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CGL group, a subsidiary of Société Générale, chose to expand mobility resources through the use of Good Technology's Good for Enterprise solution, which allowed it to launch a BYOD program and support use of BYOD and COPE devices to access resources.
"Good for Enterprise is the solution that meets all our criteria and can support future mobility development within the CGL group," said Bertrand Méens, systems security manager for the CGL group.
AT&T announced today it closed its $2.5 billion acquisition of Mexican wireless provider Iusacell and all of its wireless properties, which include licenses, network assets, retail stores and more than 9 million subscribers.
“The quick approval of this deal is one more example of why Mexico is an attractive place to invest,” Randall Stephenson, AT&T chairman and CEO, said. “We look forward to bringing more wireless competition to Mexico along with an improved mobile Internet experience for customers. Expanding and enhancing Iusacell’s mobile network to cover millions of additional consumers and businesses is our top priority.”
Unitrends today introduced the newest generation of the Recovery-Series family of purpose-built backup appliances. The 11 new models, with raw storage from 1 to 97 TB, offer flexibility and scalability to customers ranging from SMBs to corporations.
The use of tiered flash storage allows for improved backup performance and faster restore and recovery processes. Further improvements to the PBBAs, including upgrades to the CPU and advancements in RAID.
A common question that we receive every day concerns “who/what is O365nation?”
It’s a very simple answer. We are an Office 365 Ombudsman, committed to independent analysis, events, research, advocacy and outreach to make the Office 365 community a better place. It’s a very necessary role that we take incredibly seriously. We optimistically awaken everyday driven by a “Blue Ocean” abundance philosophy. We reject “Red Ocean” negativity, espoused by critical curmudgeons (you know who you are!)
Here’s our essential raison d’etre:
Centrify Corporation today announced new advantages for Managed Service Providers, including a new MSP channel program and MSP product enhancements to its Cloud Identity offerings. Its updates allow MSPs to use Centrify’s Identity-as-a-Service technology to address needs for single sign-on to SaaS apps.
“MSPs have historically provided remote monitoring and security management for on-premises PCs, servers, apps and network devices, but as their customers migrate to mobile and the cloud their clients’ IT management challenges are fundamentally changing as identity becomes the new perimeter,” said Gary Taggart, Senior Vice President of Sales at Centrify. “With specific MSP product enhancements to Centrify’s IDaaS offering and a new MSP-oriented channel program, MSPs can now not only better secure their clients’ expanding SaaS and mobile deployments, but also delight their clients’ end users with single sign-on to thousands of SaaS applications such as Office 365, Google Apps, Concur and others.”
IP handset developer and manufacturer snom technology AG today announced appointment of Olivier Gerling as Chief Sales Officer. Gerling began his career at snom in 2009 as managing director of snom France.
“Olivier’s extensive experience in sales and channel operations make him a natural fit for his new role,” snom CEO Markus Schmitt-Fumian said. “His understanding of creating effective sales programs and channels will help snom expand its global footprint as we roll out an exciting lineup of innovative VoIP products.”
Gerling will be responsible for working with Schmitt-Fumian to expand snom’s market presence and lead growth its core markets.
Digital presence always feels like an exercise in continuous updates. I’d offer it’s that way more and more, speaking as someone raised on printing books and magazines. The good news is that updates can add more value and correct mistakes quickly. The bad news is that it’s a 7x24 world!
With that said, I wanted to give a shout out to the updates at o365nation.com. We are building an independent community committed to Office 365 advocacy and outreach. It’s what we done in different realms for over 15+ years. And it’s déjà vu all over again here!
SEATTLE – Be sure to mark your calendar to attend the inaugural *independent* Office 365 community meetings occurring in seven NFL cities in the first part of 2015. Already we are experiencing an overwhelming response and we are limited enrollments to 150-attendees so we encourage you to sign-up today. Learn more here: o365tour.smbnation.com.
Who should participate?
What will you learn!
Help form an on-going Office 365 community that is independent and professionally managed so you can accelerate your discovery journey about the amazing Office 365 platform and share your experiences. You will rapidly advance your Office 365 migration, deployment, administration and troubleshooting skills.
IBM today announced it topped the list of U.S. patents received yearly for a 22nd consecutive year. With 7,534 patents in 2014—an average of 20 per day—IBM is the first company to surpass 7,000 patents within a year.
"IBM's continued investment in research and development is key to driving the transformation of our company, as we look to capture the emerging opportunities represented by cloud, big data and analytics, security, social and mobile," said Ginni Rometty, IBM's chairman, president and CEO. "IBM's patent leadership over more than two decades demonstrates our enduring commitment to the kind of fundamental R&D that can solve the most daunting challenges facing our clients and the world."
Earlier today, Washington, DC-based MSP, eGuard Technology Services, announced that it has acquired NewTeq Computer Services, an MSP based in Frederick, MD. The primary goal of this acquisition was to open new geographical markets and to better serve area customers.
eGuard Technology Services Founder and CEO, Khaled Farhang, said this about the news: “While this is officially an acquisition, I instead view it as eGuard Technology Services and NewTeq Computer Services joining together to build upon an already solid foundation of two individual companies that will now be an even stronger company, offering expanded resources, technical expertise, and additional staff.”
By Danny Windham
A new year brings new projects, new initiatives and new challenges for IT leadership. As new technologies and new deployment models have continued to mature, businesses are becoming more willing (and obligated) to try new things.
It’s helpful to reflect upon and take inventory of the advances that shaped the evolution of your business over the previous year. Perhaps even more crucial is assessing trends of the near future, which will provide leaders and key decision makers within an organization with valuable insights in order to position their business for success.
Over the past several quarters we’ve seen adoption of many new products and services that essentially transfer control of the specific functionality from the IT professionals into the hands of the end users. Bring your own device (BYOD), popular mobile applications such as Evernote, evergreen browsers, and even user-controlled updating of operating systems are all examples of this trend. This trend is driving a renewed emphasis on user experience. For solutions to thrive in this new environment, they must be flexible, cost effective, and easy to set up. Against this backdrop, here are some IT and communications trends expected to dominate 2015, and influence how you grow and manage your business:
IT Spending Increases
With the increased enthusiasm and confidence from U.S. consumers, improvements in the economy, strength in the U.S. dollar, and an expectation of expanded credit and funding opportunities for businesses, the overall trend for companies this coming year is growth - growth in both infrastructure investment and employee count. Gartner Research forecasts that 2015 will be an even better year than 2014 for IT vendors, with companies spending $3.9 trillion. If this prediction is correct, that translates into a 3.7 percent gain over 2014. In the business world, with growth comes an imperative need to properly allocate funds to deliver the best return on investment. You want to focus spending efforts that support growing and servicing your customer base, while saving pennies in any area you can.
Communications Systems in the Cloud
The perception of the cloud has transformed from curiosity to investment, but moving forward, it represents much more than a standalone concept in the IT world. In the area of business phone systems, while sales of on-premises PBX systems have remained at a steady level through recent years, the market for hosted PBX solutions continues to grow as the flexibility and cost savings of this route become common knowledge among SMBs. More and more businesses are switching to cloud-based solutions as a result of the reduced cost and commitment, the decreased IT dependency, scalable growth potential, and the evolving mobile-friendly workforce. Cloud-based services are enabling a fundamental shift in the end user business models, and the entire communications industry is morphing in response to this trend. It’s impacting not only the communications technologies and deployment models, but also the entire value chain of how end users are served.
More Efficient Business Models
The move to the cloud is really about enabling new, more efficient business models, and, in so doing, the inevitable byproducts of that trend will ensue. Selecting the right IT product and service is one thing; now, deciding how to pay for them is an independent decision. This explains why CFOs are realizing the value of using available cash for revenue-generating activities and using OPEX for day-to-day expenses, including communications systems. This trend will continue into 2015, as operational expenses free up capital and require a shorter commitment, which is ideal in an ever-changing tech world. Other impacts of the move to more efficient business models include a reduction of the typical internal IT staff levels, outsourcing of select infrastructure previously deployed on prem, and an improvement in systems’ reliability and scalability as a result of the elastic nature of cloud-based solutions.
