1. Managed Services Trends: How fast are the top managed services providers growing? And what services have they introduced? We’ve got the data.

2. The MSPmentor 100, Global Edition: We’ll unveil the complete list of MSPs, including managed services providers from North America, EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) and AANZ (Asia, Australia, New Zealand).

3. Analysis: Our confirmed guest experts will include:

• Zack Schuler, President and CEO of Calnet Technology Group — an MSPmentor 100 company that has introduced cloud management services.
• Tommy Wald, CEO, White Glove Technologies — an MSPmentor 100 company that has mastered mergers and acquisitions.
• Jeannine Edwards, Director of Community, ConnectWise — providing perspectives from ConnectWise user groups worldwide.

Schuler, Wald and Edwards will answer your questions throughout the webcast. Note: ConnectWise is the webcast sponsor but the MSPmentor 100 report is vendor-independent research.

4. Deeper Details: Everyone who attends the MSPmentor 100 webcast will automatically receive our complete MSPmentor 100 report PDF — a 22 page document that highlights all of the key companies and trends within the managed services market.

Want more information? Register now for the Webcast. I look forward to unveiling this year’s top 100 managed services providers list on February 15.

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• Autotask Proclaims UK Momentum Following VARStreet Exit

When Mark Cattini arrived as Autotask CEO in December 2010, he gradually shifted the company’s messaging to emphasize the broader IT channel (rather than just MSPs), pure SaaS solutions, and an international push that depended heavily on the United Kingdom. In fact, Autotask’s UK staffing has grown from three people to more than 15 in roughly six months, the company claims.

The UK push doesn’t surprise MSPmentor. Of the top 50 MSPs across EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa), 30 are located in the United Kingdom. (We’ll share more details about that data point when we unveil the fifth-annual MSPmentor 100 report on Feb. 15.)

Autotask, meanwhile, is now used by “thousands of IT service providers, value-added resellers (VARs) and managed services providers (MSPs) in 54 countries,”  the company said today. Mark Banfield is leading Autotask’s international charge. Autotask is also playing up its pure SaaS focus, attempting to established a valuation multiple that’s closer to cloud companies rather than traditional software companies.

Of course, Autotask isn’t alone in its global push. ConnectWise has engaged user groups across the globe. I believe ConnectWise CEO Arnie Bellini is in Australia for user group meetings now. ConnectWise has both an on-premise and hosted version, though I don’t know the nitty-gritty architectural differences between the Autotask and ConnectWise approaches to hosting/SaaS.

Meanwhile, Autotask apparently experienced little — if any — fallout from its December 2011 decision to sell the VARStreet business back to VARStreet’s staff.  The deal was announced just before the holidays, freeing Autotask to focus on its core business management SaaS platform. VARStreet helps VARs and MSPs to source and price IT products from a range of distributors and suppliers.

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According to Dimension Data Group Executive of Global Solutions Steve Joubert, Xigo gives Dimension Data the ability to offer its enterprise customers spend analysis, sourcing, provisioning and invoice processing capabilities. Dimension plans to focus its new TEM offering in the U.S., where Dimension is based and already has a large enterprise customer base. Over time, Dimension plans to expand its TEM offering to other regions.

Dimension has not detailed where it plans to expand its new TEM capabilities next, but we should probably look for such a solution expansion in places like Asia and Australia both regions in which Dimension recently expanded into by acquiring BlueFire and Netforce — two managed services providers that gave Dimension data a broader regional reach and a larger customer base.

“As clients evolve their networks to address globalization, mobile device proliferation, virtualization and the cloud, Xigo will be instrumental to help them implement the most cost-effective roadmaps are architectures for the internal and external communications,” Joubert said in a prepared statement.

There is certainly no  shortage of companies looking for TEM solutions these days as a way to have greater control over their expenses. Gartner Inc. predicts that the TEM market will reach $2 billion by 2015.

En route to becoming a full managed communications service provider, Dimension Data has also launched a managed video services offering to help its customers reduce operational costs and improve the overall user video experience. We’ll keep an eye out for Dimension’s next move toward its managed services goal.

