The importance of contracts happened early on in my career when I was developing websites. One of the biggest pain points was getting content from the client and the longer it took the more I had to wait to get paid At that point I realized I needed to have contracts in place to specify exactly what the client had to do and what my deliverables were. Looking back, that was the best thing that could’ve ever happened to me.
Citing statistics that predict the world population (currently at 7.7 billion) leveling off at around 11 billion by 2100, ConnectWise president Arnie Bellini called on the IT channel to play a lead role in the global challenges associated with overpopulation at his annual IT Nation Connect conference in Orlando last week.
I just returned from the Ingram Micro ONE event in Washington, DC and here’s what I liked most about it. If I’ve heard one vendor or distributor exec implore a crowd of their VAR and MSP customers to do something innovative, something non-traditional, with their clients, I’ve heard a million.
If Geek Squad is a nursery school for MSPs, its founder Robert Stephens, is the headmaster. I sat down with Stephens in Phoenix last week at the SolarWinds Empower user conference. Among many interesting points in our conversation were exchanges about IT services marketing and pricing.
In February 2017, CIO Solutions lost a big account. So big, in fact, that it accounted for 40 percent of the MSP’s revenue. This isn’t a mom and pop shop IT Services provider we’re talking about – the account’s revenue brought in millions of dollars annually. Fast forward to September 2018, and CIO Solutions is gracing the cover of Channel Executive magazine. The company not only rebounded – it completed a successful acquisition and is in a strong position for future growth. We couldn’t fit this side story in the magazine, so instead we’re sharing the lessons learned from loss of a large customer in a web-exclusive feature.
The work my friend and colleague Abby Sorensen put into the IT Channel is paying dividends even after she shifted her focus to the greater software business community. Last week at its RetailNOW event, the Retail Solutions Providers Association’s Women-to-Women (W2W) Committee named her its 2018 Leader Of The Year. Committee Chair and business owner Kelli Stewart, owner/operations manager at Advanced Data Systems, bestowed the honors from the mainstage.
At Webroot, we stay ahead of cybersecurity trends in order to keep our customers up-to-date and secure. As the end of the year approaches, our team of experts has gathered their top cybersecurity predictions for 2019. What threats and changes should you brace for?
There are a variety of reasons moving to the cloud could be right for your business. If you’re hesitant about stepping away from your self-hosted remote support software, here are a few more things you should consider.
It’s a fact that even companies with the best products and services can struggle to find a winning formula for growth in the marketplace. And with upstarts introducing competitive products of their own every day, it's more critical than ever that your company stand out from the crowd. But are you?
Let’s start by taking the subject at face value. Quarterly business reviews (QBRs) offer valuable face-to-face time with clients, and that plays an important role in relationship and retention. The QBR is a chance to check your customer’s pulse and an opportunity to demonstrate value. Tell them how many updates you’ve pushed, bugs you’ve squashed, threats you disarmed, and so forth. Here are a few pointers for making a QBR productive and profitable.
The hottest word in IT is automation. More and more companies are using automated technology to speed up repetitive tasks, improve consistency and efficiency, and free up employees’ time. But what exactly is IT automation, and is it worth making changes so you can include it in your IT department or company? By looking at all the facts, options, and benefits, you can make an informed decision and maximize the potential of IT automation for your team.
Your client’s online presence matters — and it matters in a big way. Resellers can help clients grow their businesses and simultaneously deepen their relationships by guiding them in the use of digital tools and explaining why they matter.
Datto surveyed more than 2,400 managed service providers (MSPs) around the world about ransomware and published the key takeaways in this report. Download the report today to unlock new trends and statistics on the biggest threat facing the Channel, and what your peers are doing to prepare.
As a managed service provider, being able to proactively address issues as they emerge, rather than after they happen, is essential to deliver exceptional service. Investing in remote monitoring and management (RMM) software is the best way to address this need. In this eBook, industry leading MSPs are offering up their best advice for fellow IT pros who are evaluating RMM software.
As the world’s leading provider of IT solutions delivered by Managed Service Providers (MSPs), Datto believes there is no limit to what small and medium businesses can achieve with the right technology. Datto offers business continuity and disaster recovery, networking, business management, and file backup and sync solutions, and has created a one-of-a-kind ecosystem of partners that provide Datto solutions to half a million businesses across more than 130 countries. Since its founding in 2007, Datto has earned hundreds of awards for its rapid growth, product excellence, superior technical support, and for fostering an outstanding workplace. With global headquarters in Norwalk, Connecticut, Datto has international offices in the United Kingdom, Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Canada, Australia, China, and Singapore.
HTG is an international consulting, coaching and peer group organization that cultivates success by igniting personal, leadership, business and legacy transformation. Members navigate their journey with world-class HTG consultants and facilitators who value sharing wisdom, providing accountability and building meaningful relationships, Igniting Transformation™ every step of the way. HTG invites you to explore the program that suits you best, and apply today to begin experiencing The HTG Way.
The ASCII Group is a vibrant community of independent MSPs, VARS and solution providers in North America. The organization offers members leveraged purchasing programs, education and training, knowledge sharing among peers, discounts on business services, and more. Founded in 1984 by Alan Weinberger, ASCII is the oldest and largest group of independent IT solution providers, integrators and VARS in the world.
Taylor Business Group is an executive coaching and peer group firm that focuses on IT Solution Providers and Copier Dealers. Founded in 2001, Taylor has brought efficiencies and higher profits to IT Solution Providers through a focused effort in delivering best practices to the Service Provider and Copier Dealer's service, sales and administrative functions.
| ConnectWise is the leading business management solution designed exclusively for technology organizations, such as IT solution providers, MSPs, software companies, hardware/software resellers, and System Integrators. |
Shif4 Payments is a leading national provider of touch-screen point of sale (POS) systems and payment processing services. As pioneers of the "as a service" model, Shif4 Payments offers an unprecedented "free" POS program that allows the company's sales partners to offer a full-featured POS system with no up-front costs.
Ok, so you know you need to improve your documentation. Now what? In order to figure out what solution is going to work best for you, start by taking the time to understand what you want in a solution, and why. Here’s some things to look out for.
You can’t securely manage what you don’t know exists. It’s the nature of shadow IT that you’re probably unaware of the extent to which your clients rely on unauthorized apps, devices or other technologies. Nonetheless, it’s this separation between the technology you audit and approve, and the tech that you likely don’t know about, that creates a dangerous vulnerability for cyber attacks to take place.
Home services companies have dispatchers who take calls and assign them, techs who service the calls, and support personnel who order parts, keep them stocked, and handle financials. Sounds familiar, right? These companies are also time sensitive and customer loyalty is thin. So, when selling to these businesses, keep in mind they don’t have the stickiness we do with our clients so there are some things you will need to cover with them and come to mutual understandings.
To run a successful IT company, you should pay specific attention to your marketing strategy and the means of attracting new leads to your business. In this article, we will review the main marketing spheres in which every MSP should be engaged.
If you’ve decided to start a managed service provider practice you may ask yourself: how do I sell my managed services to my prospects? You might be a very good technical specialist, but if you have no idea of how the sales process works it may be very difficult for you to bring your business to any significant level of profitability. According to a survey conducted by CloudBerry Lab in 2018, the most challenging aspect of the MSP business still is finding new clients and turning prospects into deals.
