1. The Data: During the webcast, we’ll reveal growth numbers, sales milestones and business strategies used by the MSPmentor 100 companies.

2. The List: Who exactly are the world’s top 100 managed services providers? We’ll display the entire list and applaud many of the members during the webcast.

3. The Experts: Our confirmed guest speakers includes these three experts:

• Zack Schuler, President and CEO of Calnet Technology Group — an MSPmentor 100 company that has introduced cloud management services.
• Tommy Wald, CEO, White Glove Technologies — an MSPmentor 100 company that has mastered mergers and acquisitions.
• Jeannine Edwards, Director of Community, ConnectWise — providing perspectives from ConnectWise user groups worldwide.

Schuler, Wald and Edwards will answer your questions throughout the webcast. Note: ConnectWise is the webcast sponsor but the MSPmentor 100 report is vendor-independent research.

4. The Report: Everyone who attends the MSPmentor 100 webcast will automatically receive our complete MSPmentor 100 report PDF — a 22 page document that highlights all of the key companies and trends within the managed services market.

Want more information? Register now for the Webcast. I look forward to unveiling this year’s top 100 managed services providers list on February 15.

Read More About This Topic

• Join Us Wednesday: Top 100 Managed Services Provider List
• Seven Managed Services Blogs MSPmentor Didn’t Write: June 3
• MSPmentor 100: Here It Comes…
• Join Us: The Fourth-Annual MSPmentor 100 Webcast
• Autotask Proclaims UK Momentum Following VARStreet Exit

7. Congrats, Rob Leon: The grapevine former Spam Soap insider Rob Leon is joining KnowledgeCentrix, effective January 30. Leon spent considerable time educating me about the inner workings of MSPs just as MSPmentor was getting off the ground.

6. Coming Soon: I think it’s a safe to say Continuum (formerly Zenith RMM) is really close to launching Continuum Vault, a BDR solution co-developed with Datto, the storage company. Datto referred launch timing questions over to Continuum. And now I’m playing email-tag with the Continuum team to pinpoint the potential launch day…

5. Speaking of Datto: I spoke with CEO Austin McChord a week ago. I got a little distracted this week writing the MSPmentor 100 report (see item 1 below) but I still have some intriguing notes from the McChord conversation. Hopefully, I’ll work it into a blog the week of Jan. 30.

4. Another PSA Player?: Promys claims to be a PSA (professional services automation) player that delivers what Autotask and VARStreet failed to be: A single solution to handle professional services and IT equipment. (Autotask continues strong in the PSA market, but sold off VARStreet to VARStreet’s employees in late December 2011.) Promys serves larger IT shops (typically 40+ employees) that work on larger IT engagements, according to Director of Business Development Jim Barnet. I’m poking around for more details.

3. The Man Down Under: Annitel‘s Tim Brewer — one of the top MSP leaders in Australia — seems to have a plan to take on one of his nation’s largest telecom providers. Annitel’s managed services strategy apparently involves voice — at least over the long haul. How’s that? More thoughts soon…

2. Really?: Private equity firm threatened to walk out on an MSP relationship because three customer contract signatures seemed to be forged. The alleged discrepancy surfaced during an annual audit of the MSP. If anyone wants to go on the record, I’m listening. In the meantime file this under “loud rumor.”

1. MSPmentor 100 Details: The fifth-annual MSPmentor 100 report is coming February 15. Plus, we’ve got some bonus materials for you this year. The entire report is now written and being fact-checked. It includes:

• The MSPmentor 100, Global Edition
• The MSPmentor 200, North America Edition
• The MSPmentor 50, EMEA Edition for Europe, Middle East and Africa
• The MSPmentor 25, AANZ Edition for Asia, Australia, New Zealand
• Plus: We’ll look at up-and-coming MSPs in Central and South America
• And special honors to MSPs that made the most hires in 2011

We hope you enjoy the data and analysis when the fifth-annual MSPmentor report surfaces Feb. 15, 2012.

Read More About This Topic

• Autotask Proclaims UK Momentum Following VARStreet Exit
• Sales Proposal and Quoting Software: Can You Compete Without it?
• ConnectWise Capital: Two Years Later
• Managed Services: 7 Blogs MSPmentor Didn’t Write, Dec. 30
• Autotask Sells VARStreet Business to VARStreet Employees

… and complete the survey.

