President-elect Barack Obama will make history when he takes over the White House Jan. 20, and much of the world will be counting on the new U.S. president to revive an economy that has been stalling for at least a year. But how will President Obama impact managed service providers? Here are some thoughts.
In the IT world, we will be watching Obama to see what he does to promote technology and what effect whatever initiatives he puts in place will have on our businesses and our clients. Obama has expressed interest in expanding wireless and broadband into rural areas where it remains scarce, pushing green technology and even appointing a Chief Technology Officer for the government. His economic stimulus plan is expected to have a strong component for investment in health care IT.
Such initiatives are sure to benefit the IT community as a whole, and particularly those of us in the managed services space. Whether, or in what form, these initiatives come to fruition remains to be seen, but a couple of things are undeniable that bode well for IT business prospects:
- Obama ran the most technology-centric presidential campaign we have ever seen, taking full advantage of Web 2.0 tools to communicate with voters and organize campaign events and registration drives.
- Whatever measures the new administration takes to right the economy will have strong technology components that will generate business opportunities for MSPs.
The MSP Connection
On the latter point, the new administration’s plans to push for green-collar jobs in an effort to reduce our economy’s dependence on fossil fuels are encouraging because technology will be at the center of any advances to rebuild the power grid and promote the use of alternative energies. We can also expect conservation efforts to accompany the administration plans, and that plays right into the hands of MSPs, who have the ability to set policies to power devices up and down to coincide with work hours, thereby reducing unnecessary power consumption.
Meanwhile, government agencies will continue to include in their requests for proposal (RFPs) more and more contingencies for remote monitoring and management of IT environments as a way to control overall IT costs and reduce carbon emissions generated by truck rolls on service calls.
We also can expect increased reliance on secure electronic records as the Obama administration pushes for reform in areas such as health care, banking and taxation.
The need for storage and business continuity technology to back up and protect the huge volumes of data these reforms are bound to produce is tailor-made for MSPs offering services such as Zenith InfoTech’s highly reliable and scalable Backup & Disaster Recovery Solution.
Note: Maurice Saluan is VP-Channel Management for Zenith Infotech as well as seasoned sales veteran in the managed service arena. Guest blog entries such as this one are contributed on a monthly basis as part of MSPmentor.net’s 2009 Platinum sponsorship.
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Posted In: Guest Bloggers | North America
Tags: Government Policy and Managed Services | President Elect Barack Obama | Zenith Infotech
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A lot of IT coverage about the new administration is superficial but mspmentor brings up some good points. the need for broadband in rural areas is very real. broadband doesn’t solve all problems but it is a conduit for commerce and it would allow small businesses in rural areas to reach and sell to the outside world. plus managed service providers could extend their own reach into rural communities if the US would address the broadband issue.
Roger S: Thanks for the praise but in this case we need to direct the credit to the blog’s author, Zenith Infotech’s Maurice Saluan.
-jp
With all the problems facing the US do you think Obama will really focus on broadband infrastructure?
Brent: The original “New Deal” put people to work building traditional US infrastructure (roads, etc.). Perhaps Obama’s New Deal will encourage broadband infrastructure? I’m no expert on the matter. But the MSPmentor team previously worked with a site called MuniWireless.com, which covers city wireless and global broadband issues. Here’s a quick search link: MuniWireless Obama Coverage. The site editor’s name is Esme Vos if you have specific questions for her.
Update: President-elect Obama’s stimulus plan would include $6 billion for national broadband infrastructure, reports The Wall Street Journal.