Data is exploding
at an incredible rate and for many businesses it’s a new gold rush. Competitive advantages, more agility, better downstream planning, and a clearer understanding of customers and products are just a few of the benefits data can provide. But benefits like these are
only for businesses that know how to store, protect, and analyze their information. Data is the new currency for a successful business, and you can be the one helping mint it for your clients. Here are a few nuggets of advice you might use as you pan for gold in the big data bonanza.
Giving clients a way to store data is one thing. Giving them a practical way to manage data and collaborate is another. Here are questions to consider as you amp-up your data management repertoire.
Collaboration – What tools can you provide that make it easy for end users to share and collaborate on various types of work? Are users able to get information anywhere, anytime using cloud-based tools like Office 365 or Dropbox? Are there clients that might benefit from collaboration tools you can build yourself?
Best practices –
Are you handling archiving for things like file storage and email? Can you provide an easy way for customers to access old data? What about version control and basic file organization? Do customers know when or how to archive information? Are they familiar with how to save space and reduce clutter on file shares? How can you take some of the data organizing burden off their shoulders?
Storing and managing data is just the start. Keeping data backed up and accessible after something bad happens is another way MSPs can mine gold. For many, the conversation starts and ends at basic backups, but the real benefit you can provide is eliminating downtime – not just preventing data loss. The cost of downtime varies depending on the business (here’s
how to find out your downtime cost), but according to
Gartner, it can cost as much as $5,600 a minute! Make sure clients understand that backups are just protection from losing data – they don’t prevent the costly downtime without the right software, equipment, and
DR planning. Encourage them to invest in systems that offer a smooth,
fast path to recovery after hardware failures, user errors, or even natural disasters. Tools like these pay for themselves.
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Data Storage
- Visibility – Do you have an eye on drives that might be getting full? Are you making sure storage can scale up without time-consuming migrations or pricey hardware upgrades? Have you considered scale-out storage to add space as needed?
- Access – Can you tell your clients who accessed what information and when? Clients in the healthcare field must have this kind of visibility to be HIPAA Compliant, which makes this type of information critical.
- Security – Are you ensuring that critical data is encrypted? Do you provide physical security to keep bad folks out?
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Data Management
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Data Backup and Recovery
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Data Analytics as a Service
- Setup and Management – There are plenty of off-the-shelf data analytics tools your clients can use, such as Domo or Dundas BI. With tools like these, you can earn a fee helping clients get set up and integrating them with existing systems, but that may be the end of it.
- White Labeling – Analytics tools like Keen IO let you white-label their tools as your own, so you can sell and manage them for your clients. This way, you can earn monthly revenue from each client using the tools.
- Custom Development – Go big or go home. Custom developing data analytics apps is tough, but with the right specialists and open-source tools like Hadoop, you can build awesome tools for customers and start counting fat stacks while you’re at it.