MSPmentor

It’s not called a managed services program. And it’s not hyped as a recurring revenue effort. But Cisco Systems’ latest pricing plan in the unified communications market is something that may interest managed service providers. The networking giant has introduced “per-user-per-day pricing” to help channel partners accelerate their unified communication sales to small and midsize businesses. Read More >

Got a technical or business question about managed services? MSPmentor has developed a fast way to help you out. Several dozen MSPmentor readers have used our Ask a Mentor service to find answers to their most pressing managed services questions.

We launched the Ask a Mentor service when the redesigned MSPmentor.net debuted January 2. Early on, we hit a few bumps as a few readers waited a bit too long for help from our mentors. But now we seem to be hitting our stride. Read More >

Many managed service providers and VARs struggle with day-to-day cash management, customer invoicing and bill payments. I can’t endorse a particular solution to these challenges, but a software as a service (SaaS) outfit called Bill.com caught my eye earlier today.

Bill.com claims its service can automate bill payment, e-invoicing and collections, and help to improve cash flow management. But what really impressed me is Bill.com’s viral marketing strategy — which managed service providers can certainly emulate on their own. Here’s how. 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 >

It wasn’t long ago that adopting managed services was a considered to be a pretty scary proposition. You had to build a NOC (whatever a NOC is – but we will leave that to another discussion), spend $50,000 (U.S. dollars) or more on software, turn your business upside down (or go out of business in case you missed the point!), move from low-risk time and materials to high-risk fixed price billing, replace most of your sales team and technicians and of course obey the obligatory command to “fire your customers” that enjoyed the old way of doing business with you.

Fortunately the meaning of “managed services” has changed, and changed for the better. Here’s how. Read More >

Independent software vendors (ISVs) have always been the lifeblood of Microsoft’s business. But these days, Microsoft is maintaining a careful balancing act — promoting software as a service (SaaS) directly to customers while also recruiting managed service providers to assist the effort.

The latest example: Attenda Limited, which describes itself as the “Always On Managed Services Company,” has joined Microsoft’s SaaS Incubation Center Program in Europe. SaaS specialists and MSPs should be watching this Microsoft partner program closely. Here’s why. Read More >

As many of our readers know, MSPmentor’s owner (Nine Lives Media Inc.) likes to outsource as many functions as possible. Just yesterday, our team was talking about managing and coordinating monthly expense reports. By the time I got back to my office, I had a message in my inbox about BT launching a Web Expenses tool for small businesses. Seems like Software as a Service (SaaS) continues to converge with managed services — which is good news for small businesses. Read More >

Want to generate recurring revenue from multifunction printers (MFPs)? Steve Spector, a business advisor at Xerox, offered a few recommendations to VARs attending a managed services luncheon in Boston today. According to Spector, here are seven questions VARs need to ask customers in order to turn an MSP sales lead into a buying customer. Read More >