MSPmentor » Software as a Service and Hardware as a Service

MSPs Can Provide SMBs Crucial ‘Micro-Elements’

Dan Berthiaume — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 13:24:55 +0000

We all know that an increasing number of US jobs are heading to foreign countries, but there have been a lot of disagreements about the exact cause of this trend and whether it will continue to grow. A new report from the Harvard Business School, “Prosperity at Risk,” says a number of systemic problems in American business and politics are driving jobs offshore, and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. So what’s the potential upside for managed services providers (MSPs)?

A closer look at several “micro” elements the report says are crucial for American businesses to stay competitive suggests that MSPs may able to help provide them, especially to SMBs who lack the resources to develop or locate these elements for themselves. These elements are communications infrastructure, availability of skilled labor, flexibility in hiring and firing of workers, and sophistication of firm management and operations. Following is a brief overview of each element and how MSPs can help deliver them to SMBs looking for a competitive edge.

Communications Infrastructure

The report recommends that American businesses have access to high-quality and widely available telephony, internet, and data. While large enterprises can easily develop their own sophisticated communications infrastructure, SMBs often do not have the money, time or in-house expertise needed to build a first-class communications infrastructure. Managed communications services can allow SMBs to take advantage of leading-edge communications technologies and still have money left over to have something to communicate about.

Availability of Skilled Labor

Genuine skilled labor is tough to find. Usually, a company must go through an intensive recruitment process that involves weeding out numerous unqualified candidates to locate one properly experienced and trained person. And that person is generally highly sought after in the job market, meaning larger companies who can afford to pay higher salaries have a decided edge compared to SMBs in hiring the most skilled employees.

MSPs can help SMBs save time and money in the recruitment process by offering the services of top-notch personnel as part of a managed services program. Sharing the services of highly qualified professionals on an as-needed basis puts the best people within reach of SMBs, and without busting their HR or payroll budgets.

Flexibility of Hiring and Firing Workers

As anyone involved in offering employment knows, there are numerous bureaucratic regulations around hiring and firing workers that makes the process onerous and exposes the employer to potential risk of lawsuit, especially in the case where a decision is made to terminate an employee’s position. SMBs are especially vulnerable in the case of a poor hiring decision, as they do not have substantial legal resources and may be forced to keep a subpar employee on board rather than face costly legal action. MSPs remove the difficulties SMBs face in hiring and firing workers while providing them needed services and manpower on a contract basis.

Sophistication of Firm Management and Operations

SMBs are less likely than their larger rivals to have access to the latest strategies, operating practices, management structures and analytical techniques. MSPs can deliver much of this knowledge and insight on as as-needed basis, at a fraction of the cost of obtaining new full-time personnel (see above) or pursuing education for existing employees.

Dimension Data Acquires on Xigo En Route to Becoming Full MSP

Nicholas Mukhar — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:07:45 +0000

Dimension Data, an IT solutions and services provider, has acquired the Xigo, a telecom expense management (TEM) solution provider, as part of its broader plan to become a complete managed communications services provider.

According to Dimension Data Group Executive of Global Solutions Steve Joubert, Xigo gives Dimension Data the ability to offer its enterprise customers spend analysis, sourcing, provisioning and invoice processing capabilities. Dimension plans to focus its new TEM offering in the U.S., where Dimension is based and already has a large enterprise customer base. Over time, Dimension plans to expand its TEM offering to other regions.

Dimension has not detailed where it plans to expand its new TEM capabilities next, but we should probably look for such a solution expansion in places like Asia and Australia both regions in which Dimension recently expanded into by acquiring BlueFire and Netforce — two managed services providers that gave Dimension data a broader regional reach and a larger customer base.

“As clients evolve their networks to address globalization, mobile device proliferation, virtualization and the cloud, Xigo will be instrumental to help them implement the most cost-effective roadmaps are architectures for the internal and external communications,” Joubert said in a prepared statement.

There is certainly no shortage of companies looking for TEM solutions these days as a way to have greater control over their expenses. Gartner Inc. predicts that the TEM market will reach $2 billion by 2015.

