From The Editor
Inside Autotask Community Live! - News
April 3, 2009
| Editor Gennifer Biggs is blogging from the first Autotask partner conference, Community Live! starting Sunday night, March 29. Don't miss her coverage of keynote speaker and Autotask CEO Bob Godgart, plus updates from the dozens of business success and technical tracks being offered to 300+ attendees. Gen will also be sitting down with several managed services vendors as well as Autotask partners attending the conference. Click here to read a recap of day #1 Click here to read a recap of day #2 Post Event: Vendors Announce New Collaborations At Conference While Autotask clearly trumpeted its own product news during the partner conference —unveiling Taskfire and the Outsource Management module — several other announcements were also made at the event, all of which played perfectly into the theme of “collaboration.” Xerox unveiled its managed print offering, which it says provides easy access to a hefty recurring revenue stream. Paul Herman, director of services platforms for Xerox, and Lisa Jenkins, strategic alliances manager at Xerox, took some time to talk to me about the role of managed print in the world of MSPs. Both stressed that Xerox had taken the hassles out of managed print by allowing MSPs to capture revenue that had been left on the table. The Xerox managed print service – called PagePack - allows a MSP to monitor and manage, using a Xerox SaaS, everything from printing hardware, supplies, service, and more. For more details … Reflexion and itControl Suite announced that their products will now integrate to allow itControl Suite managed services partners to monitor and manage the Reflexion hosted email security solution through their itControl Suite platform. Scott Barlow, VP of sales and marketing for Reflexion, took some time to explain to me why hosted email works so well in managed services practices – the short version is that hosted email takes storage, functionality, and security off the customer’s infrastructure, allow MSPs to work with new technology and to better safeguard the customer’s network from Internet borne threats. For details … In tandem with the Autotask Outsource Management announcement, OnForce announced its marketplace offering is now fully integrated into Autotask management software. OnForce CEO Peter Cannone and the vendor’s new senior VP of marketing, Maria Battaglia, sat down with me to explain why they think OnForce is such a great fit for Autotask users. They explained that utilizing OnForce – which allows members to post tickets for IT partners and use those providers as subcontractors – works for MSPs who are looking to 1) outsource projects in which they have less expertise, 2) expand geographically, and 3) expand into new verticals without expanding their in-house work force. Cannone stressed that with OnForce integrated into Autotask, creating a ticket in Autotask allowed a MSP to directly launch a ticket (called a work order) in the OnForce system, track the work, and issue payment without leaving the Autotask user interface. For details … Google was also in attendance, a presence that made many attendees wonder what was up with this tech giant. The answer is the official rollout of its Google Apps reseller program, which will allow MSPs to provider this SaaS offering for revenue. Now, Google Channel Manager Jeff Ragusa admits there is a perception that Google is end-user focused, not to mention it is best known for free products (come on, who hasn’t used gmail or Google website analytics?) For details … |
