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GreatAmerica Leasing Corp., a U.S. commercial equipment finance company, is making multiple moves to engage managed services providers, managed print experts, and VARs that participate in HTG Peer Groups. Here are some of the emerging details.
I concede: I often blog about the fact that many SaaS applications like Microsoft BPOS (Business Productivity Online Suite) don’t offer VARs and MSPs enough profit margin opportunity. But I had a rather enlightening conversation yesterday with Next Level Cafe, a managed services provider based in Minnesota. CEO Richard Anderson offered some timely perspective on the true SaaS opportunity. Here it is.
And now for something completely different. Autotask has acquired VARStreet. The move potentially allows VARs and MSPs to have a single dashboard for managing distributor relationships and product sourcing (VARStreet) and IT services automation (Autotask). Here’s some analysis of the deal, the potential implications, and a FastChat video conversation with Autotask CEO Bob Godgart.
How do you continue to “build” a managed services business — even as you try to “run” day-to-day operations while maintaining your existing customer engagements? I must concede: We deal with that balancing act Nine Lives Media Inc. (MSPmentor’s parent). On the one hand, our team has to meet daily business and editorial deadlines. But on the other, we have to keep innovating. Otherwise, a market shift or competitive shift will surely sink us. It’s a careful balancing act that I suspect many MSPs are facing as well.
For skeptics, Google Apps represents consumer-oriented SaaS applications that aren’t really designed for enterprises. But poke your head inside the new Google Apps Marketplace, and you’ll begin to see just how serious Google is when it comes to pushing SaaS deeper into businesses. Here are some observations for managed services providers who are trying to decide whether to cooperate — or compete — with Google Apps.
All of your customers carry mobile devices. The key question: Can managed services providers actually generate revenues and profits by seeking to manage iPhones, Google Android, BlackBerry and other customer devices? Before you answer the question consider a recent mobile managed services move by Orange Business Services. Here are the details.
Cloud vendors, at least the publicly held ones, have been disclosing cloud-centric revenue for a few quarters now. The top line revenue results are helpful, since they chronicle demand for emerging cloud services. But, obviously, it doesn’t say much about the underlying business fundamentals. With that in mind, what metrics should cloud companies use to track financial performance and operational efficiency? How should they keep score? Here are some clues — and some similarity between cloud success metrics, and MSP success metrics.
Some Australian managed services providers allegedly are in an “uproar” over Kaseya’s SaaS pricing vs. on-premise pricing. But take a closer look at the situation, and you’ll likely discover the SaaS “uproar” may actually involve an apples-to-oranges price comparison of tools that offer vastly different capabilities. Here’s some perspective.
It’s a common question for VAR and MSPs: How can you get into the SaaS market while avoiding strategic and tactical errors? For the answer to that question join us for our Four Steps to SaaS Success webcast series, which starts April 7 at 2:00 p.m eastern.
QuoteWerks, a sales quoting and proposal tool, continues to strengthen its integrations to PSA (professional services automation) software platforms like Autotask, ConnectWise and Tigerpaw Software. The latest move involves a direct integration with ConnectWise. Here are the details.
It was another typical week at MSPmentor, filled with planes, trains and automobiles. Before I catch a flight from San Francisco to New York, here are seven managed services blog entries the MSPmentor team didn’t have a chance to write for the week ending March 5, 2010.
At the Intermedia Partner Summit in Silicon Valley, managed service providers and VARs are discussed how to compete with Google Apps and Microsoft’s Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS). The discussion involved MSPs that offer hosted Exchange in partnership with Intermedia. Here are the key takeaways.
I’m heading over to the Intermedia Partner Summit this morning in Silicon Valley, where several dozen MSPs will be hearing about the hosted Exchange and hosted Unified Communications markets. Intermedia is one of the best-known providers of white label hosted Exchange services to MSPs. But the company has also been building a hosted Unified Communications partnership with Unison Technologies. Here are five things I hope to learn at the conference…
Your website is the single most important marketing tool your company has. An effective website will increase your search engine hits, capture leads, and establish you as a leading managed services provider. But the key element to building great websites is one that many technology-based companies overlook—relevant, well written content.
In recent months, I’ve blogged quite a bit about MSPs moving up the stack from from managed infrastructure to managed applications. In fact, I’ve advocated an increased applications focus. But a recent move by NaviSite, Inc. has me rethinking the managed applications market. Here’s why.
Anybody with a competitive bone in his or her body hates to lose a deal to the “other guy.” But while a loss to a peer MSP can drive anyone to a cold adult beverage, nothing stings like losing to a customer “no decision.” You know the scenario. Here are three ways to solve it.
When Dell announced quarterly results last week, Channel Chief Greg Davis and other members of Dell’s channel team vowed to show some momentum with managed services partners. Fast forward one week, and Dell has scored a significant managed services customer win, and the deal involves The I.T. Pros, a well-known MSP. Here are the details.
Earlier this week in Miami, I got locked in a conversation about Hardware as a Service (HaaS) with a few skeptical MSPs. Their key question: Can you really turn a HaaS profit without taking on big financial risk? I’ve heard some successful anecdotes, but I’m deferring the question to two top MSPs and CharTec’s Alex Rogers. If you’d like to hear how they’re tackling HaaS, join our March 24 MSPmentor Live webcast. We’ll take your questions through the webcast discussion.
The deadlines kept coming this week. We met most (but not all) of them. Plus, we’re still busy chasing some rather strategic news that will break within days. Here are some clues, plus seven managed services blog entries we didn’t write for the week ending February 19.
A recent Goldman Sachs report suggests the shift to SaaS is unstoppable. The Goldman Sachs data points seem pretty darn impressive. But a recent blog entry from Justin Pirie, titled “Don’t Kid Yourself — SaaS is F***ing Hard!” provides a timely reality check. I don’t endorse Pirie’s choice of words, which cross the line of business decency. But I do believe his reality check — and recommendations on SaaS profitability optimization — provide timely guidance to readers. Here’s why.
Own Web Now (OWN) has launched a synchronization tool that apparently automates billing between ConnectWise and OWN’s cloud services for managed services providers (MSPs). According to OWN CEO Vlad Mazek, his company completed similar work for the Autotask platform in 2009. Here are some details about OWN’s synchronization tools for PSA (professional services automation) platforms.
Hewlett-Packard evangelists sound pretty excited by the company’s latest quarterly financial results. The Associated Press noted “revenue was up in most of the technology company’s major divisions and HP raised its 2010 outlook, citing accelerating market momentum.” Great news for HP partners. But there were two weak spots in the earnings report: HP Services and HP Software. Here are the details.
When RackSpace recently announced plans to offer hosted Microsoft SharePoint, it signaled both an opportunity and a warning sign for managed services providers. Is hosted SharePoint the next commodity SaaS service. Yes and no. Here’s why.
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