A particular shout-out and thanks to Russ Atkin for his thought management and invaluable insights on the service creation course of, which impressed the writing of this weblog.
In my earlier weblog, I explored how Cisco ThousandEyes empowers Managed Service Suppliers (MSPs) to ship excellent consumer experiences by offering unparalleled visibility into community and software efficiency. As we proceed to delve deeper into the potential of leveraging ThousandEyes, this weblog will try to offer steerage, construction, and finest practices for MSPs to think about as they journey by the method of making or enhancing a service providing round this highly effective instrument.
Why Digital Expertise Assurance (DXA) Is More and more Essential
The significance of DXA can’t be overstated. In response to the survey and evaluation within the 2024 World Developments Report, 40% of IT leaders and professionals imagine that the community can positively impression buyer and worker experiences, thereby advancing digital enterprise initiatives. Moreover, 75% of those leaders plan to deploy instruments inside the subsequent two years that supply end-to-end visibility by way of a single console throughout varied community domains. Nevertheless, 35% at the moment lack visibility into full community paths, together with web and cloud networks, and solely 39% have both restricted visibility or full visibility utilizing a number of consoles into digital experiences between customers, units, functions, and providers.
This hole in visibility and the rising complexity of community environments underscore the escalating want for complete DXA options. By addressing these challenges, MSPs can place themselves as indispensable companions of their purchasers’ digital transformation journeys.
The Alternative for MSPs
The pattern in direction of DXA presents a golden alternative for MSPs to face out in a aggressive market. By providing providers that guarantee persistently dependable experiences throughout customers, units, functions, and providers, MSPs can differentiate themselves. With 38% of respondents anticipating their digital expertise assurance to be AI-enabled sooner or later, there’s a clear demand for superior, clever options.
ThousandEyes, with its strong observability capabilities, equips MSPs with the important instruments to ship a high-quality expertise. It addresses a big selection of vital use circumstances for contemporary companies, starting from community, and software efficiency monitoring, to person expertise, and safety compliance monitoring. By leveraging ThousandEyes’ end-to-end visibility and complete efficiency insights, MSPs can proactively resolve points, optimize community efficiency, and improve total buyer satisfaction. This not solely minimizes downtime and operational disruptions for the client, but additionally positions the MSP as leaders in delivering superior digital experiences.
ThousandEyes Licensing Mannequin
To set the stage for the service creation course of, it’s vital to grasp the licensing elements of ThousandEyes for MSPs trying to combine this highly effective instrument into their service choices. ThousandEyes licensing is structured round various kinds of brokers and the consumption related to every. The first license sorts embrace Cloud Brokers, Enterprise Brokers, and Endpoint Brokers, every serving distinct monitoring wants.
- Cloud Brokers: These are globally distributed brokers managed by ThousandEyes, superb for monitoring external-facing functions and providers. They devour models primarily based on the quantity and frequency of exams carried out.
- Enterprise Brokers: Deployed inside a company’s personal community, these brokers present visibility into inner community efficiency and software supply. Unit consumption for Enterprise Brokers is set by the variety of brokers and the amount of exams they carry out.
- Endpoint Brokers: Put in on end-user units, these brokers supply insights into the person expertise from the endpoint perspective. They’re significantly helpful for monitoring distant workforces and distributed environments. Consumption right here relies on the variety of endpoints and the forms of exams executed.
ThousandEyes employs a tiered unit consumption mannequin, enabling MSPs to scale their monitoring capabilities in keeping with their purchasers’ wants. Every check sort—similar to HTTP server exams, web page load exams, transaction exams, and community exams—consumes a selected variety of models. The frequency and complexity of those exams additional affect unit consumption. For example, extra frequent or complicated exams will devour extra models.
This tiered strategy ensures that MSPs can choose the suitable degree of service for his or her purchasers, whether or not they want primary monitoring or complete, enterprise-grade options. By understanding and leveraging this versatile licensing construction, MSPs can successfully handle prices, customise their service providing, whereas delivering high-value providers tailor-made to the particular necessities of their clients.
