Seven Managed Services Blog Entries We Didn’t Have A Chance to Write: Nov. 25

In the U.S., this is a short work week for many readers because of the Thanksgiving Holiday (Nov. 25). We’ll continue to update MSPmentor daily for our international readers. But in the meantime — for U.S. readers who are unplugging soon — here are seven managed services blog entries we didn’t have a chance to write for the business week ending Nov. 25.

7. Adds, Moves and Changes: A bunch of MSP industry leaders are considering career moves ahead of the New Year. Will some big names make moves? We’ll be watching.

6. DropBox Growth: The DropBox online file sharing system now has 3 million users, up from 2 million two months ago. Is there an MSP play here? And if so, how does DropBox compare with Box.net and other file sharing services?

5. Embracing SAS 70: Higher-end MSPs with their own data centers continue to embrace the SAS 70 audit as a point of differentiation. The latest example: Partners Consulting Services, Inc. says their Data Center operation has completed the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants’ Statement on Auditing Standards (SAS) No. 70 type II audit. As Partners Consulting Services points out, SAS 70 is an internationally recognized audit for validating the internal controls of service providers and other businesses.

4. FastChat Videos: MSPmentor’s video traffic doubled in November 2009 vs. October 2009. You can find all of our FastChat videos at www.MSPmentor.net/videos. Here are the five most popular video blogs for November:

• ConnectWise’s Cloud Strategy: Plus defending the last mile and MSP collaboration, featuring ConnectWise CEO Arnie Bellini
• ConnectWise Partner Summit: Six Managed Services Videos: Covering everything from Hardware as a Service (HaaS) to MSP marketing to sales development tips. Six experts share some quick thoughts in six separate FastChats
• Cisco’s Managed Services Strategy: Featuring Senior VP of Worldwide Channels Edison Peres
• N-able’s Free Endpoint Security Strategy: Featuring N-able CEO Gavin Garbutt
• BlueWater Makes Managed Services Move: Bob Cagnazzi, CEO of BlueWater — one of Cisco’s fastest-growing channel partners — describes how he’s building and branding his company’s managed service

3. Top 100 MSPs: Our third-annual MSPmentor 100 survey closes December 11. The resulting MSPmentor 100 list and report typically includes a mix of small, midsize and large MSPs. Participate in the free survey here and you could earn some free publicity.

2. A Quick Read: Mathew Dickerson, one of Australia’s best-known managed service providers (MSPs), has a new book out called Small Business Rules.

1. Speaking of Australia: Kaseya CEO Gerald Blackie just returned from several meetings in Australia. N-able VP of Sales Mike Cullen also made a trip to Australia in recent weeks. And both ConnectWise and Autotask have been hosting meetings in Australia in recent months. Anybody else seeing a clear MSP trend?

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