Introduction In our last article (https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/outsource-managed-service-anthony-king) we outlined the differences between outsourcing and managed services and concluded that they have converged to so much that are now essentially the same thing. We also highlighted the tremendous growth opportunity in the mid-market. In this article we are going to take a closer look at that opportunity and to provide some notes for consumers to use to assess their potential partners are, and a few thoughts for managed service providers on where they need to focus their attention. “This is the future of our company” says cloud services provider, Rackspace, as it announces it is returning to its ‘fanatical support’ roots in managed…

Introduction In recent years the differences between outsourcing and managed services have become much more difficult to resolve as IT service providers have progressively offered more sophisticated, and a broader ranges of services, to meet new client demand, technology developments and to compete more effectively for new business. In this article we take a look at these two approaches to see what the remaining differences are! In a follow-on article we will then take a much closer look at the future of managed services, particularly in a high-growth mid-market. Outsource vs. Managed Service? If you ask 10 people to define ‘Outsource’ and ‘Managed Service’ you will probably get 10 different…