“Innovation is the specific tool of entrepreneurs, the means by which they exploit change as an opportunity for a different business or a different service.”

Peter Drucker “Innovation and Entrepreneurship”

Yes, SMBs sure are natural innovators. Most times their inspiration is driven by three critical needs: necessity, opportunity and ingenuity. Adaptability, agility and experimentation can be used as tools to their advantage. However a few challenges remain. One, a smaller company cannot grow in billions of dollars and two; it does not have billions of dollars to invest. But the fact cannot be denied, innovation once optional for small businesses is now mandatory.

According to Justin Crotty in response to Joe Panetierri’s blog on balancing innovation with sustained growth, “It’s about being nimble, being able to productively change, and staying innovative. Innovation is a requirement of companies of any size, but smaller companies live or die by it”.

Ask any of the successful SMB owners to describe their innovation, and they might seem perplexed. More than likely, they would tell you they had an idea, saw a way to do it better, recognized an opportunity, found a way to meet their customers’ needs or creatively solved a problem. The word “innovation” invokes a picture of resource-rich lab settings, science parks, university research teams and large corporate research and development budgets. The reality of small business innovation is quite different. For small businesses, the market is the lab.

These innovations can be either market sustaining or market changing. Sustaining innovations are improvements to existing products or business processes as ongoing refinements and usually tend to add value without making significant product or business changes. Market changing innovations are disruptive, changing fundamental ecosystems and rewriting industry rules. There are many famous examples of small businesses growing into large corporations through the use of disruptive innovation. Southwest Airlines, Dell Computers, Charles Schwab, Nucor Steel, Amazon and Google are all examples of small businesses that used disruptive, market-changing innovation to become industry leaders.

Excerpts from Paul Barnett and Sam Guttmann’s blogs on MSP Mentor

Should the MSPs be giving away stuff for free like Skype, Pandora and several others in hopes of milking a fatter cow? The answer might not seem straight forward at first, but a deep dive clearly tells us this: The cost of manufacturing software is largely insignificant and a chunk of the revenue coming in post sales when customers want to upgrade and purchase ‘enhanced’ features. With MSPs that is not largely the case. There is a great deal of time, effort and money involved in dishing out superior service delivery 24/7. And in most cases some dollar number needs to be attributed to provisioning a service. So, this can be greatly attributed to the service nature of the business. Limited product offerings actually entice customers but limited service offerings will repulse. Case and point.

The next logical question then should be: What can MSPs do to attract more business and better customers. Well, one good thing is the incentive based model. Records indicate that this has surely worked for most MSPs and has helped to grow business without compromising ROI or revenue. An incentive model offers optimum availability of resources, creating a stronger bond with the customer and in some ways differentiating from competition.

Another thing to keep in mind: Signing up the right customers. Don’t try and be everything to every customer. Build world class service delivery to keep up with targeted needs and create a repeatable/predictable process. So figure you target market and tune your service offerings to that niche. And what will really differentiate your company? Superior service delivery with world-class technology and communicating the value of it to the customer with an impact.

Virtual private, pubic and hybrid clouds, API standards for cloud infrastructures, cloud based desktops, emails and databases, cloud computing platforms… the list of jargons to substantiate cloud efforts is endless. Cloud service providers are covering a whole spectrum from full-blown applications, storage services to spam filtering. With Amazon’s EC2, Microsoft Windows Azure, IBM’s blue cloud and Google’s cloud initiative, cloud certainly has become the ‘phrase du jour’.

Building a strategy to leverage cloud computing or embarking on a virtualization and consolidation initiative involves a complex array of fast-changing components including technology platform choices, systems development decisions, pricing and licensing schemes. In addition, there are fundamental paradigm shifts in how we think about resources. Virtual and cloud resources have a significant impact on traditional IT functions including system administration, security, compliance, privacy, performance, sizing, management, and monitoring.

But beyond doubt, cloud evidently is a new way to manage your infrastructure to support applications. Be it infrastructure as a service, platform as a service or software or IT as a service, all these elements can now run in the cloud. Earlier applications ran on operating systems and OS ran on servers which talked across the network and all the servers and equipment were hosted in the datacenters. Today these servers can be physical or virtual and when virtual it could be in a private, public, virtual private or a hybrid cloud. Monitoring and administering your infrastructure in the cloud is then crucial. How do you know if the performance is at the right level?

