MSPmentor

MSPmentor’s latest content effort involves weekly podcasts covering the managed services market. The podcasts will debut on our home page this Thursday, April 17. Here’s how to tune in. Read More >

Hi folks. We’re starting a quick weekly poll to make sure we’re in touch with our growing readership, and to help you get a feel for the key issues and opportunities facing today’s managed service providers. Here’s the first poll.

We’ll follow up each Monday with some quick observations about the poll results, plus we’ll post a new poll for you to weigh in on.

Thanks for participating and best wishes for a successful second quarter with your managed services business.

The VAR Guy, a blogger from our sister Web site, has written a four-page guide to managed printer services. It shows VARs how they can potentially generate recurring revenue through multi-function printers (MFPs), assessment tools, workflow services and entry-level document management.

In case you’re not familiar with The VAR Guy, his writing style is anything but traditional. The VAR Guy’s Guide to Managed Printer Services includes six tips for getting started, and six pointers for finding more info about hardware as a service (HaaS).

If you’re interested, you can download The VAR Guy’s Guide to Managed Printer Services from the MSPmentor Resource Center or The VAR Guy’s Resource Center. It’s free but registration is required.

Where can aspiring — and established — managed service providers go for guidance? Whether your question is business or technology related, feel free to submit it to MSPmentor through our Ask a Mentor service.

We’ll connect you with an MSPmentor staff member or a third-party expert to help answer your question. You’ll have a one-on-one online dialog, and the opportunity to learn from experts across the globe.

We certainly don’t claim to have all the answers, but our experts are here to help. Here’s a link to our Ask a Mentor service. The page also includes several sample questions submitted by our readers in recent weeks.

A quick heads up for our Resource Center members: We’ve just posted a Green Computing white paper, describing how IT automation can help you (and your customers) achieve better energy efficiency.

You’ll find the white paper posted in Kaseya’s sponsored content area of our Resource Center (registration required).

We’ve just received word that Kaseya plans to host its user conference June 1-3 in Las Vegas. We’ve updated our Managed Services Event Map to reflect that conference as well as other upcoming seminars hosted by third-party organizations.

Check out a complete list of events on our MSP Mentor Event Calendar. Or take a look at this map (future events are in green; recently completed events are in red):

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Under development now, the MSPmentor 250 will identify the top leaders and innovators shaping the global managed services market. To nominate someone for the MSPmentor 250, simply visit our MSPmentor 250 center.

When you visit the center, you’ll notice that we’ve launched a global map, displaying many of our current nominees (Note: being nominated does not guarantee placement on the final MSPmentor 250 list).

We will publish the official MSPmentor 250 report and global map in July 2008. We expect our final list to include CEOs, CTOs, CIOs, association leaders, entrepreneurs, marketing wizards, sales pros, venture capitalists and other experts shaping the global managed services ecosystem.

For more info about the MSPmentor 250 and to nominate an expert — even yourself — visit our MSPmentor 250 center.

(Note: We’ll begin work on our next MSPmentor 100, which focuses on companies rather than individuals, in September 2008.)

MSPmentor is striving to identify the top 250 leaders, innovators and influencers shaping the global managed services market. We’ve received several dozen nominations since launching this project on February 21.

Although the final MSPmentor 250 won’t be published until July 2008, here’s a look at the current nominees, which we’ve placed on a global map:

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Please note: We update the nominee map roughly once per week. Appearing on the nominee map does not guarantee placement on the final MSPmentor 250 list.

We expect our final list to include CEOs, CTOs, CIOs, association leaders, entrepreneurs, marketing wizards, sales pros, venture capitalists and other experts shaping the global managed services ecosystem.

To nominate someone (perhaps even yourself…) for the MSPmentor 250, check out MSPmentor’s new Top 250 People section.