En route to becoming a full managed communications service provider, Dimension Data has also launched a managed video services offering to help its customers reduce operational costs and improve the overall user video experience. We’ll keep an eye out for Dimension’s next move toward its managed services goal.

Amtel CEO: Unprotected Mobile Devices Pose Security Risk

Nicholas Mukhar — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 14:09:59 +0000

According to Amtel, a mobile device management (MDM) and telecom mobile expense management solution provider, 1.5 million new smartphones were activated during the first three weeks of December 2011, and another 6.8 million smartphones were activated just on Christmas Day alone. That means, as regular work schedules resume, enterprise IT departments are expecting an influx of employees wanting to use their smartphones and other mobile devices in the work place.

This spike in mobile devices being brought onto corporate networks presents several new challenges for IT departments charged with keeping corporate networks and devices secure, according to Amtel Founder and CEO P.J. Gupta. During our phone conversation in early January, Gupta detailed a number of MDM challenges that he says enterprise IT departments will face during 2012.

The top priority for enterprise IT departments, according to Gupta, will be trying to block all insecure devices. “IT used to say no to mobile devices entering their corporate networks,” Gupta said. “Now they say yes as long as they can implement all of their security settings.” The problem is most enterprise IT departments cannot monitor all of the mobile devices if they allow all of them to enter, and unprotected devices with access to corporate email and data poses a huge security risk. Finding a way to keep up with BYOD demand is pivotal for enterprise IT departments in 2012.

Gupta also noted that jailbroken (iOS) or rooted (Android) phones and what he called “killer apps” pose risks to networks because they can capture corporate information. Then there’s the issue of surprise bills from employees using company stipends. I’l llet Gupta explain.

“Many companies are giving out stipends to users for devices and apps,” he said. “But now they have to make sure those stipends are being used for work. They don’t employees to go on vacation and use that stipend money for things that are not work related. So I think more companies will be looking for tools to monitor that spending.”

Important to note — the majority of the problems are at the enterprise level, but the SMB sector is not immune to the BYOD phenomena. Gupta said that SMBs started looking for MDM sofware solutions sometime during mid to late 2011 because more of their employees began using their own mobile devices for work and because SaaS is comparatively cheap. Today, between 25 and 30 percent of Amtel’s customers are SMBs.

Desktop as a Service: Desktone Wins VDI Cloud Deal

Nicholas Mukhar — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 14:05:56 +0000

Desktone, Inc., a desktop as a service (DaaS) specialist, has caught its first major customer of 2011. Paladin Building Services, LLC, will use the DaaS provider’s cloud-based virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) solution as the company transitions from a thin client environment to a virtual one.

“DaaS is an ideal solution for businesses looking to realize the benefits of virtual desktops with out taking on the challenge of building a customized infrastructure solution,” Desktone CEO Peter McKay said in a prepared statement.

Paladin works with hundreds of subcontractors throughout the U.S. to provide facilities maintenance services for the commercial, industrial and retail sectors, as well as residential buildings. The company has two main reasons for transitioning to VDI solution. Firstly, it will save money on hiring in-house IT staff it would have had to hire to manage its servers. Secondly, Paladin will save time and money on building or buying new physical servers.

So why did Paladin choose Desktone? Desktone VP of Marketing and Product Management David Grant claimed Desktone can deliver a fully-functioning Microsoft Windows 7 virtual desktop and a fully-functioning Microsoft Linux virtual desktop in the cloud. That claim surfaced during my conversation with Grant back in November 2011.

The Windows 7 and Linux capabilities, along with Desktone’s ability to deliver virtual desktops on mobile devices, likely contributed to Paladin’s decision. But as we also mentioned in December 2011, other DaaS/VDI providers like Vyatta Inc., Integral Networks, Virtual Computer and RES Software are also planning cloud DaaS moves. We’ll keep a look out for news from others in the VDI space.

