Tips

Tips

• 5 tips for multi-cloud strategy and management success

  Multi-cloud environments can unleash a host of management challenges. Cloud solutions architect Jacob Picart offers advice on making multi-cloud work.  Continue Reading

• Office 365 managed services call for workflow, vertical skills

  Subscription business models, a focus on automating workflow and becoming a thought leader are important for taking advantage of the Microsoft Office 365 opportunity.  Continue Reading

• Self-service analytics at Accenture boosts knowledge workers

  Accenture's enterprise analytics and AI models are helping the firm on a number of fronts, including determining sales opportunities, pricing deals and complying with internal and customer expense policies.  Continue Reading

• AI applications: Cloud vs. on-premises deployment options

  Should clients build on-premises infrastructures for their AI needs or turn to cloud-based AI? Insight Enterprises' Brandon Ebken and Juan Orlandini discuss these options.  Continue Reading

• How to revamp your managed services pricing for predictable revenue

  Many MSPs still rely heavily on an hourly billing rate and cost-plus pricing. Michael Backers, an MSPAlliance board member, offers advice on moving to managed services pricing.  Continue Reading

• 7 channel marketing strategy tips for 21st-century success

  Channel companies need to develop a marketing strategy that goes beyond word of mouth and vendors' programs. Those alone just don't cut it these days.  Continue Reading

• Network design checklist: How to design a local area network

  Local area network design considerations for IT consultants range from IP default gateway redundancy to device standardization. Browse these tips iIf you are building a LAN.  Continue Reading

• Network documentation checklist: 10 steps for channel partners

  Network documents can provide service providers with valuable insight when it's time to troubleshoot problems. Follow these 10 steps for a smooth documentation process.  Continue Reading

• 4 tips for MSPs building a cloud backup services business

  Getting started as a cloud-based backup services business requires a grasp of the target market, a solid mix of backup vendors and a sound pricing formula.  Continue Reading

• Black swan event: Preparing for a dual ransomware attack

  While a black swan incident shut down Code Spaces, IT service providers and their customers can avoid a similar outcome, if they devise a comprehensive data protection plan.  Continue Reading

• Six digital content management tips from an IT consultant

  Want to make enterprise content relevant, useful and interesting for the millennial workforce? Srinivas Gopinath Parimi of Virtusa offers some tips for achieving those results.  Continue Reading

• New ERP implementation: How to ensure value realization

  C-level executives may not have much experience deploying a new ERP system, but a consultant can help them realize the benefits of implementation, Jeff Carr writes.  Continue Reading

• Planning a B2B event? Set up expectations and define a clear purpose

  B2B events can help channel partners build relationships, but only if they define a clear purpose, market to customers they know, carefully plan the agenda and inspire action.  Continue Reading

• Web data extraction: Custom, commercial offerings ease the task

  The task of pulling structured data from the highly unstructured web is getting easier thanks to machine learning and the emergence of custom and commercial extraction tools.  Continue Reading

• Three tips for dealing with the IT labor shortage

  IT companies should seek out motivated workers, commit to continuous learning and invest in employee well-being to minimize the effects of the IT labor shortfall.  Continue Reading

• Citrix DaaS: How to deploy virtual desktops as a service provider

  Need a leg up in the desktop-as-a-service market? Citrix offers business resources, marketing assistance and a reference architecture to help service providers get started.  Continue Reading

• Monetizing data: In search of the virtuous circle

  Channel partners can help customers monetize their data. Read on for insight into the distinct data monetization paradigms that can help them get started.  Continue Reading

• Building a partnership: How to link up with other service providers

  Partnering with your fellow IT service providers can help expand the services you offer clients without incurring the cost of hiring and retaining talent.  Continue Reading

• IT RFP: How to influence the bid as a channel partner

  Channel partners may find the formal RFP process challenging, but they can influence the bid in advance -- and boost their chances for success -- through digital marketing.  Continue Reading

• Channel marketing plan a must for partners

  A well-honed marketing plan provides insight into who your customers are, what they need and how you can help them with what you know and what you sell, Jennifer Anaya writes.  Continue Reading

• Hardware asset management: Tips for channel managers

  Channel partner managers may be tempted to neglect IT asset management, but they should work with their customers on this important task. Here are a few tips to get you started.  Continue Reading

• Develop a branded house strategy for IT solution providers

  Adopting a branded house strategy during business expansions will help companies maintain a clear and concise brand promise, according to marketing expert Jennifer Anaya.  Continue Reading

• Digital business transformation and the MSP's BI role

  Small and medium-sized businesses can benefit from digital transformation. Managed service providers can facilitate business intelligence technology adoption to make that happen.  Continue Reading

