MSP Radar

Cisco OnPlus Dies; Meraki Cloud Managed Networking Takes Hold

mspradar — Sun, 19 May 2013 21:00:04 +0000

Cisco Systems killed the Cisco OnPlus managed service. Now, Cisco's Meraki-based cloud-managed networking devices are earning more attention. Time for managed services providers (MSPs) to adjust accordingly.

Barracuda Firewall Release Spurs Upmarket Push

mspradar — Fri, 17 May 2013 21:00:17 +0000

Barracuda debuted a Web application firewall aimed at defending against DDoS attacks that takes the firm a few steps further into its upmarket journey. And it's hoping the security and storage channel will recognize its enterprise efforts.

Sophos to Boost Partner Profits With Utility Billing

mspradar — Fri, 17 May 2013 18:00:40 +0000

Sophos claims this new scheme will allow partners to rake in more profits.

SAP Starts to Shape Channel Ecosystem for HANA

mspradar — Fri, 17 May 2013 18:00:20 +0000

SAP rolled out its HANA Enterprise Cloud partner program, which offers access to sales enablement tools, best practices and other resources.

20% Proof: What MSPs Can Learn From Mass-Market Cloud

mspradar — Fri, 17 May 2013 18:00:03 +0000

The mass market has a valuable lesson to teach MSPs - it ain't what you've got, it's what you do with it that counts. So when you're creating your cloud service as an MSP, stick to your guns. Stick to what you know. Your world hasn't actually changed because your infrastructure looks more cloudy. Your customers need the same skills from you that they've always needed.

MSPmentor Blog

CA's Data Center, IT Management Adds Eaton's Power Management

mspradar — Fri, 17 May 2013 16:40:59 +0000

Could small to mid-sized datacenters become an emerging target management customer for MSPs? A new partnership between IT management technology provider CA Technologies (NASDAQ:CA) and power management specialist Eaton, offers MSPs a way to differentiate as they approach this growing market. Here are the details.

IDC: Android, iOS Devices Dominate, But Windows Phone Gains Ground

mspradar — Fri, 17 May 2013 14:59:21 +0000

Bring your own device (BYOD) has focused the attention of managed services providers (MSPs) on consumer trends around mobile devices, but how much does the mobile operating system (OS) market really change? IDC's First Quarter Mobile Phone Tracker provides some fresh insights into shifts in the mobile device market.

Q&A: Top BDR Questions and Answers from MSPs

mspradar — Fri, 17 May 2013 14:59:21 +0000

Got questions about backup and disaster recovery? Step into our BDR classroom and check out our top questions and answers from MSPs about this technology and business opportunity.

Adobe Cloud-only Model Comes Under Fire

mspradar — Fri, 17 May 2013 14:00:23 +0000

Adobe is being accused, via an online campaign, of milking SMBs as it pursues cloud-only model on future Creative products.

Dell’s Bigger Problem is Acceleration

mspradar — Fri, 17 May 2013 14:00:23 +0000

Dell remains mired in the battle over who will control its future and what roll the PC will play in its restoration to profitability and growth. The real issue, though, is how Dell can accelerate the revenue and profitability of its enterprise products.

Brocade Unveils Channel Finance Offer

mspradar — Fri, 17 May 2013 14:00:23 +0000

Subscription Plus aims to drive more customer acquisition through the channel with new flexible offers.

SOP Friday: Removing a Client from Managed Services

mspradar — Fri, 17 May 2013 09:28:25 +0000

Whether you like it or not, sometimes you need to remove clients. Of course there are many reasons for this: You fire them, they quit you, they go out of business, they are merged with another company, etc. If they are managed service clients, you've got some cleaning up to do.

This is a time to be particularly careful about money. One of the best policies you can put in place is that ALL work - 100% of everything - must be paid in advance once a client gives notice. After all, once the relationship is over, there's not as much motivation to pay in a timely manner. Collect a small block of prepaid labor and plan to rebate the unused portion when all the work is complete.

Awhile back we talked about new clients and I posted a Checklist for Setting Up a New Client on Managed Service. Today we're going to reverse that process with a different checklist. Of course there are a few more steps to add.

A Few Notes

First, you should give the client a "What's Next" Memo so they understand your policies from their cancellation notice to the end of the contract. This memo should include the following:

- Note that all labor to remove the client from managed services is billable (as an add/move/change it would not be covered under managed service).

- Note that the machines may be left in an unsafe state. Unless there's a billable ticket to turn on updates of some type, the machines will not receive critical updates after you remove your RMM (remote monitoring and management) agent. If anti-virus is included in your service, the machines will be without anti-virus unless there's a billable ticket to install something.