Forecast: SMB Tablet, iPad Spending In 2012 Will Be Big

Nicholas Mukhar — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 14:35:19 +0000

Small and midsize businesses (SMBs) apparently have growing plans for tablet computers and Apple iPad purchases in 2012, according to The NPD Group, a consumer market research firm. For managed services providers, SMB tablet spending plans for 2012 reinforce the need for proactive mobile device management (MDM) strategies, MSPmentor believes.

The NDP Group’s third quarter SMB Technology Monitor study found that nearly 75 percent of U.S. small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) plan to buy tablets in 2012. That’s a bump from second quarter results which found that 68 planned to do so. The tablet of choice for most of these SMBs? You guessed it. The Apple iPad.

The NPD Group’s study included U.S. SMBs with 1,000 employees or less. The average SMB is planning to spend roughly $21,000 on tablets throughout $21,000, according to the report. But the amount varies by company size as smaller SMBs plan to spend almost $10,000 less than SMBs right around the 1,000 employee cutoff line. Here’s how the spending figures break down based on company size.

SMBs with under 50 employees plan to spend $1,912 on tablets in 2012.
SMBs with 50 – 200 employees plan to spend $10,122 on tablets in 2012.
SMBs with 201 – 500 employees plan to spend $27,031 on tablets in 2012.
SMBs with 501 – 999 employees plan to spend $38,749 on tablets in 2012.

If the survey results hold true, it will be a welcomed development for mobile device management (MDM) providers. Up Just a few days ago MSPmentor predicted that the MDM space will be one of two managed services sectors to expand the most in 2012, along with managed document services (MDS). But up until now MDM software providers have focused mainly on large enterprise customers because enterprises have more mobile devices connecting to their networks. If SMBs start spending more on tablets and other mobile devices, the ever-growing list of MDM software providers will have a new market share to compete for in 2012. Stay tuned.

ProviDyn Managed Cloud Services to Support ServPro

Nicholas Mukhar — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 18:49:32 +0000

ProviDyn, an IT support, network solutions and private cloud solution provider, will kick off 2012 with a new managed services contract with ServPro, a fire, water, mold and specialty cleanup and restoration service provider. ServPro is a nationwide organization but has local franchises throughout the United States. ProviDyn’s contract is with ServPro’s branch in Atlanta, Ga. where the managed service provider (MSP) already supports many small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs).

Through the managed services contract, ServPro will leverage ProviDyn’s managed and private cloud services in order to build, manage and scale its own network infrastructure. ServPro’s ultimate goal, according to ServPro Owner Michael Bell, is to speed up its response time and lower the cost of its day-to-day operations. To that end, ProviDyn’s managed and private cloud suite includes the following features:

Remote access to files
Business application hosting
Encryption and firewall management
Cost savings by eliminating the need for much of ServPro’s on-site equipment and additional personnel for technology management and support
Scalable infrastructure to fit current business needs and expand as business grows
Backup and restoration to protect critical business data

“We were impressed with the time ProviDyn invested in understanding our business,” Bell said in a prepared statement while noting that the ServPro had partnered with other MSPs in the past but was disappointed by slow response times and high costs. “Ultimately, the decision to go with ProviDyn’s private cloud eliminated a large upfront investment in equipment and personnel and brought us the benefits of an enterprise-class data center at a fraction of the cost.”

ProviDyn sees big cloud opportunities in the SMB market.But ProviDyn President Hamish Davidson has a different take: “Small and medium sized businesses have the most to gain from utilizing a private cloud,” he said. As a company, ProviDyn’s take is that SMBs have a much greater need to focus on running their business because of the intimate relationships they have with their clients, and managed cloud providers like ProviDyn allow them to do so by taking on SMBs’ day-to-day network management and long-term technology scaling.

Storage Strategies NOW (SSG-NOW), an IT industry analysis firm, has already documented the increasing interest that SMBs are showing in cloud-based business continuity technology in its Data Protection and Recovery in the Small and Mid-Sized business report. It’ll be interesting to see if SMBs take that interest in cloud technology beyond data protection solutions in 2012.

