• New acting MD for Telkom unit
  Pierre Marais will look after the company's data centre division until a permanent appointment is made.
• Simeka beats downturn
  The group grew revenue during the last year, despite the challenging economic environment.
• Another Shoden fillip for Faritec
  Shoden's former MD joins Faritec, which has been without a CEO since May.

• Telcos outsource network management
• GRC in the cloud
• Rise in outsourced IT operations

Master Managed Service Provider

Master MSP or MMSP describes an organisation that hosts one or more managed service 'point solutions' for resale through an indirect channel of technology solution providers. A Master MSP allows technology service providers, value-added resellers and other managed service providers access to hosted, managed service point solutions generally on a pay-as-you-go-model.

Garth Hayward, regional manager for Africa, Kaseya

As this is the first edition of the managed services newsletter I thought it would be appropriate to define and discuss exactly what is meant by the term IT managed services provider (MSP).

Wikipedia defines an MSP as "an IT services provider who manages and assumes responsibility for providing a defined set of services to their clients either proactively or as they (not the client) determine that the services are needed, usually for a fixed monthly fee".

In practice, this is an attractive and rewarding value proposition for the key stake holders. MSP service automation platforms have the added advantage of ensuring that the mundane but extremely important daily IT tasks required to ensure MSPs meet the SLA conditions contracted between MSPs and their customers are met.

Automation is key for South African MSPs as it increases the productivity by at least 300% (and growing) in the amount of end points each technician can manage and maintain.

Given the shortage of qualified IT technical personnel in SA, perhaps it is no small wonder that its claims to be the fastest growing sector in the IT services market are justified.

• IS maintains availability with APC
  Internet Solutions has kept its hosting centre up and running for more than eight months.
• Workshop to deliver data warehousing insights
  The ITWeb Data Warehousing post-conference workshop will discuss operational BI and the changing face of the data warehouse.
• Security-as-a-service extends to enterprise
  McAfee unveils the Total Protection Service update, broadening its SaaS offerings to enterprise customers.
• TCS brings healthcare solution
  Tata Consultancy Services` BI dashboard provides an overview of both patient care delivery and business operations.
• Choose the right MSP
  The margin for error when choosing a managed services provider has narrowed considerably, says Yossi Hasson, CEO of Synaq.
• CA SA breaks free with EOH
  The business is now owned by EOH, but CA will still have access to its former parent's international resources.
• UCS seeks global expansion
  The sale of its enterprise solutions unit is expected to bolster annuity revenue for its managed services division.
• Aegis invests in local BPO
  The Indian company moves into SA, saying it is an increasingly attractive destination for outsourcing.

Publisher - Jovan Regasek  |   Editor-in-chief - Ranka Jovanovic  |   Editor - Kirsten Doyle