Managed Services Tools and Templates Blog

I’ve been working with IT services and support executives as part of CompTIA for the past eight years.  In that time I have learned that what most of you want usually comes down to some very basic items. Indeed, some of the best things in life are actually quite simple. Industry collaboration is seldom rocket science (incidentally my brother works at Raytheon with actual rocket scientists and yes, they are geeks…but I digress). Industry collaboration, however, is quite useful because no one wants to reinvent things that do not provide a competitive advantage.


As an industry, we’ve debated what is and what isn’t a competitive advantage over the years, but along the way discovered quite a few things that really aren’t.   In this regard, CompTIA’s Managed IT Services Community is currently working on developing tools and templates (we thank those of you who voted on these), which should help you improve your managed services business. The four top managed services tools and templates that you voted on include:


1.    Customer on-boarding checklist (best practice questions to ask clients before starting a managed services agreement, so you know the information to include and how to incorporate it)
2.    Managed Services Service Level Agreement (SLA) Template (an SLA is the core services agreement for managed services, with much to be included)
3.    Best Practice Managed Services Offerings (an aggregate listing of services MSPs are offering to their customers – it seems simple enough, yet there are many different services being offered under the managed services umbrella)
4.    Pricing/Costing Template (this includes the elements to be considered in your managed services pricing – it’s really more of a costing template since pricing is NOT a collaborative exercise)


Any of these tools sound useful to you? Is there anything we’re missing? You might be asked to contribute your knowledge to this task over the next few weeks. Remember, ‘sharing is caring’ and your input will only be applied to the aggregate project that will benefit the industry; in other words, you won’t be giving away your secret recipe. These tools should be available to our members in the April to May timeframe, so watch the CompTIA website for updates.


We covered the ‘practical side’ of industry collaboration, but we also want to do something that is more ‘mind-blowing,’ that will be a ‘game-changer’ (did I ever tell you that I despise catchy marketing/sales phrases?) for the managed services industry. Indeed, this may be more on the rocket science side of the fence, but the Managed IT Services Executive Forum is poised and ready to blast-off. Are there any BIG ideas out there?


Let me have ‘em! Email me at pbittorf@comptia.org.