2012: MDS, MDM to Take Center Stage

Nicholas Mukhar — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 14:23:12 +0000

I’ve spoken with industry analysts, listened to co-workers and read plenty of IT prophecies form an opinion about what the New Year will bring. In my opinion, the two hottest managed services sectors entering 2012 are managed document services (MDS) and mobile device management (MDM). I expect both MDS and MDM to headline MSPmentor’s coverage and dominate the managed services market in 2012. Here’s why.

In one word, competition. If you’re an MSPmentor daily reader you have likely noticed that new news has been surfacing in the managed print/document or mobile device management sector almost every day, particularly in the second half of 2011. One day Xerox takes center stage by signing a managed print services deal only to be out-shined by a Lexmark announcement shortly thereafter. It seemed like each time Ricoh announced a new managed document solution, a company like Hewlett-Packard (HP) just happened to capture headlines within the same month.

The same is true in the MDM sector. Ever since the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Mobile Device Management Software was released in April 2011, software developers atop the Quadrant such as AirWatch, MobileIron, Numara Software and others have been racing to support the new Apple iOS 5 platform, become compatible with Android mobile devices and add new mobile security features for enterprises dealing with the Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD) demand from their own employees.

The competition among MDS and MDM software developers was red hot during the second half 2011, so there’s no reason to believe things will slow down when the calendar flips.

Driving Factors

Why are so many companies consuming these MDS and MDM solutions? MDS providers have positioned their solutions as a way for businesses to save money. They claim to speed up daily work processes and provide an easier way to manage workflows — two big factors pulling in cash-strapped businesses from around the world that are looking to save money.

When it comes to MDM, businesses don’t really have a choice. Employees are demanding that their employers allow them to use their own mobile devices. So businesses are turning to mobile device management software to help them monitor devices coming onto their networks.

There are no indications that the above driving factors are slowing down. I believe the MDM and MDS markets will continue to expand.

Challenges Ahead

The news around MDM and MDS is not all roses and rainbows. There are challenges ahead for MSPs and businesses, particularly when it comes to MDM. Many businesses still do not know how many devices are connected to their networks. That leaves them open to network attacks and downtime, which ultimately hurts their pocketbooks. So the next challenge for MDM software developers is to more closely engage MSPs to get customer devices under control.

MegaPath Upgrades Cloud-Based Managed Security Services

Nicholas Mukhar — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 15:29:55 +0000

The last time we heard from MegaPath, a managed data, security and voice service provider, the company had just inked a partnership with ChamberofCommerce.com, a small business directory service site. That was July 2011. Now, MegaPath has revealed several upgrades to its suite of cloud-based managed security services.

First, a little background. MegaPath’s Managed Security Services solution is designed to deliver steady, clean data to its business customers through constant updating, scanning and reporting. The company prides itself in catching network threats before they actually reach a customer’s network so that the customer can save bandwidth and always have a secure network that is readily available. The security solution also churns out stats on the most common and malicious viruses that are threatening individual networks. The statistical reports are based on firewall logs, IPS alerts and most denied web address destinations as identified based content filtering options that users set.

So what’s new for MegaPath’s SMB and enterprise customers? The company says it can now identify a larger number of threats and eliminate them before they reach a customer’s network. MegaPath’s updates to its network security solution were spurred by its own study, which found that 63 percent of businesses today are trusting outside security providers to handle internal and external threats to their networks.

Translation? There’s a huge market, and more importantly a growing market, for what MegaPath is offering in its network security solution.

Cormant Reports 2011 Revenue Growth, International Customer Expansion

Nicholas Mukhar — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 15:23:59 +0000

Cormant, Inc., an IT infrastructure management software provider, has capped-off 2011 by announcing both revenue growth and international customer momentum. Specifically, the company has roughly 37 percent revenue growth from 2010 to 2011 and added more customers in Asia-Pacific, Europe and North America. In a prepared statement, Cormant CEO Paul Goodison offered an explanation for the software provider’s successful year.

