MSP
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Intel Hybrid Cloud Partners Left Out to Dry
MSP’s and IT companies often find comfort in large vendor products and solutions. For some it is name recognition, while others it’s that happy feeling they get knowing the company has been in business for many years. Intel is one of those companies that gives you the warm and fuzzies every time they attend [...]
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Do Small Businesses Still need Servers?
As more and more software manufacturers and Line of Business application vendors move to software as a service models, the need for on-premise servers would seem to become less necessary. As an IT salesman for many years, the number one sale I made was for networked servers. This single device allowed offices to share files, [...]
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Is Dell Preparing to Take Over the IT Space?
Dell has been making a lot of interesting moves lately and all of its moves point to a big shift in focus for the former hardware company. The latest in a long list of moves is the acquisition of enterprise cloud management company, Enstratius. According to the Enstratius website, they provide a suite of [...]
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SMB Nation Conference Back at The Microsoft Campus
The SMB Nation Spring Conference 2013, now in its seventh season, is back on the Microsoft Campus in Redmond, Washington. The event, which kicks off tomorrow, has an agenda that is clearly focused on integrating cloud and mobility into the MSP business model. Sessions include “Why you should become a CSP (Cloud Services Provider),” [...]
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Are Certifications Still a Necessity?
At one time, having an MCSE really meant something in the industry. Technicians and technical personnel worked long and hard to reach their certification statuses in order to obtain a job, get promoted, or provide status for their companies. But are certifications like this really still necessary in today’s environment? The answer is it [...]
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What Can Cloud Infrastructure as a Service not Do?
It seems that many traditional hardware items can be virtualized or emulated to work in a software or cloud environment. This is great, but if everything was off premise how would the internal network that connects an office to the outside world be protected? Items such as secure firewalls and switches still have a [...]
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Is Managed Services Making You Money?
Have you ever taken all of your Managed services costs; RMM, remote and onsite tech hours, various subscriptions, outsourced management, and any other associated managed services costs, and compared those to your managed services revenues? This, not so simple undertaking, may reveal things aren’t as great as we might expect in the world of managed [...]
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It’s All Microsoft’s Fault!
Image source: www.wpcentral.com The media is overrun today with news stories about the significant decline (11-14%) in PC sales. Most of the headlines and stories would have you believing that this is all due to the recent release and lack of excitement over the Windows 8 platform. Well media, as much as I would [...]
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With PC sales on the Decline Can Ingram Micro Win with HaaS?
Reports of steep declines in PC sales in favor of tablet and mobile devices continue to pour in to mainstream and technology based media outlets. Even so, technology distributor Ingram Micro is jumping into the Hardware as a Service (HaaS) game with their latest announcement. The company, which provides hardware, software, and services [...]
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Could Employee Surveillance, Monitoring, and Tracking be the next IT Service Trend?
It is no big surprise to anyone that the traditional office setting is changing. With the onset of a mobile workforce and an ever-growing social media explosion, managers and business owners alike are concerned about employee productivity. These growing concerns may spark a new revolution in management products, aimed at getting the most out [...]
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Are we really Trusted Advisors?
There has been a good amount of talk and training based around this notion of being a trusted advisor. It is usually taught in the IT community that an effective sales organization or owner must reach this stature in order to create loyalty and trust. Many times we are told that a trusted advisor [...]
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Top 10 Reasons to Fire a Client or Walk away in Shame!
Firing a client can be a hard decision for any business owner. No matter how much whining, complaining, or sarcasm a client can provide, they are still paying the bills. That is until they aren’t and it’s costing more to keep them than just letting go, or when something happens that keeps you from ever [...]
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Is it Time to raise your Prices?
One of the hardest things for IT business owners to do is to raise prices. Whether it is hourly rates for break fix service, or managed services, the justification to raise prices is a hard thought for many to consider. Having worked for an IT business that raised prices regularly, meaning usually yearly, one of [...]
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Have your Managed Services Sales Flat Lined?
Managed Services has seen a major growth and maturing over the last five years. From a small percentage of IT companies calling themselves MSP’s, to now most owning the title, the market has grown exponentially to what it is today. With widespread acceptance, has come fierce competition, market expectation, shrinking pricing/margins, as well as [...]
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Industry Author Karl Palachuk Provides Free Copies of Latest Audio Book
Well known industry author, educator, business coach, speaker, and IT business owner Karl Palachuk is no stranger to innovative marketing strategies and helpful advice. Palachuk, is currently providing anyone free access to his latest audio book “Managed Services in a Month – 2nd edition” just for providing a social media post, tweet, or share. [...]
