Channel Strategies for the CIOThe overuse or misuse of the term "managed service provider" really got the goat of some, well, managed service providers.
Last month, an item about MSPs failing to live up to customer expectations, topped the charts of Channel Marker blog posts. Members of the SearchITChannel.com advisory board said that many VARs calling themselves MSPs have disgraced the label by not providing the required services. One board member even erased the MSP nomenclature from his company's website and marketing materials.
Other hot Channel Marker blog posts included one on Ray Ozzie's not-so-surprising departure from Microsoft and an item on Hewlett-Packard's incorporation of ProCurve and 3Com lines into the HP PartnerOne program. And, phew, there was one item on perennial chart-topper Oracle.
Here are the top five most-read Channel Marker blogs for October 2010.
1: MSP label tainted, pipelines in flux and other VAR takeaways
Many VARs have rushed to embrace the managed service provider (MSP) moniker in the past few years -- perhaps too many, according to the SearchITChannel.com advisory board.
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Many
MSPs are service providers in name only, failing to provide the needed services and, therefore,
souring customers on the whole notion of MSPs, the board members said.
2: Ray Ozzie leaves Microsoft gig
When Ray Ozzie announced plans to exit Microsoft, it was not a huge surprise to people who watched the company carefully. Over the past six years, Ozzie faced resistance for pushing his services agenda at a company full of people motivated to sell Microsoft Office and Windows. Very few of those people reported to him. Still, since Ozzie was handpicked by Bill Gates to lead Microsoft's services and cloud charges, people sat up and took notice of the news, especially when he fired off a departing memo critiquing the company's performance.
3: HP PartnerOne adds more products to deal reg, tries to ease channel conflict
Hewlett-Packard's huge PartnerOne channel program got even bigger as the company drew its once-separate ProCurve networking products into the fold. (Also new to PartnerOne was the recently acquired 3Com networking lineup.) HP, still reeling from the surprise ouster of CEO Mark Hurd, also tweaked its deal registration system in hopes of easing channel conflict.
4: Microsoft-Citrix partner push piggybacks on VMworld Europe
In an attempt at marketing jujitsu, Microsoft and Citrix Systems product marketing guys did their best to make VMworld Europe all about Microsoft and Citrix virtualization.
5: Sun VARs get temporary reprieve from Oracle
Lately, Sun VARs aren't used to good news, so it came as something of a (short-lived) surprise that Oracle extended their ability to close Sun hardware deals by two weeks. Oracle had set an Oct. 15 end-date to the old Sun Partner Advantage, or SPA, program but then pushed the deadline back till Nov. 1.
Check out the top channel marker blogs for September 2010.
Let us know what you think about the story; email Barbara Darrow, Senior News Director at bdarrow@techtarget.com, or follow us on twitter.
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