MSPmentor

While piecing together the Top 100 Channel Partner Conferences for 2012, our editorial team noticed that Autotask and LabTech Software seem to be on a collision course in 2012. Indeed, the Autotask Community Live 2012 and LabTech Automation Nation 2012 conferences appear to be scheduled for the same week, in the same city.

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He’s doing it again… The VAR Guy is pulling together his list of the Top 100 Channel Partner Conferences for 2012. Which ones should MSPs attend? Check out the list so far and add your suggestions and revisions. Then, hit the road and potentially meet The VAR Guy — if he really exists — in 2012…

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Cisco Systems, armed with its emerging Cisco OnPlus Service, is quietly making a major push with influential managed services providers. The effort surfaced at last week’s IT Nation conference in Orlando, Fla., where Cisco networked up with MSPs that work closely with ConnectWise and HTG Peer Groups. Here’s why.

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The MSPmentor team is heading off to conferences hosted by Synnex and Intel this week. Plus we’ll closely track CA World in Las Vegas. But before MSPmentor kicks off another round of managed services coverage, here are seven blogs the MSPmentor team didn’t have a chance to write for the week ending November 11.

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This week’s ConnectWise IT Nation conference in Orlando, Fla., attracted roughly 1,600 attendees. Multiple first-time attendees looked around and openly asked me: “How the heck did this conference and this community grow so large and so influential?” I’ve got a simple answer.

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Did the SMB managed services market grow 20 percent — or more — in 2011? That’s my early hunch, based on data from HTG Peer Groups and some anecdotal information I’ve gathered in recent weeks. I’m not suggesting that all MSPs are thriving. But concerns about the MSP market slowing down are overstated based on my observations at this week’s ConnectWise IT Nation conference in Orlando, Fla.

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At the ConnectWise IT Nation conference today, CEO Arnie Bellini demonstrated deeper integration between ConnectWise, LabTech Software and Quosal. The move reinforce’s Bellini’s vision to build a Microsoft Office-like suite for the IT Channel. But Bellini also evangelized continued integration with third-party RMM and quoting software platforms. Here’s a look at the keynote so far.

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At ConnectWise’s IT Nation conference yesterday, the MSPmentor team met privately with a range of managed services and channel influencers. So what are we hearing during the briefings and meetings? And what can attendees expect from ConnectWise CEO Arnie Bellini’s keynote later this morning? Here’s the chatter.

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Roughly 1,600 resellers, VARs, MSPs and channel influencers are on hand for the ConnectWise IT Nation conference in Orlando. The conference has pushed far beyond traditional managed services discussions. In fact, here are eight discussions and trends that surfaced during the initial Exhibit Hall and Keynote gatherings at ConnectWise IT Nation.

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The ConnectWise IT Nation conference kicks off November 9, but most attendees are already on hand for numerous pre-conference sessions. So what’s the managed services chatter so far? Here are 10 conversations, trends, and news tips worth tracking.

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Roughly 1,600 VARs, MSPs and channel vendors are expected to attend IT Nation and related sub-conferences in Orlando, Fla., next week. Many of the attendees will be exploring new technology solutions (remote monitoring, cloud storage, etc.) and new business strategies (marketing, sales, etc.). Within dozens of vendor booths and during private meetings, you’ll hear plenty of sales pitches. But before you ink any deals, here are 16 questions every managed services provider should be prepared to ask during IT Nation.

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How do you need to adjust your service level agreements to blanket cloud services and managed services? We’ll share the answers this Wednesday, November 2, at 2:00 p.m. eastern during our next Channel Expert Hour webcast. Register now to join us, and you’ll hear from experts who have developed successful SLA agreements for cloud services and managed services.

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Tigerpaw Software is set to launch  mobile and cloud solutions for VARs and MSPs, President James Foxall told partners and customers during the 2011 Tigerpaw User Conference yesterday. MSPmentor speculated earlier this week that we may hear some sort of hosted or cloud announcement from Tigerpaw. Foxall said he expects newer Tigerpaw customers to be the first adopters of the company’s cloud solution.

