Some further thoughts on SBS 2008 Wow and MSP Hybrid

The system we are working on has some time to go before the factory recovery is complete ... and no free workstation. :)
SBS 2008 has a new reporting and backup system in place.
As has been mentioned here before, we provide a managed services hybrid to most of our clients that include rotating their backups every two weeks. We read our SBS daily reports every morning over tea or coffee ... and we get paid to do that.
The new reporting setup in SBS 2008 provides an awesome way, and an included one at that, to introduce a monthly billing structure to clients.
The SBS 2008 reports blow away what we receive from SBS 2003 because they include workstation status too. To repeat: All workstations on the network have their status published in the reports.
What better way than that to get going on introducing a proactive infrastructure management setup with the client.
How can you beat that? License System Center Essentials 2007 ... or other MSP product ... when a good portion of the shop's clients are online with the proactive monitoring. And with this type of setup, the value of the service increases, so too does the revenue stream!
After all, we are already receiving the SBS daily status report e-mail are we not? If not, then that is a business opportunity and steady revenue stream being missed!
The next step: Adding services such as ExchangeDefender and AuthAnvil and more to further develop the services repertoire. From there, it is backup rotations, off-site storage, and whatever service we can dream of.
The sky is the limit ... we need only get out of our break/fix box and head on up! :)
Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
http://blog.mpecsinc.ca/
Sent from an SBS integrated Windows Mobile Phone.