Device-Friendly Workplace
The concept of a mobile-friendly workforce will play an even larger role in 2015, as today’s employee takes advantage of flexible work options offered by their employer. Previously, when an employee left the office, the best way of getting in touch with him or her was via a home number or cell phone. Companies will continue to embrace BYOD as a way to control cost, improve productivity, and improve employee morale. 2015 will be the era of enhanced BYOD due to hosted mobile apps and softphones enabling more workers to detach physically from the office, while affording them the full benefits of a traditional desktop experience. A computer, a tablet, a laptop, a desk phone and a mobile phone all have unique utility value in the communications world. Why not enable all of them and allow employees to utilize the one that best serves any specific need? If staying in touch with fellow employees and clients can happen from anywhere, with any device, imagine the talent your company will be able to recruit and retain when your business has no geographical or device restrictions. 2015 further highlights this new age and the opportunities it brings for the remote worker.
Sip Trunking:
SIP trunking offers businesses the benefits of converged communications while saving money by significantly reducing international and long distance call costs as well as the need to purchase physical BRIs, PRIs or PSTN lines for voice. According to numbers from The Eastern Management Group, the SIP trunking communication industry is growing by 5 million supported devices, per year. Even while hosted VoIP solutions are gaining momentum, there is still a need for dial-tone delivery to on-site communications systems. Organizations that have legacy equipment in use or that require a premises-based PBX are adopting SIP trunking services. Additionally, the industry will inevitably grow in the coming years. An Infonetics Research report stated that 58 percent of American businesses said they plan to use SIP trunks in 2015, up from 38 percent in 2014.
Integration of Communications Tools
As the integration of real-time communications tools continues to evolve in 2015, businesses will realize tremendous benefit from the ability to better collaborate and streamline business processes. WebRTC is an emerging standard that enables users to make voice and video calls through web browsers without needing to download plugins or implement a media client. As an overall communications category or trend, the concept of WebRTC is certainly gaining ground, but it is merely a development upon the bigger trend of integrating communications features and functions into virtually every aspect of a business.
From the coffee shop to the conference room, 2015 will be the year of mobility, integration of communications, and user experience. Businesses of all sizes will construct the new mainstream and execute on the groundwork established by new services, new archetypes, and new platforms within the business communications realm.
Danny Windham is the CEO of Digium, a business communications company based in Huntsville, Ala., that delivers enterprise-class Unified Communications.
With the business community fully engaged post-holiday, it’s time to share part two of our “by the numbers” series, concerning the performance of Office 365. Part one was published here. This installment concerns the MSP community. As we’ve discussed in prior blogs, the term MSP includes resellers, consultants, VARs, partners and old-fashioned computer guys and gals that serve business customers. We don’t typically discuss the consumer-side of Office 365 at our site.
What we’re talking about here is how partners are capitalizing on Office 365. It’s arguably a work in progress. Partners are defining the profitability paradigm surrounding Office 365. Partners are outnumbered in the Office 365 community 4:1 when compared to in-house IT Pros. That said, here are the facts concerning partner performance (and spoiler alert: the news is good).
Cloud Security Alliance’s new survey, Cloud Adoption, Practices and Priorities Survey Report, surveyed more than 200 executives and IT managers in an aim to uncover how companies are currently approaching the cloud.
"As companies move data to the cloud, they are looking to put in place policies and processes so that employees can take advantage of cloud services that drive business growth without compromising the security, compliance, and governance of corporate data," CSA CEO Jim Reavis said. "We hope that this report provides companies with some good peer insight so that they can make better decisions to help confidently and responsibly accelerate the use of cloud services in their environment."
By Nathan Mitchell, AppRiver
As an original Office 365 syndicator and current Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider, we at AppRiver have discovered a feature or two about Microsoft’s popular productivity suite. And sometimes those discoveries can create a challenge for our team who supports the product 24 hours a day, every day.
So just how do you support a product that continually evolves?
The simple answer is to evolve with it. Our team spends a lot of time talking with Microsoft, reading articles and other educational guides about new Office 365 features. When those features roll into production, we set time aside to test it. The goal? To stay in front of our customers and anticipate the questions that they might ask.
I’ve been networking in my community for nearly 20 years, building what I call the “community buzz” in clubs, networking groups and chamber events. Throughout the relationship building process, I have been influenced by people that have a heart for helping people in our communities. Networking, when done well, establishes growth. First, it helps connect you to people and businesses who are like-minded. Second, it provides you with the advantage of Top of Mind Awareness, which leads customers to your door instead of your competitor’s door. Networking is a strategy that will require a significant investment in time and money. It is not the fastest marketing method. However, I believe it results in the strongest long-term growth in business.
As with computers, networking can be done on any scale. You can start small, with little time and little financial investment, or you can go as big as you can imagine. Whatever level you choose, you will need the following:
Think strategically about where to spend your time, and which groups to join. There isn't anything wrong with spending your volunteer hours with a group that will provide you with new customers, new ideas and new relationships. Choosing causes that build your community while building your business allows you to have greater impact. Some things to consider:
Your best customers can be your most effective salespeople. Building strong relationships creates a de facto sales force for your business. Those who know you and your abilities will become spokesmen for your skills, abilities and integrity. What would happen if you had 100 sales people working for you? You will have increased sales volume, more profitable deals, more referrals than you know what to do with-and happier clients. When you build your business based on community relationships and helping others, everyone wins.
The best clients are ones that you have a real rapport with. You know you have a great relationship when they tell you to order whatever you think they need as a company. I have spent the last 19 years working on real relationships with members of my community. The outcome has been increased referrals, great customers and profitable sales. In 2014, I had about $120,000 of sales generated from groups and organizations that I belong to, with an overall year-over-year sales increase of 67%. I believe that to be the direct result of nearly two decades of local investment. I am proud that my success has been part of a win-win solution for my business partners and the community we share.
Success Story
The story of 1 + 1 = 6
I joined our local Chamber in 2003 and became involved in a few committees. Because of my involvement at meetings, lunches, and social events I received a phone call from an international hotel chain in our area about 7 years ago. They were very active in community events and the Chamber of Commerce. The general manager personally called me and asked if we would be interested in taking over the technology part of their business because they were unhappy with their current technology partner. He said, “I feel better supporting a company that gives back to their community.” Today, my company supports six different hotels and part of their corporate staff. We have sold workstations, laptops, and lots of labor to support their growing company. They will need new servers and more workstations in the coming year.
One person with passion + one person with vision = 6 corporate accounts. Be a networking fool…
Bio
Curtis M. Thiel, President and CEO, Hard@Work Computers is a fourth generation business owner, and past president of five local community service and trade organizations. He has been the recipient of multiple community leadership awards and is a frequent speaker on community and technology issues. In 2007, he co-authored a book, titled Peer Power, Powerful Ideas for Partners from Peers 2007. He has also served as an instructor for local technical school. Outside the workplace Curtis is a passionate Rotarian and is the incoming assistant governor for district 5020.
SMB Security-as-a-Service provider My Digital Shield announced today the addition of channel sales veteran Rick Green to its executive team as Executive Vice President of Channel Sales.
Green previously held technical, marketing and sales management positions at General Electric, Nortel Networks, Lucent, Alcatel, N.E.T. and Voice Carrier that add up to a combined 30 years of networking industry experience. He also has worked at various VARs, providing him with understanding of the partner side of the business.
"We are thrilled to have Rick come on board, given his extensive background in both sales and management," said Andrew Bagrin, founder and CEO of My Digital Shield. "The demand for cyber security solutions continues to become a priority for business owners and individuals alike, making now an opportune time for MDS to focus on growing our relationship among channel partners."
New CompTIA Research highlights the model’s acceptance and success
By Seth Robinson
Over the past five years, cloud computing has been a somewhat disruptive topic in the IT community. Early on, it was hard getting everyone to agree on a definition, and more recently, others dismissed it as a mere marketing term. At a minimum, the cloud concept has created a lively dialogue right from the point of its inception. In reality, it’s having a significant impact on businesses and transforming their operations. The recent 5th Annual Trends in Cloud Computing study from CompTIA confirms those observations and gives us a glimpse of what to expect in 2015.
Calyptix Security recently announced the release of AccessEnforcer version 3.1.16. This latest version includes web filtering for HTTPS sites and was the security company’s response to the Heartbleed vulnerability in OpenSSL, which affected numerous sites last year.
The key goal of this new functionality is to keep staff focused during the day, by blocking HTTPS sites such as Yahoo!, Google and Facebook. With this functionality, network admins can click a single checkbox to apply the same filtering rules to HTTPS sites that the organization currently has in place for HTTP sites.
Schneider Electric announced today immediate availability of new models in its family of APC by Schneider Electric single-phase Smart-UPS On-Line uninterruptible power supplies. The new UPS models range from 5-10kVA of power.
