MSPmentor

Economic concerns continue in the US, but some clear IT spending trends are beginning to surface. If you look at recent financial results from networking companies, PC companies, software specialists and service providers, you can get a better feel for how to shape your managed services practice for the rest of 2008. 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.

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 one small piece of information that provides big-time hope to the managed services market. Kaseya says its annual revenue more than doubled in 2007 compared to 2006. Solutions providers can breathe a collective sigh of relief — at least for the next few weeks — as they digest the Kaseya news. But we should all keep the news in perspective. Here’s why. Read More >

Talk about a short honeymoon on Wall Street. When NetSuite, the software-as-a-service (SaaS) darling, went public a few weeks ago the stock skyrocketed. Now, Citi is telling investors to sell the stock. So what’s behind Citi’s recommendation? Read More >

Can software as a service (SaaS) and managed services keep you afloat during a sinking economy? That continues to be the buzz on Wall Street and across the blogosphere. I’m not predicting a recession — I’ve always been a glass-half-full type of guy — and I also don’t want to hype SaaS and managed services as a cure-all for economic wounds. With all of those caveats in mind, I do believe solutions providers should focus on SaaS, managed services and open source as their three cornerstones in 2008. Here’s why. Read More >