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At least for those of us that generally provide support on a flat-fee basis.  I love the iPhone, but supporting it may pose some challenges until Apple releases some more updates.

A story to illustrate:

One of my best friends just switched from T-Mobile to ATT to get the iPhone.  After waiting in line for six hours (This is an adult with three very young children mind you.  Better things to do with his time?!) he proceeded to watch the sales reps go through SEVEN iPhones before they were able to get him up and running.  SEVEN!  And it took him another six hours.

They ended up giving him the phone for free.

MSPMentor just posted on the fact that Kaseya is now officially supporting iPhones, and several other MSPs are making plays to include iPhone services in their portfolio.  I agree that it’s a good move, I would just encourage most MSPs to charge for it on a time and materials basis for the next X months so you don’t get beat up!

This is a very important lesson for anyone providing IT services on a flat-fee basis like Everon.  Your customers will try to bait you into supporting EVERYTHING for the original flat fee you sold them on.  We have a very important word that we use at Everon to combat this phenomenon:

NEW.

Simple, right?  If something is new to the marketplace, new to your network, or just new to Everon - we reserve the right to evaluate it and determine if we should charge more as part of the support plan we have with you.  It puts you in the position to protect yourself, and it’s something everyone should have in their contract.

MRC

This morning I found an email in my inbox from dell promoting their upcoming show on what is working inside their PartnerDirect Program.

I have to admit that I have not put a lot of time into understanding their program or if they are going to launch a master MSP play so I am curious if anyone else out there is working with Dell in their MSP programs?

I know the technology they bought gives them all of the tools necessary to provide a master MSP offering and I guess we will know in time if this is a road they are going to go down.  (On a separate note I am surprised that none of the master MSPs out there or anyone working with one commented on Mikes post from last week - let us know your thoughts if you are out there).

Anyway, check out the blog talk radio show if you have the time and let me know what your thoughts are!

JC

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Join Stuart Crawford from Calgary’s respected DELL Partner IT Matters and DELL’s channel chief Greg Davis as we discuss what is working inside the DELL ParterDirect Program and how IT professionals can win with DELL.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/smb/2008/07/25/Partnering-with-DELL

Deskless worker is Microsofts branding for their hosted Exchange and Sharepoint programs in their software + services play.

I have written about Microsoft’s software + service programs in the past and today everyone out there has written something about todays new anouncement. The best two blogs I have found on the subject are listed at the end of this post.

I think the most interesting part of the program is the pricing model built to encourage you and I (the channel) to continue selling their services even though we will lose a large portion of service revenue that comes from installing their products on site for clients. If you take this view on losing revenue rather than adapting your service and offerings to capture new revenue you will end up left in the dust.

I am a big beliver in recurring revenue which they are going to share with us but still believe that smart providers will build value added services on top of implementing these products for clients in order to have continued success in the future. I am not worried about clients going direct to Microsoft and cutting a company like Everon out of the picture because they will just be a piece of the solutions and services I aggregate and provide to my clients. (Mike has written about this move to utility computing and the role of the aggregators in past posts).

The power of being an MSP is owning the relationship, let me say that again, the power of being a MSP is owning the relationship. We all need to focus in on value added service for the small business, such as CTO programs, rather than the focus of turning the screws to install and manage technology.

Our customers demand to know that we have vetted the best vendors out there and are providing them the best strategic investments for their business. Becase we understand their business and are experts in what we do they quickly come to believe we are an indispensable part of their team.

So whether we are building services around Microsoft, Amazon, Google or any of the other large SasS players out there we need to be thinking about what’s next for our business and how we fit into the SaaS picture.

Best posts for catching up on today’s announcements:

Best post I have found for a simple overview of Microsoft’s Deskless worker.

Best post for staying ahead or at least on top of MS news as it is released about this program.

JC

So simple yet so cool, Google now allows you to list out locations and in their online spreadsheet and a gadget then places them on a map.