“IT departments across the globe are waking up to the fact that they need to do more to manage their assets, a trend we expect to continue to see in 2012,” Goodison said. “As a result of the channel partnerships we established this year, in addition to IT departments becoming more aware of the importance of having a single pane of glass view into their physical and logical assets, we have seen sales and upgrades across the world.”

Those increased sales figures and upgrades are coming from specific sectors that are increasingly adopting Cormant’s CableSolve IT management software solution: financial institutions, the healthcare sector, education, government and multi-national enterprises. Why? The Cormant CableSolve mobile application edition supports enterprise IT management. CableSolve is a three-part software solution that can also be installed on servers and desktops.

More recently, Cormant developed a fourth type of its CableSolve solution – a Web application that features an enhanced user dashboard, up-to-the-minute reporting, improved layout options, configured dashboards that can be imported and exported and the ability to add, update and remove IT components.

SysAid to IT Pros: Evaluate IT Systems Over the Holidays

Nicholas Mukhar — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 15:05:09 +0000

SysAid Technologies, an IT service management software and help desk solution provider, has a message for IT staff looking forward to taking a few days off during the holidays: Not so fast. According to the software provider, there is no more ideal time for IT administrators to evaluate company IT systems than during the holiday season when most employees are out of the office and usually not logging-in to company networks via mobile devices to work remotely.

So at the risk of being The Grinch who stole paid time off (PTO) from IT system administrators this month, SysAid has released a seven-step checklist for IT staffs to run their systems through this Holiday season in preparation for that 2012 rush back to the office.

1. Test your network backbone and electricity backup: This includes Internet service continuity, applications that are used outside of the office, Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPS) and network capacity.

2. Test Your DRP (Disaster Recovery Plan) solution: The best way to do this, according to SysAid, is to simulate a complete electrical failure inside your data center, restore your data from your backup solution and initialize all your services from a remote location. Note what works and what doesn’t and be prepared to solidify your solution come 2012.

3. Implement Major Infrastructure Changes: The holidays are the best time to make any major changes to your infrastructure, especially if those infrastructure changes require extended downtime. Storage upgrades, database migrations and electrical maintenance are great tasks to have done when employees are out.

4. Take Advantage of your remaining yearly budget: Go on a little holiday spending spree. If you have extra cash, use it to upgrade software platforms, go through training programs or get some new tech toys for employees upon their return. (Not so sure if we at MSPmentor like this one. Saving the money rather than trying to find ways to spend it sounds a little better to us).

5. Proactively Replace Old Equipment: Take inventory and replace old or damaged office equipment. It’s a good way to hit the ground running in 2012.

6. Ensure your backup: It goes along with testing your BDR. Review your overall backup strategy. Make sure it’s consistent and make sure there’s a backup in place for all laptops and servers in your workplace.

7. Take a break: Even YOU need to relax, says SysAid. Use the downtime to charge your battery for the upcoming year.

SysAid seems like a pretty credible source to take advice from. The company has over 60,000 international customers and has been developing its IT management software since 2002. The company’s latest move? The release of SysAid IT 8.0 in May 2011.

MSPmentor » Software as a Service and Hardware as a Service

MSPs Can Provide SMBs Crucial ‘Micro-Elements’

Communications Infrastructure

Availability of Skilled Labor

Flexibility of Hiring and Firing Workers

Sophistication of Firm Management and Operations

Read More About This Topic

Dimension Data Acquires on Xigo En Route to Becoming Full MSP

Read More About This Topic

Amtel CEO: Unprotected Mobile Devices Pose Security Risk

Read More About This Topic

Desktop as a Service: Desktone Wins VDI Cloud Deal

Read More About This Topic

Forecast: SMB Tablet, iPad Spending In 2012 Will Be Big

Read More About This Topic

ProviDyn Managed Cloud Services to Support ServPro

Read More About This Topic

2012: MDS, MDM to Take Center Stage

Read More About This Topic

MegaPath Upgrades Cloud-Based Managed Security Services

Read More About This Topic

Cormant Reports 2011 Revenue Growth, International Customer Expansion

Read More About This Topic

SysAid to IT Pros: Evaluate IT Systems Over the Holidays

Read More About This Topic