MSPmentor

If you can sneak away from the office, feel free to join me at one or more of the following events on February 7, February 14 and March 30-April 1. Each event is designed for managed service providers, solutions providers and small business owners. The events have different themes and formats, but all of them will extensively cover the managed services space.

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If you’re in the managed services market, no doubt you’ve noticed a lot of merger and acquisition activity in recent months. That got us thinking: Is there a way for managed service providers to easily follow M&As as they happen? Also, is there an easy way to research the strategic business value (and financial value) of MSPs?

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Generally speaking, software as a service (SaaS) is a great business model for tech companies and their customers. But a flood of press coverage has suggested that SaaS specialists are immune to an economic slowdown or recession.

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Chances are, plenty of managed service providers are popping up in your neighborhood. In addition to worrying about local competition, you better keep an eye on global competition. A case in point: Sify Technologies Ltd. of India is launching managed security services that have global reach. Here’s why you should care.

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The MSPmentor 100, our look at the world’s most progressive managed service providers, is now available as a single PDF file for you to download. You’ll find the PDF for free in our MSPmentor Resource Center (registration required). The PDF download allows you to read our comprehensive managed services report off-line at your leisure. Or, you can continue to read the report online by visiting our MSPmentor 100 main content area.

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Earlier this decade, I was guilty of sounding the compliance alarm. I moderated dozens of CIO events focused on Sarbanes-Oxley, HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) and other corporate compliance mandates. These days, PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) has our collective attention, and clear implications for managed service providers. Here’s why.

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Look out, Geek Squad. Managed service providers are striving to remotely troubleshoot consumer PCs. Toward that end, DirectPointe building closer working relationships with broadband service providers and Internet service providers. DirectPointe’s partners, in turn, expect to offer remote PC management services to consumers.

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I still maintain that no tech sector is immune to an economic slowdown. But even the biggest bears have to admit the bull run continues for the managed services sector. The latest example: Nimsoft’s 2007 revenue hit $29.4 million, up 77 percent from 2006.

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In addition to running content for MSPmentor and The VAR Guy, I blog about Cisco and unified communications for NetWorldWorld (see Joe’s Eye on Cisco). While surfing across the NetworkWorld site today, I spotted this timely podcast about “Living in a SaaS World.” You ‘ll notice that it features Jeff Kaplan of ThinkStrategies. Kaplan is pretty prolific in all things SaaS (software as a service) and managed services.

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The MSPmentor 100 — our look at 100 of the world’s top managed service providers — is now available for your review. Before you dive into the list and the associated charts, here’s some background on how MSPmentor and its parent, Nine Lives Media Inc., pulled together this managed services report.

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Updated January 26: All of our MSPmentor 100 member companies are now plotted on this map. You can zoom in, get a quick snapshot of each company and then click out to each company’s Web site. Don’t forget to look at the MSPmentor members located outside of the U.S. And be sure to check the entire MSPmentor 100 list and associated report on January 28.

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It’s no secret that economic indicators point to a possible US recession in 2008. Financial markets have recently declined, driving key stock indexes to their lowest levels in more than a year. In an economic downturn, some businesses are more vulnerable to recession than others.

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We are updating MSPmentor’s Events Calendar with key conferences, Web seminars and executive summits designed for managed service providers. Here’s a quick look at three events I plan to attend over the next few weeks.

• February 7, Philadelphia – Executive Luncheon: Do IT Smarter, Xerox, MX Logic and Sonic Wall are hosting a luncheon for established and aspiring managed service providers. I attended one of these luncheons in Boston in December 2007. It was a great opportunity to network with a few dozen VARs and to begin to learn more about hardware-as-a-service opportunities, particularly managed print services. Do IT Smarter also described how you can get into the managed services market without writing out a huge check to start. More Info Here.

• February 14, New York – Breakfast on Broadway: I will be one of the keynote speakers at an event hosted by Telehouse America. We’ll explore how small and midsize businesses are embracing management services — and we’ll examine many of the challenges facing MSPs and the broader software-as-a-service market. For more information, you can email me (joe [at] ninelivesmediainc.com).

• March 30-April 1 – MSP Alliance Atlanta Conference: A great destination for anyone who is seeking to network with MSP platform providers, VARs, integrators and the managed services community. More Info Here.

If you’d like to connect with me at the events, please email me (joe [at] ninelivesmediainc.com).We’ll be adding plenty of additional events to the calendar over the next few weeks.

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Michael Dell is making another managed services move, this time in the voice-over-IP space. Dell has quietly inked a partnership with an open source voice-over-IP company. The deal potentially pushes Dell into several new markets, including managed voice services and unified communications. The move may also complement Dell’s recent MSP acquisitions (Silverback Technologies and Everdream). Here’s the inside scoop.

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I had another lengthly chat with Autotask CEO Bob Godgart earlier this week. The conversation touched on multiple points. For this particular blog entry, I’m zeroing in on Autotask Go!, an entry-level platform that allows small VARs to get started with professional services automation. Autotask has learned quite a bit about the small VAR market since launching Go! last fall.

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Here’s a look at seven key trends from the MSPmentor 100, a first-of-its-kind research report identifying 100 of the world’s most progressive managed service providers. We’ll publish the complete MSPmentor 100 list and analysis on January 28, In the meantime, here’s a preview of our findings:

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Nobody, it seems, is immune to an economic slowdown.

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Back in December, I blogged a bit about video surveillance as a managed service, and the rise of Managed Video Service Providers. Readers sent me plenty of emails and questions about both posts. But it wasn’t until last week, when I spoke with Envysion CEO Matt Steinfort, that I began to realize some of the new video opportunities awaiting managed service providers.

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From EMC to Symantec, storage companies want their piece of the managed services pie. Toward that end, EMC is launching a software-as-a-service platform that allows customers to backup their information to EMC data centers. Meanwhile, Symantec is putting the final touches on its Symantec Protection Network — which will allow VARs to offer storage management services to their customers.

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Even amid a questionable economy, John Roberts (pictured) sounds upbeat. As CEO of SugarCRM, Roberts leads one of Silicon Valley’s fastest-growing open source software providers. But that’s not all. SugarCRM also offers its software as a service (SaaS).

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It’s one small piece of information that provides big-time hope to the managed services market. Kaseya says its annual revenue more than doubled in 2007 compared to 2006. Solutions providers can breathe a collective sigh of relief — at least for the next few weeks — as they digest the Kaseya news. But we should all keep the news in perspective. Here’s why.

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Many managed service providers are launching corporate blogs to get their message out to the masses and build stronger user communities. Do corporate blogs really deliver results? Absolutely — if you get up to speed fast. But if you don’t master the art of blogging, you’ll fall on your face in a very public way. Here are five secrets to success with corporate blogging.

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Hot markets often lead to hot job titles. Editors who leap from print to online want to become chief content officers or chief bloggers. In the channel, the hottest title right now seems to be VP of managed services — someone who is responsible for driving an organization’s go-to-market strategy in the managed service provider sector.

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