“In today’s increasingly connected world, disruption or loss of power to critical equipment translates into high costs and potential reputational damage for businesses,” said Michael Maiello, Sr. Vice President, Home and Business Networks, APC by Schneider Electric. “Our new unity power factor Smart-UPS On-Line models provide simple, convenient, flexible, and reliable power back up, allowing users to feel assured their important equipment and electronics will be protected when they need it most.”
Key features of the new models include up to 97 percent energy efficiency, hot-swappable batteries and switchable outlet groups.
Good morning, SMB Nation community. As many of you read, our own Harrybbb took to the airwaves late last month for Karl Palachuk’s new webinar series: “The Globalization of SMB.” This series will take place on the last Tuesday of every month, at 9:00am PST. During this first session, Harry discussed his experiences with travelling the world (a few times, even) in his career and how he was able to maintain a tight-knit community feel on a global scale.
If you missed the live version, don’t fear. The recording is available at the site: http://www.smallbizthoughts.com/events/global/. You can also sign up for the remaining webinars with one link at: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/3935752812183365121.
This month’s installment will feature guest speaker, Robert Crane, Director of CIAOPS.
The first day of real business in a new year is always exciting. It’s all about resolutions, hope and looking forward. Speaking for the Office 365 Nation community, we’ve used the long holiday break to recharge and move forward with ENERGY into the New Year. But one major Office 365 ISV hardly rested over the holidays, saving that for another day.
Bright and early this week (Monday, January 5, 2015) in Seattle, I spoke at length with Orlando Scott-Cowley, Director of Technology Marketing at Mimecast. He enjoyed one advantage out of the gate. His day was trending to sunset in London as I was “coffee-ing up.” The interview revealed a few interesting factoids about the $100m company with over 12,000 customers serving 3-million customers. Earlier today, to kick off the New Year, Mimecast engaged in some “rebranding” to better describe its Office 365 services. This is part of an on-going effort to build out is Office 365 branding. I’d offer this “work in progress” mentality is consistent with the entire industry, as we define the Office 365 paradigm in the early days of its service.
Pictured: The Mimecast US Headquarters in Boston, MA
Business and IT consulting provider PSC Group LLC announced today consultants John Head, Kathy Brown, Andrew Barickman, Brad Balassaitis and Mark Roden were selected as 2015 IBM ICS Champions.
The IBM Champion program awards individuals in the global technical community who help others to make best use of IBM solutions and services.
Cloud-based document and email management service NetDocuments announced today it acquired the Decisiv Email team and technology from Recommind.
"This is truly a case of the whole being greater than the sum of the parts," said Matt Duncan, CEO of NetDocuments. "Anyone in our industry who has seen or experienced Decisiv Email knows it's simply the most powerful email management solution in the market. The Australian-based team brings a wealth of industry knowledge that will complement NetDocuments' core service. We truly believe that combining Decisiv Email with NetDocuments will result in the most modern and intuitive matter-centric content management solution ever made available to the legal market."
How often have you heard that phrase? More importantly, how often has it been immediately relevant to you and your business? Well, if you are selling into the SMB customer segment, it’s very relevant to you…now!
That’s because this is the time of year that a lot of smaller companies conduct an assessment of their business and decide to make improvements. This includes getting better at organizing their information, cutting costs, streamlining operations, and many more aspects of their business that IT partners can help with. In fact, data shows that purchases of new computers and software by SMBs is typically highest in the first 3-4 months of the calendar year.
Moving a business to Office 365 is no small task. IT providers need a more holistic approach to move their customers to Office 365. Discover a new category of migration software called Migration Project Automation - designed to help IT providers manage all the details of a project from sales to Outlook setup. The technology is designed to address the wide variety of migration scenarios that exist across the SMB and Enterprise landscapes. The result? Reduced time and risk. A seamless migration project. Happy customers. It’s the first step to a long and successful relationship with Office 365. It’s going to be a ten year run, so jump on now.
Join us for an in-depth discussion this Thursday, January 8 from 10-11am PST!
Details: http://www.smbnation.com/webinars
It’s a new year, and that means there’s a chance for all of us to start fresh! For 2015, this has manifested as the “Pay it Forward” initiative. Some of you may have seen the following message floating around your social media:
“I'm participating in the 'Pay it Forward' initiative: The first five people who comment on this status with "I'm in" will receive a surprise from me at some point between now and a year from now - anything from a book, a ticket, something homemade, a postcard, absolutely any surprise! There will be no warning and it will happen when the mood comes over me and I find something that I believe would suit you and make you happy. These five people must make the same offer on their Facebook status. Once my first five have commented "I'm in" I will forward this message to you privately, so that you can copy and paste it, and put it on your status, (don't share it) so that we can form a web of connection of kindness. Let's do nicer and more loving things in 2015, without any reason other than to make each other smile and show that we think of each other. Here's to a more enjoyable, friendly and love filled year!”
Lenovo announced today its 2015 ThinkPad product portfolio, including the ThinkPad X1 Carbon, the ThinkVision X24 monitor and the ThinkPad Stack.
The new ThinkPad product portfolio was unveiled in celebration of 100 million units shipped and continued company growth.
“It has been a genuine privilege to be an integral part of ThinkPad notebook success through one hundred million units,” said Brian Krzanich, Intel CEO. “The dedication and imagination of ThinkPad engineers over the years has produced some remarkable technological breakthroughs. As computing takes new forms and enables amazing new experiences, Intel is eager to see what Lenovo can come up with next.”
Curtis Thiel, Founder and President of Hard@Work Computers, LLC, recently announced via his Facebook feed that his organization, which started as Thiel Computers, has been in business for 18 years!
During Hard@Work Computers, LLC’s run, it has won the Business Examiner Best Technology Service in IT Award (2010-2012), and it has been nominated for the top Young Professional Company by its local Chamber of Commerce. In true SMB Nation Community fashion, Curtis realizes that his success is made possible by his team of dedicated employees and his clients.
Due to the declining volume of traditional postal mail, it’s easy to witness the few organizations who still have direct mail campaigns. Such was the case over the past month, as I’ve monitored the CenturyLink Business Office 365 drip campaign in the Pacific Northwest. Here are the details.
Every ten days for the past month, I have received an oversized CenturyLink postcard (pictured). The cards are in order. The first card posed the question “What do you call a laptop, tablet or phone with our High-Speed Internet and Microsoft Office 365?” The answer is “Call it our office.” This specific offer is very cost-effective. The CenturyLink High –Speed Internet service for $29.95/month includes up to 12Mbps speed (that means DSL) for 12-months with a 36-month term. The rates, starting in month 13, escalates to “the then current standard rate” which is undefined in the offer. CenturyLink deftly promotes that it also “Includes Microsoft Office 365 at no extra charge,” which is a nice way to present that Office 365 costs are being amortized into the offering price. I applaud this initiative.
Networking equipment manufacturer Deciso B.V. announced today its open source firewall initiative, OPNsense, has been launched. OPNsense provides companies with a set of open, verifiable sources.
Companies can use OPNsense under a two-clause BSD license. All tools and sources on the OPNsense platform are available without special clauses and licensing costs.
"We put high value in the community around OPNsense," Deciso CTO Jos Schellevis said. "The OPNsense project wants to give users, developers and businesses a friendly, stable and transparent environment."
By Harry Brelsford, Founder and Chairman, SMB Nation, Inc.
Hey folks, and welcome to Part Two of the Office 365 Community Wish List for 2015. I can honestly say that I was surprised by the amount of replies I received from our community on the Office 365 Wish List. Here’s the rest of the list!
3. 2 form factor without the need of Azure AD and only work on DirSync or ADFS.”
3. Support for cross-premises delegations in Exchange hybrid.
4. The ability to migrate email attachments larger than 25 MB during onboarding even if they could not be forwarded post-migration.
5. More transparency around changes which includes making sure the Roadmap is updated more consistently.”
– Shawn Sailer, Empact IT
Thanks again, folks!
Seattle start-up Spreesy will help organizations capitalize on popularity of social media through its social commerce solution, which makes Instagram posts “shoppable.”
These shoppable posts are generated when a business connects Instagram accounts to Spreesy’s website and includes price and quantity options in the Instagram post caption.
DSTRUX, a self-destructing file-sharing platform, released today a free Android app on the Google Play Store.
The app allows users to maintain control of files or pictures they share, including the parties that receive the item and the length of viewing receivers have. Items sent on the DSTRUX platform can’t be forwarded, downloaded, printed, screen captured or altered without permission.
