MSPmentor

Scores of managed services providers (MSPs) participate in HTG Peer Groups to discuss business, financial and personal development strategies. The typical MSP within HTG has about 15 employees, I believe. But now, HTG has launched a new peer group — called IT Nation 50 Group 1 HTG50+ powered by IT Nation. It’s designed for MSPs with 50 employees or more. Take a closer look and you might spot the next evolution of the SMB managed services market.

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The rumor mill is particularly active tonight. The tip: A couple of trusted sources suggest ConnectWise Capital has made its third investment. The alleged partner: Quosal, a popular quoting software and proposal system for VARs and MSPs. The move, if true, could allow ConnectWise CEO Arnie Bellini to reinforce and extend his “modern office” vision. The potential ConnectWise Capital-Quosal relationship also would set up some interesting competitive showdowns in the MSP software market.

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ConnectWise and Kaseya appear to be fulfilling their promise to cooperate even if they compete in some sectors of the managed services software market. The two companies have issued a short-but-sweet announcement, disclosing that ConnectWise 2011.2 now integrates with Kaseya 2.

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Within the halls of Autotask Corp., there’s talk about knocking down a firewall. The chatter goes something like this: The Autotask online community has roughly 34,667 users — mostly MSPs and VARs. But outside of Autotask (outside the firewall, that is) few solutions providers know about the community. Jay McBain, senior VP of strategy and market development, is aiming to change that. On the job for roughly 100 days now, McBain is part of a growing Autotask executive team that wants to more fully leverage the existing Autotask online community while pushing deeper into new verticals worldwide. Here’s how.

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Publicly, ConnectWise and Kaseya continue to cooperate in the managed services market. But privately, a war between LabTech Software (funded by ConnectWise Capital) and Kaseya has started to intensify, according to MSPs who are witnessing the action first-hand. To understand the high-stakes managed services showdown, turn your attention to a recent HTG CEO Forum meeting in Tampa, Fla. Here’s the scoop.

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It has been roughly a year since Arnie Bellini (pictured) and David Bellini launched ConnectWise Capital, an investment fund that seeks to incubate channel-centric IT solutions for managed services providers (MSPs) and VARs. So, how are the first two investments — CharTec and LabTech Software performing? And can we expect ConnectWise Capital to make new investments? Both Arnie Bellini and David Bellini share some insights in an MSPmentor FastChat Video.

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Instead of competing with corporate IT departments, a healthy number of managed services providers (MSPs) cooperate with corporate IT managers — creating a virtual bridge between MSP and corporate IT. Tools like ConnectWise StreamlineIT and Autotask Taskfire can help the process. But the effort also takes serious commitment from MSPs. Here’s the update, including a FastChat Video conversation with ConnectWise CEO Arnie Bellini.

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I spent most of January 20 at ConnectWise’s headquarters in Tampa, Fla. Frequent MSPmentor readers know the basics — how CEO Arnie Bellini and President David Bellini pushed beyond local IT services to build a PSA (professional services automation) software company. And the more recent IT Nation channel community efforts. But what’s going on behind the curtains down at ConnectWise? Here are six clues that may indicate where the company is heading next…

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The snow continues to pile up in my back yard on Long Island. So, I decided to escape for the next 48 hours or so — landing in Tampa, Fla., to get an update from ConnectWise. In addition to catching up with CEO Arnie Bellini, I’m checking in with a range of ConnectWise team members to see how 2011 is shaping up for the company and its partner base. Among the top six questions on my mind…

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When we launched MSPmentor back in 2008, a lot of managed services providers (MSPs) ask me for guidance on such topics as search engine optimization (SEO), Google Adwords, pay-per-click advertising campaigns and online marketing. Some of that chatter died down over the past year or two. (Maybe readers realized I was clueless.) But the SEO and online marketing chatter is starting up again — especially as MSP marketing budgets somewhat improve. Still, I wonder: Are MSPs really ready to master online marketing?

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MSP software providers have spent the past two or three years pushing into Europe and Australia. Now, it seems, the MSP software land grab is stretching into Africa. The latest example: ConnectWise has launched a cloud on Africa’s soil. And partners/rivals like Kaseya have been busy working closely with MSPs in South Africa. Here’s the update.

