MSPmentor

The SMB disaster recovery market is poised for some change in 2012, according to new predictions released by cloud-based recovery services provider Doyenz Inc. The company forecasts that as the continuing consumerization of IT makes its way into the disaster recovery market, SMBs will have greater expectations around application availability, ease of use, intuitive web-based management with 24×7 data accessibility, and faster time-to-recovery with improved security of their data. Doyenz goes as far as saying these changes will drive a “disruptive shift” in the disaster recovery market next year.

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Numara Software, a help desk software provider, has a message for MSPs: Your mobile device management (MDM) efforts should integrate with your existing managed services for network devices security, provisioning, management and control. So where does Numara Cloud fit into the MDM Conversation?

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Desktone, a desktop as a service (DaaS) specialist, is touting its virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) as a solution to help enterprises migrate to Microsoft’s Windows 7. Desktone also promotes its VDI and DaaS solutions to managed services providers, cloud systems integrators and large telecom companies. I spoke with Desktone VP of Marketing and Product Management David Grant to learn where he thinks Desktone fits into the DaaS and VDI conversation.

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Cloud computing was only half the story at last week’s IT Nation conference in Orlando, Fla. Attendees — mostly MSPs and VARs — also focused heavily on mobile device management (MDM) and the growing influence of tablets in the workplace. But instead of talking cloud vs. on-premises or notebooks vs. tablets, it’s time for MSPs to focus their sales and business strategies on the complete end-user experience. Here’s why.

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So, you’ve spent the last five years building out a successful managed services practice. You’ve spent innumerable hours evaluating vendors, selected an RMM vendor (or two, maybe three?) that will allow you effectively remotely manage your customers. You’ve had to make staff changes, and probably had to edit your customer list a little bit in the process too. If you are like most, you either added or started with a PSA solution to manage the day to day activities of your team and clean up your processes, billing, etc. All this has prepared you to layer on some cloud based deliverables which will add revenue across your customer base and create opportunity to land new customers.

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When it comes to finding new opportunities, MSPs are pretty adept at rooting out trends and complementary technologies. But for a number of MSPs, discovering opportunities within the cloud can be as difficult as driving through a heavy fog.

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Roughly 1,600 VARs, MSPs and channel vendors are expected to attend IT Nation and related sub-conferences in Orlando, Fla., next week. Many of the attendees will be exploring new technology solutions (remote monitoring, cloud storage, etc.) and new business strategies (marketing, sales, etc.). Within dozens of vendor booths and during private meetings, you’ll hear plenty of sales pitches. But before you ink any deals, here are 16 questions every managed services provider should be prepared to ask during IT Nation.

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We’ve all seen the ads. Match.com can be a great place to meet that special someone – maybe even your spouse or partner. But what the ads don’t disclose is all the time, effort and misses that led up to that “perfect match.”  On the personal level, it’s all worth it, but in the business world, who has the time, energy or money to throw at relationships that just aren’t going to pan out?! My point is this – when it comes to selecting a business partner, especially for high-profile, game-changing technologies like cloud, a few clicks of the mouse aren’t going to cut it.

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IBM continues to accelerate its partner strategy in the mid-market. The effort includes a growing push to transform VARs and resellers into managed services providers. Andy Monshaw, general manager of IBM’s global and medium sized business, offered MSPmentor an update.

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The MSPmentor team had another packed week of travel, attending McAfee Focus and Tigerpaw User Conference. We’ve also been pursuing several rumors we’ve yet to confirm as factual (hint, hint: stay tuned). In the meantime here are seven managed services blogs the MSPmentor team didn’t have time to write for the week ending Oct. 21, 2011.

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Zenith Infotech CEO Akash Saraf said the company’s recent bond default is a matter he takes seriously. But Saraf wants to assure Zenith Infotech’s MSPs, partners and customers that “we’re in the process of getting this fixed. It’s not something that will sink the company.” Saraf made the statements to MSPmentor today. To reinforce his point, Saraf described how Zenith Infotech is marching forward with new product rollouts, including virtualization and enterprise enhancements to the SmartStyle Computing platform.

