The average solution provider earns more than half of its revenue and profit through professional services — they are the single most profitable offering in a solution provider’s portfolio. This makes sense because services are the “value-add” that makes the channel lucrative.

Professional services do have limitations, though: They don’t scale well, they’re dependent on human resources, and they take time to build and effort to maintain.

Increasingly, solution providers are looking to vendors, distributors and partners to augment their professional services capabilities and capacities. What they can’t build on their own, they partner or subcontract to ensure customers get what they need.

Already there are numerous examples of organizations, such as distributors or independent professional services companies, that offer these resources to solution providers. Some models have solution providers reselling other companies’ professional services. Others have professional services staff members performing work under the solution provider’s brand. Still others enable solution providers to build entire professional services practices based on outsourced resources.

Of course, some solution providers also choose to go on their own in building and maintaining professional services groups.

Which model or approach is right? That’s the big question.

The 2112 Group and Ingram Micro have teamed up to study the channel’s professional services needs. By participating in our survey, you will help us develop valuable insights into the state of professional services in the channel, the preferred partnership models, and how to develop new systems that ensure solution providers get the professional services they need.

Take the 2112-Ingram Micro Professional Service Survey today by clicking here. All participants will receive a summary of the survey results.