MSPmentor

Autotask has confirmed plans to host its first worldwide customer conference, March 29-31, 2009 at the Nashville Gaylord Opryland (pictured) in Tennessee. According to a press release, the event — titled Autoask Community Live! — will be open to all Autotask Customers and technology partners.

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For many entrepreneurs and executives, emotions don’t have a place at work. I have met and worked for many senior managers who expect employees to show up in uniform, ready to play, with their game face on. I have also been that manager at times—the one with his own problems who just wishes everyone would do their jobs without complaint and let me do mine.

If only people-management were that simple! In fact, emotions rule in the workplace, whether you want to admit it or not. You think the fight your top tech expert had last night with her husband doesn’t affect you? That you can turn your back when one of your salespeople tells you he’s being ridden so hard by his sales manager that he can’t focus? That it’s not your problem when a customer made your customer service manager break into tears?

I’ve been giving a lot of thought lately to the impact of emotions at work as I go through the process of becoming certified as an Emotional Intelligence coach. There are a variety of emotional intelligence skills noted by Genos America, an expert in the field. They are emotional self-awareness, emotional expression, emotional awareness of others, emotional reasoning, emotional self-management, emotional management of others, and emotional self-control.

The other day I was working with a client on emotional awareness of others–the skill of perceiving and understanding others’ emotions. After taking a self-assessment and having several people from her organization take the assessment to score her, she found that while her self-score was high, the score given to her by her raters was quite low. The ratings were based on how frequently she identifies the way people feel about issues at work, understands what causes people to feel specific emotions, and demonstrates an understanding of others’ feelings at work.

She said something interesting when reflecting on her results. “I care really deeply about my people, but I guess I don’t always show it.” Wow, you don’t hear management types show that degree of self-assessment very often! She’s now doing a fieldwork assignment to think about a situation where emotional awareness was important to a business outcome, what she could have done better, actions she can take to develop her skill and how she’ll be able to measure her progress.

Have you had an interesting Emotional Intelligence experience in the workplace? Let me know.

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As part of its managed services push into New York, Dell posted the following information video on YouTube. It features Ted Colpo, director of SMB services marketing at Dell.

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Forgive me for blowing MSPmentor’s own horn. But I’ve noticed a range of vendors now marketing their IT solutions directly to our MSPmentor 100 companies.

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An economic crisis can be scary. But silent leadership can compound employees’ fears. Savvy managed service providers (MSPs) like masterIT, ranked No. 6 on our MSPmentor 100 list, are working overtime to communicate with their employees during these stressful times.

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Dell Channel Chief Greg Davis continues to maintain an open door policy with managed service providers. In a September 26 blog post, Davis describes Dell’s strategy for:

• Registering partner deals
• Pricing
• Maintaining transparency with partners

Davis’ blog post attempts to clarify some points related to Dell’s MSP move into New York. Some media outlets criticized the move. Davis even linked to a ChannelInsider blog post that questioned Dell’s MSP strategy, though he found some balance by also linking to an upbeat perspective from eWeek.

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The market for hosted Exchange Server services is getting pretty darn crowded. The latest entrant is Tech Data Corp., which has signed a partnership with USA.NET to offer hosted Exchange Server, SharePoint and BlackBerry services to VARs and solutions providers.

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Should you build your own network operation center (NOC), leverage a partner’s NOC, or do both? To explore this managed service provider challenge, please register now for our next MSPmentor Live: CEO Exchange webcast. It’s scheduled for Thursday, October 2 at 2:00 p.m. Eastern.

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Assuming Congress really does approve a Wall Street bailout in the next few hours, Software as a Service stocks (and other stocks) could get a lift when US markets open on September 29. However, there’s no denying that SaaS stocks have had a miserable year so far.

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In order to keep employees loyal, some managed service providers offer company cars to their field support staff. But continuing that company perk over the long haul could become more difficult during the credit crunch.

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Evolve IP, a managed service provider in Wayne, Pa., just made my “watch” list. Evolve says it has lined up more than 100 new customers since launching its managed technology services operations  roughly 180 days ago.

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D-day is nearly here. Microsoft is expected to launch a range of Software as a Service (SaaS) applications — known as the Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS) — in October. The BPOS offering could wind up competing head-on against some managed service providers. Here’s why.

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Hosted Solutions, a data center provider and managed services provider, has won an far-reaching business deal with the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons.

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Intermedia, which specializes in software as a service (SaaS) and collaboration solutions, has launched a managed service provider (MSP) partner program. The program was announced at the MSPAlliance’s Managed Services Summit in Chicago, hosted by organization president Charles Weaver (pictured).

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Managed service providers are feeling pretty darn good about their business prospects. And many pundits say MSPs are immune to the economic slowdown.

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The MSPAlliance and Microsoft are working together on a reciprocal relationship, reports Redmond Channel Partner. As part of the relationship, Microsoft will promote the MSPAlliance’s Accreditation exam to channel partners worldwide. Likewise, companies that hold a Microsoft IT certification will receive credit for that expertise if/when they take the MSPAlliance’s Accreditation exam, according to the report.

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During the ConnectWise Partner Summit last week, CEO Arnie Bellini described how cloud computing would converge with managed services. Now, a research report from Techaisle also describes this convergence — and they coin the term Managed Services Distributor.

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A comprehensive managed services research report just hit my desktop. It’s from Techaisle. I’m not very familiar with Techaisle’s history or research methods. However, the company claims they surveyed 6,827 small businesses to pinpoint managed services spending trends across the globe.

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At first glance, franchises are for fast food and retail stores. But franchises are popping up in the managed services market, and quite a few are successful.

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Cisco Systems expects its TelePresence sales to grow 400 percent this year, according to Richard McLeod (pictured), Cisco’s director of unified communications, worldwide channels. That growth could introduce new opportunities to managed service providers.

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Time to update the business cards and logos: Seagate is rebranding its EVault, MetaLINCs and Seagate Recovery Services as i365. Here are some quick details about Seagate’s i365 managed services strategy.

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The U.S. managed security services market will grow to $2.8 billion by 2012, up from $1.3 billion in 2007, predicts International Data Corp. That’s a healthy 17.2% compound annual growth rate. It’s good to see the market growing, But I’m always a little skeptical of such forecasts. Here’s why.

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If you’re a progressive managed service provider seeking some free publicity, spend a few minutes completing our latest MSPmentor 100 Survey. Here are four ways the survey can give MSPs a potential lift.

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