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“The 3.5 release is a result of SysAid’s total commitment to its customers,” SysAid Founder and CEO Israel Lifshitz said in a prepared statement.

CSS 3.5 is designed to give SysAid’s roughly 100,000 software end-users throughout 40 countries a more powerful helpdesk with greater overall control over customer service capabilities. And with two different editions, SysAid customers can now choose which version bets fits their business needs.

The CSS Enterprise Edition license comes with 10 free hours of professional services to help with implementation. It is tailored to larger companies that have more comprehensive helpdesk requirements like process management, advanced customization, LDAP integration and the need to scale up its helpdesk environment.

SysAid’s CSS 3.5 Pro Edition and Enterprise Edition do have many similarities. The software provider has included the mobile self service portal to both editions, which allows customers to contact SysAid’s support staff from and smartphone. The mobile application was included in previous versions but has now been upgraded with more intuitive and easier to read user interface (UI). The self service portals in both editions also have new language translations so that businesses can support end-users internationally. SysAid’s language translation support now includes French, Spanish, German, Italian, Russian Hebrew, Portuguese and Chinese. The real difference between the two versions is the ability to scale up with the Enterprise Edition in order to support more customers.

SysAid Expansion Update

Last week we brought you news about SysAid adding two new members to its executive team in order to expand its international presence. At the time SysAid had not given details on where it was looking to expand. SysAid has updated MSPmentor since then, saying that it plans to expand its Australian and Israeli offices and expand its sales efforts in Asia and Latin America.

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My wife and I have spent the past few weeks meeting with home improvement contractors and Home Depot. We may — or may not — remodel our aging kitchen. We’re still weighing the potential project “components” and costs. Call me crazy, but the process reminds me of a potential sales engagement in the managed services market.

Consider these three scenarios:

1. Contractor one is well-spoken and comes with numerous references. His work for some of our neighbors is stellar and he has incredible vision for how our kitchen could be remodeled. But we’ve met this contractor twice and we’ve asked him — multiple times — for a project estimate. He originally told us the sales quote would arrive in two weeks. It has been a month. We’ve yet to see an estimate from him.

2. Contractor two has a well-regarded team — rip-and-replace specialists, plumbers, electricians. We suspect he could handle the entire job. He’s a project manager of sorts and extremely personable, spending considerable time on-site making sure home renovations meet customer expectations. Here again, we’ve asked multiple times for a job quote but we’ve yet to receive one.

3. Contractor three is a tag-team involving Home Depot and a local contractor that is part of Home Depot’s outsourced “service provider” network (no joke). Here’s where things get really interesting:

• Home Depot has essentially given us 20 hours of free in-store consulting. A Home Depot employee has sat with us two or three hours per weekend, designing kitchen layouts and then using the layout software to generate a real-time price quote for all the “hardware” (cabinets, etc.). Each time we change a cabinet or a design point, the sales quote is updated dynamically — in real time.
• The local contractor, potentially working in combination with Home Depot, visited our house with a laptop. Using (1) our kitchen dimensions, plus (2) some custom requests (from us) plus (3) the Home Depot “hardware” quote, the contractor was able to generate a price quote for us during his first visit to our house. The quote covers installation services.

Also of note: We don’t have any “personal’ experience or “personal” references yet from Home Depot and the contractor, but we’re impressed by what we’ve seen so far. If we work with Home Depot and the associated contractor, all of the cabinet installation would be guaranteed for 25 years. And, the Home Depot service provider network leverages some sort of customer survey — making sure contractors have at least a 90-plus percent approval rating to stay in the service provider network.

Information Technology Projects and Managed Services

Now, apply our home improvement example to the managed services market. As Big Box retailers (Best Buy, Staples, etc.) continue to push into managed services, you can imagine the Home Depot price quoting model taking hold.

First, Best Buy can offer some basic hardware quoting services to small businesses — generating on-the-fly cost estimates for a 25-node small business network running email, for instance. Next, perhaps mindSHIFT — Best Buy’s managed services arm — could further customize the quote to blend in managed services and cloud services.

