Channel Futures: What development in the retail market should MSPs be aware of?
Jim Roddy: Before, point-of-sale technology operated separately from other technology in the store, and much of it needed to be programmed and updated on premises. Now, in most stores, all technology is tied into the network and much of the data is in the cloud, a setup that’s more familiar to MSPs. Also, POS hardware used to be a foreign technology MSPs would have to learn from the ground up. But, with so many POS systems now running on tablets and iPads, much of the hardware is standardized and easier to grasp.
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CF: Why is retail a growth opportunity for different channel partners? Specifically, what are the recurring revenue opportunities?
JR: Retail IT solution providers used to sell systems that required a big check upfront and a smaller service contract in the months that followed. That all changed when credit card processing became integrated with the point of sale software. VARs and MSPs started getting a cut of every credit card transaction, and that one recurring revenue service alone has been very lucrative for their businesses. That sparked retail IT solution providers to seek additional recurring revenue opportunities.
Now the list of products and services they resell has grown to nearly 50 items. Among those are traditional services like BDR, remote monitoring, and firewall management as well as market-specific offerings such as digital signage as a service, gift cards, online ordering and menu management.
