Which way forward for managed services in Europe? New research by IT Europa shows that Europe presents a patchy picture of managed services provision. Decisions on which cloud suppliers to work with, which services to use, the pace of expansion and the management of systems and users, particularly those on mobile links, are being debated; there is little history and experience on which to build, however. The Managed Services & Hosting Summit 2015, the UK's leading managed services event for the channel, will set out to answer some of these questions.
Many of the industry's leader providers of technology and solutions for Managed Service Providers (MSPs) have already signed up as sponsors including: MaxFocus (LogicNow), Autotask, Azlan, ConnectWise, Databarracks, Datto, LabTech, ScienceLogic, SolidFire, Soonr, Sunrise Software, Tintri, Webroot, Bitdefender, ManageEngine and StorageCraft.
There are also already more than 200 qualified delegates who have registered to attend, of which 75% are CxO level (Director and above). Registration is free-of-charge for qualifying delegates - i.e. director/senior management level representatives of Managed Service Providers, Systems Integrators, Solution VARs and ISVs via
www.mshsummit.com/register.phpAnother issue to be debated at the summit will be the appropriate size of providers: the big consumer brands - Amazon Web Services, Google etc. are in the public eye, but business wants specialist suppliers. As Christian Nagele, Autotask's General Manager of RMEM, told IT Europa recently: "We come across plenty of small-medium MSPs who deliver excellent service for their clients whilst driving very profitable revenues for themselves. Growth is often slow, organic and achieved through referrals. They are very profitable as the business is efficient and optimized (through effective processes and tooling as well as careful customer selection)".
The market may be getting harder to call, however. Researcher Tariff Consultancy Ltd forecasts that while data centre space and power in Europe will increase by almost 20% from the end 2015 to the end of 2020 with the UK being the largest single market in Europe, pricing has reached its limit, with average rack space and square metre pricing forecast to decline by 10% over the 5 year period. This will put pressure on those counting on a rising demand and consequent returns. One further twist will be the rate of consolidation; already acquisitions are running at a peak; it is not just customers, but skills and expertise that are forcing the pace.
On the horizon for service providers is the expansion of Internet of Things (IoT) where its use in automotive, healthcare and other vertical sectors is expected to scale dramatically.