• Targeted customers help partners live up to brand promise

  Channel partners can learn from YouTube channel stars: Develop a specialization, focus on a market niche and give customers more of what they want.  Continue Reading

• How to uncloud: Best practices for exiting the public cloud

  A company planning to migrate from the cloud to an in-house data center or colocation facility faces a number of challenges, writes Datalink's Irwin Teodoro.  Continue Reading

• Vendor relationships: Five ways partners can forge closer ties

  Want to grow your business with your top product vendors? Here are five tips for channel partners seeking to create closer ties.  Continue Reading

• How to overcome resistance to change: Four tips for channel partners

  Resistance to change is only natural, but channel partners can look for early adopters and clearly state a new technology's benefits to sway clients.  Continue Reading

• A four-step rebranding process for channel partners

  The fast-moving IT market could leave your channel partner brand out of date. Here are four tips to update your image.  Continue Reading

• Healthcare vertical market: How partners can help clients master BI

  Healthcare providers are awash in data in light of electronic health records. Partners, however, can help clients leverage their information with BI tools.  Continue Reading

• In-house IT clients transitioning to the cloud? MSPs assess readiness

  Many businesses now consider cloud computing as a viable IT delivery option. MSPs can help their customers assess whether the cloud is right for them.  Continue Reading

• 5 CIO trends channel partners should watch

  Channel partners should recognize that "keeping the lights on" is no longer a CIO's primary responsibility, writes Jeff Jackson of Ingram Micro.  Continue Reading

• Five tips to mitigate the risk of a cloud outage

  Selling cloud-based services? These five tips can help service providers mitigate the risk of a cloud outage.  Continue Reading

• Seven tips for creating a marketing plan and lead generation strategy

  VARs and MSPs don't always excel at marketing. Here are seven tips that can help a channel company build an effective channel marketing plan.  Continue Reading

• Five pitfalls in the merger and acquisition process

  Channel partners working through the merger and acquisition process must deal with cultural, financial and personnel issues before the ink is dry.  Continue Reading

• Two ways to ramp up your cloud computing revenue

  In the cloud world, single-digit profit margins don't have to be the new norm, says Jason Bystrak. Here are two ideas for accelerating cloud computing revenue.  Continue Reading

• Vetting cloud service providers: Five things to consider

  Your investigation of potential cloud services provider partners should hinge upon more than customer preference, says Jason Bystrak of Ingram Micro Cloud.  Continue Reading

• How to protect your SMB customer against sophisticated cyberattacks

  Service providers must up their game to protect their SMB customers from evolving security threats. Stanley Louissant offers best practices for ensuring your clients and their data remain secure.  Continue Reading

• How to create an IT subcontractor agreement with peers

  In this tip, David Streit provides best practices for conducting business with peers, as well as a guide to a reciprocal IT subcontractor agreement.  Continue Reading

• Free IT subcontractor reciprocal agreement template

  David Streit offers a guide to drafting a reciprocal subcontractor agreement. Download the agreement template for free.  Continue Reading

• MDM services: Three best practices for managed services providers

  As a trusted business advisor, you should help your customers take advantage of the benefits of the mobility trend without suffering any of its pitfalls.  Continue Reading

• Why MSPs should offer vendor management services

  While IT solutions providers tend to avoid offering vendor management to their clients, firms may be missing out on a valuable opportunity to strengthen their client relationships.  Continue Reading

• Help desk ticket system approach: Should users file their own tickets?

  While most help desk ticketing processes require end users to file their own tickets, there are benefits to shifting the burden back to your IT support staff.  Continue Reading

• Helping clients with cloud assessment, decision is a critical value-add

  Helping customers decide how, when and if to move workloads to the cloud is a critical value-add for partners, says David Stewart, solutions architect at 2nd Watch.  Continue Reading

• Modernizing the 3-2-1 backup strategy for SMB customers

  The old 3-2-1 backup strategy is a good rule of thumb for protection of your SMB customers' data. We take a look at what the strategy looks like in the current state of technology.  Continue Reading

• How to explain managed services pricing to customers

  The managed services model is better -- and more lucrative -- than the break/fix model because it represents an alignment between your goals and your customers' goals.  Continue Reading

• Channel PR: How to get tech media attention

  Your target customers are consuming content from a variety of outlets. Get advice on getting attention from tech journalists, bloggers and analysts.  Continue Reading

• How not to waste your time at tech events

  Get seven tips for making the most of the time you spend at educational or networking tech events.  Continue Reading

• Five tips for cracking the government cloud computing market

  Selling government cloud services requires providers to take a collaborative approach to understand the unique requirements of these customers.  Continue Reading

• Cloud computing benefits must go beyond cost savings for providers to profit

  To be truly revolutionary, providers should focus on cloud computing benefits that make computing and networking better -- not just cheaper.  Continue Reading

• Working with your IT channel account manager

  Get partner and vendor insight on the relationship between your company and your IT vendor's channel account manager.  Continue Reading

• Cryptolocker ransomware protection: A new reason for old advice

  The key to Cryptolocker ransomware protection is having a good backup plan in place. Find out why this malware needs to be taken seriously.  Continue Reading

• How cloud storage providers can survive and thrive

  Many cloud storage providers can't beat Amazon on pricing, but other opportunities in the cloud storage market are up for grabs.  Continue Reading

• Enabling hybrid cloud services: Where are we?

