During a phone conversation with me this morning, Dell Channel Chief Greg Davis said the company has roughly 131 certified managed services partners. In my mind: That’s not exactly a huge number — especially for a company of Dell’s size. But I think Dell is putting a lot of channel emphasis on a slightly different MSP and VAR effort that involves Symantec. Here are the details.

Davis briefed me this morning following Dell’s earnings release from yesterday. Wall Street is nervous about apparent soft results — Dell shares are down 10 percent today (Nov. 20, 2009) — but Davis says Dell’s overall channel program is in good shape. More thoughts soon over on TheVARguy.com.

In the meantime, some updates on Dell’s managed services efforts. Compared to this time last year, Dell has roughly the same number of certified managed services partners, Davis says. The figure dropped a bit in early 2009 but has since rebounded as Dell’s Silverback team on-boarded more VARs and MSPs.

To be frank, Dell has been really quiet in recent months in terms of its managed services channel strategy. Yes, the company has been busy with a direct managed services push. But I’m also hoping to hear if Dell is marching forward with integration between Silverback and Everdream and maybe even MessageOne.

Still, Dell has been busy. Recent efforts include the Dell Management Console, powered by Symantec. According to Dell:

Dell Management Console, powered by Symantec, is a systems management solution designed to provide a central console offering features from basic hardware management to advanced enterprise functionality. DMC provides a single view into the deployment, inventory, monitoring, and updating of your IT infrastructure - including servers, storage, desktops, notebooks, network devices, printers, and other non-Dell devices - and creates a foundation for more advanced management functionality.

I hope to speak with Dell’s Peter Klanian (a Silverback veteran) about how the Management Console fits in with Dell’s other management offerings. I will follow-up with a blog post as soon as Klanian and I connect. In the meantime, more than 1,000 users have registered to master the console, according to Davis.

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For the past two years, I’ve been heads-down working with my business partner (Amy Katz) and our team of contributors to build Nine Lives Media Inc. Our mission: Define emerging IT markets and disrupt established markets. But I haven’t always been this focused. Every few years I go through a career crisis and ask myself “what should I with my life?” I suspect many VARs and MSPs ask themselves that same question every day. Here are six ways I ultimately found the answer.

First, a little background: This blog entry isn’t about my family life. Fortunately, my wife and three sons are pretty awesome and deal with my career lunacy very well. I spent most of the 1990s working for IT magazines (InformationWeek, Windows Magazine, Smart Partner, etc.). But by 2001 the writing was on the wall. Ad pages were drying up and I realized it was time to get out of the print magazine game. (Side note: InformationWeek successfully reinvented itself and pushed into conferences and online media.)

But where would I go, what would I do?

The answer to that question was always in front of me. I just didn’t see it at first. For years, I had admired Mary Jo Foley’s transition from Microsoft print journalist (working for PCWeek, among other brands) to Web journalist (leading AllAboutMicrosoft.com). My transition wouldn’t occur as quickly. It required six steps:

1. Get Re-Educated

To pay the bills and acquire some new skills, I joined NYIT (a college in New York) as editorial director in 2002.

Tip: Working for a college can be the perfect place to regroup and refocus. The people are pleasant, the workload is reasonable and you have plenty of time to reinvent yourself for The Next Big Thing. I made some great friends at NYIT and also managed to work with top professors, faculty and staff members. While at NYIT, I also worked with Amy a bit on some freelance projects for Fortune, Fortune Small Business and other big brands. It was the perfect way to stay in touch with Silicon Valley.

My point: There’s nothing wrong with taking a lesser position to regroup and refocus. Sometimes you need to call a time out or scale back your hours in order to figure out what to do next. You need “think time.” NYIT gave me a forty-hour work week, a rare offering these days.

2. Live Below Your Financial Means

I took a serious pay cut when I transitioned from IT media to NYIT. But my family didn’t go broke because we don’t carry big expenses, big leases, etc. When you live below your financial means it buys you flexibility and time. The flexibility to answer to yourself. And the time to research your next move.

3. Find New Ways to Network

By 2004, Ziff Davis Media (my former employer) came calling. They were building a face-to-face conference business for CIOs. The big question: Was I willing to live on the road and moderate CIO events five days a week? Frankly, I hadn’t done much public speaking. And Ziff wasn’t exactly on firm financial ground.