No matter which cloud your server is on, service providers like NetEnrich can help to manage and monitor your infrastructure with an underlying tool set. We provide cloud based IT as a Service by either acting as an extension of your IT/operations team or by becoming your IT team. Your applications can now be hosted on any cloud, we will bring in the expertise to provide you secure service with 24/7 support and tight service level agreements.

Want to talk to us about cloud based IT as a Service? Click here

NetEnrich’s recent partnership with Arrow to support their Cloud Fusion services holds great promise to Arrow’s established VAR base offering services to small and medium enterprises. NetEnrich offers highly secure, real-time services to IT solution providers that support enterprise-level network operations and data centers with remote monitoring, management and IT operations. Our targeted services our especially beneficial to VARs specializing in specific industry verticals be it banking, insurance, health care, education, energy, automotive, real estate or government.

You the VAR can now be the ‘change agent’ for your end customers by providing rapid time to value and driving optimum operational efficiency. By offloading routine monitoring and maintenance to us, you now are on your way to become a strategic IT partner, much like an IBM or EDS but at a lower scale. You with our help can now focus on the most impending need like the CRM project which was long overdue or an ERP overhaul which was being procrastinated.

To know more about what NetEnrich brings to this table, join and meet us at the ATG Partner Conference which is going on right now, August 9^th - August 11^th. http://guest.cvent.com/EVENTS/Info/Agenda.aspx?i=1471149f-38a0-4f35-9b84-b0e91fac3981. Visit NetEnrich to talk more about our managed service offerings WATCH, AID and MANAGE and a plethora of on-demand services currently available for all Arrow VARs.

NetEnrich has the capability to quickly get up to speed and manage IT infrastructure with services such as remote DBA, remote system administration and email migration. NetEnrich also offers a series of discovery services to assess and evaluate your IT environment. This is especially important for businesses going through several rapid changes or turnovers/acquisitions losing track of IT resources or falling behind in managing them.

For more information or to chat with one of our representatives on customized service packages: visit www.netenrich.com

By Mitch Cipriano, Vice President, Marketing

Let’s face it, nothing changes as quickly in a more pervasive way than technology.  Change has become a core competence for many IT service and solution providers, although the true master change agents have become the Managed Service Providers (MSPs).  They’ve risked life and limb to change the traditional Value-added Reseller (VAR) business model, they’ve changed their sales approach, and in some cases, their logo and brand.  As we wrap up last week’s Ingram Micro’s Cloud Summit and Seismic Partner Conference, I witnessed them embrace yet another new approach – the role of CIO.

Becoming a CIO to small and midsized business clients was a popular topic.  IT Solution Provider keynote speakers, such as Patrick Ciccarelli of Varsity Technologies, encouraged his peers to be the SMB CIO/CTO, even Ingram Micro’s CIO, Mario Leone, suggested IT Solution Providers bring new “proof of concept” ideas to Enterprise CIOs or not show up.  At NetEnrich, we encourage our partners to offload the costly administrative and operational tasks that drag on productivity and focus their time on more strategic, higher margin IT engagements.  In all honesty, what’s more valuable to your customer?  You as a CIO and weighing in on bigger, more strategic IT implementations or being the break fix guy who comes in only periodically to solve fire drill issues?

Your clients need a chief technology advisor who can help them navigate through the IT changes and better understand how they impact business goals.  Too often small businesses get drawn into costly technology integrations or schemes that don’t ultimately deliver measureable business results.  As a trusted advisor, you can be the voice of reason to not only address their immediate business goals, but set them up for the future.

About 20 years ago, Stan Chan of Select Data Systems told me how he charged for IT hardware, he said, “Basically, I buy from distribution and I mark it up 20 percent.  I share my costs with my clients and tell them up front what I’m doing.  Then, I charge a fee for the service, training and support provided in addition.”  Even before Managed Services, Stan understood the value of strategic consultation.  As a result, Stan had a highly profitable business while his competitors were trying to sell printer cables for $75 and loosing deals to the lowest bidders.

Some MSPs and IT Solution Providers still think of managed services as the technology that’s delivered: the Network Operating Center, RMM tool, even the advanced security solution.  However, I believe Managed Services is a business model and a way of operating your IT business in a more cost effective and efficient manner.  The technology you sell and deliver can be easily duplicated, outbid or even dis-intermediated by a competitor, or worse, by a vendor.  On the other hand, the experience you provide and the invaluable guidance given to your SMB customers is exclusive to you.  Consider offloading the technology management to a partner whose core competence is to keep it running 24/7and focus your sights to becoming your client’s next CIO.

