I recently came across a study conducted by Avere and Gatepoint Research that highlights cloud trends based on feedback from 100 executives at companies throughout the country ranging in size from SMB to enterprise.  Continue Reading..

Last week, we featured the results of our RMM (remote monitoring and management) product reviews in our Networking Newsletter and Storage and Managed Services Newsletter. Both newsletters performed better than all of our 2012 Networking and Managed Services newsletters. This has been an exciting confirmation from you, our readers, who first told us in last year's survey that the one change you wanted us to make was...  Continue Reading..

Today I spoke with a managed services provider who was looking a few years ago to expand his line card. After examining all the opportunities out there, he settled on adding IP video surveillance solutions. Today, some three years later, IP video makes up 25% of the MSP's revenue and he's experiencing a 50% increase in profits (35% coming from IP video).  Continue Reading..

I remember sitting on a shuttle about four years ago during a distributor partner conference, talking about the industry with the person sitting next to me. “Intermec will be sold within a year,” he told me, hinting at trouble at the Everett, WA-based company. Regardless of whether or not Intermec was truly in any trouble back then, a sale within the year didn’t happen. But, the conversation did mark the first of many times...  Continue Reading..

In PCI: Who Really Cares?, I shared some survey data that pointed to a lack of awareness/caring/interest in the topic of PCI from certain solutions providers. Quotes from ISVs (software developers) led me to believe that they felt alone in the struggle of PCI standards compliance. Well, that article prompted an email from an ISV. Wishing to remain anonymous, the ISV told me about software competitors who were not on the list of...  Continue Reading..

With the holidays just behind us, it's the perfect time to start thinking about setting goals for 2013. For the 60% of you (according to CompTIA's research) that still aren't selling managed services, what better time than the present to start thinking about how you can change your business from break-fix to managed services or add managed services as an option for your customers?  Continue Reading..

5. Five Costly Mistakes IT Service Providers Make When Selling Business Continuity This white paper, written by BDR (backup and disaster recovery) and BC (business continuity) vendor Datto gets to the heart of the contrast between mere backup and business continuity. The punchline: having your customers' data is stored safely in the cloud, that's nice, but if they can't access it after their local server fails,...  Continue Reading..

NRF's Big Show, the retail industries aptly named expo, is just around the corner. In anticipation of the event, I've been receiving briefings from various manufacturers and have been given hints at new products that will be announced at the show next month.  Continue Reading..

It's common in the retail IT VAR world to meet resellers who are second or third generation veterans. VARs who started attending industry events as children. VARs who have experienced a lot of change over the years.  Continue Reading..

This morning I spoke with Sean Vojtasko, executive VP at BlueWave Computing, LLC, one of the largest MSPs (managed services providers) in the country. I was getting his input on a tech trend article I'm working on, and he mentioned something to me -- almost as an aside -- that I thought was so valuable that I wanted to share it with you right away.   Continue Reading..