Get Moving

Where does that hypothetical scenario leave independent MSPs, VARs and IT resellers? The short answer: To compete with the big guys and with entrenched MSP rivals, you’ve got to generate accurate, comprehensive price quotes far more rapidly. It’s not enough to sit down with a customer, offer sound advice and great customer references. You need to follow-up rapidly and seal the deal with a compelling proposal.

That’s where sales proposal and price quoting software enter the picture. Two of the best-known options are Quosal and QuoteWerks. I’ve also heard some buzz about BigMachines, CIS QuoteBuilder, CNet ChannelOnline, QwikQuote and VARStreet (which Autotask recently sold back to VARStreet’s employees).

I wonder: How many incomplete sales proposals are sitting on your desk? And how many of your customers are choosing alternative IT service providers simply because they received a timely price quote?

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• ConnectWise Capital: Two Years Later
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7. Congrats, Rob Leon: The grapevine former Spam Soap insider Rob Leon is joining KnowledgeCentrix, effective January 30. Leon spent considerable time educating me about the inner workings of MSPs just as MSPmentor was getting off the ground.

6. Coming Soon: I think it’s a safe to say Continuum (formerly Zenith RMM) is really close to launching Continuum Vault, a BDR solution co-developed with Datto, the storage company. Datto referred launch timing questions over to Continuum. And now I’m playing email-tag with the Continuum team to pinpoint the potential launch day…

5. Speaking of Datto: I spoke with CEO Austin McChord a week ago. I got a little distracted this week writing the MSPmentor 100 report (see item 1 below) but I still have some intriguing notes from the McChord conversation. Hopefully, I’ll work it into a blog the week of Jan. 30.

4. Another PSA Player?: Promys claims to be a PSA (professional services automation) player that delivers what Autotask and VARStreet failed to be: A single solution to handle professional services and IT equipment. (Autotask continues strong in the PSA market, but sold off VARStreet to VARStreet’s employees in late December 2011.) Promys serves larger IT shops (typically 40+ employees) that work on larger IT engagements, according to Director of Business Development Jim Barnet. I’m poking around for more details.

3. The Man Down Under: Annitel‘s Tim Brewer — one of the top MSP leaders in Australia — seems to have a plan to take on one of his nation’s largest telecom providers. Annitel’s managed services strategy apparently involves voice — at least over the long haul. How’s that? More thoughts soon…

2. Really?: Private equity firm threatened to walk out on an MSP relationship because three customer contract signatures seemed to be forged. The alleged discrepancy surfaced during an annual audit of the MSP. If anyone wants to go on the record, I’m listening. In the meantime file this under “loud rumor.”

1. MSPmentor 100 Details: The fifth-annual MSPmentor 100 report is coming February 15. Plus, we’ve got some bonus materials for you this year. The entire report is now written and being fact-checked. It includes:

• The MSPmentor 100, Global Edition
• The MSPmentor 200, North America Edition
• The MSPmentor 50, EMEA Edition for Europe, Middle East and Africa
• The MSPmentor 25, AANZ Edition for Asia, Australia, New Zealand
• Plus: We’ll look at up-and-coming MSPs in Central and South America
• And special honors to MSPs that made the most hires in 2011

We hope you enjoy the data and analysis when the fifth-annual MSPmentor report surfaces Feb. 15, 2012.

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“Our vision with this acquisition was to help our customers increase network access and consolidate tools to achieve a monitoring architecture that delivers end-to-end visibility and lower cost,” Net Optics CEO Bob Shaw said in a prepared statement. “We also wanted to provide our customers an opportunity to scale their overall network performance and security.”

Net Optics isn’t wasting anytime releasing its first integrated solution, appTap, designed specifically for remote and branch business offices. According to Net Optics, appTap combines “total network visibility” with the insight, stats and analysis capabilities businesses need to fully understand the ins and outs of their network infrastructures.

Apparently, Net Optics is building the foundation for a new suite of monitoring solutions — featuring application performance monitoring capabilities, diagnostics that support security and service level agreements (SLAs).

Net Optics also gains TripleLayer Founders David Britt and Steven Urquhart, along with the company’s full staff. Britt will head production, design and innovation for new products, while Urquhart will lead Net Optics’ APAC sales team.