  A cloud provider that wants to offer hybrid cloud services may have only one path to success: Follow the application lifecycle.  Continue Reading

• Five traps to avoid when selling cloud communications services

  If IT departments are moving so much to the cloud, why has it been so challenging for cloud communications providers to win enterprise customers?  Continue Reading

• Get the sales team out of the way: Cloud sales should be 'frictionless'

  Although the cloud is all about agility, many providers gum up the sales cycle with old-school methods. Cloud sales require a "frictionless" approach.  Continue Reading

• How to become a Microsoft partner, and Microsoft Partner Network details

  Find out how to become a Microsoft partner in this description of the MPN, which includes changes to the program effective in January 2014.  Continue Reading

• Cloud demands new IT organizational structure: How providers can help

  Enterprises don't build true private clouds because most IT organizations aren't structured for them. Cloud providers can help customers get there.  Continue Reading

• End-user experience monitoring is key to SaaS provider success

  As customers expect the SaaS model to deliver equal performance to local apps, end-user experience monitoring becomes a core capability for providers.  Continue Reading

• Are customers happy? How SaaS providers can use Apdex to find out

  Application response time is key to the user experience, but what's a 'good' response time? SaaS providers can use the Apdex formula to find out.  Continue Reading

• IT channel sales strategy: Resolution selling

  Solution-based selling has some big flaws, says Ingram Micro's Kirk Robinson. He explains why resolution selling makes more sense.  Continue Reading

• VAR marketing strategy: Focus on customer outcomes

  VAR marketing professionals must stay focused on the success of customers. Get advice for keeping that tenet top of mind.  Continue Reading

• Solution provider social media: Twitter mistakes to avoid

  For the best return on your Twitter time and resource investment, your Tweets should adhere to some guiding principles. Follow our list of dos and don’ts.  Continue Reading

• Providers must address top cloud computing issues to succeed in 2013

  After many high-profile blunders last year, cloud providers must overcome customers' concerns to gain mainstream traction in 2013.  Continue Reading

• How to build a vertical market cloud practice

  Building a vertical market cloud practice requires an understanding of industry needs, compliance regulations and technical skills for core services.  Continue Reading

• Five best practices for developing a successful cloud partner program

  Developing an effective channel program requires taking a look at policies around recruiting, incentivizing and communicating with cloud partners.  Continue Reading

• Cloud broker skills in higher demand as cloud adoption gains momentum

  The cloud broker becomes more crucial as enterprise cloud adoption grows, giving providers, integrators and partners an opening to fill that role.  Continue Reading

• Data as a Service opportunities for solution providers

  Learn about Data as a Service, how it works, its benefits and drawbacks for customers, and the opportunities it presents to IT solution providers.  Continue Reading

• Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V cluster: Basic points for customers

  Learn about the most important factors for a Server 2012 Hyper-V cluster, including Failover Clustering, Cluster Shared Volumes and more.  Continue Reading

• Object storage architecture not just for cloud

  VARs have reason to pay attention to object storage. It has another use case besides cloud storage: content management systems.  Continue Reading

• Building targeted cloud services with software developers as partners

  Operators entering the cloud market need to target business customer needs and consider software developer partners for higher revenue SaaS offerings.  Continue Reading

• Five big provider trends in 2013: The future of cloud computing is PaaS

  The cloud gained a lot of ground in 2012, but the future of cloud computing still has a ways to go. Is it finally the year of Platform as a Service?  Continue Reading

• Selling Windows 8 and Windows Metro UI to customers

  Your customers are likely reticent to upgrade to Windows 8 and the Windows Metro UI. Get guidance for talking them past their reluctance.  Continue Reading

• Companies turn to partners for managed network security services

  Many companies are turning to partners for managed network security services to handle the exhausting responsibility of thwarting threats and attacks.  Continue Reading

• DBaaS pros and cons for solution providers

  A DBaaS has feature and other limitations, but it brings shorter sales cycles, reduced startup costs, recurring revenue streams and more customers.  Continue Reading

• SQL Server 2012 Power View: Self-service BI reporting for SharePoint

  The SQL Server Power View tool enables solution providers to deliver self-service business intelligence reporting to a wide range of customers.  Continue Reading

• VoIP phone services for customers with on-premises and remote VDI

  Adding VoIP phone services for customers with on-premises and remote VDI can lessen reliance on cell phones, improve service integration and more.  Continue Reading

• On-premises vs. cloud costs: Show customers the true path to savings

  When discussing on-premises vs. cloud computing costs, providers need to steer the conversation toward economies of scale and higher-level services.  Continue Reading

• Cloud computing cost savings: Fact or fiction?