But I saw the bigger picture — shaking hands with CIOs in a new city each day would be a great way for me to build industry relationships. The job was high-stress but it ultimately got me back in the IT media game. And along the way, I’d be making connections that would last a lifetime.

Network like crazy and you’ll find new paths to pursue.

4. Find a Real Mentor

Frankly, I’m not a good listener. I march to my own beat. But when I meet someone brilliant I do tend to listen closely. Such was the case when I met Gary Bolles, a journalist-turned-consultant. I could tell you a lot about Gary. But I’ll offer just this: Even Google calls him for guidance.

Gary and I have worked together three times (1998-2001; 2004; 2005-2007). Gary trusted me with a few web projects when I knew nothing about the web. But I learned. And I listened. And gradually, one mentor became three mentors. Gary has worked closely with Ziff veterans Al Perlman and Mike Perkowski over the years. Amy Katz and I tapped into their expertise running larger media brands.

By late 2007, Amy and I were talking about launching our own company. Amy had the business and leadership skills. And I had the confidence (arrogance?) to think we could build media brands on blog platforms. Sometimes, arrogance pays.

But back to that point on finding a mentor. I don’t really think you can “find” a mentor when you’re looking for one. Instead, I spent a lot of time listening to smart people. Somewhere along the way, those smart people served as mentors. Bottom line: Hang out with people who are smarter than you. One of them may emerge as a mentor when you least expect it.

5. Don’t Do It All

Whether you’re starting an MSP business or jumping into a new company you can’t do it all. On the media front, I’ve seen numerous start-ups fail because they depended purely on editors with no sales/business expertise, or they depended on sales pros who didn’t know how to build community and content.

Regardless of your career move you can’t do everything. Don’t try to. You’ll fail.

Fortunately, I didn’t have to go out on my own. I put my faith in Amy and she put her faith in me. At first, it wasn’t easy. We spent a lot of time speaking with lawyers about the business partnership structure. But it was a healthy, necessary conversation.

6. Break Your Own Rules

In the 1990s, I was a print journalist. Earlier this decade I was a custom media and IT event expert. When Amy and I launched Nine Lives Media Inc., people assumed we would always be a blog company based on our first three media sites (MSPmentor, The VAR Guy and WorksWithU).

Over time, you could see some additional blog sites from us… yada, yada, yada … but we break our own rules.

In October 2009 we started beta testing MSPtweet and VARtweet. You’ll see the completed sites in early 2010. They’re not blog sites. They’re microblog sites that provide a direct connection between industry leaders and readers.

Remember: Microsoft could have stopped at BASIC and MS-DOS. Red Hat could have stopped at Linux. Disney could have stopped at Steamboat Willie. Take the best of what you have and push into new markets. Reinvent yourself. Constantly. You’ll never get bored.

Why Today?

I’m not sure what inspired me to write this particular blog entry today.

Perhaps it’s the economy. Perhaps it’s hearing stories from so many people who dislike their jobs. Perhaps it’s the fact Amy and I were pretty stressed this week. But at the end of each week we come to the same conclusion. We’re having a blast. And we can’t thank you enough for supporting our journey over the past two years.

Getting up, working on our blogs and microblogs, and interacting with all of you each day is a privilege. We promise to keep reinventing ourselves. I hope you do the same.

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Zoom. Another week just zipped by. As you may have noticed, we’re posting more managed services content than ever before. But there are still some items (and rumors…) we don’t have time to address. So, here are seven managed services blog entries we didn’t have a chance to write for the week ending Nov. 20.

7. Kaseya’s Cloud, and ROI Calculator: I expect to see a demo soon. As soon as I can share some details/perspectives, I will. In the meantime, Kaseya has introduced an ROI Calculator. Sure, a lot of these online calculators raise as many questions as they answer. But I think we’re all addicted to them.

6. It’s A Deal: Tigerpaw Software (professional services automation) and Telizent Communications (remote voice communication monitoring) are now integrated.

5. Dates Please: MSPmentor is nearly done with 2009 travel. If you’re scheduling an MSP-oriented conference for 2010 please let us know now. Calendars are filling up fast. Email Joe [at] NineLivesMediaInc.com. Thanks.

