MSPmentor

All Covered, a $45 million managed services specialist operating in 20 cities across the U.S., is preparing to make yet another acquisition — marking the 10th time in roughly 12 months that All Covered has made an M&A move in the managed services market, according to a company spokesman. Here’s a quick look at the strategy.

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We’ve described how electronic health records could present an opening for MSPs as healthcare providers seek externally hosted systems. But health organizations with in-house EHR systems also present a services opportunity: disaster recovery.

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This is my 1,539th blog entry for MSPmentor. Readers often ask me how I come up with content ideas. There are some obvious approaches (vendor cat fights…) and not so obvious approaches (checking the help wanted pages on Dice.com). If you’ve ever thought about launching or writing a blog for your customers and partners, here are 10 ways to find and generate new content.

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It’s finally starting to happen: mid-size to large software companies are starting to acquire small (but fast-growing) MSP software providers. So far, the buyers include CA Inc., Citrix Systems and Quest Software. The big question: When will the really big IT titans — Microsoft, Cisco Systems, HP and others — open their wallets and get into the managed services software game? Here are some educated guesses.

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Storage Guardian, the online backup provider that works with service providers, has announced their “Virtual Backup Roadmap” program, which is a fancy way of saying that they’re no longer charging upfront for transitioning a Microsoft SQL Server 2008 installation from on-premise to virtualized. Interested?

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Not every MSP can leverage the Google Apps Marketplace, and not every solutions provider has cloud applications ready to go. Enter AppsOnCommand, a new white label solution that lets you host any application and deliver it as software as a service (SaaS).

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CA’s Chris O’Malley (pictured) and Nimsoft’s Gary Read dialed me about an hour ago to offer additional insights on CA’s $350 million buyout of Nimsoft. When did the negotiations start, how did Nimsoft initially react — and why is CA so intrigued by the managed services market? O’Malley and Read provide the answers. Here they are.

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During a media call that continues now, CA and Nimsoft executive team members described why CA paid $350 million in cash to acquire Nimsoft — or a bit more than 10 times Nimsoft’s 2009 revenue. Also, CA explained how Nimsoft will potentially help CA to move deeper into cloud computing and the managed services market.

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Another day, another MSP deal. The latest: CA Inc. has purchased privately held Nimsoft for $350 million in cold hard cash. The move has far-reaching implications for managed services providers as well as the MSP software industry. Here’s a first look at the deal, and how we expect it to impact the MSP landscape.

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The managed services software market continues to consolidate. The latest move involves CA Inc. acquiring privately held Nimsoft for $350 million. We’ll be back shortly with more analysis, and the implications for rival software providers as well as managed services providers. Here are two four updates…

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Microsoft unveiled the latest chapter in its cloud strategy today, as Channel Chief Allison Watson outlined potential cloud opportunities for VARs and MSPs. Watson held a webcast for channel partners earlier today. And she sat down for a FastChat video with The VAR Guy to answer additional cloud-centric channel questions. In the FastChat videos, Watson discusses opportunities involving Windows Azure and BPOS (Business Productivity Online Suite), competition with Google, first cloud steps for VARs, and the SaaS pricing questions that sometimes pop up within Microsoft’s channel ecosystem. Here are the videos.

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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.

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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.

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RIM, get ready for a fight: HyperOffice has announced that HyperSynch, an over-the-air push-messaging solution that works as well with the iPhone, the Droid, or even Windows Mobile devices as it does the BlackBerry, has entered beta testing. What’s more, it’s going to be included, gratis, with HyperOffice deployments. Interested?

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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.

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MSPWorld, the MSPAlliance’s conference for managed services providers, will be co-located this year at ITExpo West 2010, scheduled for Oct. 4-6 in Los Angeles. The move potentially opens up MSPWorld to a broader audience of Internet Telephony experts, but MSPWorld will also need to compete with roughly six other conferences that will be co-located at ITExpo. Here are the details.

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Before I start, the answer is NO. You can’t afford to ignore that elephant in the room. You’re risking everything that you have established up until now. A fundamental shift is taking place and it can’t be ignored. It’s not a matter as to IF it’s happening, only when it will fully take hold. Tim Shea, CEO of Alpha Netsolutions Inc. recently wrote: “Pretty soon, clients won’t care where a server sits or what brand it is. They will just care that they have the computer services they need—and how much it will cost to have them.” Here are the implications for MSPs.

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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.

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In a blog post, Google has announced that Google Apps — the software-as-a-service collaborative productivity suite — is now fully disaster-proof and ready to instantly restore data lost in the event of a catastrophe. Here’s why their braggadocio has some IT pros seeing red.

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I was on the road today. The usual flood of email hit my inbox. Some senders expected instant responses from me. But I’m starting to listen to good advice from Stuart Crawford, the former VAR who now specializes in social media. In a polite but clear manner, Crawford reminds senders on a regular basis that email isn’t designed for instant communications. Within our own business, we’re spending less time on email and more time using Google Docs to manage internal discussions. Here’s why. And here’s how.

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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.

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In today’s fast-paced world of technology, new IT issues — and new solutions — can arise in the blink of an eye. This poses a unique challenge for MSPs and VARs trying to stay ahead of the game while simultaneously working to contain costs and maximize ROI. After all, if you can’t or don’t evolve with ongoing service advancements you will quickly begin to lose customers to those competitors who continually find ways to reinvent themselves. So, what’s your next move? Here’s some guidance.

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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.

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