November, 2011
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Are Microsoft Office and Windows 8 Tablet On A Collision Course?
Microsoft has made two very interesting announcements in the past few days. They’re separately getting a lot of coverage, and it’s becoming apparent that they may be related. At least, they may become interconnected in the future…and perhaps in a very bad way for Microsoft. 1) Microsoft Office will be released for iPad in 2012. [...]
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My thoughts on the Latest Round of MSP Pricing Debate: Per User or Per Device?
As mobile device management becomes more and more prevalent in our Managed Services practices, issues with the pricing models we use come into focus. Joe Panettieri wrote a piece about this yesterday on MSPMentor, which sparked a solid debate among thought leaders in our channel. The central point can be summed up using the popular [...]
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How Much of a PSA’s Feature Set Actually Gets Used By the Average MSP, and Why.
I think a lot about PSAs. Why MSPs buy them is usually at the top of my list, but today, I’m considering how much of the PSA’s feature set actually gets used by the average MSP, and why. First things first though, what is an “average” MSP? According to two of the major PSAs, their [...]
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Thanksgiving Weekend Recap: Another Netflix outage, Foxconn’s new facilities, Best Buy’s MindSHIFT acquisition, and more
There were so many things to be thankful for this Thanksgiving – health, family, friends, and another great and abundant year in business, for starters. Only slightly further down the Thankful List was the opportunity to go “off the grid” for at least some time during the long weekend. I know I made a concerted [...]
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This Week’s Weather Report Podcast: “Social Media Marketing Trends for 2012, and How to Get Connected” with Bob Godgart and Jay McBain, ChannelEyes
As we move out of 2011 thinking into 2012 thinking, the way that we market ourselves and our businesses is a big consideration. We know that the marketing world, both B2B and B2C, is changing fast, thanks to tools like Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin. What may be less clear, however, is how all of that [...]
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How Intel AppUp Small Business Service Helps You Get Into The Cloud, Without Leaving the Ground
We all know that cloud computing is positioned to play a major role in our growth, but the reality today is that the world is a hybrid place, and our small and medium sized clients don’t want cloud computing technologies for their own sake. It’s a bit more complicated than just that. According to Intel, [...]
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LabTech Automation Nation: Growing A Community of Technicians
LabTech Software had their annual user conference, Automation Nation 2011, in Orlando FL on November 8th co-located with HTG All and Connectwise IT Nation. Automation Nation drew about 275 attendees and 11 sponsors from 12 countries. Interestingly, only about 35% of Automation Nation’s attendees stayed for IT Nation, according to LabTech CEO Matt Nachtrab. When [...]
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The Forecast, The Weather Report
Starts in 1 Hour! “What Do Small Businesses Really Want Today, and How Can I Make Money Giving it To Them?” Live Webcast with Intel, Today at 2pm EST
While cloud computing is positioned to play a major role in our growth as solution providers and MSPs into the future, the reality today is that the world is a hybrid place, and our small and medium sized clients don’t want cloud computing technologies for their own sake. According to Intel, the computing and chip-making [...]
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Are Traditional PC Manufacturers Giving Up On The Tablet Revolution?
It’s impossible to avoid the statistics, data points like “Apple iPad owns 88% of global tablet web traffic” and “95% of all tablets deployed in the Fortune 500 are iPads.” There should be no doubt in anyone’s mind that Apple’s iPad is the biggest seller in the tablet space, but we have seen many competitors [...]
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What Do Small Businesses Really Want Today? Find out in our Live Webcast with Intel, Monday at 2pm EST
While cloud computing is positioned to play a major role in our growth as solution providers and MSPs into the future, the reality today is that the world is a hybrid place, and our small and medium sized clients don’t want cloud computing technologies for their own sake. According to Intel, the computing and chip-making [...]
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Facebook Malware on The Rise, Brings Opportunity to Protect Clients
Many Facebook users have recently noticed an influx of links, videos, and images depicting pornography, acts of violence, self-mutilation, and bestiality. Facebook confirmed the NSFW problem earlier this week and revealed that it was hit by a coordinated spam attack that leveraged a browser vulnerability. Today, the social networking company says it knows who orchestrated [...]
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Does predicting the future actually create the future?
Of course no one can actually see the future. But some people make their livings by guessing. Futurists, or “futurologists,” combine instinct with more-or-less scientific systems to predict upcoming market conditions. Lots of money rides on forecasting trends accurately, and folks who can show reasonable track records of being right can make serious bank. Even [...]
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Android Versus iOS: The Battle For The Smartphone Market Heats Up
As reported this morning on Business Insider, Android is rapidly stealing smartphone market share from everybody EXCEPT Apple iOS. We wrote only a couple of weeks ago about how Android eats BlackBerries for breakfast, in particular, but it looks like this is part of an even larger trend. Android accounts for about 52% of the [...]
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The “Makeover Show” Trap: When Before and After Breaks Down
I think a lot about transformation. In fact, it’s sort of my “stock and trade.” It began with transforming project and break/fix IT service businesses into managed services providers. And transforming technical experts into business experts. Now it’s about turning managed services providers into cloud service providers, and transforming sales reps into Trusted Advisors. We [...]
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How Level Platforms is Making it Easier to Win New Managed Services Clients
Would you be interested in a Network Audit process that turns into a sales opportunity 100% of the time? We thought so, and so did Level Platforms CEO Peter Sandiford: The Network Audit feature was available in Managed Workplace 2011 R1 in January. In R2 this summer we bundled it into the product and began [...]
