MSPmentor

Many managed service providers and VARs struggle with day-to-day cash management, customer invoicing and bill payments. I can’t endorse a particular solution to these challenges, but a software as a service (SaaS) outfit called Bill.com caught my eye earlier today.

Bill.com claims its service can automate bill payment, e-invoicing and collections, and help to improve cash flow management. But what really impressed me is Bill.com’s viral marketing strategy — which managed service providers can certainly emulate on their own. Here’s how. Read More >

MSPmentor will be blogging live from a Managed Services Luncheon on February 28 in New York, NY. The event, hosted by Do IT Smarter, Xerox and MX Logic, seeks to educate VARs about managed services opportunities.

During similar events held in Boston and Philadelphia, attendees learned key steps to offering hardware as a service and managed print services.

For more information about the New York event on February 28, check out our expanding events calendar and map. We plan to blog live from multiple upcoming events, including the MSP Alliance’s Managed Services Summit, scheduled for March 30 - April 1 in Atlanta.

When it comes to managed services partnerships, Tech Data’s strategy can be summed up in four words: The more the merrier. The big distributor has inked an MSP platform partnership with Zenith Infotech. The deal comes only a few weeks after Tech Data partnered to offer managed print services.

So far, 2008 is shaping up to be the year that distributors solidified key partnerships and programs across the managed services market. All of the major players — Arrow, Avnet, Ingram Micro, Tech Data, Synnex, etc. — are making MSP-related moves.

And for good reason. While some skeptics worry about managed services becoming a commodity, MSPmentor anticipates a different market scenario: As VARs continue to embrace managed services platforms, they will begin to layer on new, higher-margin services such as video surveillance and unified communications. For a peek at these emerging services, check out MSPmentor’s Managed Services Hype Cycle, which is based on Gartner’s classic technology hype cycle curve.

Or, continue along with this blog post for more on the Tech Data-Zenith Infotech relationship. Read More >

We all talk about how difficult it is to grow our sales. Is there a magic bullet? What can you use as a door opener so you can promote your managed services? Let’s focus on what small to medium size businesses (SMB) are looking for.

According to top publications and research groups, business owners and managers in the SMB market are most interested in three services: (1) Unified Communications/VOIP; (2) Security; and (3) Data protection/storage. To attract the SMB’s attention, satisfy one if not all of these needs. Read More >

After a year of anticipation, Symantec finally launched its managed service/software-as-a-service platform today. The Symantec Protection Network (SPN) initially supports storage services, with security services expected to arrive later this year or sometime in 2009.

Right out of the gate, SPN offers close integration with Symantec Backup Exec. That’s an important point: Hooks between SPN and Backup Exec could provide VARs and MSPs with a powerful one-two punch in the managed services market. Here’s why. Read More >

For the second time in a week, I’m hearing buzz about managed service providers working more closely with Amazon.com’s Simple Storage Service (also known as Amazon S3). For MSPs, the trick is embracing a reliable back-end storage service without mitigating your own brand in the market. Read More >

In the world of journalism, there’s an old saying: “Three’s a trend.” I thought of that truism this morning when I learned Tech Data plans to offer VMware to its resellers. Managed service providers should take note. In addition to Tech Data, at least two MSP platform providers are striving to help VARs more effectively manage virtualized servers.

You should expect a steady stream of virtualization-related MSP news over the next few weeks and months. Even though VMware sales recently fell short of Wall Street’s aggressive expectations, demand for virtualized servers and even desktops continues to grow rapidly. The virtualization craze has triggered new opportunities — and challenges — for MSPs and their customers. Read More >

If I was managed service provider, I’d target a market niche real fast and dig real deep. Or I’d go broad really fast by offering a lengthly list of managed services. The reason: Big technology companies are realizing that can no longer afford to ignore the MSP and software-as-a-service (SaaS) markets.

EMC and SAP, for instance, are discussing a potential relationship that could allow EMC to host SAP applications for small businesses. The discussions have surfaced only a few weeks after EMC unveiled a SaaS-based storage service.

Read More >