"Most people would know what I mean when I talk about that feeling of regret after sending a file, picture or message that you wish you could take back or destroy," says CEO and Founder of DSTRUX, Nathan Hecht. "DSTRUX is finally that solution. Now, for the first time, users are able to take back and destroy on command that file that they sent to someone and regretted whether it was immediately after sending it or at a later date."
By Joe Foos
Buy Me Today. I’m Changing Tomorrow.
Some of you see this message every day and miss the whole marketing ploy that repeats itself every day. Others use it every day in your own business, trying to get a customer to choose you now, instead of taking the risk they’ll choose someone else tomorrow, when they think about it a little more carefully.
As we bid farewell to another calendar year, what are you thinking about doing in 2015?
“If You Can’t, Then You Must”, Tony Robbins
There are 50 Shades of Grey Everywhere You Look
Consultants. Resellers. VARs. System Integrators. Managed Service Providers. Cloud Service Providers.
“We started out as technical consultants, but then gained vendor product certifications as well, and a couple of years ago also started offering remote monitoring and help desk services, so we can provide fixed fee managed services, and recently also learned how to help customers move to the cloud.”
But Most Customers Who Make Big Changes Justify Their Decisions In Terms of White Or Black.
“Every IT firm we spoke with offered the same thing, so we chose yours because you offered the lowest price.”
“Every IT firm we spoke with offered the same thing, except your firm was the only one that ….”
In 2003, I learned about SBS. In 2015, none of my customers remember what that stands for, even though they all bought it from me.
Like many of you, I was an early adopter of SBS. In fact, the firm I worked for was the very first to achieve Microsoft Small Business Specialist Certification (SBSC) in the Silicon Valley/San Francisco Bay Area. Today, the firm I work for recommends Office 365 to almost all SMB clients. In the past eleven years, I have learned a lot about a zillion different technologies and been trained by every major vendor in our industry to understand and explain the value of every major IT solution or service. But I still can’t answer every question that comes up, and I still can’t do everything a potential client might ask me to. The only way I come close, is to offer to coordinate their various needs by pulling together as many engineers, consultants, vendors, and other partners … to meet a client’s comprehensive needs.
Today, Technology Is Much More Complex, And Simpler. At The Same Time.
We used to need a Blackberry Enterprise Server attached to an Exchange Server, combined with special “Crackberries,” only available on a special pager network, to read our emails while away from the office.
Now, we can use almost any mobile device we want to, without spending a king’s ransom on infrastructure, for someone else to figure out whatever collection of hardware and software is needed to make the magic work.
But what if the magic stops working one day? Who do we call, and what can we do about it if there is no clear resolution? Most of our customers don’t want or need the same products and services they wanted and needed in the old days. But why do some customers believe they don’t need IT service providers either? Because someone else defined our value to customers.
In the face of simplicity, there is very real complexity. That’s where value comes into play. If you understand how a vendor’s 99.9% uptime guarantee or 24x7 support personnel could still cause havoc for a customer without a contingency plan, you can deliver greater value beyond simply getting paid to migrate the last few remaining servers to the cloud. But nobody will know how much more you can do for them, if your idea of focused marketing stops at getting listed in Microsoft Pinpoint.
The Most Important New Years’ Resolution. Defining Yourself. With Your Own Words.
The more things change, the more they stay the same. If we all just keep telling the world that we “also do what you’ve heard others tell you they do, but better”, we’ll never define ourselves. IT providers who didn’t know how to automate email migration yesterday, will learn how to do so tomorrow. Those who define themselves by comparing themselves to others, will always define themselves that way. Here are the most common ways we define ourselves.
For Me, It’s All About Teamwork. Everyone Working Together To Help Customers Improve Everything.
Over the past eleven years, I went from one really good place, to another really good place. But they are different, because they define themselves with their own terminology. Customers understand the difference. I decided to make a change because I wanted something different. I helped my first company transition into a better version of itself over the course of eleven years. But then, I saw I could do even more in my new company. It took years to come to this conclusion, but it only took an instant to make the actual change when I viewed things from a different perspective.
In both cases, the key is teamwork. Collaboration. Togetherness. Regardless of whether you are a single independent consultant or a member of a larger company with dozens of people, you achieve more when you work together with others in a complementary manner. Most SMB Nation members are small independent consultants that don’t spend enough time thinking about ways to become true business partners. Instead of competing against each other, strengthen yourselves against the global commoditization of IT services by forming closer working relationships amongst yourselves. Spend more time on this activity than on anything else. Some of you already do this with industry associations, mentor groups, and referral networks. You realize that every challenge you face is probably something someone else has already overcome. The rest of you are still frequently having to lift heavier and heavier loads on your own. Customers value you more, if they know you are not alone.
Larger IT consulting firms are always struggling to hire experienced professionals that can hit the ground running. Your independent business might actually benefit most from joining a larger company. You could still spend time on the most rewarding part of your business in front of customers and technology, while having a fully staffed back office handle the work you end up doing yourself at night or on weekends.
However you choose to work more closely with others in our industry:
Figure It Out Now: Do Something Radically Different
Before You Get Distracted By The Next Interruption: More Of The Same
Define Yourself Today. So You Don’t Have To Change Again Tomorrow.
Joe Foos is the Director of SMB Sales & Marketing at ZAG Technical Services in San Jose, CA. You can learn more about his new firm at www.itconsultingsiliconvalley.com
Joe used to work at Lanlogic in Livermore, CA until November 2014. You can learn more at www.bayareaitconsulting.com
Hear ye! Hear ye! The Office 365 community has spoken and here is the crowd sourced wish list, just in time for Microsoft to make New Year’s Resolutions. Before I jump into it, I first want to thank everything who helped socialize this topic by making sincere contributions. Power to the people!
Microsoft Dynamics CRM (online 2013) integration. This was from yours truly. I’m in CRM all day every day and would like it to better leverage Office 365 all the way from authentication to untold new nuggets I can’t think of.
Here’s the first part of what you, the community, asked for in 2015:
With the end of year at hand, much mischief is afoot. Accountants are helping business owners move funds to and fro to lock-in tax benefits. Others are making end-of-year purchases to expense items in 2014. And others, myself included, are crossing-off the resolution list to get stuff done before midnight, New Year’s Eve.
With all this activity, I wanted to present an opportunity for you to support our community, O365nation.com. Much like the way you support Public Radio and Public TV, you can sign-up for an Office 365 service offered by one of our supporters, SkyKick, for free with no commitments (this is a migration solution to Office 365). It’s simple. You sign-up and for each sign-up, SkyKick makes a generous donation to O365nation.com so we can continue our independent advocacy and outreach efforts you’ve come to depend on.
Earlier today, Symantec representatives sent out a reminder that the company’s Backup Exec.cloud service will be shut down permanently starting January 6, 2015. All current Symantec customers will have access to their data stored in the Backup Exec.cloud until that date, or until the end of their service contracts, whichever comes first. Customers are reminded to have all of their data backed up onto a different system by Jan 6 to avoid business interruption.
Symantec listed the most common help numbers for customers seeking assistance with the backup changes:
ClickSoftware Technologies Ltd. announced today it was awarded a position in the Leaders Quadrant of Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Field Service Management. This is the fourth consecutive year ClickSoftware achieved a Leader position.
"Service organizations must consistently deliver unparalleled service experiences for their customers. This drives the ClickSoftware team to help these organizations make strategic service decisions to 'Master the Moment' when success is judged by their ability to complete the job the first time," said Dr. Moshe BenBassat, ClickSoftware's Founder and CEO. "The future of the world's largest companies will be determined by their ability to differentiate in service. In a world where social media shines a spotlight on the performance of every company, ClickSoftware empowers field workers to become a service company's best brand ambassadors."
Project Automation Built for IT ProvidersMoving a business to Office 365 is no small task. IT providers need a more holistic approach to move their customers to Office 365. So we created a new category of migration software called Migration Project Automation - designed to help IT providers manage all the details of a project from sales to Outlook setup. The result? Reduced time and risk. A seamless migration project. Happy customers.
Designed for Scale
SkyKick helps thousands of partners move their customers to Office 365. The technology is designed to address the wide variety of migration scenarios that exist across the SMB (1-250 employee) and Enterprise (250+ employee) landscapes. We understand that every one of your customer’s email environments is unique, and projects can be complex and risky. That’s why our products are built to help you manage migrations with ease.
The SMB Nation Team would like to wish all of our community members a very warm, safe and happy Holiday Season!