1. The MSPmentor 100 is the MSP industry’s definitive research report.
2. The free survey is global, and the resulting report puts the spotlight on top MSPs across North America, EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) and AANZ (Asia, Australia, New Zealand).
3. The survey uses a range of metrics (annual revenue dollar growth, percentage growth, devices managed, etc.) to ensure a mix of small, midsize and large MSPs earn a spotlight.
4. All MSPmentor 100 companies will appear on the MSPmentor 100 site, and MSPmentor will link back to your site — delivering readers and search engine optimization to MSPmentor 100 companies.
5. Some MSPmentor 100 companies will appear in FastChat video profiles. You’re free to use those videos anywhere on the web. For examples visit http://www.mspmentor.net/category/fastchat/
6. Over the past four years, more than a dozen MSPmentor 100 companies have been acquired. If you want to attract potential buyers, the MSPmentor 100 list can put your success in the spotlight.
7. The free survey is available at http://www.mspmentor.net/top-100-msps.

Thanks to those who have already completed the survey. MSPmentor looks forward to wrapping up the research on Friday, December 23, with results to surface in February 2011.

Read More About This Topic

• Last Call: MSPmentor 100 Survey Ends Today (Friday, Dec. 23)
• 7 Managed Services Surprises In MSPmentor 100 Survey Results
• MSPmentor 100 Survey Ends This Friday, Dec. 23
• Only 2% of Top Managed Services Providers Use Windows Intune
• MSPmentor 100: Survey Deadline Approaching Rapidly

Based in Minneapolis, Minn., Corporate Technologies provides managed IT services and cloud services to U.S. businesses and government institutions. Here’s a short list of other company accomplishments through its three decades of business, by the numbers:

• Expanding its client reach from Minnesota to include five other states: California, Idaho, Michigan, New Jersey and North Dakota.
• Expanding the company to roughly 24o employees, making Corporate Technologies one of the largest managed service providers in the United States.
• Corporate Technologies’ engineers and sales staff hold over 500 industry training certifications from a long list of manufacturing partners, including Microsoft, HP, Cisco Systems, VMware, IBM, Citrix Systems and CompTia.

In a prepared statement, Corporate Technologies CEO Jim Griffith said: “For the last 30 years Corporate Technologies has stayed on the leading edge of technology by constantly investing in our employees through training and certifications to keep up with the every changing trends. We look forward to supporting the evolving technology needs of our customers for another 30 years.”

MSPmentor will be catching up with Corporate Technologies executives early next week to find out how the company plans to meet the next generation of client needs.

Read More About This Topic

• Virtual CIOs: A Growing Trend In Managed Services?
• mindSHIFT CEO: Managed Services Merger, Acquisition Insights
• Seven Managed Services Blog Entries MSPmentor Didn’t Write: Jan. 14
• Join Us Wednesday: Top 100 Managed Services Provider List
• Managed Services: 7 Blogs MSPmentor Didn’t Write, Feb. 10

First, a little background: MSPmentor recorded the video during a Unified Communications panel discussion at Cisco Partner Summit earlier this month. During the panel, Waldrop described how he’s promoting Cisco’s unified communications gear into the SMB market. And generally speaking, Connected WorkPlace Solutions has yet to find a hosted PBX service that can effectively replace the on-premise VoIP solutions.

Here’s the video:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Waldrop is an open-minded guy. For him, on-premise vs. cloud isn’t a religious debate. He’s made it clear that Connected WorkPlace Solutions continues to examine a range of cloud services — and cloud storage already represents a healthy portion of Connected WorkPlace’s business. But on the PBX and unified communications front, Waldrop has yet to find the right channel-centric cloud service that balances the right features, functions, price point and partner margins.

Still, it’s very early in the hosted PBX game. Even the most vocal hosted PBX advocates — such as Parallels and Intermedia — concede that the market is just getting started, and a mainstream tipping point may not occur for another two years or so. Waldrop continues to monitor that progress closely… even as he continues to sell on-premise unified communications with closely coupled managed services contracts.

Sign up for MSPmentor’s Weekly Enewsletter, Webcasts and Resource Center. Follow us via RSS, Facebook and Twitter. Check out more MSP voices at www.MSPtweet.com. Read our editorial disclosure here.

Read More About This Topic

• Are Hosted PBX Services Really Ready for MSPs?
• MSPs: Rolling Out Managed Unified Communications, VoIP?
• MSPs Set to Explore Hosted PBX Services, VoIP In the Cloud
• Microsoft Lync: Gaining Momentum with Partners, Customers?
• Hosted Exchange Specialist Apptix Continues Company Transformation

About six months ago, CSP rolled out a set of backup disaster and recovery tools to add to its current repertoire of solutions, which already includes network security, mobility and wireless, and ruggedized computing. The ruggedized system is designed for field workers such as police officers, fire fighters, construction workers and others who work in extreme environments.