Now I don’t usually get caught up in “cool” technology. I am a big believer in letting the other guy work the bugs out and adopting one step behind the cutting edge - less likely to get cut that way. But as Google takes steps to make their online applications useful to the small businesses around the world I think they hit on something that is powerful for you and me.

We recently started to map out our clients in a Google spreadsheet and it is powerful to see the way they layout around the country or around a particular region. Not only is this cool but it helps our dispatcher as we direct partners around a region to our clients sites to perform work. If implemented properly we should be able to create efficiencies that allow us to drive billable utilization rates beyond the industry norm.

What are you using to track your techs, their routes, their idol time, etc, to drive your utilization rates up? I know it makes sense to create compensation plans that reward utilzation rates, but what are you doing to help your engineers reach these goals?

One of the things we are always working on with our partners around the country is how to make their business and in turn our business more profitable. And I truly believe that tracking traffic patters, knowing locations as you direct a tech from one client to another, having minimums for on-site visits, and empowering your people make this possiable.

Anyway, I am starting to veer off into another subject so check out the Google blog post on their feature and let me know your thoughts:

http://googledocs.blogspot.com/2008/06/featured-gadget-map-it-in-your.html

JC

I hope you are enjoying a nice long weekend with your friends and family! I love 4th of July; it’s a great reminder that we are very lucky to live in a country with such wealth and opportunity. Sure, we have our fair share of problems, but I’ll take the problems we have over the problems of most other countries any day.

Just for fun, I copied some fun 4th of July facts from History.com:

 

 

Did You Know?

On this day in 1776, the Declaration of Independence was approved by the Continental Congress, setting the 13 colonies on the road to freedom as a sovereign nation. As always, this most American of holidays will be marked by parades, fireworks and backyard barbecues across the country.

– In July 1776, the estimated number of people living in the newly independent nation was 2.5 million.

– On July 4, 2008, the nation’s population will be 304 million.

Fourth of July Cookouts

– The chance that the hot dogs and pork sausages consumed on the Fourth of July originated in Iowa are more than 1 in 4. The Hawkeye State was home to 17.6 million market hogs and pigs on March 1, 2008. This represents more than one-fourth of the nation’s total. North Carolina (9 million) and Minnesota (6.7 million) were the runners-up.

– The total production of cattle and calves in Texas in 2007 is 6.8 billion pounds. Chances are good that the beef hot dogs, steaks and burgers on your backyard grill came from the Lone Star State, which accounted for about one-sixth of the nation’s total production. And if the beef did not come from Texas, it very well may have come from Nebraska (4.7 billion pounds) or Kansas (4.1 billion pounds).

– There are six states in which the revenue from broiler chickens was $1 billion or greater between December 2006 and November 2007. There is a good chance that one of these states – Georgia, Arkansas, North Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi or Texas – is the source of your barbecued chicken.

– About 4 in 10 are the odds that your side dish of baked beans originated from North Dakota, which produced 42 percent of the nation’s dry, edible beans in 2007. Another popular Fourth of July side dish is corn on the cob. Florida, California, Georgia and New York together accounted for 60 percent of the sweet corn produced nationally in 2007.

– Potato salad and potato chips are popular food items at Fourth of July barbecues. More than half (52 percent) of the nation’s spuds were produced in Idaho or Washington state in 2007.

– More than three-fourths amount of the nation’s head lettuce production in 2007 that came from California. This lettuce may end up in your salad or on your burger.

– Nearly 3 in 4 chances that the fresh tomatoes in your salad came from Florida or California, which combined accounted for 73 percent of U.S. tomato production last year. The ketchup on your burger or hot dog probably came from California, which accounted for 96 percent of processed tomato production in 2007.

– Georgia is the state that led the nation in watermelon production last year (1 billion pounds). Other leading producers of this popular Fourth of July dessert included California, Florida and Texas, each with more than 400 million pounds.

– More than 74 million Americans said they have taken part in a barbecue during the previous year. It’s probably safe to assume a lot of these events took place on Independence Day.