No matter what you celebrate, we hope that you are able to celebrate with friends and family and have a bright rest of 2014! Thank you all for helping us to make this a landmark year for SMB Nation!
We look forward to working with you all again in 2015!
Polycom announced Polycom RealPresence Collaboration Server and Polycom RealPresence Distributed Media Application are the first video infrastructure solutions qualified for Microsoft Lync 2013.
“Video is on pace to become the preferred means of business communication over the next two years and unified communications solutions have never been more important to business success,” said Ted Colton, Group Vice President, Strategic Alliances at Polycom. “Polycom and Microsoft share the same vision that collaboration should be easy and natural to use. Polycom RealConnect for Microsoft Lync eliminates end-user frustration and helps facilitate more use of video by making it easier to receive a high-quality experience while preserving the familiarity of how to join a video call.”
With this blog, I am starting a series of contributions exploring how Distributors will work with Office 365 and its unique solution sales motion(s). Over the next few weeks, I’ll reach out to each of the major distributors as part of my comprehensive, primary research. My intentions are to gift you in the season of giving some fantastic analytical content that educates you on a huge part of the IT segment: distribution.
There was a time when I faked it until I made it – a tired old saying of both the business and theatrical communities. Basically, I signed up each year for the Nieman-Marcus holiday catalog. Each issue always had some outlandish gift for the well-healed person had literally had it all. These gifs, recommended by the Dallas-based retailer, were often hundreds of thousands of dollars, such as a personal submarine.
Back to reality, I want to dial down those “one percent” elite expectations and recommend a few items I think would make great gifts. More importantly, I engaged in CROWD SOURCING this list on the popular Facebook group “You know you grew up with SBS if…” where old SBSers still have fun. Here are my findings:
Microsoft Vice President of Worldwide SMB, Thomas Neergaard Hansen (pictured), recently penned a blog outlining the top IT trends for SMBs in 2015. Hansen affirmed that, much like the enterprise sector, SMBs will see the growth of IoT and big data. However, SMBs will also see a big increase in the use of mobile technologies and mobile applications developed specifically for the SMB sector.
To open his blog, Hansen said: “I love hearing stories of small companies that, despite a lack of capital, used technology to push the limits of what can be done. These conversations have made it very clear that technology absolutely has an impact on SMBs’ bottom line – in fact, a recent study from the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) revealed that tech-savvy SMBs increase their annual revenues 15 percentage points faster and create jobs two times faster than SMBs using little technology.”
Jabra announced it will move its North American Headquarters to Cross Point in Lowell, Mass. in Q2 2015 to support customers, employees and a growing brand.
"Jabra is outpacing industry growth and winning new customers in NA every day, therefore we felt it was time for our physical headquarters location to be the sort of focal point we need for showcasing our technology to customers and recruiting the best talent available," Jabra North America president Pete Fox said. "The move to Cross Point allows us to create a space that has everything we need in a headquarters facility, from a highly branded environment for our employees and guests to a Jabra Experience Center to demonstrate our intelligent audio solutions," Fox continued.
By Raymond Vrabel, Director, Technical Account Management, Continuum Managed IT Services
The final installment of a monthly blog series examining tips on how MSPs can work to break “bad” business habits that they might unknowingly fall into as a result of just wanting to get things done.
Throughout this past year, I’ve discussed many topics in this blog series which I hope you’ve found helpful--getting to know your customers, employee satisfaction, combating business complacency and achieving a healthy work/life balance. As we say goodbye to 2014, I’d like to take a look back and review some lessons that I hope you’ve learned, as well as look ahead to 2015.
The one thing you can count on with Microsoft’s overseas subsidiaries is that outside the box creativity flows more freely that the good folks at the Redmond HQ (no offense guys). Such is the case one again. Microsoft Ireland has produced an Office 365 holiday video that is just frinkin’ good! Enjoy the sleigh ride on this one folks. Click here: http://youtu.be/-IIPuM6LHag
SoftServe
, a software application development and consulting company, announced today substantial growth, including the addition of 500 employees and further worldwide expansion.
SoftServe increased its customer base by adding new clients such as Panasonic , Red Hat and PE International. It opened new development locations and sales offices in Europe, as well as relocating its U.S. headquarters to Austin, Texas.
Seattle, WA-based Tellwise recently announced the availability of its cloud-based sales acceleration platform, which is integrated into the Salesforce CRM. The new solution features IM, email collaboration and social media features to assist sales teams in following up with and assisting leads and closing sales.
Here are a few key features of the Tellwise Sales Acceleration and Collaboration Platform:
NetSuite announced today it selected a new chief marketing officer, Fred Studer.
In his position at NetSuite, Studer will oversee worldwide marketing initiatives and work to increase awareness and use of Netsuite’s cloud-based business management software.
"Fred's broad experience in enterprise and consumer technology, his innovative approach to marketing and his incredible enthusiasm are an ideal fit as NetSuite continues to lead the way forward in the market for cloud-based business software," said NetSuite CEO Zach Nelson. "Being a passionate marketer myself, I am excited to be working with another marketer with such a creative and innovative flair."
New CompTIA Research highlights the model’s acceptance and success
By Seth Robinson
Over the past five years, cloud computing has been a somewhat disruptive topic in the IT community. Early on, it was hard getting everyone to agree on a definition, and more recently, others dismissed it as a mere marketing term. At a minimum, the cloud concept has created a lively dialogue right from the point of its inception. In reality, it’s having a significant impact on businesses and transforming their operations. The recent 5th Annual Trends in Cloud Computing study from CompTIA confirms those observations and gives us a glimpse of what to expect in 2015.
That research breaks cloud computing into two groups: those using cloud for their own business operations — end-users — and channel firms that include cloud offerings in their portfolios. In both segments, some cloud confusion remains. By definition, all users should be consuming either public or private cloud resources (or both). However, 28 percent of cloud end users in the study didn’t select either option, leaving some question as to how familiar they really are with their existing cloud infrastructure. On the channel side, nearly every firm says they have cloud offerings, but the top challenge in moving forward is selecting the best business model, a foundational step.
As much of the world enters the holiday season, I bumped into a blog I didn’t think I’d ever write. It concerns Windows XP (yes – you read correctly). I am taking my last trip of the year, and find myself in Denver, CO staying at a business hotel. In the business center, I found that the public PCs are running Windows XP. Not only does this open the hotel chain up to extreme potential liability in the Post-Sony hacking era (imagine if your Gmail account, accessed from its browser, was infiltrated) because the world has been put on legal notice about end of support (EOS).
So that hotel motion got me thinking. What is the implicit opportunity to Office 365 for businesses still running Windows XP on the desktop? If you think about it – the opportunity is strong. When you are considering moving the desktop operating system to “get modern,” wouldn’t it be strategically prudent to consider upgrading the front office components of Microsoft Office to the latest and greatest version? And if that decision point is on the table, wouldn’t you want to use the new-new of Office 365 instead of the FPP SKU for Office 2013 Professional? I’d assert the answer is YES!
AirTight Networks today announced its preliminary 2014 results, as well as plans for growth in 2015. There are three key factors in the cloud managed WI-Fi provider’s plan: a shift in the sales model, new executive team additions and key industry partnerships. These factors, as well as the development of an analytics-rich partner application, earned AirTight Networks various industry awards in 2014, including the CRN Tech Innovator award and the NextGen Cloud Computing Award.
Let’s begin with AirTight’s sales model shift. Company representatives said that their organization has found success in the shift from a direct sales model to a channel-driven sales model. In fact, AirTight is on track to have 80% of all sales go through the channel in 2015. For international sales, this number is expected to be 100%.
Wow – it’s always great to hear from old friends as the holidays approach. Exclaimer, an SMB ISV, was a deep friend of the family in the mid-2000s with our parent company, SMB Nation. After a river boat ride in 2007 at Jeff Middleton’s IT Pro SBS migration conference, I even crafted a cover story in our SMB PC magazine. Time passed until today when I received this reach out. Long story short – this SMB ISV has deftly pivoted to Office 365 while sticking to the knitting. It’s a win-win. Read on.
Here’s a bit of background about Exclaimer, Ltd. It is based in the UK and it was incorporated in 2001. It has achieved the Microsoft Gold Application Developer Certification, and it has also received industry recognition for its Signature Manager Product line.
Voxox today announced its SMS Solutions, an end-to-end wholesale offering, has extended its inbound SMS to delivery to Europe, adding U.K. telephone numbers and continuing to increase its outbound SMS service.
