MSPmentor

It’s no secret that Autotask has big plans for international growth in 2012 — and in fact has already started its quest for worldwide expansion by opening an office in London. Autotask CEO Mark Cattini believes it is a natural progression for a company boasting customers in more than 50 countries, and it’s a move that’s beneficial for both Autotask and its partner community.

Read More >

Zenith Infotech, which is locked in a legal battle with bondholders, has assured the Bombay High Court that its publicly disclosed finances are accurate and properly reflect the sale of Zenith RMM to Summit Partners, according to The Economic Times of India.

Read More >

Chances are, you use e-mail to market your services. And there’s a good chance you could be doing a better job of it. David Daniels, chief executive officer of The Relevancy Group, an e-mail marketing research and advisory firm, said many companies employ the “spray and pray” method of e-mail marketing: blast the same e-mail missive to everyone on the list and hope someone opens it. Most e-mail marketers don’t make the effort to segment their customers. And that oversight may result in leaving quite a bit of money on the table.

Read More >

The quest to improve the productivity and efficiency of IT organizations is an ongoing one. With the arrival and rapid adoption of virtualization and cloud infrastructure in the recent years, IT organizations worldwide are starting to realize significant economy-of-scale benefits. Reduction in costs for ‘incremental units’ of computing power, the ability to more easily flex up and down as needed, and the lack of restrictions imposed by the traditional models, will all drive a dramatic increase in the consumption of computing and application resources as organizations are freed up to do more. However, with this benefit comes the added burden of high administration overhead from managing a virally sprawling & dynamic IT environment.

Read More >

The SMB disaster recovery market is poised for some change in 2012, according to new predictions released by cloud-based recovery services provider Doyenz Inc. The company forecasts that as the continuing consumerization of IT makes its way into the disaster recovery market, SMBs will have greater expectations around application availability, ease of use, intuitive web-based management with 24×7 data accessibility, and faster time-to-recovery with improved security of their data. Doyenz goes as far as saying these changes will drive a “disruptive shift” in the disaster recovery market next year.

Read More >

By raising $6 million in new funding, Autotask joins a lengthy list of MSP-centric software companies and cloud services providers that has tapped private equity or venture capital — or made acquisitions in 2011. Here’s the scorecard… and a look at two cloud-centric software companies that will very likely raise money next.

Read More >

Autotask has raised $6 million in venture capital and private equity to fund global expansion, a spokesman has confirmed. Also, a report from Albany, N.Y., quoted Autotask CFO Vince Zumbo (pictured), about the new financing. Even before the funding arrived, Autotask apparently spent $1 million on its European expansion this year, the report stated. Here are some perspectives for Autotask’s community of managed services providers and VARs.

Read More >

Our editorial team spent time this week at ADTRAN (where some managed services surprises emerged) and the CloudBeat conference — where Google made some strong channel statements. Amid our team travels, here are seven managed services blogs and MSP news tips the MSPmentor team didn’t have a chance to write for the week ending Dec. 2, 2011.

Read More >

U.S. commercial real estate prices fell to a post recession low earlier this year, and mortgage interest rates are hovering near historic lows. That made me wonder: As managed services providers (MSPs) and small business owners plan for 2012, is it time to consider buying the commercial office space you currently rent?

Read More >

Numara Software, a help desk software provider, has a message for MSPs: Your mobile device management (MDM) efforts should integrate with your existing managed services for network devices security, provisioning, management and control. So where does Numara Cloud fit into the MDM Conversation?

Read More >

While new data from Frost & Sullivan indicates that small businesses understand the value proposition of mobile technology, it also suggests that SMBs are most interested in and familiar with mature mobile technologies. So, how can MSPs help small businesses to balance existing mobile investments with new innovations?

Read More >

When Kaseya named a new CFO and a new executive VP earlier today, I wondered if the moves signaled a shift in the company’s financial and business strategy. CEO Gerald Blackie (pictured) offered up a concise answer: “These personnel moves signal no change in strategy for Kaseya” — and the company continues to march forward with a global growth plan. Here’s a bit more background.

Read More >

IT service providers that have been selling cloud-based business continuity solutions surely have noticed data backup and recovery is one of the most popular cloud-based offerings with end users. In fact, according to a recent study by CompTIA, storage and backup solutions are the most popular cloud applications, with 71 percent of small and midsize businesses (SMB) currently using the technology. The data points don’t end there.

Read More >

Integralis, which specializes in IT security and risk management solutions, has acquired Secode AB from NTT Communications. The deal potentially empowers Integralis to push deeper into the Nordic region, where Secode promotes managed security services. But ultimately, it sounds like NTT is still calling the shots at Integralis and Secode AB. Here’s why.

Read More >

Kaseya, which specializes in IT automation software, has made two updates to its executive ranks. The company has named Anne Huemme CFO and Monica Hoppe executive VP, global human resources. In a prepared statement, Kaseya CEO Gerald Blackie said the moves are designed to help Kaseya scale globally.

Read More >

Services providers in the government and retail sectors face compliance duties — the Federal Information Security Management Act and the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI), for example. The same holds true in healthcare, where the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) sets a data protection standard for healthcare providers and health plans (“covered entities” in HIPAA jargon) as well as their business associates. The business associate label applies to companies whose business with providers and plans involves working with protected health information (PHI). Data processing is one such business. This regulatory environment has created a niche for HIPAA-compliant hosting.

Read More >

Automated loyalty programs have become a standard offering for large customer-facing businesses. For example, online retailer Amazon offers a variety of programs such as Amazon Prime, which offers expedited free shipping and other perks for paying members, and most major supermarket and drugstore chains have some kind of card-based program where shoppers receive targeted discounts and earn credits toward future purchases.

Read More >

Acronis, a backup software company that works closely with some MSPs, is making a high-impact executive move — naming Red Hat executive sales wizard Alex Pinchev as its next president and CEO. The move, effective Jan. 17, 2012, could further accelerate Acronis’s global sales strategy.

Read More >

While piecing together the Top 100 Channel Partner Conferences for 2012, our editorial team noticed that Autotask and LabTech Software seem to be on a collision course in 2012. Indeed, the Autotask Community Live 2012 and LabTech Automation Nation 2012 conferences appear to be scheduled for the same week, in the same city.

Read More >