MSPmentor

A decade after launching Autotask, former CEO Bob Godgart wrapped up his final day at the company today. Although Godgart remains chairman of the PSA software provider, he no longer has a day-to-day role at Autotask. Here’s the update and some perspectives on Godgart’s legacy in the managed services market.

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Sending out spam and malware may not be the oldest profession in the book, but it’s certainly a growing one. In fact, in a December 2010 survey conducted by the Ponemon Institute and Lumesion, 59% of the IT practitioners surveyed said that malware was a significant factor for increasing operating expenses. Whether costs come because of remediation needs or data loss, the reality is that companies cannot afford to have even one unsecure PC.

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LiveTime Software is connecting the dots between help desk software, SaaS and Google Docs. Indeed, the company has introduced a single sign-on capability. The result: Customers can now integrate directly with Google Docs and maintain a single workflow from within LiveTime Service Manager or Novell Service Desk, LiveTime claims.

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Allied Digital Services Ltd., an MSPmentor 100 company based in Mumbai, India, continues to expand internationally. The latest tally: Allied Digital now manages more than 250,000 desktops and 6,000 servers in 36 countries. In addition to momentum in the U.S. and India, Allied Digital is looking to accelerate its business in Europe, according to Director of Technology Solutions Paresh Shah. Here’s the update.

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Managed services providers in Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) are starting to gain momentum in the cloud computing market. The latest example: Maclean, which was Kaseya‘s 2010 MSP of the Year for ANZ, has inked a deal with IBM to help midsize customers embrace cloud computing. Here are the details.

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The MSPmentor team is recharging a bit before heading off to multiple conferences over the next two weeks. Here’s a look at our next destinations. Plus, the seven managed services blogs we didn’t have time to write for the week ending May 27, 2011.

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We realize you may not have time to track all conversations across our websites: MSPmentor, The VAR Guy and TalkinCloud. So, here are the 15 most read channel blog entries across our channel blog network for the week ending May 27, 2011.

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With summer on its way for many readers, vacation season is already starting to kick in for many of us. After a long winter—and this one has been brutal for much of the U.S. —who wouldn’t want to get away from the everyday routines and stress? Even if Hawaii and Paris aren’t in your plans, taking a break from your managed services business is necessary to rejuvenate your mind and spirit. All too often, planning all the work-related actions required to take a vacation is virtually impossible. The result is all too often working through a vacation; attached to your smartphone and unable to relax.  If you include yourself in that group, it’s time to develop a plan that can restore some “peace of mind” to your life and some viable structure to your business.

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Picture this: An iPad or tablet computer stretched into a massive, 55-inch touch-screen. Now, imagine the interactive touch screen in an SMB conference room, running collaboration and video conferencing applications — generating recurring revenues for VARs and MSPs. For specific details join our June 8 webcast: Managed Video and Collaboration Services: 3 Steps to Profits. InFocus will unveil a new solution during the webcast and we’ll answer your questions throughout the discussion. Bonus: Use the same link to register for our June 22 webcast: Vertical Market Strategies for MSPs.

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In the past year, Atrion Networking Corp., an MSPmentor 100 company, has leveraged customer feedback to push into Intelligence Management, according to Director of Product Marketing Robert Johnson. Here’s the update.

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LabTech Software and Quosal have each announced new integrations with Autotask. The Autotask integrations are particularly interesting because LabTech and Quosal have each received ConnectWise Capital investments. Here’s the update.

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About one-third of small, midsize and large companies in the United States can imagine a time when all of their IT assets and operations are managed by an MSP. That’s one of the key stats from a Nimsoft survey of 100 company executives representing companies with 1,000 to 20,000 employees. Here are some more findings from the survey.

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Citrix Systems is offering a free version of its new Citrix Online GoToManage iPad application through the Apple iStore. The news surfaced this week at Citrix Summit 2011 in San Francisco, Calif. Users of the application can troubleshoot and handle a computer’s technical users from anywhere using their iPad. Citrix VP and General Manager of IT Services Elizabeth Cholawsky and Citrix Senior Product Director of IT Services Brian de Haaff offered some additional insights.

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This is blog entry 2,340 for me here on MSPmentor. I typically stand by the views I share. But the blog entry I regret most (April 6, 2009) described similarities between Autotask and ConnectWise in the PSA (professional services automation) software market. Hey, I had a bad day on that one. I think readers in Albany and Tampa both lost their lunch when I hit publish on that item. ConnectWise and Autotask are vastly different companies. And the differences are multiplying. Here’s why.

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Within the backup and disaster (BDR) market, MSPmentor is hearing more and more buzz about virtualization. The latest example involves Quorum Software Inc. (QuorumSoft),which will begin promoting virtualized BDR solutions to managed services providers (MSPs) on June 1. In some ways, the effort sounds a bit similar to Doyenz, which has recruited scores of VARs and MSPs into its virtualized cloud BDR service.

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SAP outlined mobile technology plans at its Sapphire Now conference in Orlando, Fla., last week. At the show, the company released a new version of Sybase Unwired Platform for mobile application development, announced an updated software development kit, and unveiled a set of industry-oriented mobile applications. SAP and Sybase, which SAP acquired last year, aim to build a bevy of mobile applications that tap into SAP’s back office systems. SAP’s mobility-driven objective is to reach 1 billion users by 2015. So, where do managed services fit in?Here’s the answer.

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A managed print services feeding frenzy has started. The latest examples: Xerox Corp. has acquired NewField IT and Hewlett-Packard has acquired Printelligent. Xerox has publicly stated its commitment to VARs and MSPs in the managed print market. And in a wise move, HP is now taking similar channel-centric steps with its managed print services efforts. Here’s why.

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A few weeks ago I was seated in the audience when HTG Peer Groups Founder Arlin Sorensen unveiled Hands That Give — an insurance policy and emergency program to help member VARs and MSPs during times of professional or personal crisis. Everybody in the room noticed that Sorensen nearly broke down emotionally while describing the effort to attendees. His personal vow: No HTG member would get left behind in a time of personal or professional crisis. Now, members of HTG Peer Group 8 (HTG8) are taking that message to heart.

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SysAid Technologies, which develops IT Service Management software, has launched SysAid IT 8.0. SysAid says the new release is a mobile help desk and asset management platform that supports Apple iPad and Google Android tablets, plus Blackberry and Windows mobile devices. Here are some key points worth noting.

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Azaleos Corp. is at it again. Just over a month ago, the managed messaging , collaboration and unified communications (UC) provider launched a ViewX CIO Dashboard to help customers track Azaleos-delivered managed services. Now, Azaleos is building upon the ViewX CIO Dashboard with a software development kit (SDK) for the ViewX remote monitoring system. Azaleos is calling it the “ViewX SDK.” To the best of our knowledge, this is one of the first times a managed services provider has developed an SDK to help promote partner integrations.

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Nexus Integration Services , an MSPmentor 100 company in Valencia, CA has been busy leveraging its Cisco VoIP expertise in the managed services market. Nexus Vice President of Managed Services Tom Lyon gave me some background on the effort a few days ago. Here’s the update.

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Quosal, which received a ConnectWise Capital investment a few weeks ago, continues to sharpen its focus on mobile salesforce capabilities for MSPs. The latest step involves Order Porter Mobile, which lets MSPs and VARs create sales quotes and proposals on-the-go straight from their iPads.

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For the third time in recent weeks, HTG Peer Groups is assisting a managed services provider (MSP) facing a personal or business crisis. The latest example involves HTG’s Hands That Give organization helping an MSP that lost its entire office during a recent Missouri tornado.

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