The managed services provider’s (MSP) primary mission is to prevent downtime for the customer. Savvy MSPs know that going beyond simply monitoring power and cooling for online/offline status is critical to deliver on their service level agreements (SLAs) and ensure uptime of their customers’ edge computing infrastructure.
Given recent events and the ensuing surge of businesses adopting more flexible work-from-home policies, the need for remote power and cooling managed services has never been more evident.
APC by Schneider Electric makes it easy for MSPs to deliver remote power and cooling managed services through its cloud-based platform, EcoStruxure™ IT.
The platform enables MSPs to monitor and maintain power supplies and environmental conditions in addition to workstations, laptops, servers, storage, and networking gear. This opens another opportunity for the MSP to add value and meet availability commitments to customers.
This is especially significant in edge computing environments consisting of hundreds or thousands of unstaffed remote sites that are critical to business operations. Without reliable power, the infrastructure cannot run. Once customers understand this, they are likely to make the necessary investments in power and cooling services.
Top Reasons to Add Managed Power and Cooling Services
Here are five compelling reasons for MSPs to add power and cooling to their managed services portfolio:
1. Maximizing Availability
Power and cooling is the one common thread across the entire IT environment. Managing power and cooling, in addition to IT systems, ensures the environment functions at optimal levels, which is crucial to maximizing system availability. This is especially critical at unstaffed edge computing sites.
2. Easy Integration with Monitoring Tools
APC provides an API (application programming interface) to integrate EcoStruxure IT with RMM (remote monitoring and management) and PSA (professional services automation) platforms, making it easier for MSPs to offer power and cooling managed services. APC devices such as Smart-UPS have EcoStruxure-ready capabilities that help facilitate a seamless integration.
3. SLA Compliance
Managed services SLAs include availability commitments to customers. As a result, they expect the physical infrastructure to run uninterrupted. To avoid downtime — and unhappy customers — MSPs should manage both the power and environmental conditions. Managed PDUs help ensure optimal temperature and humidity to prevent device damage caused by environmental conditions. EcoStruxure IT provides actionable, data-driven insights based on industry benchmarks and best practices that extend the life of the equipment and ensure uptime, making it easier for MSPs to achieve SLA compliance.
4. Device Lifecycle Management
Uptime’s 2019 Data Center Industry Survey Results recently highlighted that power loss was the biggest cause of outages. With that in mind, the role of a UPS becomes even more mission-critical in maintaining uptime.
Remote monitoring enables MSPs to proactively track UPS battery health and avoid a scenario of replacing batteries in an emergency when a customer’s IT stack goes down. Scheduled maintenance is always better than emergency maintenance.
5. Natural Service Extension
Many MSPs already sell power and cooling anyway, so turning it into a managed service makes sense. In addition to their margin on the sale, they now also have an opportunity for recurring revenue. It’s a natural extension of the services MSPs already deliver — and allows them to deliver even more value to their customers.
Access Power and Cooling Managed Services Resources
The need for MSPs to add power and cooling services has never been greater. For one thing, edge deployments are growing. According to Grand View Research, the global edge market is on track to reach USD 43.4 billion by 2027. On top of that, the potential for an emergency is always there, and as companies set up more employees to work at home to ensure business continuity, they need to think about power and cooling to protect remote environments.
Ready to get started on this opportunity? Learn how EcoStruxure IT enables MSPs to gain additional revenue streams and better serve their customers.