4. Getting Associated: Watch for NTRglobal to hook up with another MSP- and VAR-oriented association in the next few weeks. NTR, you’ll recall, recently connected with Computer Troubleshooters Global LLC. Meanwhile, Pronto Marketing is offering its services to the SMB Technology Network.

3. Open Source Advancements?: Frankly, I haven’t heard too much about open source in the MSP industry in recent months. Back in July, Nimsoft’s Ken Vanderweel mentioned 4 key questions MSPs need to ask about open source. Fast forward to the present and I’ve finally heard some open source-related news: Opengear, which increasingly targets MSPs, has launched Opengear Monitor, a centralized monitoring system that shows network maps, status and detailed service checks for console servers and all applications, computers and devices in distributed networks.

2. Bloggers Wanted: MSPmentor seeks contributing bloggers in London, UK and Sydney, Australia. We need to keep both opportunities vendor-neutral so these opportunities are not open to vendors, analysts, etc. Instead, we’re learning toward IT journalists who are familiar with the IT channel and managed services markets. Email Joe [at] NineLivesMediaInc.com.

1. Big Wallet: A certain networking giant has been visiting RMM (remote monitoring and management) vendor offices in recent weeks, doing some “discovery” about potential acquisitions. And the visits extend outside North America, including potential targets in Europe. If anyone wants to chat more about this you know where to reach me.

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masterIT, an MSPmentor 100 company, continues to develop some pretty impressive viral marketing messages to generate new business. The latest effort involves email marketing coupled with a quick video clip. Take a look, and here are some quick tips to help you master video marketing as well.

First, a little background: The video features J. Michael Drake, CEO of masterIT. I spotted the video in a marketing-oriented email from masterIT earlier today. But you can also view the video right here:

A few key takeaways for peer MSPs:

1. Drake doesn’t dress down. He looks more like a financial and business leader than a break-fix repair guy. And that’s exactly the point. If you’re running an MSP you need to look the part.

2. Drake is on message. Instead of rambling for 10 minutes and throwing around big technical terms, he simplifies the message so that business owners might say “tell me more.” Yes, Drake offers up a few tech terms (”hardware as a service”) but he loops the message back to business issues like budgeting, staffing and predictable costs.

3. masterIT’s brand is clearly represented. Drake and his team have worked hard on branding and positioning, and it shows.

4. Video is forever: This week, masterIT is marketing the video through email. But there will also be a Long Tail impact from the video. It will live forever on YouTube, generating a few views here and there each month. That’s free, perpetual advertising involving viewers who obviously are interested in the topic.

With point 4 in mind please ask yourself: Why don’t you have a video strategy yet? Don’t spend thousands of dollars. Instead, pick up a Cisco Flip camera ($150 to $200), a tripod ($20) and start playing with iMovie (free with Apple’s Macintoshes).

I know: You personally don’t have time to learn movie editing software. But somewhere in your neighborhood there lurks a college kid with video expertise who’s looking for an internship…

You’ll produce some really bad video at first. But practice makes perfect.

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MSPmentor is hosting a Webcast for Australia and New Zealand solutions providers that are seeking to master managed services. Join us November 25 at 11:00am EDT New South Wales for “How To Build Recurring Revenue for Your Managed Services Company.” Here’s a look at the content and our guest speakers.

During the webcast, you’ll learn at least six sales tips (actually, I bet we’ll double that number…) to help you accelerate your recurring revenue.

Our confirmed speakers include:

• Zaun Bhana, Operations Director, Leap Consulting
• Clayton Moulynox, GM, Evolve IT Australia
• Arnie Bellini, CEO, ConnectWise (the event’s sponsor)

Bhana and Moulynox represent two of Australia’s top MSPs. And Bellini’s sales expertise is unquestioned.

MSPmentor visited Australia in 2008  to get a feel for emerging MSP trends. As media company, I think we have a unique perspective regarding which North American MSP trends are now emerging in Australia and New Zealand. And we also understand which North American trends aren’t quite occurring down under.

If you’re located in Australia or New Zealand, I hope you’ll join us Nov. 25 for the Webcast.