Creating a brand new ThousandEyes managed providers providing includes a number of key steps and issues. To assist MSPs perceive the service creation course of and the associated thought course of, let’s overview the method at a excessive degree:
- Assess Present Providers and Buyer Demographics:
- Evaluate current providers to establish gaps and alternatives for enhancement with ThousandEyes.
- Perceive the client base, together with trade challenges, service combine, and goal buyer profiles.
- Brainstorm/Ideation of Enhanced Capabilities:
- Conduct brainstorming periods to combine enhanced capabilities and customer-focused outcomes into the service choices.
- Take into account a “Good-Higher-Greatest” strategy to handle varied market segments.
- Design a Tiered Service Mannequin:
- Develop a tiered service mannequin (e.g. Important, Benefit, Premier) to cater to completely different buyer wants and budgets.
- Every tier ought to supply progressively extra superior options and help.
- Introduce Service Tokens (Elective):
- Implement a service token system for ad-hoc actions, permitting clients to pool or carry ahead tokens for versatile service consumption.
- Tokens can characterize a greenback worth or unit of labor and be supplied as a part of the month-to-month cost.
- The service catalog ought to specify the amount of tokens required for varied actions, giving clients a finances for ad-hoc duties with out the necessity for buy orders or requisitions.
- This strategy can streamline service supply and improve buyer comfort.
- Develop a Enterprise Case:
- Create a complete enterprise case, together with a Service Duty Matrix (SRM) for every service tier.
- Undertake finest practices by clearly defining and scaling the service tiers to fulfill various buyer wants.
Beneath is an instance of service tiers for a ThousandEyes managed providers providing. Use this as a place to begin and customise the providing primarily based on aims:
- Important Tier: Fundamental CloudApp availability monitoring, customary synthetics (Internet-HTTP & Community-Server), automated notifications of service degradation, and 60-minute testing frequency.
- Benefit Tier: Contains all Important options, real-user monitoring for one web site/internet app, agent-less deployment, automated anomaly notifications, and advisory help throughout enterprise hours.
- Premier Tier: Contains all Benefit options, customized app monitoring with common well being checks, enhanced help and root trigger identification, full workflow instrumentation, and dependency observability for third-party providers.
Key issues within the service providing ought to embrace buyer interplay, scalability, integration with current buyer infrastructure, and strong help choices similar to a 24/7 assist desk and technical help.
Develop a advertising and gross sales technique by figuring out and concentrating on particular buyer segments that may profit most from the ThousandEyes managed providers. Clearly articulate the worth proposition of every service tier and acknowledge the necessity to practice the gross sales staff on the options and advantages of the brand new service providing, enabling them to grasp the important thing variations between the brand new service providing vs. another conventional instruments, monitoring capabilities, and/or current service choices.
Lastly, concentrate on suggestions and steady enchancment by usually accumulating and analyzing buyer suggestions to enhance the service. Monitor key efficiency indicators (KPIs) to make sure the service meets buyer expectations, and repeatedly refine and improve the service primarily based on suggestions and out there metrics.
Seizing the Alternative: Remodeling MSP Service Choices with ThousandEyes for End result-Primarily based Success
By adopting a structured strategy, MSPs can efficiently develop and launch a brand new ThousandEyes managed providers providing that aligns with buyer wants and generates extra income. Using ThousandEyes is a major step in direction of embracing digital enterprise assurance, remodeling reactive, infrastructure-based operations into proactive, data-driven providers. Managed observability gives deep insights into person experiences by correlating telemetry knowledge, delivering useful enterprise outcomes. By understanding buyer demographics and desired outcomes, MSPs can design options that increase current presents, unlocking extra worth for purchasers and positioning themselves to capitalize on the rising observability market.
Interact your Cisco Account Government or Gross sales Enterprise Improvement Supervisor for a collaborative journey by the service creation course of.
Further Assets:
- Go to the Cisco Accomplice Managed Providers SalesConnect web page for recordings of earlier MS VoE periods
- Try my newest blogs for insights into Managed Providers alternatives for MSPs
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