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Mumbai-based Acma Computers decided to enter the RIMS business in early 2008. After conducting trials of software from N-Able, Zenith SaaZ and Kaseya, the company finally launched its RIMS services in mid-2008 using Kaseya’s platform.
Investment
Acma invested Rs 8 lakh in setting up the hardware infrastructure for a six-seat NOC, and Rs 4 lakh on Internet connectivity and the licensing of 1,000 end-points of the MSP platform. “We also hired two senior people trained on the MSP platform to manage the RIMS NOC and drive our services operations,” informs Selarka.
Services
“We provide complete coverage of all hardware, software and even user-related problems with proactive management,” says Selarka. In addition, the company has built several managed services around the basic offering. These include bundling a one-year license of antivirus, data backup and special packages for the stock-broker community with higher uptime SLAs and added features.
Strategy
With 10,000 devices under AMC management, Acma’s entry strategy was to convert 10 percent of these devices under RIMS in the first year, which it has achieved. “We approached AMC customers with 30-day trials for remotely managing their critical infrastructure. Post-trial we shared our findings with the IT managers and pointed out the various instances that had been proactively managed to prevent future failure. This clinched the deal for us with most customers,” explains Selarka.
Profitability
Acma says that operationally it reached break-even within 10 months of starting the business. “From an investment perspective, we should break-even this year. Wherever RIMS has been deployed we have reduced our overall onsite support cost by almost 25 percent,” states Selarka adding that the biggest profit-booster has been increased customer satisfaction.
Acma recently signed a deal to buy 10,000 more end-point licenses from Kaseya. It expects 40 percent of the AMC nodes to come under RIMS this year.
Selarka is also looking to launch a channel program. “We intend to rope in channels by providing them the opportunity to sell our RIMS offerings. Partners can offer Acma’s services to customers on a trial basis. They can experiment with RIMS without having to make huge investments for setting up their own NOC initially. Once they are convinced about the business model they can take a call about investing in their own NOC.”
His advice to those eyeing the RIMS business? “This is not a short-term game. It requires capital investment, the patience to educate clients, and constant improvement in service delivery process.” |