AutoTask Live and VTN  in Florida a couple of weeks back was a great opportunity to hear some of our VARs talk about our services in the real world. Although it received mixed reviews, it was good to know that VARs overall are happy and actively bringing on more customers.

Promotions was thought of as a great way to try out the new service and VARs were very happy with the Global NOC quality of service and thought of us as a step ahead of competition. There is definitely a lot of scope for improvement, especially as it relates to our service delivery, communications and on boarding.

Taking inputs from the event, NetEnrich moves on to bigger and better plans to expand its Seismic Global NOC operations. The key idea is to add more customers per VAR and more VARs overall as we kick start a number of marketing and sales initiatives. We want to educate the VARs on the many benefits of signing up with NOC services. Idea here is to basically help move beyond break fix and become strategic thinkers for their end customers.

This means that they’d now be helping drive the CRM or ERP strategy instead of fixing your broken printer or notebook. We help our VARs make a serious impact on their customer by helping develop the right IT plan, offering differentiated service, help price the service right and demonstrate the right value of service. At the Seismic Global NOC, we offer a number of resources and tools to help you become successful and bring in a larger ROI for your end customers.

For more information about the Seismic Global NOC and to access any tools and resources please visit: www.netenrich.com/gnoc.

<Seems like a return after a fairly long break! Well, I am back and the world seems to have moved on to better and bigger things? Well, that’s good so now there’s more to blog about? Or perhaps it’s the same wine in all newly packaged bottles. The discussion still hovering around the clouds! Considering the ash clouds causing mayhem, this seems to be timely. Yes, it’s back to the clouds… yet again. One interesting question that Dubie bring up in her newsletter is: What is the TCO of cloud services? Really, what is the real TCO of cloud services to your customer?

Apptio seems to have run some numbers to figure TCC (total cost of the cloud) by creating transparency templates and delivered integrated cloud cost analysis. So what are the metrics needed to calculate the ‘right’ TCO and ROI from the cloud?

They boast of a hosted visual application that models an environment by taking data from spreadsheets, GL systems and other sources to map the relationships between services and the cost thereof. Analytics can be applied to test the ‘what if’ scenarios to the core. Now you can intelligently estimate the fully loaded cost of a server, or a desktop server. You think I am kidding? Check out:http://www.apptio.com/products/service-costing.php.

So be it service quality and utilization, IT benchmarking or platform related questions this tool answers it all.

Some of the key questions answered by this tool:

• Client Services: What is the TCO of a laptop vs. a desktop? Which hardware brands are most cost effective? What is the TCO of extending upgrade cycles weighing support and maintenance vs. capital spend?
• Shared Services: Which OS/hardware combinations have the lowest TCO in the data center? What is the financial impact of moving Tier 1 support to a low cost geography? What is the TCO of Tier 1 vs. Tier 2 vs. Tier 3 storage? What cost saving can be obtained by moving archived storage to Amazon?
• Business Services: Which applications are the most expensive? Which applications have application support as the top cost driver? Do we have the right service level cost investment per application? What are the cost savings of moving email to the cloud?
• Portfolio: What is the total capex to opex ratio? What is the fixed to variable ratio of IT spend? What is my proportion of investment in run the business vs. change the business?

Read on…

If you are a managed solutions provider, RMM software probably is high on your radar since VARs are constantly asking you about which platform you use and what features it provides.

Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) tools are critical to any IT Service Provider who wants to create recurring revenue through managed services or take their managed services business to the next level. It’s no surprise that every MSP needs a PSA and RMM platform to succeed. But which platform to choose and how to choose it? Amongst the plethora of available RMM tools powered by N-able, Kaseya, LPI, Hounddog, IT control suite… the list seems endless and the choice not so easy. However, there are some key criterions to select the right platform for your service delivery needs.

Comparing some of the features might be a good way to start. Agent based vs. probe based, hosted or on-premise, support for security or back up services? Does the vendor offer operations and help desk services? Which server/desktop platforms can the tools monitor and manage? Does it integrate well with your current PSA system? It would be best to conduct a comprehensive survey with your current VAR community to understand their priorities and expectations from an RMM tool.

