactively prevent outages and problems for customers, but without the cost and headaches of supporting an in-house solution. Now, i-Tech’s managed services are more affordable for everyone involved, customers included.

These solution providers and countless others didn't invest in managed services. Instead, they invested in a partnership. You can do the same. Don't throw away your IT budget on hardware and software that may or may not support the growth of your managed services practices or give you a sustainable managed services practice. Ingram Micro Seismic lets you invest in your customers and your business, rather than in managed services infrastructure.