Managed Services Reality Check At TruMethods Schnizzfest

TruMethods CEO Gary Pica

MSPmentor: What’s the overall mood of the TruMethods members this year? How did their businesses perform in 1H 2012 overall. Any clear trends?

Pica: In general the mood is very good. We ask attendees how much new recurring revenue they have added and this year was the strongest response by far. There is still strong demand in general for IT services.

MSPmentor: mindSHIFT and White Glove quietly kicked around M&A ideas at last year’s event behind the curtains. Is M&A a big discussion point for your members or really more of a niche discussion for only a handful of players?

Pica: Our members continue to be interested in what is happening in the M&A world. Not just what their company may be worth but what the impact of larger players may have on the market place. I will be interviewing All Covered’s Director of Corporate Development Bruce Teichman on this topic at Schnizzfest.

MSPmentor: You often talk about a “cake” business model for MSPs, prompting to sell total solutions and customer experience (a great chocolate cake) rather than the ingredients (egg, flour, patch management, anti-spam, etc.). What comes after “cake” or how is the “cake sales model” evolving?

Pica: TruMethods members continue to evolve their chocolate with new ingredients but remain focused on the end result they deliver to clients. At Schnizzfest, TruMethods will unveil a “first of its kind” tool to help our member design, implement and manage their chocolate cake. Stay tuned!

MSPmentor: Has fear about the cloud ended? Any of your members doing particularly well with the cloud?

Pica: I think that fear continues but we are also seeing more success stories.  This year over 90% of attendees reported that they have cloud components as part of their support offering. Those companies delivering the best chocolate cake are the ones having the most success in the cloud.

MSPmentor: Any other key trends you’ll cover?

Pica: I think the most interesting trend is people and companies with pure business backgrounds entering the market. To stay competitive more business owners are spending more time developing  new skill sets.

MSPmentor: And of course: TruMethods — how are you guys evolving?

Pica: At our core we are the same; we help businesses be more awesome. Over the past few years we have learned a lot about how to support the success of our members. We continue to invest in technology. Here is some of things we have developed or are currently developing:

See You Next Week?

The MSPmentor team will be on hand for Schizzfest (July 19-21, Philadelphia). Want to meet? Post a comment or drop me an email, joe [at] NineLivesMediaInc [dot] com. And thanks in advance for your insights.