An industry research on RMM software was conducted online by GFI Max during June of 2009. The survey interviewed over 200 IT Support Companies and Managed Service providers about their satisfaction with the installation and running of RMM software, the necessary training, the pricing models and return on investment. The most valued features of RMM, according to respondents were server Monitoring, LAN & Windows monitoring, patch management and remote support. Top reasons for using RMM are to offer a faster fix response time and preventative maintenance. Also, RMM tools are used for preventive maintenance, cost savings and improving business margins. These should be useful data points to find the right RMM platform to partner with.

The detailed survey report on the usefulness of RMM tools for VARs  can be downloaded here.

Happy New Year to all!

Continuing from my previous post on the IT Infrastructure landscape in 2010, I will drill a little deeper into three specific areas which are going to clinch limelight this year. I added WAN Landscape in here as an offshoot of cloud computing and SaaS. If critical applications are hosted in the cloud, across an internet connection rather than through a private data center, the need to optimize delivery is clear to distinguish them from other web content and applications. Also many of these applications will be content rich, real time and bandwidth intensive as the use of Web 2.0 and gaming applications become widely utilized.

Looking at Virtualization: IDC predicts this market to grow at 26% in 2010. Flexible server pools will replace dedicated computers. With enterprise IT departments become increasingly concerned about their electric bills, virtualization offers one way to “green” the server room by consolidating the functions of several servers into a single machine. In many cases, a virtual machine running means one less physical machine in operation. Also, A GUI based, “single pane of glass” is the best solution to configure, manage, and maintain all hardware in the pool.  Administrators can move and/or balance loads, deploy server images to new hardware (local or remote), or even shut down unused resources for power savings. Virtualization of I/O is also crucial to make failover and high availability a part of any SLA.

To understand the WAN landscape, let’s review Gartner’s statistics on the worldwide market for application acceleration equipment. A compound annual growth rate of 12.22% with revenue of $4.27 billion in 2014 is forecasted by the research firm. There surely was a slump in 2009 for both buyers and suppliers but signs of greater spending are projected for the future. So while 2010 is going to be the ‘realization year’ for the cloud, WAN optimization is going to be the fundamental component for the successful delivery of cloud services. With this, enterprises will need to embrace the cost and scalability benefits of cloud computing while simultaneously continuing to meet employee standards for access and application performance. All of this means that internet and WAN are going to take new levels of importance and the most successful WAN optimization solution will utilize virtualization technologies.

Forrester predicts 2010 to be a critical year for IT infrastructure management operations. Seems like enterprises will be heading towards recovery in this post recession era with new project initiatives.

Some of the top priorities of CIOs in 2009 according to Gartner were business process improvement, reducing enterprise costs and increasing enterprise workforce effectiveness. The top few technologies which reined ground were servers and storage technologies, collaboration technologies, networking, voice and data communications, security technologies and technical infrastructure.

Some of the top priorities in 2010 will be:

• Consolidation, virtualization, automation and cloud
• Intelligence around infrastructure management with focus on KPIs and other metrics to monitor and improve performance
• Transformation from tech-silos to service delivery organizations with focus on ITIL frameworks

Everest Group predicts that the Remote Infrastructure Management operations market is expected to touch $8.6B in 2010 while The Yankee Group predicts the managed services market to grow to $10B by end of next year. McKinsey states that between 2008 and 2010 the non labor costs are going to fall by almost 54% as a result of emerging technologies such as virtualization.

In 2010, as the economy comes out of recession, SMBs will be more willing to spend again, but only for solutions that will provide demonstrable bottom and/or top line business benefits. SMBs will spend only if they believe that the investment will help them operate more profitably, grow revenues, increase productivity, save money or gain time-to-market advantages. SMBs are also evaluating and making trade-offs in areas that offer strategic, long-term advantages vs. those that meet more urgent, short-term needs. In many cases, IT investments must also be weighed against requirements for other core goods and services essential to the business.

For the foreseeable future, SMBs’ will continue to take a hybrid approach to technology, combining on-premise and public cloud-based solutions to satisfy business requirements. In 2010, vendors will offer a greater range of targeted solutions for hybrid environment requirements to spur SMB interest and traction. Virtual desktops, business continuity/disaster recovery, on-demand computing and storage will feature prominently in vendors’ lineups