There are several ways to store data using different RAID levels:

- RAID 0, also known as data striping, distributes data across drives which results in higher data throughout. However, since it has no data redundancy, it does not protect against data loss.

- RAID 1, also known as drive mirroring, works by simultaneously copying data to a second drive so no data is lost if there is drive failure.

- RAID 2 uses Hamming error correction codes and is proposed for use with drives which don’t have built-in error detection.

- RAID 3 stripes data at a byte level across several drives storing parity (a form of data protection used to recreate data of a failed drive in a disk array) on a single drive.

- RAID 4 stripes data at a block level across several drives, with parity being stored on one drive. The parity information allows for recovery from failure of any single drive.

- RAID 5 is similar to RAID 4 except for fact that it distributes parity among drives.

With use of RAID systems, there is no reason to be intimidated by computer systems.

3. Who will sell it?

This might be number one question being asked right now. Selling technology to "post chasm buyers" is not an easy thing to do. In my seminars I always ask group to help me measure percentage of successful sales people. In addition, I am looking for average time it takes a new sales person to get up to speed. In some cases I have found companies who have gone through dozens of sales people over last three years, trying to find someone who can bring in enough gross profit to pay for themselves and offer a sound return on investment for company. Bringing in a cold caller to find new customers that want their systems monitored may not be best approach.

Michael Bosworth, in his book, Customer Centric Selling calls for Marketing to get involved here (or perhaps person doing marketing function - that might be you). The message needs to be built; He calls this "Sales ready messaging". Michael Gerber, in his book eMyth Revisited, urges his readers to prototype message - don't leave it to each person's interpretation and style. Once we have a proven message, there is a process to systematize it. In other words, create message, get it right, and then use it as long as it works.

Once we have a message, we need to find every channel that can be used to sell solution. At this point I recommend finding teachable people within your organization that will go out with you to learn message. If there is a value to service, and we are convinced customers we deal with need it, then our task is to show them need in a way that is so compelling that it will lead to a sale. Bosworth says, 3% of people know they need something, 97% don't but can be shown. Your engineers may be your best candidates at this point.

4. Will it be profitable?

It will be profitable if we price it right. Managed services is a different kind of solution because, depending on how it is built, we may not know cost of goods sold (COGS) before we sell it. One way to approach this is by having a system in place to measure engineering time (others may involve pricing out certain types of reactive services outside of contract until cost model is developed). Some companies offer unlimited helpdesk support to end-user customer, others offer a certain number of incidents. Some offer patches in contract, troubleshooting onsite, etc. If you don't track your costs you won't know what profit looks like. At end of day, you are looking for high margins on managed services. If you are not seeing three times your burden rate over year, your margins are too thin on this offering.