Fireworks

– The value of fireworks imported from China in 2007 amounts to $207 million, representing the bulk of all U.S. fireworks imported ($217 million). U.S. exports of fireworks, by comparison, came to just $14.9 million in 2007, with Japan purchasing more than any other country ($3.8 million).

– The U.S. manufacturers’ shipments of fireworks in 2002 values up to $17.3 million.

Flags

– In 2007, $4.7 million was the dollar value of U.S. imports of American flags. The vast majority of this amount ($4.3 million) was for U.S. flags made in China.

– $2.4 million was the dollar value of U.S. flags exported in 2007. Mexico was the leading customer, purchasing $1.2 million worth.

– The annual dollar value of shipments of fabricated flags, banners and similar emblems by the nation’s manufacturers was $349.2 million, according to the latest published economic census data.

Patriotic-Sounding Names

– The number of places nationwide with “liberty” in their name is 31. The most populous one as of July 1, 2006, is Liberty, Mo. (29,581). Iowa, with four, has more of these places than any other state: Libertyville, New Liberty, North Liberty and West Liberty.

• Thirty-one places are named “eagle” – after the majestic bird that serves as our national symbol. (Places include cities, towns, villages and census-designated places.) The most populous such place is Eagle Pass, Texas, with 26,401 residents.
• Twelve places have “independence” in their name. The most populous of these is Independence, Mo., with 109,400 residents.
• Nine places adopted the name “freedom.” Freedom, Calif., with 6,000 residents, has the largest population among these.
• There is one place named “patriot” – Patriot, Ind., with a population of 192.
• And what could be more fitting than spending the Fourth of July in a place called “America”? There are five such places in the country, with the most populous being American Fork, Utah, population 25,596.

The British are Coming!

– The dollar value of trade last year between the United States and the United Kingdom was $107.2 billion, making the British, our adversary in 1776, our sixth-leading trading partner today.

Data courtesy of the U.S. Census Bureau.

I have to take my hat off to the crew at Autotask. I recently asked some questions of those working with them and I am shocked to see the response from the community.

Not shocked that they are involved in the community but rather shocked that so many in the community took the time to stand up and speak about their overwhelmingly positive experience in working with them.

We all are busy growing and running our businesses each day and as small a task as it seems it can take a decent effort to share our experience about a vendor. In my experience you are much more likely to have someone take the time speak up about their negative feelings in working with a vendor than to take the time to share a positive experience.

Some one that has had a bad service experience is likely to tell everyone they know about it (these are detractors) while someone who has a good experience is likely to remain silent about it. It is only the user that has a remarkable service experience that takes the time to say good things about the vendor (these are promoters). These promoters are worth their weight in gold when it comes to growing your business and having credibility in the market.

% promoters minus % detractors equals a companies net promoter score.  This comes from Net Promoter Score and is what we utilize at Everon to measure our customer satisfaction. I encourage everyone to use the measure as it brings great clarity for your employees and fantastic insight into your business. I truly believe as stated on their site that “net promoter score is the single most reliable indicator of a businesses ability to grow”.

I do not know if Autotask uses NPS in their business but I would suggest based on the response to my post that they would have a high score in the community indicating a continuation of their fantastic growth and success.

Congratulations to everyone at Autotask and thank you for being out there helping MSPs succeed.

JC

I was doing a screenshare with someone the other day and they were using it; it looked awesome.

I’m curious - is anyone in the managed services community using it internally?  Is anyone using it as a base to create any sort of solution for clients?

MRC

It may seem like a funny question on the surface and as we always say at Everon “what’s the question behind the question”?

Well I am curious if they are easy to do business with?

My experience to date has been with their product evangilists - ever wonder why it seems you see Autotask everywhere, well beyond a big marketing budget they hire independent consultants to be out in the marketplace talking them up.

