MSPmentor

The evil-hearted Mr. Burns of Simpson’s fame once quipped “One dollar for eternal happiness? I’d be happier with the dollar.”

As funny as this line is, it underscores an important business reality — at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how good your offering is, what matters is how much people are willing to pay for it.  The same is true for Managed Services. So how do MSPs optimally price their offering?  Below are a few simple guidelines to help you coax that dollar out of Mr. Burns’ stingy pocket. Read More >

Evolve IP, a managed service provider in Wayne, Pa., just made my “watch” list. Evolve says it has lined up more than 100 new customers since launching its managed technology services operations  roughly 180 days ago. Read More >

Managed service providers are feeling pretty darn good about their business prospects. And many pundits say MSPs are immune to the economic slowdown.

But remember: Not even the best-run companies are safe from the current credit crunch. A case in point: Look at how the credit crunch has impacted Caterpillar, the big, highly profitable industrial machine maker. Read More >

At first glance, franchises are for fast food and retail stores. But franchises are popping up in the managed services market, and quite a few are successful.

Still, franchises aren’t for everyone. I had lunch the other day with a franchise consultant who helps people find a franchise that’s right for them. Here are some key thoughts from the conversation. Read More >

During his keynote at the ConnectWise Partner Summit, Nicholas Carr, author of The Big Switch, showed clear evidence that cloud computing is real today.

Following the opening keynote from ConnectWise CEO Arnie Bellini, Carr walked attendees through the past, present and future of IT. And he compared IT to the evolution of electricity services.

In the early 1990s, he noted, many companies and factories had their own internal electric power plants. But as electric utilities came onto the scene, businesses found that it was far more efficient to outsource their electricity needs to the emerging electric grid.

“IT will be the next resource that goes through a very similar shift,” asserted Carr. Here’s a more extensive look at Carr’s keynote, and its implications for managed service providers.

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During his keynote at the ConnectWise Partner Summit in Orlando, CEO Arnie Bellini asserted that Technology as a Service (TaaS) will emerge as a super set of Software as a Service (SaaS) and Hardware as a Service (HaaS). And he  sent a clear message to Dell, Google and Microsoft: Managed service providers will be prepared to compete against those tech giants in the cloud.

Here’s a recap of Bellini’s keynote.

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Back in May 2008, I noted that Glowpoint Inc. had launched managed telepresence services, which are like next-generation video conferencing services. It’s still very early in the telepresence game (check out our Managed Services Hype Cycle), so I didn’t expect telepresence to generate major revenues until 2010 or so.

Still, Glowpoint appears to be proving me wrong. The Hillside, N.J.-based company says it has won $4.5 million worth of business in the past 90 days. And much of that buisness, Glowpoint says, involves multi-year telepresence engagements. Read More >

As a $17.95 billion value-added distributor, Avnet Inc. could certainly throw its weight around in the managed services market. But instead of hyping Avnet’s OneTech managed services strategy, CEO Roy Vallee (pictured) expresses cautious optimism.

In an interview with MSPmentor, Vallee concedes it’s too early to say where the managed services market will take Avnet.

Here’s more perspective from Vallee.

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