It may take a while to establish relationships with journalists in your space, so be ready to commit, but in the end, all your hard work is eventually going to pay off. If you’re unsure of where to begin, there several strategies to consider.
Gavriella Schuster, VP commercial partnership at Microsoft helped kick off Ingram’s Cloud Summit X in San Diego this week in front of more than 1,500 attendees with an abbreviated history of the IT channel and the rapid change it’s seeing of late. She focused those comments in the context of the cloud’s impact on a channel that’s looked pretty static for the past 40 years.
Arnie Bellini is stepping down from the role he forged back in 1988, when he transitioned ConnectWise—then a managed services practice—into a business management platform for tech service providers. Under Bellini’s guidance as CEO and in the 31 years since, ConnectWise grew into an IT channel powerhouse that serves more than 25,000 partners in 65+ countries.
The Wall Street Journal’s homepage on January 17 featured a headline that included the words “IT Firm.” VARs and MSPs take note: a fellow solutions provider is caught up in a nasty, politically-charged debate being litigated on a national scale. Obviously, your clients are not paying you in large sums of cash handed over in plastic Wal-Mart bags. This story is preposterous in so many ways, and it’s far outside the realm of what’s normal for how VARs and MSPs operate. As absurd as the entire situation might be, this story does raise a few legitimate questions about IT service provider business models that are worth rehashing.
In a sweeping interview for Channel Executive Magazine, seasoned IT executive and SRC Technologies President and CEO BJ Havlik shared the wisdom behind his new-solution onboarding philosophy. In doing so, he zeroed in directly on the relatively new client IT security training opportunity.
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.
You can’t effectively manage your clients’ IT infrastructure if you don’t have access to up-to-date information on it. Yet, many MSPs are falling into this trap; attempting to manage their clients’ networks with outdated or incomplete documentation, which is riddled with blind spots and prone to inaccuracies.
Last year’s GDPR implementation was fun, wasn’t it? If you’re in the UK, you went through all of that, not really knowing how long that rule would apply to your business. At the time of writing, you still don’t really know, because the status of Brexit is uncertain. While we here at IT Glue cannot force the politicians to remove this uncertainty altogether, we can provide some advice as to what the issues are going to be for you, especially in light of a no-deal Brexit. The way we see it, a no-deal Brexit will impact MSPs in four key ways.
Some things never get old. Data is not one of those things. When it comes to the data you rely on to run your business, the only thing worse than no data is stale-dated data. Pretty much everything you document will be fresh and relevant at the time you write it down, but nothing stays current forever. And stale data isn’t like style – it’s not going to suddenly become cool again in 20 years. No, it will still be worthless. Stale data is less like a classic sports car in need of a tune-up and more like a car propped up on blocks in the front of the yard.
Did you ever trek up to a famous lookout spot, only to find that once you get there the clouds have rolled in and you can’t see much of anything? Like the time I was in Rio and went up to the Christ the Redeemer statue and it was so foggy I couldn’t even see the top of the statue, much less the city below. I was only there for a day, and had already paid for the tour, so I didn’t have a whole lot of choice about going, even though I knew the weather was bad. I mean, nobody in their right mind would choose to have such terrible visibility, right?
Documentation is a critical but often overlooked source of competitive advantage. When you have good documentation practices in place, that means you’ve documented the ins and outs of your clients’ organizations, and you have all the proof of your processes. So when it comes time to sit down with your clients for the quarterly business review (QBR), your documentation has everything you need in order to deliver productive, transparent, and insightful conversations that strengthen your customer relationships.
Have you lost your way reselling cloud backup services? This guide is for you. For every MSP, offering Backup as a Service is a guarantee for success. It helps build strong relationships with clients, Increase customer retention and make sustainable revenue. This guide contains marketing, sales and technical information to build a perfect Backup as a Service offer.
In early 2018, there were 542 identified ransomware families. That number is still growing! Do not wait for ransomware to get in the door, protect your systems and data now. Online Backup Active Protection is the only solution that fights back against ransomware instantly.
Looking for a new solution that will help your small business clients protect their data and boost your revenue at the same time? According to YouGov and Microsoft, 71% of cyber criminals target small businesses. This eBook will show you why Microsoft 365 Business is your best bet. You will learn what Microsoft 365 Business really is, why you should resell Microsoft 365 and how to pitch the solution to your clients.
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.
Webroot delivers intelligent cybersecurity for endpoint, mobile and web to channel partners, consumers, businesses, and enterprises worldwide. Powered by its BrightCloud® collective threat intelligence network, Webroot protects the internet of everything. Our cloud-based threat detection, high performance, lightweight agents, and single, web-based point of control have changed the way businesses think about protecting mobile devices, PCs and servers. Named a ‘Visionary’ in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Endpoint Protection Platforms, Webroot’s smarter approach to security is why companies including Cisco, F5 Networks, GateProtect, HP, Microsoft, Palo Alto Networks, Proofpoint, RSA and others choose our solutions for advanced threat protection for their security products and services.
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.
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.
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.
Avast Business provides easy-to-manage, enterprise-grade security and network management solutions for SMBs and IT service providers. Backed by the largest, most globally dispersed threat detection network, the Avast Business security portfolio makes securing, managing, and monitoring complex, ever-changing IT environments easy and affordable.
It’s no secret that cyberthreats have become more common over the past decade, increasing the responsibility of a managed service provider (MSP) to have a multi-faceted security strategy in place for their clients. Check out this eBook to learn how to approach your client security engagements and provide tactical measures to secure your clients’ IT environment.
While having the latest technology and high-end hardware is important, today’s most successful resellers are looking beyond their expertise and are aiming to align their business model and sales strategy with the success of their customers.
I often hear complaints about Millennials in the workforce. Much of what is said is negative in character and sometimes outright derogatory. Have you heard any of these? Millennials don’t have a work ethic. Millennials care only about themselves. Maybe you’re lucky if they show up for work.
As a tail end baby boomer, I subscribed to some of this thinking as well. They didn’t fit my mold or expectations so obviously they are tough to deal with. I would like to propose something that may not be as obvious…maybe we are the problem.
All technologies experience occasional problems, but your preparation and choice of the right VoIP service provider will pay consistent dividends by reducing down time and business interruption.
You know developing a documentation rhythm will benefit you, but with so much to document, where do you start? We get it. You’re swamped with information and data, and it’s all important for different reasons. That’s why we’ve developed 6 steps to get you started, and mastering, your documentation.
