Seven Managed Services Blogs MSPmentor Didn’t Write: Nov. 12

Focus, focus, focus. That’s the word of the month here at MSPmentor and its parent company, Nine Lives Media Inc. We’re focused on some MSPmentor enhancements… and some new efforts… Juggling those priorities means some of our draft blogs never get edited and published. So, with those thoughts in mind, here are seven managed services blog entries the MSPmentor team didn’t have a chance to write for the week ending November 12, 2010.

7. Thinking Bigger: Some MSP peer group members are looking for a slightly different approach to the peer group experience. One example: It might be time for a peer group that only features MSPs with 100 or more employees. We’ll be back next week with more th0ughts on this.

6. Another Type of Coaching: During the IT Nation conference, quite a few MSPs mentioned Vistage to me. What is Vistage? Apparently, it’s a coaching service or coaching organization that helps CEOs to become even better CEOs. Two MSPs at the conference raved about Vistage. I’m giving it a closer look now to see how entrepreneurs can potentially benefit from the service.

5. Bounced Checks: We heard from two managed services providers in recent weeks who say they are dealing with bounced checks in the hardware as a service (HaaS) market. Sure, there are plenty of reputable HaaS companies out there. But check in with multiple references before you sign on the dotted line. We continue to track this theme closely and may have updates in the next few days to share…

4. Attention MSPs Outside of North America: Our fourth-annual MSPmentor 100 survey continues through December 17, 2010. Results will be published in Q1 2011. So far, roughly 25 percent of the survey participants are from outside the United States. We’re working hard to make sure this is a global survey. So if you’re an MSP headquartered in Europe, Australia, Africa, the Middle East, Asia… we want to hear from you. Jump into the survey because we’ll be profiling plenty of MSPs across the globe this time around.

3. Avoiding the The 25 Node Guy: You’ve heard of The VAR Guy. Now there’s growing talk about The 25 Node Guy. Who is he? Generally speaking, a 25 Node Guy is a small reseller who wants to become an MSP but he never quite pulls the trigger. He spends all his time worrying about how to switch 25 customer nodes to a managed services practice — but he never really does it. Further complicating matters, 25 Node Guy calls multiple RMM (remote monitoring and management) vendors asking for extensive advice about the managed services market. Hey, I’m all for resellers becoming MSPs. But it sounds like quite a few RMM vendors are tired of dealing with The 25 Node Guy. Consider yourself warned.

2. One Million Managed Freemium Nodes: That’s all I’ve got to say about that. At least for now… Stay tuned.

1. Layoffs: MSPmentor has been tracking layoffs this week at a small storage company and a midsize security company. Both are making moves in the managed services market. My conclusion: Yes, managed security and managed storage are hot opportunities. But there are boatloads of software and SaaS companies in both markets so we’re due for a shakeout of some sort. Still working to speak on the record with sources affected. Here again, stay tuned.

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