For example, CSP partnered with Panasonic to develop  Rugged laptop products and the Arbitrator mobile digital recording system — designed specifically for law enforcement and homeland security officials. Kilgore said the company has already received extremely positive feedback on the new disaster recovery tools from its clients. So what’s next? “In the next [fiscal] quarter we plan to release a hosting antivirus suite using Symantec Endpoint Protection,” said Kilgore. The solution is still in the developmental stage.

Seasoned Talent

Aside from its development skills, Kilgore says the company’s biggest asset involves attention to client needs. “We have highly skilled engineers who are also highly customer focused,” said Kilgore. He said CSP does not hire any junior level engineers.

CSP conducts either quarterly or semiannual business reviews with its MSP customers, all of which sign long term contracts with the company of at least one year. “We used to allows short-term contracts but we found that long-term contracts are good for us and our clients,” said Kilgore. “It gives them price protection and it gives us guaranteed revenue.”

Those long-term contracts are actually more like long-term personal relationships between CSP and each of its clientele. The company won’t reveal how many customers it has, but Kilgore said CSP solicits feedback from every customer each month and uses some of the information to drive a portion of the company’s tech developments. Kilgore said CSP’s goal is to add 24 new managed services customers this year.

No doubt, the best MSPs are focusing closely on customer relationships, building tight business bonds that rivals — including cloud giants — can’t break.

Sign up for MSPmentor’s Weekly Enewsletter, Webcasts and Resource Center. Follow us via RSS, Facebook, Identi.ca and Twitter. Check out more MSP voices at www.MSPtweet.com. Read our editorial disclosure here.

Read More About This Topic

• Managed Services: 7 Blogs MSPmentor Didn’t Write, Feb. 10
• Symantec Confirms Managed Services Partner Strategy
• ConnectWise IT Nation: 10 Pieces of Early Chatter
• Acquisitions Fuel Software Vendors’ e-Discovery Services Push
• Palo Alto Networks: Partners Promote Managed Security Services

Here’s the situation: Imagine if you ran in a marathon in 2008. Only a few hundred people showed up for the marathon, and most of the runners were from your home town. Chances are, you performed pretty well compared to the rest of the pack. Now, imagine if you ran in that marathon again in 2011. This time, thousands of runners from across the world showed up. And everyone who entered the marathon was in much, much better shape because they’ve been quietly training for four years. Chances are, you’re still a pretty darn good runner — but the field of competition has grown tremendously…

Now, apply that example to the MSPmentor 100. When the first MSPmentor 100 list and research report debuted in early 2008, dozens of companies on the list had less than $1 million in annual recurring revenues. Fast forward to this year’s list and every MSPmentor 100 company generates at least $2.5 million in annual recurring revenues. Moreover, MSPs from Europe, Africa and Australia continue to grab more slots on the list.

So as we prepare to unveil the MSPmentor 100 on today’s webcast (with content debuting on our web site this evening) I hope to set reader expectations: The managed services market has grown dramatically since 2008. New names will debut on this year’s list. Some familiar names won’t make it. I apologize if we wind up disappointing some loyal readers — many of whom share their views frequently via MSPmentor. I thank you for trusting MSPmentor to build a list based on real business metrics rather than picking and choosing companies at random.

Jump In

Oh, and just two more things:

• The MSPmentor 250 survey – tracking the world’s top managed services executives, entrepreneurs and experts — is now live in our MSPmentor 250 center. Deadline for MSPmentor 250 participation is June 24. Results will be announced in August 2011. This is our fourth-annual MSPmentor 250 survey; it serves as a Rolodex for those who want to build relationships rapidly in the managed services market.
• The Talkin’ Cloud 50 survey — tracking the most successful VARs and MSPs working in the cloud — is also live and runs through March 31, 2011. Results will be announced in Q2 2011. This is our first Talkin’ Cloud 50 survey. I’m pleased to say the survey is attracting VARs and MSPs that specialize in online backup, SaaS security, hosted email, and more.

Thanks again for your time, your trust and your readership. Best wishes for continued success in 2011… and beyond.

Sign up for MSPmentor’s Weekly Enewsletter, Webcasts and Resource Center. Follow us via RSS, Facebook, Identi.ca and Twitter. Check out more MSP voices at www.MSPtweet.com. Read our editorial disclosure here.