  When articulating cloud computing cost savings to customers, most providers don't realize that they're focusing on the wrong angle.  Continue Reading

• Hosted disaster recovery services as an add-on to hybrid cloud backup

  Hybrid cloud disaster recovery services make a lot of sense for customers that need a simple solution to a fundamental problem.  Continue Reading

• How virtualized data centers are inhibiting cloud adoption

  Cloud providers don't pay much heed to enterprise data centers, but shops are deploying virtual data centers four times faster than they are cloud.  Continue Reading

• Making cloud strategies more palatable to virtual data center holdouts

  Providers shouldn't ignore enterprises choosing a virtual data center over a cloud strategy. Get tips on how to address this often-overlooked market.  Continue Reading

• HP Enterprise Data Warehouse Appliance addresses massive data needs

  The HP Enterprise Data Warehouse Appliance can manage from 30 TB to 600 TB of data in a preconfigured bundle.  Continue Reading

• Biometric authentication methods: Comparing smartphone biometrics

  Biometric authentication helps ensure only authorized smartphone users can access a network. David Jacobs weighs the pros and cons of three methods.  Continue Reading

• Selling cloud integration services: Moving customers to the cloud

  Partners help clients make the cloud transition with cloud integration services that cover determining application placement and security.  Continue Reading

• If companies using cloud computing only dabble, providers may suffer

  Companies using cloud computing today have wildly unpredictable usage patterns, making it difficult for providers to anticipate demand and revenue.  Continue Reading

• Unified storage architecture approaches: Modular vs. integrated

  Find out what the considerations are for VARs with customers looking for both file and block storage in a single device.  Continue Reading

• Active archive software: Not just for the enterprise anymore

  Active archives, once thought of as practical just for big companies, are becoming more useful for SMB customers in a variety of vertical industries.  Continue Reading

• The risk of using Windows kernel-mode drivers in systems management

  Windows kernel-mode drivers can pose risks if used in IT efficiency systems management tools.  Continue Reading

• Selling an upgrade to Windows Server 2012 VDI

  For customers who have invested in Windows 2008 virtual desktop infrastructure, making the move to Windows Server 2012 VDI features will pay off.  Continue Reading

• All-flash storage systems: Types and use cases

  Learn about all-flash appliances and all-flash storage arrays, as well as the scenarios they're best suited for.  Continue Reading

• Partners sell next-generation WLAN as the primary access network

  As BYOD booms and wireless connectivity demand increases, partners will find opportunities in selling WLAN as a primary access network.  Continue Reading

• Tips to explain Windows 8 upgrade rationale to customers

  Expert advice for VARs looking to explain Windows 8 upgrade options to customers and combat objections to the new Windows OS.  Continue Reading

• Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) terms you need to know

  Providers planning to offer DRaaS should brush up on their disaster recovery vocab and understand what works best in the cloud.  Continue Reading

• Planning cloud disaster recovery services and avoiding the pain points

  Providers looking at cloud disaster recovery services should examine the potential customer base, the challenges and partnership opportunities.  Continue Reading

• Using VMM 2012 to add Hyper-V servers to trusted and untrusted domains

  Learn how to add Hyper-V servers to trusted and untrusted domains using Microsoft Virtual Machine Manager 2012 in this chapter excerpt.  Continue Reading

• Selling advanced remote network management: Configuration and discovery

  As networks become complex with virtualization and cloud, partners find opportunities to sell remote network management solutions for configuration and discovery.  Continue Reading

• Using fixed configurations to sell simplified IT solutions

  Setting up simplified IT solutions using fixed configurations takes work on the front end but can pay off with faster sales cycles and easier support.  Continue Reading

• IT channel strategy tips for evolving SMB needs

  Adjusting your IT channel strategy to meet the needs of small and medium-sized businesses includes offering cloud and BYOD management services.  Continue Reading

• Microsoft SkyDrive features improve cloud file storage, sharing

  Microsoft SkyDrive features have been upgraded, setting the cloud file storage service up for success in the channel with Office 2013.  Continue Reading

• Explaining how cloud computing infrastructure is different to customers

  Discussing how cloud computing infrastructure is different than traditional IT is an important step in migrating customers to the cloud.  Continue Reading