Comments on: AT&T Remotely Supports 100,000 Small Businesses

By: Dimitri

Dimitri — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 18:34:02 +0000

as a VAR/MSP/solution provider supporting 200 small businesses for 13 years, I find it hard to believe that AT&T is actually doing what an MSP should be doing. For those of you who are also doing it, you know about managing vendors, handhelds, mixed pc operating systems, industry specific line of business software, remote users, etc etc and making it all work. Plus, proivding on going CIO advice understanding the business needs. Dollars to donuts the 100,000 number is donuts.

By: Joe Panettieri

Joe Panettieri — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 03:14:05 +0000

I must admit, the little blog about AT&T’s Tech Support 360 seems to have taken on a life of its own. I still have quite a bit of follow-up to do with AT&T, PlumChoice, etc.

By: Adamtim

Adamtim — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 16:24:42 +0000

Nah, Support.com bought OfficeMax deal so they could have it with staples and office depot.

By: Joe Panettieri

Joe Panettieri — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 12:45:12 +0000

John@19: I will check out your Plumchoice/OfficeMax claim. Thanks for reading MSPmentor.
-jp

By: John

John — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 02:05:37 +0000

Plumchoice will fail AT&T just like they did with OfficeMax. Officemax just fired Plumchoice this last week.

By: Jim Van

Jim Van — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 03:57:52 +0000

Very much like what Circuit City was offering up until its demise. Very comforting. At least one can garner from all this info that these guys are falling somewhat short of offering true managed services..

By: Debbie Lane

Debbie Lane — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 14:39:46 +0000

The $14.7M that PlumChoice raised is not going to their direct model,rather it is going towards staffing up AT&T as they just partnered with Radio Shack — but their service sucks, trust me!

http://solsie.com/2009/09/radioshack-teams-up-with-att-to-launch-availability-of-att-connectech-support-services-in-stores-nationwide/

By: Jim Van

Jim Van — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 23:02:26 +0000

Ikehill: I’m not sure I’d call what Plumchoice/AT&T offer Managed Services. It’s more like a remote break/fix…the service is not at all proactive, and doesn’t include any sort of long range planning, except that one needs to plan on paying them for 12 months of standby service.

I agree that the 14.7 mill. should have a large effect on Plumcoice’s delivery model, and indeed, AT&T (the old (one,, anyways) has never really had a grip on any sort of service management for small business (this from painful experience), so I would question their longevity in regards to this offering…

Jim Van
Logicomm, Inc.
http://www.logicomm-inc.com

By: ikehill

ikehill — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 14:17:48 +0000

I dont see the relationship lasting very long between AT&T and Plumchoice. There is no exclusive agreement in place as you can see that Plumchoice services other telecom companies as well. Keep in mind, Plumchoice just closed a $14.7M round of funding. I would think that they would use this to capitolize on their direct model. Speaking of which; The services being offered by AT&T can be purchased directly by the client from Plumchoice for 10% less. AT&T does not have a grip on the Managed Services sector nor do I think they will anytime in the near future.

By: Joe Panettieri

Joe Panettieri — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 14:26:45 +0000

Just a note to all readers: I’m watching this comment string closely and will be sure to raise your questions/feedback when I follow-up with AT&T. Thanks to everyone for the feedback so far.