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Where will the managed services industry head next? Ironically, some clues may emerge at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2011), set for January 6-9 in Las Vegas. I concede: My eyes often glaze over when pundits talk about the “consumerization of IT.” But in many cases, I have to admit: Consumer products — and mobile consumer endpoints — will greatly influence the managed services market going forward. Here’s why.

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As the managed services market grew up, a healthy number of MSPs decided to outsource their help desks to third-party partners. But now, ConnectWise CEO Arnie Bellini is calling on MSPs — even small MSPs — to build their own help desks. By having a help desk in-house, small MSPs can build person-to-person relationships with end-customers, while more closely monitoring trends and needs within their SMB customer bases, Bellini asserts. So, what’s the upshot for MSPs?

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As the managed services industry prepares for 2011, some software companies are striving to become more transparent — offering more frequent disclosures about product roadmaps and cloud system status updates. The most recent example involves Kaseya, which has published a near-term product schedule. What prompted the disclosure? Here are some thoughts.

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Happy Belated Thanksgiving to MSPmentor’s US readers. Even as the MSPmentor staff relaxes for the holiday, our team is hard-at-work on some surprises for December 2010. That means, once again, we didn’t have time to complete every news story we pursued this past week. So here are seven managed services blog entries the MSPmentor team didn’t write for the week ending Nov. 26,  2010.

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Sure, plenty of big cloud computing companies want to sell direct into small and midsize businesses. So how can MSPs maintain those SMB relationships and generate new profits without bowing to IT giants? For the answer join our next MSPmentor Live webcast on December 8 at 2:00 p.m. eastern. This is our final webcast of 2010. Here’s a look at what we’ll cover.

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In recent weeks, MSPmentor has heard from numerous managed services providers that are taking a closer look at the VoIP market. Not by coincidence, N-able is partnering up with Mitel to promote customized VoIP monitoring services designed for MSPs. This could be the start of a larger a trend as rumors involving Cisco’s managed VoIP strategy continue to circulate. Here’s the update.

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There’s money in managed print services. How do I know? First, Photizo Group started organizing managed print services conferences — and the buzz tied to the events has been pretty positive. More recently, CompTIA organized a community for managed print services. The big question: Can Photizo Group, CompTIA and print manufacturers help to turn the sleepy managed print services industry into a big money maker for MSPs? Here are some perspectives.

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When the ConnectWise IT Nation conference wrapped up on November 7 with a golf tournament, I began to think about key themes, trends and takeaways for managed services providers (MSPs) that missed the event. So what did you miss, and where is ConnectWise CEO Arnie Bellini taking “IT Nation” (his term for SMB solutions providers) next? Here are 13 key wrap-up observations from MSPmentor.

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Call it the latest shot in the emerging MSP software wars. Autotask — in an apparent bid to counter ConnectWise, LabTech Software and maybe even Kaseya — has reached out to several RMM (remote monitoring and management) software companies with a free Autotask Go offer. Level Platforms and PacketTrap embraced the offer, but not all RMM players are joining the Autotask Go freemium effort. Here’s the update … plus the potential implications for VARs and MSPs.

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At the ConnectWise IT Nation conference in Orlando, CEO Arnie Bellini outlined a vision to help MSPs, VARs and IT service providers succeed as cloud computing hype grows. Bellini’s key points focused on defending your business from major SaaS and cloud companies that plan to sell direct to SMBs. Plus, Bellini described how solutions providers can build closer SMB customer relationships that generate new revenue opportunities. Here are 15 highlights from the keynote — including key thoughts on coopetition (cooperating and competing) in the MSP software market.

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Roughly 1,100 MSPs and VARs will gather later this week at ConnectWise IT Nation (formerly ConnectWise Partner Summit). The conference (Nov. 4-6, Orlando) also serves as a magnet for several related events hosted by CharTec, HTG Peer Groups, LabTech Software, Level Platforms and TruMethods. No doubt, attendees will hear a lot of themes related to cloud computing, the last mile of IT and managing the modern office for SMBs. Here are 35 key questions MSPmentor plans to raise during the conference.

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Anecdotal evidence suggests the managed services market remains healthy. But for the second time in 12 months, I believe MSPs are reaching a major inflection point. There’s no cause for panic. But the rules for managed services seem to be changing — yet again. Here’s why.

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