Seven Managed Services Blogs I Didn’t Have Time to Write
Somehow, it’s already Friday again. My inbox is filled with MSP-oriented news leads, tips and chatter that has yet to land on MSPmentor’s home page. Here are seven quick managed services headlines I didn’t have a chance to write this week…
1. Microsoft System Center Online: Is it a hosted managed service? Or is it reserved only for corporate IT users? Is it in beta or currently available? I’ve asked Microsoft for some thoughts. Stay tuned.
2. Laptop Data Protection as a Managed Service: Interested? Check out what Dan Wilson is doing over at Waypoint Solutions Group.
3. Forrester Hypes Managed Services Sales: Market researcher Forrester says all is well in the MSP market. Yippie. Did anybody bother checking the unpaid invoices that threaten some MSPs?
4. Unified Communications as a Service: Unified360, a unified communications provider, launched a managed services suite.
5. Managed Print Services: Hewlett-Packard overtook Xerox in the global MPS sector in 2008, according to Photizo Group. Only one challenge: Hewlett-Packard has yet to really develop a partner program/channel for managed print services.
6. Managed Services Beat SaaS?: A survey by AMI Partners found that about 60 percent of SMBs are interested in managed services, while about 40 percent of the market is interested in leveraging SaaS. I’m surprised 60 percent of SMBs are even familiar with managed services…
7. Another Week, Another MSP Dashboard: Riverbed Technology launched a Central Management Console – Virtual Edition (CMC-VE) for managed service providers (MSPs).
Does the dashboard work? You’re asking the wrong guy. I’m still struggling to hop between Windows, Mac OS and Linux all day.
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#2: We offer a similar service through our MSP offering. It is branded Remote Trace and Erase®. (https://www.dependablepc.com/t-features.aspx#remote-trace-erase)
#3: We have two sister companies that both almost exclusively derive income from managed services. We are not having problems with unpaid invoices.
#5: Xerox’s program looked really interesting until we became involved and actually tried to make a sale. Their were so many built-in hurdles that we eventually abandoned a guaranteed sale. It’s just not worth it. We’re still technically part of the PagePack program but will not be promoting it any longer.