Geeklog Forums

Hi,

I currently manage a company which offer a service called Remote Managed Services, often referred to as RMS, where we assume the responsibility for the deployment and management of all infrastructural IT issues within a business. This includes all the tasks associated with the day to day administration and ongoing management of the network such as user administration, back up monitoring, patch management and software upgrades etc. One of the key elements of the service is that it is proactive. We monitor the network on an ongoing basis and can identify potential issues before they arise. Usually the customer will not even know about a problem as it will have been identified and resolved before they become aware of it. Another unique feature which makes this offering very attractive is that once engaged, we also become the businesses strategic IT partner, consulting with them on how they can align IT with business drivers, and helping them to make investment decisions at a more strategic level so that they will have a more measurable impact on the overall business performance.

Many of our competitors offer services which they also refer to as 'Remote Managed Services' or 'Remote Management'. To varying degrees, the fundamental difference between our service and what is offered by our competitors is that they simply respond remotely to issues on the network as they arise. A user reports a problem to them and they dial in remotely to fix it. Really this service is equivalent to what you could descibe as a reactive remotely managed network maintenance contract. Usually these offerings have no proactive element nor does the IT service provider act as a strategic IT partner.

I was wondering if anyone had any ideas of new names for our offering which descibes more accurately what the service entails and which adequately differentiates our service from that offered by the competition ?

That`s more a question for marketing guys not IT. Generally speaking the name of a company is not so terribly important. There are many examples for a strange name finding its way to consumers. It is more the complete set of communication that has to be looked at. The name, the claim, the logo, the total appearance. Maybe you look for similar trades and analyse how they do it?

I just thought of "Johnson Electric Service Company" which was renamed in 1974 "Johnson Controls". This sounds more modern but does not say what they really do.

If you look at their website http://www.johnsoncontrols.com/publish/us/en.html you will see 3 main sections they work in. Automotive Experience, Power Solutions, Building Efficiency. Now this is a step clearer to explain their work and also attitude. Someone who delivers automotive experiences will not only produce plastic car components.

This reminds me of an old ad by Ogilvy. It was about Rolls Royce cars and the main header was something like: the only thing you hear (at speed 1xx) is the ticking of the clock. It is in the book "Confessions of an Advertising Man" by David Ogilvy.

Anyway you have to transport this consequently on your website and any outbound communication. The worst collection of advertising can be found in IT magazines...