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If you still doubt the power — and influence — of peer groups then check out a recent announcement involving CompTIA and HTG Peer Groups. The relationship is the latest indication that big associations and vendors see peer groups — comprising VARs and MSPs — as fertile ground for growth. Here’s why.
Kaseya threw a surprise punch at N-able in Australia. But was it really a significant blow — or just a PR stunt? At first glance, the “story” involves Kaseya recruiting an “instrumental” employee away from N-able. But I think the real story involves intensifying competition between the two companies in the land down under.
MSPmentor will host its final managed services webcast of the year this Wednesday, Dec. 9. Our guests are former MSP Gary Pica and ConnectWise CEO Arnie Bellini. Our format: Six business tips in one hour — plus non-stop questions from our attendees. Here’s how to join the webcast.
Adds, moves and changes: Several managed services industry veterans are making career moves ahead of the New Year. Some of the moves are public knowledge. Others are still to be formally announced. Confirmed today: Brian Sherman, the well-known veteran of Autotask and Business Solutions magazine, has launched Tech Success Communications. And Todd McKendrick, a veteran of Dell Managed Services and Do IT Smarter, is leaping to Nimsoft. Here’s a closer look at both moves.
As managed service providers (MSPs) continue to develop social media strategies be sure to ask yourself this question: Does your company have written policies for how employees use Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and other social media services? Not sure you need such policies? I beg to differ. Here’s why.
For the past two years, I’ve been heads-down working with my business partner (Amy Katz) and our team of contributors to build Nine Lives Media Inc. Our mission: Define emerging IT markets and disrupt established markets. But I haven’t always been this focused. Every few years I go through a career crisis and ask myself “what should I with my life?” I suspect many VARs and MSPs ask themselves that same question every day. Here are six ways I ultimately found the answer.
During a meeting yesterday with EUS Networks — a solutions provider in New York — company co-founder Jeronimo Romero described how he launched the business with a partner back in 2001. When I asked him who actually runs day-to-day operations and who manages sales, Romero’s answer surprised me. Here’s why.
Amy Katz (my business partner) and I have been talking quite a bit lately about life-work balance. Frankly, Nine Lives Media Inc. (MSPmentor’s parent) is consuming more and more of our time. And that means less time for us to unplug to focus on our respective families. I received a timely reality check at the recent HTG Peer Group meeting in Orlando, Fla. It involved an eye-opening 10 question survey. Here’s what happened.
During the ConnectWise Partner Summit, MSPmentor sat down with a range of managed services experts. In the following MSPmentor FastChat videos, we covered such topics as hardware as a service (HaaS), MSP-to-MSP collaboration, sales and business development, online marketing for MSPs and email security. Here are six FastChat videos with a range of MSP industry experts…
Burning out. Stretched thin. Feeling overwhelmed. Instead of worrying about their wallets, some managed service providers are starting to worry about their personal health and family well-being. During the HTG Peer Group meetings in Orlando this week, plenty of MSPs are talking about achieving a better life-work balance. Here’s how they plan to do it.
Roughly 220 managed service providers and VARs are set to converge in Orlando, Fla., at the HTG Peer Group meetings. Cloud computing will be a central theme for the meeting. But there will also be a big focus on so-called “legacy plans.” Here’s what to expect at the HTG gathering, and the clues it may offer about the MSP industry’s evolution.
Which financial and business metrics are most important for a managed service provider to track? Larry Schulze, co-founder and principal consultant at Taylor Business Group, offered up key thoughts during the N-able Partner Summit. Here are 14 key business and financial metrics he mentioned.
Like it or not, the reality for MSPs is that they’re only an SLA breach or significant outage away from losing a customer. This immense contractual pressure is a significant motivator that drives MSPs to develop sophisticated approaches to continuous service improvement.
Here’s a book that is probably not on any entrepreneur’s top 10 or even top 100 business books list, but it’s one I keep on my desk just about all the time: The Portable Coach: 28 Surefire Strategies for Business and Personal Success by Thomas Leonard. Before his untimely death six years ago at the age of 48, Leonard was the founder of Coach University (where I received my coach training). His book is not a tool just for coaches. It’s for everyone in business who wants to be happier.
Several new managed services career opportunities — including a bunch of positions at Nimsoft — have surfaced on MSPmentor’s free job board. If you’re looking to make a hire — or looking for a new career — check out the board. It’s designed to promote careers in managed services, software as a service (SaaS) and channel-oriented positions.
When you think of what it is your company does, who do you think could explain it well? Here’s a newsflash: Probably not your employees. Here’s why.
For salespeople, the secret to success involves the old A-B-C rule — “Always Be Closing.” But when it comes to managing business growth I think the A-B-I — “Always Be Interviewing” — rule applies. Here’s why.
Several new managed services career opportunities — including a $150,000 director position — have surfaced on MSPmentor’s free job board. If you’re looking to make a hire — or looking for a new career — check out the board. It’s designed to promote careers in managed services, software as a service (SaaS) and channel-oriented positions.
Here’s an interesting sign of cautious optimism: Many managed service providers are freezing staff salaries but still recruiting new employees to fill strategic positions — particularly sales positions. The trend emerged during a CompTIA Breakaway 2009 roundtable discussion involving about two-dozen VARs and MSPs. Here are the implications.
Yesterday, I explored succession planning at Heartland Technology Solutions, a managed service provider that recently completed an internal executive promotion. My key question: What would happen to HTS if CEO Arlin Sorensen got hit by a bus or decided to retire? In response, Sorensen shared some key thoughts on succession planning. Now, let’s continue the succession planning discussion with thoughts from Network Depot and MSP University.
Take a tour of Computer Service Partners’ network operation center (pictured), and you’ll find all the key tools you need to remotely manage and troubleshoot customer networks. Plus, a putting green. Yes… a putting green. It’s part of Computer Service Partners’ effort to recruit and retain hard-working, talented employees. Here’s the story.
Now that we’ve reached the mid-point of 2009, let’s take a moment to review the 10 MSPmentor blog entries you read most during the first half of 2009.
When you launched your business, you wanted it to be “different” from rival computer consultants and managed service providers. You had clear goals. But somewhere along the line you got tied up running your business. You stopped innovating. You became just another VAR or MSP. So what went wrong — and how can you start innovating again?
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