"SMS is a critical asset in streamlining communication between businesses and their customers,” said Bryan Hertz, CEO of Voxox. “We’ve seen great interest and growth in our wholesale SMS customer base, ranging from global consumer brands to major security and software companies. The unique combination of our fully redundant, carrier–grade network in the cloud, CLEC operations and award–winning service delivery platform has poised us for success in this arena.”
With the arrival of cloud computing and a reduction in the use of paper documents worldwide, the act of printing is becoming increasingly rare in the modern office. Selling a used printer, buying a new one or recycling a used printer for cash are all possible options thanks to PowerSource Online.
Our B2B online platform allows members to buy, sell or recycle their used IT and Telecom equipment, including printers, laptops, servers, phones and other products they no longer need. PowerSource Online brings together thousands of buyers who are seeking new, used and refurbished IT and telecom parts and equipment on a regular basis. By becoming a member, you will be able to advertise your excess equipment, parts or unique services to qualified dealers, resellers and service providers, growing your customer base and increasing your sales prospects. The items you want to sell will be automatically advertised via email to hundreds of members that are constantly seeking to buy used IT equipment and spare parts.
StorageCraft announced availability of the StorageCraft Plug-ins for VMWare and Microsoft System center, free for users of StorageCraft ShadowProtect.
The plug-in, used in conjunction with ShadowControl v2.5.1., monitors virtual machine backups and protection and can push-install a ShadowProtect agent to unprotected virtual machines.
The OpenPOWER Foundation is celebrating its one-year anniversary today. This organization, which features a not-for-profit community, is dedicated to the development of open source server technology. Over the past year, this organization has seen membership increase from 5 founding companies, to 80 organizations worldwide, including IT companies and universities. OpenPOWER most recently welcomed Avnet and Rackspace to its membership for the year.
Carbonite, Inc., a cloud and hybrid backup and recovery solutions provider, announced it will acquire MailStore, an email archiving solutions provider for SMBS. The acquisition is expected to close in Q4 2014.
"MailStore is a great fit for Carbonite, as both companies are committed to providing SMBs with powerful yet simple data protection solutions," Carbonite CEO Mohamad Ali said. "In addition to offering email archiving to businesses worldwide with MailStore's existing solutions, Carbonite will integrate MailStore's robust full-text search and indexing capabilities into our product portfolio to help our business customers better manage, understand and leverage their data."
Axcient recently rolled out the beta of Release 6.4 for its Axcient Business Recovery Cloud. This new release features tech updates that increase failover by 9x and replication rates by 3x. I had the chance to speak with Axcient’s Director of Product Management, Daniel Kuperman, about this latest release, and to catch up with what the company has been doing for the past couple of years.
Like many of you, Axcient has taken the past two years to evolve. To be more specific, Axcient worked towards the development of a cloud-based solution for business continuity. The Axcient Business Recovery Cloud enables users to run the entire business in the cloud (for those of you with multiple locations) or as a cloud backup in the event of a disaster. A perfect example of this being the 60 mph winds and ensuing power outages in Western Washington State this past week. In an event like this, a user would just have to connect to the closest internet source (café, etc.) and they can work uninterrupted.
One copy every second. That’s how much Office 365 is being sold worldwide according to Microsoft. It is the fastest selling product in Microsoft’s history. Even better, over 75% of all of those installations are being done by partners. That’s what we call a BIG opportunity. However, there’s an even BIGGER opportunity, and it is associated with doing what partners do best: adding value to the products that they sell or recommend.
Let’s face it. You can’t get away from this conversation. It’s the “S” word: SECURITY and is consistently a leading objection to the use of Office 365. Time to hit this one head-on and call out the elephant in the room. This educational webinar, generously underwritten by Trend Micro, will arm you with the facts concerning security in an Office 365 world. New research will be presented (points to external resources). And you’ll discover threat management approaches along the way. Plus a wee bit of humor to liven things up (Q: What do you do if the Internet goes down? A: Go fishing!)
Details:
GET IT Mobile announced today Richard Kerris, a former Apple and Lucasfilm executive, will join its executive team as the Chief Marketing Officer through GET IT’s acquisition of Kinetic Minds.
"We started working with Kinetic Minds to tap into their marketing and communications expertise, expand our product direction and gain better insights into customer needs from a broader set of markets," GET IT Mobile CEO Christopher Tanner said. "Richard's deep reservoir of knowledge, experience, creativity and industry influence have proven to be invaluable to us as we rapidly grow. We're very excited about the significant role he will play in our future."
The acquisition of Kinetic Minds will continue to catalyze GET IT’s growing need for product marketing and client services expansion. Kevin Hague, who co-founded Kinetic Minds with Richard Kerris, will serve as a technical adviser for GET IT.
Good day, SMB Nation Community, and a very happy Friday! We received news from our contact at PartnerPoint, the Microsoft Partner Connection portal, that the website has been revamped with a cleaner look and a simpler search engine. Check it out at: http://www.partnerpoint.com/.
For those of you who are already members, take a quick moment to update your partner profile or check out the new Partner Resources tab for coupons, events and job listings on the new platform.
I recently had some time to speak with Richard Caballero, Founder and CEO of ComLinked Corp, about his organization and the methods they use to develop innovative solutions for SMB IT Professionals. I’d like to start with a bit of background on Richard, and finish with our discussion about B2B networking.
Richard, who is a 25-year veteran in the IT field and who spent 11 years with Hewlett-Packard in Canada, said that he went to the SMB sector because he saw a great need for SMBs to get the same quality solutions as their enterprise counterparts. To be more specific, Richard, who was in charge of recruiting thousands of resellers globally across his career, looked at the discrepancies between SMB companies, which comprise 95% of all NorAm businesses, and enterprise environment, and said “somebody needs to solve this issue.” He brought his extensive knowledge of both the reseller and vendor community to his startup, ComLinked Corp.
Members of the PowerSource online community enjoy unparalleled opportunities to buy and sell all kinds of new, used or refurbished IT and telecom parts, including computer parts and related equipment. Our B2B network connects sellers with thousands of buyers worldwide, allowing suppliers and resellers of computer components to greatly expand their sales prospects and develop industry contacts from a single online platform.
PowerSource Online’s advanced selling and sourcing tools give our members a leg up on the competition by allowing them to advertise up to 30 “Seeking to Sell” postings per day. Members can view and respond directly to requests to buy computer parts, telecom equipment and more. Another advantage of PowerSource is the ability for members to customize who sees their inventory. As well, PowerSource members are able to access government contract opportunities in their region that require the purchase or sale of computer parts and telecom equipment.
CodeLathe announced immediate availability of FileCloud for Amazon Web Services, which will allow customers to host FileCloud in the Amazon cloud infrastructure.
“In contrast to managed public cloud enterprise file share and sync offerings, FileCloud hosted on Amazon infrastructure provides the best of two worlds: the complete control, flexibility, data separation, and customization of FileCloud; and the scalability, resiliency of the AWS infrastructure,” CodeLathe Chief Executive Madhan Kanagavel said. “Further, FileCloud costs only $25/user/year, which is 20 percent of the price of other managed EFSS offerings.”
IT management company ManageEngine today announced immediate availability of the Zoho Reports integration as an add-on module for ServiceDesk Plus.
The Zoho reports integration allows ServiceDesk users to analyze their IT service desk data and create reports and dashboards.
D&H Distributing recently announced that it saw 13.3% overall growth between May and October 2014, a number that is twice the industry average. This growth was driven by a number of factors, primarily server products, tablets, monitors, notebooks, and more.
To break it down further, D&H saw a 38% increase in the number of server product-related sales between May and October of this year. D&H reps said that this growth was related to notifications and educational campaigns focused on the SBS 2003 end-of-life deadline. Along the same vein, the sales of tablets, notebooks, etc. mentioned above was driven in part by the Windows XP end-of-life earlier this year. Additionally, D&H saw an increase in sales in its Education vertical, which the reseller attributed to national campaigns, such as Common Core, in addition to its own various webcasts.
Earlier today, LogMeIn, Inc. announced that its join.me solution has achieved integration status with the Salesforce CRM platform. This integration is now available via the Salesforce AppExchange and will work with any join.me enterprise account. This announcement is key for sales reps to avoid losing time between calls and a product/service demo.
ReachLocal, Inc., which provides online marketing for SMBs, announced it added third-party campaign result measurement and multi-location alert and reporting capabilities to its ReachEdge total digital marketing system.
