MSPmentor

After three days of speculation, Lenovo SMB channel veteran Jay McBain today confirmed he has joined Autotask, the PSA (professional services automation) specialist. McBain signs on as senior VP, strategy and market development. He joins the company as Autotask expands its executive team, shifts CEO responsibilities, and seeks to push beyond MSP communities for future SaaS growth. Here’s the update, including an MSPmentor FastChat Video with McBain.

Read More >

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.

Read More >

As 2010 gives way to 2011, some folks in the managed services industry are making career moves. Generally speaking, I think the moves communicate (A) growing interest in the managed services market and (B) an improving economic picture. Here are multiple examples of career changers and what they may be up to…

Read More >

Autotask, the professional services automation (PSA) specialist, has named Mark Cattini (pictured) as CEO. But that doesn’t mean Autotask Founder and former CEO Bob Godgart is heading for the exit. Indeed, Godgart says he personally recruited Cattini to Autotask. Now, Godgart shifts to a new position (Chief Visionary Officer) to focus on innovation, while Cattini focuses on growing Autotask’s business. The new roles are part of an ongoing executive team expansion at Autotask. Here’s the scoop, plus FastChat Videos with Godgart and Cattini, and MSPmentor’s analysis.

Read More >

In a previous blog post, I described the 10 benefits of using surveys in your service provider business. But if you still feel surveys are a “nice to have” rather than a “need to do” (despite knowing how surveys increase customer retention, improve product and service delivery and create competitive advantage), let me convince you otherwise.

Read More >

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.

Read More >

Fortunately, today’s new service management tools promise a variety of ways to optimize the profitability in your managed services business. They furnish a range of features and functions for handling projects and service contracts that let MSPs more easily define and measure key metrics and get a much clearer picture of their profitability.

Read More >

The time-tested formula for MSPs when creating service contracts is to set fixed monthly fees to ensure regular recurring revenue. But that may not be the most profitable strategy, especially if you are not incorporating key business terms and conditions to clearly define the work scope, and then managing to those deliverables. And that approach can be a real crap shoot, unless you have a solid business management platform in place to help you analyze your performance against each and every contract so you can make adjustments as you go.

Read More >

I recently attended the terrific “Breakaway 2010” event put on by CompTIA, the leading computer industry association, and I was glad to see the big emphasis that was being placed on opportunities in the healthcare vertical market for IT solution professionals.

Read More >

Autotask is preparing to launch a so-called community marketplace. If the service works as promised, it could allow VARs and MSPs to more easily find a range of applications and integration code to further automate their businesses. Autotask CEO Bob Godgart and Executive Director of Community and Business Development Mark Crall shared some preliminary details during the CompTIA Breakaway conference. Here’s a closer look at Autotask’s marketplace strategy.

Read More >

During CompTIA Breakaway, I spent most of Wednesday in partner and executive meetings. Most of the chatter, predictably, involved managed services and the cloud. But what exactly did I hear? It’s going to take me a few days to pull together some deeper thoughts and analysis. But here are five observations from Day 3 of CompTIA Breakaway in San Antonio, Texas.

Read More >

Much has been written and taught about the “holy grail” of IT service providers — to become your clients’ “Trusted Technology Advisor.” But don’t stop there. The next logical step is to become your customers’ Embedded Technology Advisor. Here’s why.

Read More >

Autotask is seeking a CFO to drive growth, and preparing an online store to promote third-party Autotask-compatible applications. Those are just two of the highlights so far from the second annual Autotask Community Live conference in Miami. I spoke with CEO Bob Godgart (pictured) last night and also sat in on this morning’s keynote session. Here are key takeaways for managed services providers.

Read More >

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.

Read More >

There’s no denying 2009 was a challenging year. Nearly everyone was forced to cut costs, streamline operations and undergo the proverbial belt tightening to stay out of the red. It wasn’t easy. Salary levels were frozen. Bonuses canceled. Furloughs mandated. And, in the worst cases, employees laid off and businesses closed. Now, here’s some upside.

Read More >

Our team is back home after attending the ConnectWise Partner Summit, HTG Peer Group meetings and Symantec Partner Engage this past week. Now I’m packing and leaving tonight for Cisco Partner Velocity in Paris. In between all that, here are seven managed services blog entries we didn’t have time to write for the week ending Nov. 7, 2009.

Read More >

ConnectWise is taking aggressive steps in the hosted software market. The PSA (professional services automation) software provider next week is expected to “officially” announce lower Hosted ConnectWise pricing. But word of the move is already spreading across Twitter. Here are the implications.

Read More >

In case you couldn’t join us for MSPmentor Live: CEO Exchange on June 25 and June 12, both webcasts are now archived and available for your on-demand viewing. Simply visit the MSPmentor Event Center to access the webcasts.

Read More >

(Update 6/26/08: If you missed this event on June 25, the archive will be available on June 30 in the MSPmentor Events Center.)

Read More >

We were meeting for breakfast, but Autotask CEO Bob Godgart wasn’t ready to pick up his fork. Instead, he opened his HP notebook and walked me through his vision for multi-partner customer engagements. Everyone from ConnectWise to OnForce (and soon, Partnerpedia) has communities to help VARs and managed service providers outsource work to one another. But I could tell Godgart has something different in mind. So we pushed aside breakfast, and dove into conversation.

Read More >

Here’s the final portion of our Top 30 Highlights from the Kaseya User Conference in Las Vegas.

Read More >

Arnie Bellini has multiple irons in the fire. As CEO of ConnectWise, he’s using several tactics — education, collaboration and software integration — to help grow the overall managed services market — and drive customer interest in ConnectWise. In additional to competing with traditional rivals, ConnectWise could wind up facing off against new competitors. Here’s a sampling of the thoughts he shared during an April 18 phone conversation with MSPmentor.

Read More >

For those who are new to managed services, the term “master managed service provider” may sound like some industry jargon or a new certification. But in reality, working with so-called Master MSPs — companies like Do IT Smarter or Ingram Micro’s Seismic organization — is one of the fastest ways to become a managed service provider. Here’s why.

Read More >