At first I was impressed that they seemed to respond to blogs and be involved in the community, so much so that I proposed they participate in our blog as Connectwise, Dell, and other have done but things just seemed to go into a black hole from there. Perhaps they don’t feel that a bunch of smart, highly educated, good looking, business minded folks like you and I (that is how I like to think of our readers) are the approprate target audience for their tool?

I am very interested to know if their involvement in the community is just on the surface or if they are truly out there contributing to the community they are so desperately trying to move to their product. One thing I have always been impressed with working with Connectwise is that Arnie- love him or hate him - is out there looking out for each and every one of us day after day.

Anyway, I am curious if anyone else has had a similar experience or if this was just my experience.

JC

I have to say that I have been impressed that Dell has been showing up all over the place in blogs that I read. I have been equally impressed with the number of blogs the giant has launched to communicate with the world.

Corporate blogs can be a mixed blessing as they often start with the best intentions and quickly turn into a wasteland of infrequently updated information. I hate to pick on Kaseya but has anyone been watching their blog? I am still not quite sure why they bothered to launch it rather than just putting up a ‘recent news’ section on their site.

Dell on the other hand seems to have a fleet of bloggers out there, I have even heard from their “Chief Blogger” on occasion, responding to comments and spreading the message Dell wants the public to hear.

Only time will tell how effective Dells new channel / partner blog is with the community but regardless i have to applaud them for their blogging efforts.

I ran into a blog post that wsj.com put up about Dells blog strategy that is worth takeing a few minutes to read:

http://blogs.wsj.com/biztech/2008/06/03/dell-incites-internet-buzz/

I have to admit that for as hard as I am on Dell they are a brilliant company and implementing this blogging team is a cool move on their part.

JC

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that everything is moving towards a hosted model more so than ever in the past. It also is not the first time that industry experts have predicted this shift would happen and in the past it has always stalled out for one reason or another.

The thing that everyone seems to agree on at this point is that this time around it feels real. It feels like it has an unstoppable momentum as Google docs tries to topple MS office and MS office franticly tries to move to a subscription model to keep up with Google docs.

In a recent yahoo news article Microsoft brass made the statement that over the next five years 50% of exchange mailboxes would move to exchange online.

This is a lot of mailboxes considering they claim that MS exchange will run 210 million corporate email accounts in 2008, growing to 319 million by 2012.

So what does all this mean for you and me? Great question!

I am not sure I have all the answers but for those of you who read the blog regularly you know I have an opinion.

The first question everyone asks me is ‘are we going to start hosting exchange for our customers or setup hosted exchange?’ – my answer is no way. What reason would we have to go after running the hosting infrastructure for these applications? I do believe there is technology right around the corner for providers like Everon to be able to immediately compete with the large infrastructure players without needing to make the capital investment. But why they heck would I want to try to keep up with Microsoft and Co as they add “roughly 10,000 powerful computer servers a month to its data centers.”

The answer is I don’t and I would suggest you don’t either. I am still wondering what companies like Group Spark and others that have build their business on this play are thinking – “I hope MS buys me” is all I can figure.

All that said I would direct you back to an article Mike wrote a few months back where he started to use the word aggregator for companies like you and me. We are not nor will we ever be the large utility companies and I sure as heck don’t want to be the low cost onsite guys so we are left in the middle position between the large utility companies and the customer as the aggregator of services.

So I suggest that we all start thinking about how to wrap premium services (ones we can charge a good penny for) around the low cost services that our customers will be choosing from.

The best example I have seen of this to date are the solution providers wrapping services around Google for business – which at the basic level is free by the way in case you have been living in a cave.

At first glance you would think, I will stay away from those services with my customers because I will never be able to make money providing them a free service. But if you take a closer look there are providers that have wrapped some nice packages around the setup and guidance for small businesses using these services. And ultimately your customers will ask for, no they will demand, these services for their business.

This is exactly what we all need to be thinking about and rolling out to the market. Don’t get left behind. Set yourself up in the aggregator position and survive!

Let me know what you all think, am I crazy? Do you have a different take on the strategic position today’s MSP should be taking in the future?

JC