Read More About This Topic

• MSPmentor 100: Are You A Top Managed Services Provider?
• Participate in the Fifth Annual MSPmentor 100 Survey
• MSPmentor 100: Keeping Score and Next Steps
• Reminder: MSPmentor 100 Webcast This Wednesday, February 16
• Top 100 MSPs Generate $1 Billion In Combined Recurring Revenues

Read More About This Topic

• Top 100 MSPs Generate $1 Billion In Combined Recurring Revenues
• MSPmentor 100: Here It Comes…
• Join Us: The Fourth-Annual MSPmentor 100 Webcast
• MSPmentor 100: Are You A Top Managed Services Provider?
• Participate in the Fifth Annual MSPmentor 100 Survey

First a little background: We’ll cover the trends below (and more) and also announce the complete MSPmentor 100 list/results during a webcast at 2:00 p.m. eastern on Wednesday, February 16. The results will also highlight the Top 20 European MSPs, Top 20 Australian MSPs, and Top 10 MSPs in Africa.

In the meantime here are five MSPmentor 100 trends worth noting:

1. Larger MSPs Move In: Of the MSPmentor 100 companies, 28 generated at least $10 million in recurring annual revenues

2. More Devices Managed: MSPmentor 100 companies now remotely manage more than 1 million PCs, notebooks, netbooks and other mobile or personal computing devices, up 32% from 2009. Also, MSPmentor 100 companies remotely manage 375,000 switches, routers and servers, up 24% from 2009.

3. Social Media – Slowing Growth?: Roughly 36 percent of MSPmentor 100 survey participants have Twitter accounts, up from 29 percent last year. Nearly 33 percent have FaceBook accounts and 30 percent have corporate blogs.

4. Vertical Market Reality Check: Of the survey participants, roughly 41.3% have no specific vertical market focus. For those with a vertical market targets the five most popular areas of focus are:

• Health care: 43.6%
• Banking/financial services: 40.1%
• Legal: 39.5%
• Manufacturing: 29.3%
• Insurance: 23.2%

5. Cloud Moves In: Some channel partners certainly fear the cloud. But top MSPs seem to be embracing the cloud. Top cloud services promoted by survey participants include:

• Hosted/SaaS Email: 77.3% (up from 67.7% in 2009)
• Virtual servers in the cloud: 67.1% (not tracked in 2009)
• Software as a Service (SaaS): 61.0% (not tracked in 2009)
• Website hosting: 56.1% (not tracked in 2009)
• Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS): 54.3% (not tracked in 2009)
• Storage as a Service: 54.1% (not tracked in 2009)
• Security as a Service: 42.6% (not tracked in 2009)
• Hosted/SaaS SharePoint: 42.1% (up from 36%)
• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI): 40.1% (not tracked in 2009)
• Platform as a Service (PaaS): 30.4% (not tracked in 2009)
• Hosted/SaaS CRM: 23.2% (up from 18.9%)
• Hosted Unified Communications: 21.9% (not tracked in 2009)

That’s all for now. I hope you join us for our MSPmentor 100 webcast on Wednesday, February 16 at 2:00 p.m.

Sign up for MSPmentor’s Weekly Enewsletter, Webcasts and Resource Center. Follow us via RSS, Facebook, Identi.ca and Twitter. Check out more MSP voices at www.MSPtweet.com. Read our editorial disclosure here.

Read More About This Topic

• Reminder: MSPmentor 100 Webcast This Wednesday, February 16
• MSPmentor 100: Here It Comes…
• Join Us: The Fourth-Annual MSPmentor 100 Webcast
• MSPmentor 100: Are You A Top Managed Services Provider?
• Participate in the Fifth Annual MSPmentor 100 Survey

We’ll also hear from two MSPmentor 100 companies. Our mystery guests will describe their sales strategies and compensation strategies — the essence of how they drove growth in 2010, and next steps for 2011. Plus Jeannine Edwards, director of community at ConnectWise, will offer her perspectives on the 2011 managed services market. We’ll be taking your questions throughout the webcast.

Please note: ConnectWise is sponsoring the webcast but the MSPmentor 100 list and research report are not sponsored. The report is based on an editorial research survey conducted in Q4 each year. The resulting MSPmentor 100 list is based on real-world metrics like recurring revenues, devices managed, revenue growth rates, and more. I hope you’ll join us for the webcast and pose your questions to our mystery guests and Edwards.

Read More About This Topic

• Join Us: The Fourth-Annual MSPmentor 100 Webcast
• Circle 2 Dates: Managed Services Webcasts & MSPmentor 100 List
• Reminder: MSPmentor 100 Webcast This Wednesday, February 16
• Top 100 MSPs Generate $1 Billion In Combined Recurring Revenues
• Join Us Wednesday: Top 100 Managed Services Provider List