MSPmentor

IT service providers that have been selling cloud-based business continuity solutions surely have noticed data backup and recovery is one of the most popular cloud-based offerings with end users. In fact, according to a recent study by CompTIA, storage and backup solutions are the most popular cloud applications, with 71 percent of small and midsize businesses (SMB) currently using the technology. The data points don’t end there.

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The Zenith Infotech bond default case will apparently have its next court hearing on November 14. In the meantime, Summit Partners apparently is willing to share details about the Zenith RMM purchase from Zenith Infotech — if the details are not disclosed publicly. But will those details really emerge? Here’s the update.

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Next week is packed with multiple partner conferences, including an Avnet gathering in Las Vegas, the Cloud Channel Summit in Silicon Valley, and IT Nation in Orlando. But before our editorial team hits the road, here are seven managed services blogs MSPmentor didn’t have a chance to write for the week ending Nov. 4, 2011.

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All the talk about the cloud over the past couple of years has obscured managed services to some extent. However, the managed services market remains in high-growth mode, and MSPs looking to increase revenues should be working hard to recruit new customers. But you’re going to need to do some education along the way.

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MSPs by and large fared well after the 2008 banking crisis that sent the economy into a dive. Many customers saw managed services as way to control IT costs at a time they needed to tighten budgets. As the economy potentially heads for another slide, you have to wonder what the effect will be on providers of managed services and cloud services. Presumably, since clients have become dependent on remote monitoring and management to keep their daily operations running smoothly, you wouldn’t expect MSPs to suffer terribly from the second half of a double-dip recession.

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Do your customers know what the cloud is? Chances are they have some vague ideas about cloud computing, but if you pressed them on how the cloud fits into their IT needs, most would stumble.

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We haven’t quite left the hype stage of cloud computing yet, which means fear and confusion still weigh disproportionately on decisions of whether to jump on the cloud. For IT service providers, the fear and confusion present opportunities to educate end customers as providers take on the role of cloud services aggregators. In fact, I would argue that education is a key element in any business plan to build a cloud aggregation business. For one thing, providers need to educate themselves on available options and strategies. Only then can they truly guide their customers through the morass of cloud-related options, pitfalls and opportunities. But first, what is a “cloud aggregator?”

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Which endorsement of a product or service would carry the most weight with you: a paid advertisement, or a positive review from a friend or respected peer? That’s kind of a no-brainer isn’t it? Yet business owners and managers expend large sums of money and countless hours on elaborate marketing plans. This is the case, despite the fact that the best-devised advertising campaigns can be upstaged (or destroyed) in the mind of a prospective customer by little more than a casual observation from someone he or she knows. Why not put this potent force to work for your business? It’s easy to do, and relatively cost-free. In most cases, if you have a satisfied customer, it’s likely that all you’ll have to do is ask.

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During recent channel partner conferences, several MSPs told me they heard a rumor that Zenith Infotech is getting out of the NOC (Network Operations Center) business and/or the RMM (remote monitoring and management) business. I reached out to Zenith for comment and the company dismissed the rumors, stating that they’re firmly committed to VARs and MSPs that depend on the company’s NOC and RMM solutions. Here’s the update.

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More than 1,100 partners have signed up for Zenith Infotech’s SmartStyle/MirrorCloud offering with about 2,000 cloud servers shipped since February, 2011. About 50% of those signings are net new partners, an impressive figure in my mind. But I’ve also heard from a few readers who say they have had technical issues with the solution. I asked Zenith Infotech Senior VP Maurice Saluan for an update on how the SmartStyle MirrorCloud deployments are going, if there have been issues, and how Zenith has been addressing the issues. Here’s the update.

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No matter how good your intentions for preparing for a crisis, no one is really ever quite prepared for the worst. This probably has something to do with human nature and an innate inability to contemplate a truly worst-case scenario. Yet, prepare we must because the consequences can be dire. I’m sure most, if not all, of you are familiar with the statistics on companies that suffer major data losses: Most of them go out of business. I bet many of you have used such statistics to make a case for business continuity strategies.

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I managed to unplug completely on Saturday. But there’s still some unfinished business MSPmentor needs to address. Specifically, the seven managed services blog entries the MSPmentor team didn’t write for the week ending March 4, 2011. Here they are.

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Any IT services provider still skeptical of the cloud opportunity needs to consider this: You’ll be hard-pressed to find another model in IT that promotes customer retention the way cloud services do. Once you hook the customer through a cloud services contract that covers most, if not all, of their IT needs, the customer is unlikely to ever want to procure IT services from anyone else. That is, so long as you uphold your end of the bargain by providing reliable, scalable services.

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Last week I mentioned a few software companies that were shifting to 24×5 and 24×7 support for their managed services partners. To further the discussion I reached out to NOC (network operations center) and help desk providers to see if 24×7 support is now a requirement for MSPs and their end-customers.

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New year, new opportunities. That is what every MSP should be thinking as 2011 approaches. By now, you should have set your business priorities for the coming year, but if you’re still working them, allow me to make some suggestions.

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Question: What are Autotask, ClearCenter, ConnectWise, CMIT Solutions, Rackspace, Trend Micro and Zenith Infotech all talking about? Nine Lives Media Inc. — the team that brought you MSPmentor — invites you to find the answer here…

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As the economy continues to sputter, companies of all sizes are looking for ways to cut costs, but no one wants to look cheap doing so. When it comes to travel, which can run up fairly sizeable budgets for some companies, one elegant way to curtail expenses is to embrace telepresence. Here’s why.

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If you’ve been around the IT industry as long as I have, surely you’ve heard the terms “differentiation” and “value-add” more times than you can count. If I could give each of those terms a monetary value for each time I have heard them, I could have retired in comfort by now.

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The IT forecast for coming years calls for a thick cloud cover, and that’s a good thing as long as we’re not talking about the economy. IT solution providers understand that cloud computing must lower the total cost of ownership of technology while allowing clients to forego big, upfront investments on hardware and software if it is to grab hold. Do you see the cloud as a threat or an opportunity? Is the cloud value proposition getting through to clients? You would hate to have the answer be, “yes they get it” as they leave your client base and move to a competitor. Will that competitor be Microsoft or Google or will it be the mid-market players that see a huge market potential in front of them? Here’s where I see IT solutions providers heading next.

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Some of the most successful MSPS have an all-or-nothing approach, effectively telling the customer: You either entirely outsource all your IT needs to us or find another services provider. This doesn’t work for all MSPs, but the approach defines what you offer and sets clear customer expectations.

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Telepresence — the next-generation video conferencing technology — is on a collision course with managed services and recurring revenue. The reason: Zenith Infotech, as expected, has launched Vu Telepresence offerings that apparently undercut traditional telepresence prices. Here are the details, which also include some hardware as a service (HaaS) opportunities.

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This blog entry has been a work in progress for about a year. Most Zenith Infotech partners have heard of the company’s SmartStyle cloud and virtualization strategy. But what’s the status of SmartStyle, and what are the potential benefits to VARs and MSPs? Here are some details, which emerged at the Autotask Community Live conference earlier today in Miami.

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If you believe the official reports, the recession is over. But with unemployment still hovering at 9.7%, down from 10.4 % last month and some corporate buyers still reluctant to spend, it will take more than statistics to make it feel like the recession is truly over.

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