The Business Solutions Network

Earlier this week I spoke with Dan Haurey, president of a 21-employee MSP company called Exigent Technologies, which is based in Mount Arlington, NJ. Like many companies and residents in Haurey’s area, he was without power and his business (and many employees’ homes) was flooded out following the super storm that hit the East Coast on Monday evening on October 29.

Hurricane Sandy pummeled the East Coast recently, leaving millions without power and causing severe damage to homes and office buildings. As horrible as this super storm has been, such adversities have a way of revealing the heroes among us. John Motazedi, CEO of SNC Squared Technology Group and Hands That Give are just two examples.

I just got back from N-able's Partner Conference, which was held in Montreal last week. One of the conference highlights for me was CEO Gavin Garbutt's keynote speech. He shared the results from N-able's extensive research conducted earlier this year, involving feedback from 1,800 IT service providers throughout the United States and Canada. Following are a few points that got my attention. 

I just read an interesting study recently released by Verizon, titled, "2012 Data Breach Investigations Report," which Verizon's RISK Team conducted in conjunction with cooperation from multiple security organizations, including the United States Secret Services.

Most of the MSPs (managed services providers) I talk to are selling remote monitoring and management (RMM) and even backup services as part of their core offerings.

As many of you probably know by now, I've been on a kick to get to the bottom of the Microsoft SBS (Small Business Server) termination debate. Microsoft is claiming this is ultimately better for the channel and addresses what SMBs want (i.e. running their email, backup, and other services in the cloud).

One of my favorite parts of any trade show or conference I attend is to hear what the keynote speaker has to say about the most important trends they’re seeing in the channel, as well as hearing their advice to the VARs and MSPs in attendance about capitalizing on those trends.

While attending the recent GFI Conference in New Orleans, I had the opportunity to talk to several VARs and MSPs. One trend I'm hearing a lot about has to do with Microsoft discontinuing support for its SBS (Small Business Server), starting in November of this year (which they announced back in July).