Net Optics didn’t say specifically where it plans to expand geographically, though Australia is the obvious first target given TripleLayer’s existing footprint.

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There are two reasons why the company has decided to expand into Brisbane, according to Network Overdrive Managing Director Greg Clarkson. One is that the company has had “phenomenal growth” in Melbourne, where Network Overdrive is based. The growth has been so good that the company feels like it’s ready to test the waters in Brisbane.

The second big reason for pushing into Brisbane: The Queensland state government has committed to growing the technology and science industries in the Queensland region, which includes Brisbane. The initiative is called the “Smart State Strategy” — a four-year, $120 million initiative to invest in “people, ideas and partnerships driving creativity and innovation,” according to the Queensland Government.

The Smart State Strategy began in 2008 and is currently in its third stage, which includes a heavy investment in technology. With that in mind, Network Overdrive saw this as the perfect opportunity to expand into the region.

“We believe now is the time to expand our service area to the Brisbane and Gold Coast regions,” Clarkson said in a prepared statement. “With the government’s push for its ‘Smart State’ technology, Brisbane and the Gold Coast Businesses need a dependable company that has the technology and expertise needed to work with their technology investments.”

Queensland’s Smart State Strategy is major reason why we’re seeing continued managed services innovations in both Australia and neighboring New Zealand. It’s a managed services regional trend worth keeping tabs on as the Smart State Strategy continues to unfold.

We’ll shine a bright spotlight on the Australia market in February 2012 when we release our latest MSPmentor 100 report. The report will include a regional list of top MSPs in Asia, Australia and New Zealand.

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First, a little background: We’ll unveil the complete MSPmentor 100 global list on February 15 during a webcast. At that time, we’ll also unveil regional lists for North America, EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) and AANZ (Asia, Australia, New Zealand). And, for the first time, we’ll offer a glimpse at up-and-coming MSPs in Central and South America.

Among the preliminary data points worth noting…

1. For the MSPmentor 100 Global List:  The top 100 MSPs managed 2.70 million desktops and mobile devices as of the close of 2011, up from 1.79 million desktops and mobile devices in 2010. But here’s the wild part: Two of the 100 companies are managing 1.8 million of those desktops. Big players are growing fast but we’ll also zero in on small MSPs as part of our report.

2. For the top 250 MSPs in North America: Combined annual recurring revenues topped $1.07 billion in 2011 — up 32 percent from 2010. The number of desktop and mobile devices under management topped 4.2 million in 2011, up from 3.1 million in 2010.

3. For the top 50 MSPs in EMEA: Combined annual recurring revenues were US$191 million in 2011 — up 53 percent from 2010. The number of desktop and mobile devices under management topped 164,000, up 41 percent from 2010.

4. For the top 25 MSPs in AANZ: Combined annual recurring revenues were US$102 million — up 44 percent from 2010. The number of desktop and mobile devices under management was 137,679, up 37 percent from 2010.

But who are the MSPmentor 100 companies? And what about regional honorees from North America, EMEA and AANZ? We’ll share all the details February 15 on our special MSPmentor 100 webcast.

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This is part of a growing trend in the managed services software market, where companies like NTRglobal blend remote access with live chat capabilities. Now, LogMeIn is making its move.

BoldChat is a live chat and click-to-call customer service solution. The Bold Software acquisition is part of LogMeIn’s plan to offer more web-based services for different customer care organizations — including managed services providers (MSPs) and IT service providers.

LogMeIn is best known in corporate accounts but has been gaining momentum with service providers. A few examples: LogMeIn Rescue won a remote IT support deal with Internode, a huge Internet service provider (ISP) in Australia in September 2011. Then LogMeIn updated Rescue’s mobile device management (MDM) capabilities in November. And in our fifth-annual MSPmentor 100 report, 31.7 percent of MSPs said they use LogMeIn’s software to support customers. (Complete MSPmentor 100 results will surface in February 2012.)

Track all MSP-related mergers and acquisitions using the MSPmentor Merger and Acquisition Tracker.

Additional insights from Joe Panettieri.

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