Industry research is already indicating the growth of managed services in 2016 as the channel continues to recognize its potential for SMB clients.  According to one recent study from market research organization Techaisle, as much as 71% of U.S. SMB channel partners surveyed are currently offering one or more managed services solutions and another 18% are planning to offer the services within the year.

Here at AVG Business, that’s no surprise. More of our partners are moving toward a proactive approach and transitioning to managed service models, moving away from reactive strategies that are difficult to manage and maintain for their SMB clients.

Yet, successful implementation is key to unlocking the power of managed services. Simplifying the experience for both the partner and SMB customer is critical.  Depending on the technology in place or the type of service contract, there could be multiple steps required before both the channel partner and SMB can realize the benefits of a centrally planned and automated security defense.

The benefits of this type of defense reach far and wide.  A centrally planned solution enables AVG channel partners to efficiently deliver their unique service offerings within one standardized service delivery platform. This puts automated, service standardization in place to enable a scalable offering to better address the security needs of their SMB customers.

At AVG Business, we’re committed to helping our partners effectively unlock the power of all AVG security solutions in their marketing, selling, and implementation of managed services so they too can see the magic behind this proactive, planned and automated approach.

Here are just a few of the AVG partners experiencing great results:

• Dave Barnard, owner of DB Computer Services came to AVG Business because he’d been told by a friendly competitor that our AVG Managed Workplace solution had “every tool a MSP needs” – something we were happy to prove. According to Dave, DB Computer Services is now able to “offer an outsourced IT support solution that is complete, simple to understand, predictable, affordable and scales with the growth of our clients’ businesses.” 

• For Darren Nichol, the Technical Director of pckwikfix, the move to managed services was about “standing out in the crowd by continuing to truly care and put our customers before sales targets.” The proof of this came just a few weeks after purchasing AVG Managed Workplace – the team was able to convert more than 50 clients to the streamlined monthly subscription model. With routine jobs now automated, fully integrated systems and access to unprecedented detail, Nichol says the team is “starting to get a feel for the freedom we now have to be more hands on with customers’ more interesting challenges.”

• Meanwhile Chris Carter, technical infrastructure consultant at APH, was so convinced by AVG Managed Workplace’s new premium remote control feature, plus the quality of our technical and sales support, that it migrated its entire base of managed service clients from a standard antivirus product to the full-service AVG Business platform.

We have done a lot of work toward addressing the business needs of AVG partners, including within our AVG Managed Workplace technology platform, as well as best practices on how to fulfill service contracts in the most efficient and profitable way.

We are listening and responding – and we will have more updates and news to share this year.

Until then, please continue to share your feedback in 2016!