I recently spoke with MJ Shoer, president of Jenaly Technology Group, an eight-person MSP that made a major move into selling cloud computing services this year. Shoer collaborated with 16 other MSP companies he knows via his Robin Robins Producers Club peer group and started TOGL, which is a cloud services company. Jenaly is projecting 30% revenue growth this year, and the majority of this is attributed to selling cloud services.  Continue Reading..

When I sat down to look over the mountain of great advice you’ll see in this Annual Guide To POS & Payment Processing, I got pretty excited. There’s obviously a lot happening technology-wise in the POS world, but reading the thoughtful actionable information contributed by so many industry leaders emphasized the fact that this is probably the most ambitious guide we’ve ever produced. All told, we asked 36 experts to...  Continue Reading..

As we speak with readers -- particularly in the retail point of sale (POS) space -- about the challenges they face in their businesses, we often hear about the need to find new revenue sources. A great revenue source that I've covered a few times here on this blog is digital signage. But is the technology, and are your customers, ready?  Continue Reading..

In my recent blog posts, I've been focusing a lot on selling cloud services, and more specifically, how to overcome objections to selling cloud services. So far, I've touched upon the security differences between cloud services, and more recently, I talked about overcoming price objections.  Continue Reading..

If you're an IT solutions provider that's selling or planning to sell cloud services -- especially to SMBs -- there's one weapon you need to have in your arsenal, no matter which vertical markets you're selling to. This weapon can be deployed when you face the price objection of your solution compared to a less expensive consumer-grade cloud alternative.  Continue Reading..

There's been a very interesting discussion taking place on Business Solutions' LinkedIn group regarding Apple and the retail IT reseller channel. The initial topic, presented by Bill Kisse, a long-time retail solutions provider, proposes the idea that Apple could reach into its deep pockets, create its own online payment infrastructure (iBank?), and leverage its dominant market share to instantly have millions...  Continue Reading..

I just returned from ESX Nashville, a convention dedicated to video surveillance and access control technologies. Over the course of two days, I had many conversations with experts in the security field, giving me the opportunity to validate some of the information we hear from readers every week. After putting together all this information, I've arrived at 7 common mistakes many of today's IT integrators are making.  Continue Reading..

The December 2010 issue of Business Solutions featured a solutions provider whose story brought together a few things we and our editors and readers hold dear.  Continue Reading..

I’ll tell you right now, this isn’t an article about loss prevention (LP). Sure, one of the most obvious ways of using IP cameras is for LP, but if that’s the angle you’re going to take in selling these solutions to your retail customers, you’re probably not going to have much success. Leading security integrators will tell you that to win big, you need to show a strong ROI. That’s true for any...  Continue Reading..

For the past 5 years or so, around this time of year, I send out an email to our POS readers regarding the importance of attending RSPA (Retail Solutions Providers Association) RetailNOW, a convention and expo aimed at IT solutions providers serving the retail and hospitality markets. I do so again this year, but with the highest level of urgency and conviction.  Continue Reading..