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Cisco Systems, Hewlett-Packard and Symantec are taking a closer look at the SMB managed services industry. Indeed, the trio will have a major presence at IT Nation (Nov. 9-11, Orlando), a major VAR and MSP conference hosted by ConnectWise. Here’s the update, along with some insights about IT Nation’s evolution.

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Starting today, several hundred VARs, MSPs and telecom resellers are attending this week’s Tigerpaw User Conference in Dallas. The big question: Can this second-annual Tigerpaw conference build upon last year’s event, which pumped some fresh ideas into the managed services and telecom reseller markets?

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Our next webcast is today (Wed., Oct. 19 at 2:00 p.m. eastern). Join us as two MSPmentor 100 companies — Kevin Crowe from Long View Systems and Tim Hebert from Atrion — describe how they maxed out their recurring revenues in 2011, and where their respective cloud and MSP strategies are heading in 2012. Crowe and Hebert will reflect on 2011 outcomes and preview 2012 game plans during our webcast. Instead of writing your 2012 business plan from scratch, borrow some great ideas from two top MSPmentor 100 companies and Nimsoft, the event’s sponsor. Bonus: Nimsoft CEO Chris O’Malley will join in to answer your questions live.

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MSPmentor will host its first Executive Boardroom next week in New York City. During this exclusive event (Oct. 25, Manhattan), we’ll review how top MSPs are pushing into cloud services — either through strategic partnerships or via home-grown solutions. Our confirmed guest speakers during this roundtable discussion include ScaleMatrix CEO Mark Ortenzi, Mycroft CISO Liz Mann and CA Technologies GM Adam Famularo. Here are more details.

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As the N-able Partner Summit wraps up in Phoenix, we’re now preparing for our next round of partner and customer conferences. The MSPmentor team will be attending both Tigerpaw User Conference and McAfee Focus 2011 during the week of Oct. 17. In the meantime, here are seven managed IT services blogs the MSPmentor team didn’t have a chance to write for the week ending Oct. 14, 2011.

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N-able is tasking its managed services partners with the goal of 100 percent growth in the next year, matching the goal it set at its 2010 N-able Partner Conference but giving MSPs additional tools to help them get there a little easier.

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When Michael Dell keynotes Dell World (Oct. 12-14, Austin, Texas), he’ll potentially deliver four key messages to partners and customers. Somewhere within the keynote, I bet Dell will touch upon the PC giant’s managed services strategy — which increasingly revolves around SecureWorks. Whether you call SecureWorks a cloud security service or managed security service, it’s a key piece to Dell’s transformation strategy. But where do partners fit in?

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Our next Webcast is today (Wednesday, Oct. 5 at 2:00 p.m. eastern). You’ll gain early access to our fifth-annual MSPmentor 100 survey. More importantly: We’ll review Five SaaS Habits of Highly Profitable MSPs. Two Top MSPs and CA Technologies will describe the five moves in deep detail, while answering your questions throughout. I look forward to your questions, and I’ll share some updates on the next MSPmentor 100 survey during the webcast.

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Oracle CEO Larry Ellison will likely update Oracle’s cloud computing and cloud services strategy on October 5. Meanwhile, Oracle is polishing its managed services partner strategy at Oracle OpenWorld in San Francisco. Channel Chief Judson Althoff today told me the new Oracle Database Appliance is ideally suited for MSPs that want to remotely manage scalable applications. Here’s why.

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The new Oracle Enterprise Manager 12c platform is designed for managed services providers (MSPs) and customers that need to maintain public and private clouds, Oracle confirmed today at Oracle OpenWorld. Meanwhile, Oracle President Mark Hurd and Channel Chief Judson Althoff continue to talk — albeit briefly — about Oracle’s strategy with managed services partner engagements.

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