MSPmentor

The MSPmentor staff didn’t have enough time to chase every piece of managed services news in recent days. But for the sake of weekly closure, here are seven managed services blogs MSPmentor didn’t write for the week ending October 1, 2010.

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In the past year, we’ve heard a lot about the tremendous opportunities available to channel partners who are willing to jump into cloud computing. And in my previous columns, I’ve described how the cloud offers channel partners a unique chance to provide customers with top notch service, adding more value at lower prices while still making steady profits doing it. But how do you get started? Here are some clues.

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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.

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Ingram Micro has found Justin Crotty’s successor. The distributor has named Renée Bergeron as VP of managed services and cloud computing for its North America region. Translation: Bergeron has a slightly different title, but she essentially succeeds Crotty as the head of the Ingram Micro Services Network, Seismic services portfolio and the Cloud Conduit Initiative and Advisory Council. Here are additional details.

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As he settles in as senior VP and GM of NetEnrich, Justin Crotty has two quick, concise messages for managed services providers. First, NetEnrich is more than a NOC (network operations center) services provider. Second, NetEnrich will remain all channel, all the time while continuing to rely on two strategic distribution partnerships. So where is NetEnrich heading next? Crotty provides some clues in this MSPmentor FastChat Video.

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Regardless of the industry, great sales rainmakers are a rare, but valuable breed. These top producers, typically the founders, owners, or head executives at small to mid-sized business, are pros at pitching their company’s value, building rapport with prospects and cementing new relationships, and ultimately closing the sales deal to acquire new customers. For MSPs, the “Rainmaker Sales Model” involves some rewards — and some risks. Here’s an overview.

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In an attempt to further raise its visibility and drive collaboration between 28,000 users, Tigerpaw Software says it will launch an interactive Tigerpaw Community at the end of August 2010. It’s a smart move, but I’ll be curious to see how Tigerpaw’s efforts stack up against PSA rivals like ConnectWise (perhaps the most aggressive and successful community organizer) and Autotask (which has built a successful face-to-face conference to echo its online community). Here’s a closer look at the various vendor-led community strategies serving VARs, MSPs and IT service providers.

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Rob Bissett (pictured), director of product management at N-able Technologies, is making the leap into the cloud. He’s set to join 6fusion International, a cloud services provider that works with a range of data center providers across Canada, the United States and the Caribbean. Here are some quick details about Bissett’s move to 6fusion.

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MSPmentor had a busy week covering the CompTIA Breakaway conference. We also managed to visit quite a few technology companies headquartered in San Antonio and Austin, Texas. What exactly did we hear during those meetings and visits? Here are seven managed services blog entries we didn’t have a chance to write for the week ending Aug. 13, 2010.

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Several months ago, MSP coach Stuart Selbst told me to keep an eye on Live Virtual Help Desk (LiveVHD), an upstart provider of NOC (network operations center) and help desk services. It was a quick, generic comment from Selbst. But he had a point: Fast forward to the present, and LiveVHD seems to be inking relationships with a range of MSP-oriented software companies — including a deal with Quest Software’s PacketTrap team. So, what’s LiveVHD’s strategy? My best guess: Competing against NOC and help desk services from the likes of Ingram Micro Seismic, NetEnrich and Zenith Infotech. Here’s some speculation…

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Plenty of MSPmentor readers are heading to CompTIA Breakaway (Aug. 9-12, San Antonio). No doubt, the conference will stir plenty of cloud channel chatter. I wonder: How many VARs and MSPs attending Breakaway generate some revenues from cloud and SaaS applications right now? Also, how will the worlds of managed services and cloud computing converge? Here are some clues.

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Everywhere you look these days, there’s news about cloud computing — new applications, services, how the cloud will revolutionize IT, ways the cloud will help channel partners. The topics are dizzying and endless. But amid the clamor a few illuminating truths stand out for channel partners. There are plenty of opportunities ahead. There’s also plenty of FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt). Here’s how to tell one from the other.

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When it comes to lead generation for managed services providers (MSPs), what’s really effective and what’s just hype?  It’s an age-old question that has riddled the channel for years and left many to take a shotgun approach to marketing and advertising, or even worse, to rely on their vendor and distribution partners for leads.  Either way you look at it, nobody is winning.

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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.

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Our blog team had a busy, enjoyable week. But as usual there were a bunch of stories we didn’t nail down. So, here are seven managed services blog entries that MSPmentor didn’t have time to write for the week ending June 18, 2010.

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Ingram Micro North America Services VP Justin Crotty (pictured), leader of the company’s Seismic managed services business, is leaving Ingram Micro July 2. Sometime in mid-2010, Crotty will join NetEnrich, an IT-as-a-service company that works closely with distributors and channel partners. Here are the details.

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Perhaps former Symantec CEO John Thompson was right: When Symantec acquired Veritas in 2005, Thompson told Wall Street that the worlds of storage and security were converging, creating an information protection industry. Of course, Symantec hit plenty of bumps integrating Symantec and Veritas. But Thompson’s initial vision seems correct. One prime example: Fast forward to the present, and Symantec rival Trend Micro is buying humyo, a consumer cloud storage service in the U.K. Here’s why.

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At least one major software company — a big one — is set to make managed services moves during the week of June 14. But I’m getting a bit ahead of myself: Here are seven managed services blog entries that MSPmentor didn’t find time to write for the week ending June 11, 2010.

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The Ingram Micro Cloud Summit is wrapping up in Dallas today. Roughly 250 VARs and managed services providers attended the conference. So what were the key takeaways? And better yet… what rumors surfaced behind the scenes? Here are some observations from MSPmentor.

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During the Ingram Micro Cloud Summit in Dallas this morning, Services VP Justin Crotty described where Ingram Micro will and won’t play in the cloud. He also described how the smartest solutions providers are succeeding in the cloud. Here’s a rapid recap.

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The surest way for solution providers to sell cloud computing to SMB customers is to talk about the technology’s business advantages throughout the sale cycle. It’s not just a starting point for the conversation.  If presented correctly, these benefits combined with your services will be what ultimately seals the deal.

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Computer Troubleshooters (which has roughly 475 managed services franchises locations worldwide and nearly 40 locations in the UK) is partnering with CentraStage — a SaaS-based remote monitoring and management (RMM) company in the United Kingdom. The Computer Troubleshooters-CentraStage relationship reveals three larger trends in the managed services market. Here they are.

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All too often, when I watch the news or read the headlines of the day I find myself calling “BS” on the topic at hand. Lately, I find myself and others doing much more of this in our own industry – especially when it comes to those who say the solution provider and distributor have no role to play within cloud computing.

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