To Boldly MSP Go

Given the simple fact that it’s impossible for all managed service providers (MSPs) to be all things to all people it stands to reasons that a variety of managed services from multiple solution providers need to be delivered in concert with one another. That challenge is actually finding a way to make that happen.

As the new CEO of the Nimsoft unit of CA Technologies, Chris O’Malley says the company’s end goal is going to be making it easier for solution providers to leverage the Nimsoft MSP platform to integrate any number of services. In effect, what O’Malley is really describing is an ability to dynamically automate the federation of partner-to-partner alliances. That means that rather than having to take the time to custom integrate every service, Nimsoft partners will be able to deliver new services to customers on demand.

That’s critical, says O’Malley, because it means that MSPs will be able to dynamically scale their business without having to invest a whole lot of capital up front. In fact, this end goal factored into CA Technologies' recent moves to acquire WatchMouse, a provider of application performance monitoring software, and InteQ, a provider of help desk management software, which are now providing technologies that are being incorporated into the Nimsoft MSP platform.

Beyond merely trying to extend the reach of CA Technologies into the small-to-medium (SMB) space, O’Malley is trying position Nimsoft as a hub for creating a federated ecosystem of managed services that will include existing partners such N-Able Technologies and a host of other that will be developed over the coming year.

What that means to solution providers in the channel is that rather than thinking of themselves as providers of a specific managed service, they will soon find themselves participating in a managed services ecosystem where not only are their services are being dynamically resold by others, they themselves are dynamically reselling services provided by others. It may, of course, take a little time for their business processes to catch up to the technology, but once it does the channel will never be the same again.