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Yesterday, MSPmentor mentioned Google Apps’ growing momentum with managed service providers. Today, I want to take a closer look at Google Android and Google Chrome OS, and the potential implications for MSPs.

No doubt, you’ve noticed the Google Android operating environment landing on a growing number of smart phones — including the Motorola Droid. (Here’s an early review.) Next up, Google is developing Chrome OS, another Linux-based operating system for netbooks and other computing devices.

Plenty of MSP industry players are taking note of Google’s moves. I’m not suggesting that MSPs have to support Google’s SaaS and operating platforms tomorrow. But the writing does seem to be on the wall.

Making Their Moves

Here’s a quick sampling of who’s doing what with Android:

• Autotask LiveMobile currently runs on Android through a Web browser. Autotask also is evaluating whether to provide direct Android support too, according to CEO Bob Godgart. “Andriod also has this cool feature called App Wigets which might be an interesting way to send messages or notify a tech in real time that they have a new critical issue or notify then before they are about to miss an SLA,” Godgart adds.
• ConnectWise CEO Arnie Bellini confirms ConnectWise Mobile will support Android “very soon.”
• Kaseya is taking more of a wait-and-see approach. Potential Android support “Depends on market share and use,” notes Kaseya Executive VP Jim Alves.
• N-able is moving toward Android support but still sorting out timing. “The answer [on Android support] is yes, but when you ask?,” says CEO Gavin Garbutt. “It is on the radar and as Android matures I am sure this will become part of SMB IT and part of N-central.”
• I’ve got notes out to additional software providers and will keep you posted.

Why Android?

So why is Android causing such a stir? The answers are pretty simple:

• Plenty of folks are falling for Apple iPhone, but Apple’s closed approach has some folks (like me) considering longer-term alternatives.
• Windows Mobile has lost nearly one-third of its market share since 2008, mainly because Microsoft couldn’t match the iPhone’s App Store, according to this Wired article. Stated another way: Microsoft, the king of PC ISV relations, somehow overlooked mobile ISV relations. Ouch. Painful.
• Now along comes Android — which many pundits consider an open alternative to the iPhone. Sure, it’s going to take time for Android to mature. But from where I sit, Android is the obvious iPhone alternative since device makers are desperate to (A) compete with Apple and (B) gain leverage and freedom from Microsoft.

Despite some mixed reviews, the Motorola Droid is enjoing swift sales. And I suspect Android-centric devices will gain popularity as more business and consumer applications land on the device. As a result, MSPs will need to respond with Android support over then next two or three years.

Next Up: Chrome OS

Meanwhile, Google is polishing another operating system — called Chrome OS. Google announced the Chrome OS project in July 2009 with a simple blog entry that rocked the web.

Google is expected to preview Chrome OS, which is based on Linux, as soon as today. Most folks expect Chrome OS to target netbooks. As you may recall, rival Linux distributions (most notably Ubuntu) had considerable netbook momentum in 2008 and early 2009. But Microsoft gradually fought back with Windows XP and now Windows 7 on netbooks.

I think we’re going to see the pendulum swing back a bit to Linux netbooks in the months ahead, thanks to both Ubuntu and Chrome OS’s eventual arrival.

The Brand You Can’t Ignore

Yes, Linux has had hit-and-miss results on desktops and netbooks. But even if Chrome OS has some initial shortcomings, I believe Google’s brand could help Chrome OS succeed with device makers that are looking for even more freedom from Microsoft.

MSPs don’t need to run out and support Chrome OS and Android today. But keep both of them on your radars. To me, they both seem like market disrupters.

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During ConnectWise Partner Summit earlier this month, I sat down with CEO Arnie Bellini to discuss several key topics — including (1) collaboration between managed service providers (2) how VARs and MSPs can defend their local ground (”the last mile” for IT Nation) and (3) ConnectWise’s channel-oriented cloud strategy for partners. Here’s a closer look at each topic and our conversation.

Bellini raised several key points during his conference keynote. In short…

1. Bellini worries about big vendors and cloud companies chipping away at “the last mile” — the local customer bases that VARs and MSPs (”IT Nation”) service.
2. Bellini thinks the world needs a channel-centric cloud, where VARs and MSPs can virtualize their small business customers’ networks. Not just the applications but even the desktops.
3. Bellini believes solutions providers will be better served if they network up and collaborate — especially on long-tail opportunities (such as IP video surveillance) that may require IT assistance you don’t have internally.

