Latest Articles

31. 6 Reasons Why Tape Storage Won’t Die
    1/25/2013

    Attend any BDR (backup and disaster recovery) webinar or training session, and you'd swear tape backup was about a week away from extinction. Statistics are cited about how tape is a leading culprit of data corruption. Plus, when you consider the fact that solid state storage is gaining traction in the enterprise, it seems even more believable that tape really could be on its way out.

32. Think All BDRs Are Equal? Think Again.
    1/24/2013

    Here's a sneak peek into the testing that's currently underway on seven hybrid backup solutions, which will be featured in the March 2013 issue of Business Solutions magazine. I spoke with our tester, Eric Brown, CEO of Remote Technology Management, this week, and he shared some interesting feedback . "After testing StorageCraft and seeing how well their product performed and how much flexibility they offer regarding off-site backups, I could see where it would make sense for an MSP to rent storage space from a cloud data center and start reselling their own cloud services. Right now, we're considering using StorageCraft for some of our clients' laptops, unless one of the other software-based BDR vendors turns out to have a superior product." At the time of my call with Brown, he had yet to test Asigra, CharTec, KineticD, and Unitrends.

33. RSPA INSPIRE 2013 Day 2 Recap: The Reality Of A SaaS Model
    1/22/2013

    Here's what you're looking at. Both charts depict a $10,000 sale. The cost of goods is $6,000. In the top example, after you pay out the commission and take out some other costs, the sale nets you $2,560 immediately. In the next two years, you'll get some additional revenue from maintenance. After it's all said and done, after three years, that $10,000 sale yielded $3,480.

34. RSPA INSPIRE 2013 Day 1 Recap: Ownership Thinking 101
    1/21/2013

    Hello from Curacao (pronounced cur-a-sow) in the Caribbean! I'm here at RSPA INSPIRE 2013 where day one of the event's education just kicked off.  I've really been looking forward to the education here at INSPIRE since I first spoke with Tom Bouwer, the event's three-day keynote speaker. In a pre-event article, Bouwer piqued my curiosity with his topic: ownership thinking. This morning, attendees at the Curacao-based event were given a crash course on what ownership thinking means.

35. NRF 2013 Reveals Products That Smart VARs Will Be Eager To Sell
    1/16/2013

    I just returned to the office after a few days in NYC for the NRF Big Show, the retail industry's largest show of the year. There were two aspects of this show that I was particularly interested in. First, it's the place where the latest technology is revealed, and I was very interested to see how manufacturers were going to respond to consumer shopping habits with new products. Second, this show provides exhibitors a barometer of whether retailers are willing and able to open their pocketbooks in 2013.

36. Don't Let This Delay Your Transition To Managed Services
    1/15/2013

    One of the most common themes I see in the channel centers around a VAR's decision to become a managed services provider (MSP). So many see the value in it, but less than half actually take action to make that transition. And, of those who do, only a minority become successful. A few months ago, I wrote an article about underpricing being the #1 culprit plaguing many VARs-turned-MSPs. I recently came across one other problem many new MSPs face, which Steve Rutkovitz, CEO of Choice Technologies, summarizes as effective communications. "With managed services, there is a lot more communication required to be successful compared to what's required to be a break-fix VAR," he says. "In the past, IT skills were the big differentiator among channel competitors. Going forward, the VARs and MSPs that communicate more effectively will be the big winners."

37. What Every MSP Ought To Know About Selling Cloud Services
    1/10/2013

    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.

38. The Results Are In: This Was Exactly What BSM Readers Wanted
    1/8/2013

    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 adding product reviews to our editorial. As always, we're glad we listened.

39. If You're An MSP, You Can Sell IP Video Surveillance Too
    1/7/2013

    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).

40. New Year's Resolution #1: Start Selling Managed Services
    1/2/2013

    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?