Third-party measurement results are displayed in one dashboard and can be sorted and filtered by source. Multi-location support allows companies to organize and route information, alerts, notifications and leads to specific locations and people.
Multi-location support is available immediately in the United States, and third-party measurement is available immediately in the United States, Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom.
Long-time community member and well-respected speaker, Karl Palachuk, announced that he is starting a new webinar series on the “Globalization of SMB,” with a webinar scheduled for the last Tuesday of every month. The kickoff event will be Tuesday, December 30 starting at 9am PST, with special guest, Harrybbb.
Here’s a rundown of the series:
We’ve been retained by Microsoft to assist in forming an SMB advisory group of actual small business customers (NOT CONSULTANTS). The challenge is that most small businesses use an MSP or consultant to implement Office 365, which is fine. However, we are seeking to speak with small business customers directly, such as the small business owner who is a “Do It Yourself” (DIY) scenario.
Such small businesses might include an office supply store, a small real estate firm, a law firm, butcher, baker and candlestick maker. It could even be the typing shop pictured in this blog. If you are a computer retailer or consider your SMB MSP practice to itself be a small business, we’d kindly ask that you decline this polite offer.
Specifically, we are interested in having on going SMB advisory group that will:
Projector brand Epson today announced CRN Test Center named the PowerLite 4855WU the 2014 Product of the Year in the “Office Equipment” category.
The PowerLite 4855WU is designed to display high-resolution, color-rich content and delivers 4,000 lumens of color brightness and 4,000 lumens of white brightness.
Enterprise mobile engagement leader OpenMarket today announced business, customer and product milestones, including increasing numbers of enterprise customers across the retail, education, financial and marketing services industries.
OpenMarket anticipates sending two billion new mobile messages and adding nearly 500 short codes within the next year. It also added support for US long codes and expanded its two-way global SMS connectivity to more than 40 countries.
Today, BitTitan announced that it has added Dropbox as a new source for its automated data migration solution, MigrationWiz. This added functionality is currently the only one of its kind in the industry. This enables users to move easily from Dropbox to OneDrive for Business or Google Drive as a more secure file-sharing option for corporations.
Geeman Yip, Founder and CEO of BitTitan, spoke about this in a recent release: “[…] this functionality is a huge business opportunity for our partners as it enables them to further grow their business by offering data storage in the cloud and the associated migration services that complement their existing mailbox and Office 365 migration practice.”
Quickly – it’s time to move “fast fast” if you want to participate I the worldwide Hour of Code project. I wrote about its meaning here a couple of weeks ago. Bottom line is that you use pre-planned curriculums to deliver an Hour of Code lecture to students to get them excited about computer science and engineering! How cool is that?
Learn more here: http://hourofcode.com/us
By Raymond Vrabel, Director, Technical Account Management, Continuum Managed IT Services
Part 10 of a monthly blog series examining tips on how MSPs can work to break “bad” business habits that they might unknowingly fall into as a result of just wanting to get things done.
By now, you have likely heard of a term known as “The Internet of Things,” or “IoT.” Much like the terms “cloud” and “managed services” before it, the Internet of Things is poised to create new business opportunities for both current IT companies and start-ups. While it seems like IT executives are split 50/50 on whether IoT is a fact, or simply just hype, CompTIA recently published a research brief stating that IoT could be filled with new opportunities.
All Mountain Technologies (AMT) recently signed on to resell AppRiver’s Office 365 to help maximize their customers’ technology investments.
“About half of the time, customers want to learn more about Office 365 and the ways it can increase business productivity and enhance bottom line,” explains Jonathan Zapp, director of sales and marketing at AMT. “The rest of the time, we recommend Office 365 to clients who use outdated services or hardware that’s reaching end of life.”
But it’s not just about the convenience of Office 365 and scalability of the service, says Zapp. It’s about the customer – and reseller - experience.
By Bob Vogel, B2 Marketing
There are some basic things that both you and your clients can do that could have significant advantages for both of you.
For your larger clients that have IT budgets that they must “use or lose” this is a great time to help them use it. You know their environments, and what would be a really good asset for them to acquire now, while you have their attention and they have the money.
For your smaller clients that are doing well, they might be in a position where they will want to accelerate their spending in order to reduce their taxable profits this year. Here are two ways you can help them out:
First, as in the case with the larger clients, having them purchase some assets that you know they are going to need is a good way for the smaller client to bump up their expenses this year. As long as the individual items are under a certain limit they don’t need to be capitalized (have your client’s accountant give them the specific guidance because the rules do vary).
Emulex Corporation and Dynatrace recently announced fully-integrated solution NetPod, which combines Dynatrace’s Data Center analysis with Emulex’s EndaceProbe Intelligent Network Recorders.
“NetPod is the result of more than a year of collaboration between Emulex and Dynatrace, motivated by demand from mutual enterprise and service provider clients,” explained John Van Siclen, general manager, Dynatrace. “NetPod uniquely understands application logic and user behavior for the leading applications, databases and middleware. This integrated solution closes the gap between network and application teams, giving them a unified set of insights to manage their digital channels and infrastructure.”
NetPod is designed to provide network teams with high-fidelity network and application transaction-level visibility and long-term packet storage. It also enables performance, scalability and predictability optimization of applications in the data center.
NetPod will be available in Q1 2015 from select Emulex and Dynatrace partners, and will be demonstrated this week in booth 334 at the Gartner Data Center Conference.
Thursday, December 11, 2014 10:00-11:00 AM PDT
Registration URL: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/8312087267104390402
Presented by: Harry Brelsford, Founder and Chairman, SMB Nation, Inc.
With the end of the year here, it’s time to get strategic for 2015. Learn how top MSPs aren’t “A” students, but just consistently show up and suit up. In this 60-min webinar, Harry Brelsford shares another MSP secret that insures you will be consistently and predictably profitable. It’s a not about home runs and doubling your MSP revenues overnight. It’s about deploying this one reliable method that guarantees quarter-over-quarter double-digit growth regardless of your geography. And that’s all we’re going to say here. You simply have to attend this webinar to learn MSP Secret #5. One lucky US attendee will qualify to win one OOMA commercial phone system valued at over $250! If you only attend one more webinar this year – this is the one to ensure continued (make that greater) success in 2015.
By Bob Vogel, B2 Marketing
Most MSPs and IT service providers I know struggle with writing. For some reason, writing simply is not a core competency for most people who chose technical careers. And conversely, many great writers I know are luddites, and don’t know a mouse wheel from a cartwheel.
While this is certainly a generalization, it’s a documented fact that creative and analytical thinking are driven by different parts of the brain, and they are not often equally dominant in most people. It’s the classic “left-brain, right brain” schism.
That’s probably why most IT techs are great at fixing and maintaining networks, but they lack good writing skills, and they rarely document their work.
By Greg Plum, PlumUC
By now you have certainly heard about the SaaS tsunami known as Office 365. With this new delivery model, Microsoft is enjoying its fastest selling software platform in history. Great news for Microsoft, right? Sure, but even better news for telecom and IT channel partners.
Lync Online, which is a component of many O365 licenses, is a powerful communications platform, offering presence, instant messaging, voice over IP (VoIP) calling, desktop sharing, and audio and video conferencing … all from a single interface. Lync makes it possible to handle just about all of your communications through a single desktop client, with one exception — PSTN voice, the service that countless telecom providers, resellers, and agents have built their businesses around since the dawn of the telecom era, circa 1878. Sounds like an opportunity to me.
Dell today announced more than 10,000 customers worldwide now use the Dell KACE Systems Management solutions.
"Dell KACE systems management solutions have an extremely fast-growing and loyal base of customers who appreciate how easily and affordably they can simplify critical systems management and improve endpoint security," said David Kloba, general manager for Endpoint Systems Management at Dell Software. "In our most recent customer satisfaction survey, 81 percent of those companies that evaluate ROI report their KACE appliance paid for itself within three months."
Dell also compiled customers’ top 10 reasons for choosing Kace:
Small Business Saturday (November 29th) was a day to both celebrate and do good business with your local small business on “Main Street.” As I wrote this, I was hosting a Small Business Saturday event at Bainbridge Technology Solutions, a local computer storefront reseller .
I continued my investigation by going up the food chain. Bainbridge Technology Solutions is a reseller partner for D&H Distributing, one of the top five distributors in the US. I reached out to D&H Distributing who confirmed the scenario but further declined comment. I get that but, translated, there was nothing D&H Distributing could do.