In the MSPmentor FastChat videos below you can get a better feel for each of those three conversation points.

1. The Last Mile

Here, Bellini makes a compelling case that cloud vendors could threaten traditional MSPs and VARs. Plus, he describes how solutions providers (”IT Nation”) can fight back:

2. A Channel-centric Cloud?

Hosted ConnectWise is only part of the company’s broader, channel-centric cloud strategy. Here’s what Bellini had to say on that topic:

3. MSP-to-MSP Collaboration

During his keynote, Bellini called on IT Nation members to upload best practices information and share it across the ConnectWise community.

Privately, some conference attendees told me they were worried about sharing key marketing and sales materials with the broader community. But Bellini makes his case for the power of information sharing in this video:

Do Your Homework

Closing thought: It’s always difficult for MSPmentor to provide “equal time” to all vendors while we’re attending a specific vendor-hosted conference. This blog entry is devoted to ConnectWise’s efforts, but you can count on MSPmentor to continue rival coverage (of Autotask, Tigerpaw, etc.) as we catch up with those companies at future events.

So don’t view our videos and individual blog entries in a vacuum. Be sure to read up on rivals and broader industry moves. And check the MSPmentor FastChat video center for interviews with a range of MSP industry experts.

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Please join MSPmentor for our next webcast today (Wednesday, November 18) at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. We’ll focus on real-world case studies from two prominent MSPs — Alpheon Corp. and Sabio Information Services. They’ll describe how they reduce customer power consumption and energy costs even as they boost their own margins.

During a meeting yesterday with EUS Networks — a solutions provider in New York — company co-founder Jeronimo Romero described how he launched the business with a partner back in 2001. When I asked him who actually runs day-to-day operations and who manages sales, Romero’s answer surprised me. Here’s why.

Neither Romero nor his business partner actually run the business. Instead, they hired a chief operating officer (COO) to oversee the day-to-day operations.

The reason: Romero and his business partner believe they are best equipped to drive customer engagements and sales. “Our customers like dealing with the company owners,” says Romero. “So we both stay out in front of our customers and do business development.”

At a time when so many MSPs express a need to find and hire sales help, EUS Networks solved the dilemma by looking inside — to the company founders — and offloading day-to-day management responsibilities to a COO.

I wonder: Are other MSPs following suit? Should they?

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Anecdotal evidence suggests Google Apps is starting to catch on with managed service providers. A case in point: Roughly 16 percent of MSPs completing our third-annual MSPmentor 100 survey say they are offering Google Apps to their customers. How has Google built a following among MSPs? The answer is pretty simple.

First, a little background: Our MSPmentor 100 survey continues through December 11 and we’ll publish complete results in Q1 2010. Since the survey is still open, the Google Apps response rate can certainly rise or fall. But so far, 16 percent of MSPs are promoting Google Apps to their customers.

At first glance 16 percent isn’t all that big a number. But consider this: Google really didn’t have a Google Apps Reseller channel program until early 2009.

Admittedly, many MSPs continue to dismiss Google because:

• Google Apps is so inexpensive ($50 per user per year) there isn’t much room for VARs and MSPs to make money. The typical engagement allows partners to make $10 per user per year. Translation: A 20-person small business deployment yields a scant $200 to the channel partner — annually.
• Some MSPs worry they’ll lose control of their customers if suddenly desktop productivity applications are shifted into Google’s cloud.

Hitting the Road

Still, a growing minority of MSPs are kicking Google Apps’ tires. One reason: Google attended a range of managed services events and channel conferences in 2009, including Autotask Community Live, ConnectWise Partner Summit and CompTIA Breakaway.

During those conferences, Google channel managers like Jeff Ragusa outlined how VARs and MSPs can use Google Apps to spark larger managed services conversations with customers. Also of note: ConnectWise CEO Arnie Bellini recently visited Google to discuss the cloud computing and managed services markets.

The key takeaway: I’m not suggesting the MSP masses will embrace Google Apps. But a growing number of folks are taking the plunge. And I think we’ve all learned not to underestimate the search giant.

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