Background

Download the 2008 Managed Services Study Prospectus

SSPA and its sister associations, TPSA and AFSMI, are joining together to create our first ever in-depth benchmarking study in which member companies of all three associations can participate. The topic of this study will be Managed Services.

Over the past 18 months, TPSA has created opportunities for members to participate in focused benchmarking studies that go beyond the core research that forms the basis of our primary datasets. This program was created at the urging of the TPSA Advisory Board and represents a significant value-add for the members.  Three studies were completed by TPSA in 2007—Compensation, Market Rates, and PS Project Performance, and the 2008 edition of the TPSA Market Rates Study has just been completed.

Key Questions to be Addressed
Pending Steering Committee approval, the study will address the following questions:

• What types of services do companies offer under the banner of managed services?
• What does the financial model look like for a managed services business in terms of achieved margins, required investments and expected operating income?
• What are the key metrics organizations are using to evaluate their managed services business?
• What are expected results for these key metrics?
• Are there key differences between high performing and average performing managed services businesses?

Process

1. Every TPSA, SSPA, and AFSMI corporate member organization is entitled to participate in the 2008 Managed Services Study.
2. There is no maximum number of contributing participants. We will continue to accept new participants through September 5th.
3. The results of the study will be anonymous. Participants responses will not be associated with company or company representatives names in any reports, presentations, webcasts, or other disseminations of the results of the study.
4. TPSA/SSPA/AFSMI Research staff will administer the survey, perform a detailed analysis of the survey results, and create all deliverables, including a webcast readout and full Research Report.

Deliverables
Contributing Participants will be provided the following deliverables:

• Participants-only results webcast
• Study report in PPT format
• Data file with study results
• 60 minutes of inquiry time with TPSA/SSPA/AFSMI research analysts to address specific questions about the study

How to Participate
If your company is interested in becoming a contributing participant in this study, please contact your membership development director, or contact us at info@thesspa.com or 858-674-5491.

NOTE: Once the analysis is complete, only Contributing Participants will have access to the detailed Study results. Upon completion of the Study, SSPA, TPSA and AFSMI retain the right to refer to high-level Study results in member webcasts, event presentations and other Association Research. After a quarantine period of four months, Study results will be made available to the broader membership. At no time will Study results be made available to non-member companies. At no time will participating companies be identified outside of the participant group itself.