So what’s it all mean? Small town customers will likely purchase their HP ink from online retailers and LARs such as CDW. I found an interview from HP’s Steve Sakumoto, VP and General Manager, US Supplies Sales Organization in OPI magazine. It’s actually a good article you can read here. Basically, it amounts to brand protection from HP’s point of view. But it sits wrong with me when an enterprise business tries to unsuccessfully understand small business. It’s a different dialect and culture.
I’ll continue to pursue this story – stay tuned for updates. And please support your local small business IT services provider and reseller.
Novus recently announced that it has added new Lync qualified solutions to its portfolio, and added qualified staff members to its team. This marks the next big step for the telecom/IP equipment disty in its goal to build a one-stop Lync services business.
The addition of qualified staff is the key factor in this phase of business development for Novus. As some of you remember, Novus achieved the Microsoft Network Gold Communications Competency in January 2014. The process for this was quite rigorous, and required the distributor to have its employees complete exams to become Microsoft Certified Professionals, as well as to complete sales/technology assessments and provide customer references. Ultimately, this resulted in a competent workforce, on which Novus can continue to build its Lync services portfolio.
IT management company ManageEngine yesterday announced the immediate availability of a sync agent for the latest version of ADSelfService Plus that automatically detects native password modifications of Windows accounts and synchronizes them with IT systems and applications.
This sync agent is designed to simplify the password-replacing process, reducing difficulty for end users and time for IT administrators.
Selling Managed I.T. Services continues to provide significant revenue growth opportunities for I.T. consultants and PC service companies. How big an impact do these solutions make on your business?
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Take the survey/enter to win: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ChPro_IT-MktResearch_SMB-Nation
SMB customers and the partners that serve them have an amazing variety of IT solutions to choose from these days. Along with so many choices comes a lot of confusion around which solutions are best: cloud vs. on-site vs. hybrid, apps vs. software vs. suites, subscription vs. long term licenses, less filling vs. tastes great. OK, so maybe not that last one so much, but you get the idea. If customers get too confused, they may just decide to forego making any decisions at all and just stick with what they’ve got, no matter how outdated or inefficient. That’s why one of the biggest competitors in the SMB IT space is “good enough”. Luckily, some vendors are stepping up to the plate and developing SMB solutions that are based on the concept of simplicity. One of our favorites is attachedapps.
The opportunity to serve small and medium sized businesses (SMBs) with cloud services is going to take off in 2015. As the scope of SMB cloud deployments grow beyond a single service, they will need their channel partners more than ever.
The foundation has been laid in 2014 with initial deployments of cloud services like Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) and other solutions. From this beginning, SMBs will expand the number of services they use in the cloud. Their comfort levels and experience with cloud services continues to grow and the barriers to adopting new services are almost non-existent.
IDG Enterprise notes in its 2014 Cloud Computing Study that 69% of respondents to its cloud survey say they have at least one application or a portion of their computing infrastructure in the cloud. That’s a great start and demonstrates the role cloud is playing in the market. With at least one service in the cloud, there’s nothing stopping businesses from exploring other ways to use cloud in their operations.
Lenovo today announced availability of two new rack servers in its ThinkServer portfolio, the 1U ThinkServer RD350 and 2U ThinkServer RD450.
"Lenovo understands that while SMBs rely on servers as the backbone of their businesses, they also face unique infrastructure challenges such as small data centers and limited budgets,” said Bob Galush, vice president, High Volume Servers and Options. "Our next-generation RD350 and RD450 ThinkServers address these critical customer concerns by providing a balance of enterprise-class performance, flexibility and leadership reliability in a low-cost package."
Both Google Drive and Box have recently announced integrations with Microsoft Office applications, saving your users time and increasing their productivity while collaborating with others, or when taking their work on the road. The upshot of these moves is clear: by letting people store their documents in whichever cloud repository they want, Microsoft will ensure consumers continue using their productivity suite while nurturing potential subscription buyers of Office 365.
Smart move, Microsoft. But where do partners fit into all of this?
Microsoft Office 365, including the Office productivity suite, is the elephant in the room. For $5.00 per user per month businesses can subscribe to Office 365, including Office, Exchange, Lync, and OneDrive, with generous amounts of storage – an enticing bundle for many small- and medium-sized businesses. In this environment, partners need to evolve and figure out new ways to add value, since clients are moving away from on-premises applications that need to be deployed and managed.
Moving to a business cloud solution but worried about your document archives? Trying to consolidate employee instituted solutions into a secure corporate infrastructure? Projects like this are no small undertaking. But whether you're migrating a few gigs of data to one destination, or several terabytes from multiple sources to multiple destinations, BitTitan solutions safely automate the entire process.
BitTitan MigrationWiz is the first and only solution capable of migrating data from Dropbox to more enterprise-friendly storage such as OneDrive for Business and Google Drive. This is an ideal way for companies looking to standardize or consolidate corporate data to one secure cloud-based platform, and move away from a less secure shadow IT environment.
The Office 365 journey continues. And with this second installment of the Office 365 community survey, I have good news for MSPs: the more things change, the more things stay the same. In reviewing the results with industry thought leaders, I found that our survey results were validated by industry observations. That is, the MSP business model isn’t necessarily shrinking, but changing. That is because MSPs are really selling customer service, support and human interaction. And that will continue with the pivot to Office 365.
When asked “What percentage (estimate ok) of your client base has dedicated IT staff?” you overwhelmingly replied less than 5 percent. If you extend up to the next range (up to 25%), the combined response is in excess of 2/3 of all respondents. The point is this to MSPs: don’t give up your day job anytime soon. Your services are in-demand irrespective of the technology.
The next question was: “What are the most common business challenges that your clients hope O365 solves?” The replies, in free-form text entries, focused on lowering costs, sharing and collaboration. Other “mentions” included storage and ease of management. In the next survey, I’ll ask this as a rate/stack question instead of freeform so I can better tally percentage results.
Understanding the question immediately above, the next question was a follow-up: “Does Office 365 effectively address these challenges?” The overwhelmingly affirmative response (at 76%) was YES! It’s important to understand that this specific response is arming you for business development. If you probe in your discovery phase with a client that can benefit from collaboration (for example), then you can fortify your sales pitch with the feedback that over 76% of IT Pros believe that Office 365 can solve your problems.
The final question for this installment is: “What is the greatest difficulty your clients experience using O365?” Again, it was a free form response field so that narrative varies dramatically. But a few highlights include “too many ways to do the same task in SharePoint v. OneDrive.” Another frequent mentions were:
In my next blog installment, I’ll share you get help with your Office 365 questions.
SkyKick recently announced the launch of a Data-Only migration application, designed to help MSPs, VARs and other IT Pros move their SMB customers’ data to Office 365. The key point of this release is that SkyKick has, in essence, unbundled its Migration Suite to allow IT Pros to just access the data migration functionality.
According to SkyKick reps, this was driven by a customer demand of those who just needed data migration services, without automation services. Office 365 migration projects can take the IT Pro anywhere between 40 and 300 hours of work time, with data migration consuming 20% of the average project.
Here we go again – it’s Cyber Monday. Today actually marks the 10th anniversary of this holiday, created by marketers to spur online sales. Known for double-digit increases each year (2013 saw over 20 percent growth), the event is lauded as, in the eyes of many, “shop from your desk at work” day. You can learn the history of Cyber Monday here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyber_Monday. Also, check out my video to the right!
inhouseIT, an Irvine, CA-based MSP, today announced the launch of its incloudIT service offerings, which includes Cloud Insfrastructure, Hosted Communications, Data Protection and Microsoft Office 365 setup for SMBs.
The main goal of this roll out is to help SMB customers easily get on the path to Cloud migration. inhouseIT developed a flexible and customizable platform with predictable billing costs for SMBs. In addition, the incloudIT services have added functionality to allow the co-location of a Line-of-Business app. This means an SMB organization can keep the application on a physical server but still have access to run it on a virtual environment.
Alcatel-Lucent’s Motive plans to introduce Motive Security Guardian, a virtualized security solution designed to protect service providers’ networks, M2M communications and mobile and home devices from malware.
Motive Security Guardian is intended to reduce the number of devices infected by alerting customers to malware threats on their devices and giving them step-by-step instructions to remove the threat.
Consulting firm MindStream Analytics this week announced availability of Planning XStream, a turnkey Oracle Planning Budgeting Cloud Solution.
"XStream is a breakthrough for our customers who want to take advantage of a quick yet robust deployment," said Alex Ladd, CEO of MindStream Analytics. "We can bring Enterprise caliber solutions to the market where it was, before now, cost-prohibitive."
