MSPmentor

I’m not ready to press a panic button or sound an alarm. Generally speaking, the managed services market remains healthy and growing rapidly. But the weak US economy is starting to impact some managed service providers, according to a recent MSP roundtable attended by Axis Business Solutions.

Here are some anecdotal stats and trends culled from the event. Read More >

Salesforce.com  delivered the goods today. The software-as-a-service (SaaS) company announced particularly strong quarterly profits and raised its rest-of-year financial guidance. That’s great news for SaaS and its close cousin, managed services. But let’s not get too giddy.

I told readers a few weeks ago to get ready for SalesForce.com’s results. After all, the company is a true bell weather for the SaaS industry. In its latest quarter, Salesforce.com’s revenue grew 50.4 percent to $216.9 million and net income rose to $7.4 million from about $500,000 in the corresponding quarter last year.

Still, let’s keep things in perspective: Assuming all of today’s SaaS and managed services companies will thrive in 2008 is akin to expecting all PC companies to thrive in the early 1980s. Yes, it’s great to compete in growing, dynamic markets. But long-term tech success requires great business execution, regardless of your core market.

Much like its rivals, Tech Data is making multiple managed services moves. But so far, those moves have not protected distributors from the economic slowdown. Here’s how distributors are embracing managed services, plus a financial nugget suggesting the North American economic slowdown is starting to impact distributors.

Read More >

Venture capital firms are opening their wallets for managed service providers. The two latest examples: NetMagic Solutions has raised $20 million and Voxify has raised $15 million. Both companies specialize in managed services — though their target markets are vastly different. Read More >

Call it the ultimate double play: Open source coupled with software as a service (SaaS). Using that formula, SugarCRM is striving to double its size this year, asserts CEO John Roberts.

During a phone interview earlier today, Roberts declared the age of proprietary, closed software to be nearing its end. He asserted that even traditional SaaS deployments from companies like Salesforce.com will face intense pressure from open-source SaaS alternatives. Read More >

Sometimes, managed service providers ignore deep, informative, free information about their industry and the overall economy. One of the easiest ways to gather valuable information is to listen to investor conference calls. As a case in point: Salesforce.com is scheduled to announce quarterly results on February 28. The news will surely give Wall Street — and solutions providers — a much-needed software-as-a-service (SaaS) reality check. Read More >

I still maintain that no tech sector is immune to an economic slowdown. But even the biggest bears have to admit the bull run continues for the managed services sector. The latest example: Nimsoft’s 2007 revenue hit $29.4 million, up 77 percent from 2006.

Nimsoft is the latest MSP platform provider to deliver bullish results amid the turbulent economy. Executives from Autotask and Kaseya, respectively, earlier this month made optimistic statements about their recent business performance. And our recent MSPmentor 100 report shows that leading managed service providers easily doubled their revenue in 2007 vs. 2006. Read More >

It’s no secret that economic indicators point to a possible US recession in 2008. Financial markets have recently declined, driving key stock indexes to their lowest levels in more than a year. In an economic downturn, some businesses are more vulnerable to recession than others.

When times get tough, people tend to tighten their belts and look for ways to fix or cut expenses and increase revenue. There are a variety of ways that businesses can leverage & better managed their IT assets to accomplish both. Read More >