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MSPmentor will host its first Executive Boardroom next week in New York City. During this exclusive event (Oct. 25, Manhattan), we’ll review how top MSPs are pushing into cloud services — either through strategic partnerships or via home-grown solutions. Our confirmed guest speakers during this roundtable discussion include ScaleMatrix CEO Mark Ortenzi, Mycroft CISO Liz Mann and CA Technologies GM Adam Famularo. Here are more details.

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New research about the evolving U.S. job market suggests that demand for managed services could rise in some unexpected areas. Consider this: Transportation goods such as vehicles and auto parts, electrical equipment including household appliances, and furniture are among seven sectors that could create two to three million jobs as a result of manufacturing returning to the U.S., an emerging trend that is expected to accelerate starting in the next five years, according to new research by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG). What’s the potential upside for managed services providers?

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NetEnrich Inc., which promotes closet-to-cloud services for MSPs, has hired a VP of sales and a senior director of product management. The moves reinforce continued expansion at NetEnrich, which has been pushing beyond traditional NOC (network operations center) services for MSPs in recent months.

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Join our next Webcast this Wednesday, Oct. 5 at 2:00 p.m. eastern. Participants will gain early access to our new MSPmentor 100 survey, which launches that day. Plus, we’ll review Five SaaS Habits of Highly Profitable MSPs. Two Top MSPs and CA Technologies will describe the five moves in deep detail, while answering your questions throughout. I look forward to your questions, and I’ll share some updates on the next MSPmentor 100 survey during the webcast.

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Zyrion, the business service management (BSM) and IT performance monitoring software provider, has scored a key win. Specifically, Netelligent, a cloud services and managed services provider (MSP), in the mid-western U.S., is deploying Zyrion Traverse software to monitor datacenter and IT infrastructure performance.

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During the past few years, it has become fashionable for marketing experts to highlight how the legendary psychedelic rock band The Grateful Dead can teach many lessons about effective branding and loyalty-building. And yes, the Dead also has a few learnings to offer MSPs. In honor of Grateful Dead spinoff band Furthur (featuring surviving members Bob Weir and Phil Lesh) launching its fall 2011 tour, I would like to present three important lessons the Dead can share with MSPs.

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Small business owners apparently are spending more time reading up on cloud services, according to some anecdotal data from SkillSoft. I wonder: As small business owners gain cloud computing knowledge, will MSPs polish their own consulting skills to answer more cloud questions?

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When the Channel Transformation Alliance surfaced this week, it signaled that big technology companies — including HP, Microsoft, CA Technologies and Symantec — are finally ready to help VARs and MSPs to develop recurring revenue business models. In some ways, the Channel Transformation Alliance reminds MSPmentor of the old MSP Partners initiative, where vendors helped channel partners to shift from break-fix business models to managed services and now cloud services business models.

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Despite the rapid growth of cloud services, many SMB customers still hesitate to embrace cloud computing. The fears range from security concerns to reliability concerns. However, a recent study from AMI Partners suggests that once an MSP convinces an SMB customer to test out the cloud, the hard work is over.

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 Alert Logic has recruited Rohit Gupta to drive the company’s cloud security partnerships. Gupta, Alert Logic’s VP of business development, will oversee the company’s new Cloud Security Partner Program (CAPP), building relationships with virtualization and cloud platform vendors, Alert Logic said. Here’s a closer look at Gupta and Alert Logics’ accelerating security-as-a-service effort.

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Innovation drives the technology industry — and your business. But when you’re developing new cloud services and managed services, you’ve got to carefully weigh a range of factors. “Battles are won or lost even before they are fought,” goes an old saying. The success or failure of a new cloud service or managed service is quite predictable through certain parameters. Here are a few factors that affect the success or failure of your original ideas.

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Tellago Studios has developed a mobile IT management platform call Moesion. Tellago claims Moesion allows you to manage Windows-based IT systems (such as SQL Server and SharePoint) and cloud services from a host of tablets and smartphone running Windows Phone 7, Apple iOS and Google Adroid, among others. Tellago Studios CEO Jesus Rodriguez says Moesion is entering beta tests now.

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