CompTIA Launches Web Site for Managed Services Market

<strong>Oakbrook Terrace, Ill. &mdash; Feb. 28</strong><br />The Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA), an IT trade association, launched a new Web site targeted toward the growing market for managed technology services.<br /><br />FocusOnMSP is a comprehensive resource for providers of managed services, manufacturers of products for the managed services market and customers investing in managed services.<br /><br />A 2007 CompTIA survey of more than 300 users of managed services found that a majority intended to increase their spending on managed services during the next 12 months. A corresponding survey of nearly 200 managed service providers found that nearly 60 percent expected the industry&rsquo;s revenues to increase during the next year.<br /><br />But favorable forecasts of growth are somewhat tempered by the challenges companies face in developing a successful managed services business. FocusOnMSP is designed to help them address many of these issues. <br /><br />For example, one of the biggest obstacles that providers of managed services face is convincing customers that they will realize a positive return on their investment. <br /><br />&ldquo;The nature of managed services is such that they are often delivered remotely, or during off-peak business hours, making customers much less likely to see acts of service delivery,&rdquo; said Laurel Chivari, vice president of marketing and communications at CompTIA. &ldquo;When it&rsquo;s out of sight and out of mind, the perceived value of the services being delivered may be harder to establish and maintain over time.&rdquo;<br /><br />To help provider address this issue, CompTIA and Kotler Marketing Group of Washington, D.C., a consulting firm specializing in value-based selling, have developed the CompTIA Managed Services ROI Tool. This online calculator sales tool covers many common managed services and generates a downloadable output report suitable for presentation to customers. It is available at http://www.focusonmsp.com/roi_calculator/.<br /><br />Among other features of FocusOnMSP:<br /><br /><ul><li>Access to major industry news and research.</li><li>Online forums.</li><li>Managed services vendor directory.</li><li>Case studies, success stories and other articles on how to run a managed services business.</li></ul>