MSPmentor

Virtual Administrator, a well-known Master MSP, has selected Live Virtual Help Desk (LVHD, pictured) to offer 24×7 help desk services to its community of managed services providers. The move highlights Virtual Administrator’s continued partner program expansion, and LVHD’s growing ecosystem of relationships across the MSP market. Here’s a bit more on the deal, plus some more background on help desk services for MSPs.

Read More >

For the second time in a week, a key voice from the managed services industry said his biggest challenge involves finding and recruiting talent, particularly sales talent. The big question: Is there a shortage of sales talent within the MSP ecosystem? Or are we looking in the wrong places for the talent?

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 >

Instead of building a NOC (network operations center) from scratch, many VARs and managed services providers (MSPs) leverage third-party NOCs. But for those who are still evaluating their business strategies, here are six questions VARs and MSPs should ask potential NOC partners. Plus, four potential problems you need to avoid when starting your NOC journey.

Read More >

Greetings from 30,000 feet. I’m flying home from Cisco Partner Summit. The flight marks the end of a rather amazing month of business travel — though MSPmentor’s team will stay on the road in May to keep covering the MSP and channel partner events. In the meantime, here are seven managed services blog entries our team didn’t have a chance to write for the week ending April 30, 2010.

Read More >

When we compiled our latest MSPmentor 100 survey results, I was surprised to see 18.2 percent of survey participants consider their companies Master MSPs. I must concede: I’m skeptical of that figure. It sounds somewhat inflated to me… like a stretch goal that many MSPs have yet to fulfill. Here’s an update on the Master MSP market, including a FastChat video conversation with Do IT Smarter President Lane Smith.

Read More >

For about two months or so, I’ve been pursuing an update on Dell ProManage-Managed Services. How is the initiative performing? And have any new MSPs pursued Dell’s various certifications? No doubt, portions of the MSP community have dismissed Dell’s strategy. And some skeptical voices are growing louder. I’ve got plenty of questions — and observations. Here they are.

Read More >

Adds, moves and changes: Several managed services industry veterans are making career moves ahead of the New Year. Some of the moves are public knowledge. Others are still to be formally announced. Confirmed today: Brian Sherman, the well-known veteran of Autotask and Business Solutions magazine, has launched Tech Success Communications. And Todd McKendrick, a veteran of Dell Managed Services and Do IT Smarter, is leaping to Nimsoft. Here’s a closer look at both moves.

Read More >

During the ConnectWise Partner Summit, MSPmentor sat down with a range of managed services experts. In the following MSPmentor FastChat videos, we covered such topics as hardware as a service (HaaS), MSP-to-MSP collaboration, sales and business development, online marketing for MSPs and email security. Here are six FastChat videos with a range of MSP industry experts…

Read More >

Admittedly, I’ve been a little distracted with the MSPmentor 250 this week. So once again my inbox is filled with a backlog of tips, rumors and news. Here are seven quick managed services headlines I didn’t have a chance to write during the week ending Sept. 11.

Read More >

What’s the fastest way to become a managed service provider? Are there certain steps you can take to accelerate your success? I weighed those questions while meeting with Virtual Administrator, a Master managed service provider, at Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference 2009 (WPC09) in New Orleans this week. Here’s a recap.

Read More >

Do IT Smarter, a master managed service provider (Master MSP), is adding CompuVault‘s online data backup services to its suite of offerings. The relationship is the latest in a series of storage-centric moves across the Master MSP landscape. Here’s a look at recent activity.

Read More >

Alpheon and Do IT Smarter, two members of the MSPmentor 100, are proving there’s more than one way to brand a company in the managed services market. Both managed service providers have revamped their web sites and customer messaging in recent weeks. And in some cases, the efforts avoid the need to mention managed services. Here’s some perspective.

Read More >

In today’s episode, Do IT Smarter President Lane Smith describes his company’s position in the Master MSP market. This MSPmentor Live: Podcast covers the following four key topics:

1. An Overview: How Do IT Smarter got started
2. Beyond hosting: What else master MSPs offer
3. Do IT Smarter and the MSPAlliance
4. Next moves for Do IT Smarter, and aspiring MSPs

Check the MSPmentor Live: Podcast Center each week for a new podcast. But just for this week, check back daily for a new Master MSP-focused interview.

Podcast: Master MSP Lane Smith From Do IT Smarter Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Read More >

The Master MSP trend — where managed service providers host systems or NOCs for peer MSPs and VARs — continues to accelerate. And now, the MSPAlliance is striving to bring some clarity and order to the Master MSP market. Here’s how.

Read More >

As you develop your marketing, sales and PR strategies for managed services in 2009, you can embrace a range of closely related Web 2.0 technologies — blogs, podcasts, RSS feeds and so on. Which Web 2.0 technologies are right for managed service providers? Here are six tips to get you started.

Read More >

How does a managed services franchise work? I posed that question to Jason Creally, VP of sales at The Utility Company, during a late-afternoon meeting on December 9. Creally walked me and Amy Katz (my business partner) through The Utility Company’s business model — which extends managed services out to more than 60 IT service provider franchisees across North America.

Read More >

So-called Master MSPs now represent nearly 20 percent of the managed service provider market, according to the ongoing MSPmentor 100 survey. Still, thriving as a Master MSP isn’t easy. Here’s why.

Read More >

Network Depot LLC, ranked No. 75 in last year’s MSPmentor 100 survey, is transforming itself into a Master MSP. The company has introduced a hosted Kaseya platform, known as Virtual Administrator, that small VARs can leverage.

Read More >

Forgive me for blowing MSPmentor’s own horn. But I’ve noticed a range of vendors now marketing their IT solutions directly to our MSPmentor 100 companies.

Read More >

When the ConnectWise Partner Summit kicks off this week in Orlando, Fla., I’ll be sitting down with managed service providers and vendors to gather their observations. Roughly 700 MSPs are expected to attend the event. Here are five key trends I expect to track at the conference.

Read More >

As part of its ongoing managed services push, Dell hopes to launch a Master MSP strategy in late 2008 or early 2009, MSPmentor has learned. The move has potential implications for anyone involved in managed services. Here are some of the preliminary details, based on a conversation I had with Greg Davis, vice president and general manager of Dell’s Americas Channel Group.

Read More >

Sometime this week, Jamcracker is expected to formally unveil its MSP LaunchPad strategy for managed service providers. Steve Crawford, Jamcracker’s VP of marketing, walked me through the LaunchPad initiative on June 17.

Read More >