- Note reminding the client that your contract forbids them from hiring your employees without compensating you.

- Note that your company has and will abide by a non-disclosure agreement with the client company.

- Note that you will assist the client's new tech support (internal or external) with the transition, and that all labor related to that will be billable.

- Note that you will be giving the client all documentation and a summary of all outstanding issues with their machines.

Second, if the client purchases other services from you, or receives services "bundled" with the monthly maintenance service, you need to determine whether any of these services will continue. For example, if you bundle spam filtering and anti-virus in your monthly offering, is the client going to continue buying these services from you?

Clarify with the client that other contracts will remain in place (e.g., BDR, HAAS, or telephone).

Basically, you want to be as friendly and accommodating as possible. And you want to make sure you keep the client as informed as possible. Leaving with class may serve you well down the road. Who knows, you might get this client back one day.

Here's a sample Checklist for Removing a Client From Managed Services. This checklist routes from the administrative department to the tech department and then back to admin.

Remove Client from Managed Services – Checklist

Client: __________

Date: __________

Date service will stop: __________

Who at client office is our primary contact during transition? __________

Contact Phone __________

Contact Email __________

If there's another consultant we need to work with, note here: __________

Contact Phone __________

Contact Email __________

Routing Step One - Admin Dept.

- Review client's account

- - If there are any accounts receivable, make arrangements for payment.

- Contact client to inform them that all work to remove them from service is billable and all labor must be paid in advance.

- Collect prepayment of $__________ for __________ hours labor.

- Cancel automated recurring billing at merchant service.

- Set expiration date for Managed Service Monthly Recurring billing contracts in PSA.

- - Leave Billable Time and Materials contract in place and active.

- - Leave other monthly contracts in place (BDR, telephones, etc.).

- - If client will continue with "un-bundled" services, create recurring billing for these.

- If necessary, change client "terms" in QuickBooks.

- Will client still receive our newsletter? (Yes)(No)

- - If no, remove them from the newsletter mailing list.

Routing Step Two - Tech Dept.

- Create a billable service request to remove client from managed service.

- Note: All work related to removing agents, services, etc. from managed services is billable and should be logged against this ticket.

- If removing email filtering:

- - Create a billable ticket to remove from spam filter service.

- - Determine where email should be pointed.

- - Update MX records and other DNS as needed

- - Test that email is flowing before you close this ticket.

- Create a client summary report of all existing issues and tickets.

- - Service manager will email this to client.

- Verify that all documentation is up to date.

- - Deliver a copy of client documentation to client in paper or electronic format.

- - Be sure that client has a narrative description of their backup system.

- Determine whether any open tickets need to be worked before service is discontinued. Service manager will determine whether each of these is covered by the contract that is ending or is billable.

- Close all open tickets for this client that will not be worked. Add a note to each that the ticket was closed without completing service due to end of contract.

When all tickets are closed . . .

- Remove Continuum (or other) RMM agents.

- - Note: unless there is a ticket to set up automatic updates or another service, we are ONLY removing our agents.

- Update the daily monitoring documentation so we don't report all those machines as missing.

- Update Managed Services Grid

Routing Step Three - Admin Dept.

- If the client will be 100% gone, set the expiration date for the Time and Materials contract in the PSA.

When all invoices are paid and everything is settled . . .

- File all paperwork related to this client.

- Remove paper contract(s) for this client from the "current contracts" folder and place in client folder.

- Add this completed checklist to client folder

### end of checklist ###

Comments welcome!

- - - - -

About this Series

SOP Friday - or Standard Operating System Friday - is a series dedicated to helping small computer consulting firms develop the right processes and procedures to create a successful and profitable consulting business.

Find out more about the series, and view the complete "table of contents" for SOP Friday at SmallBizThoughts.com.

- - - - -

Next week's topic: Managing Temporary Files

:-)

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Help Desk

mspradar — Fri, 17 May 2013 07:00:10 +0000

The Help Desk (sometimes called… Read More...

The post Help Desk appeared first on MSPAlliance.

RSA: IAM Will Require Paradigm Shift

mspradar — Fri, 17 May 2013 00:57:25 +0000

RSA says that the future of identity and access management solutions will be contingent on its ability to adapt to shifting technological tides and advanced threats. That means that with the infusion of analytics and security intelligence, the IAM market is far from stagnant.

Yes, Public Cloud MSPs Can Be Certified and Audited

mspradar — Fri, 17 May 2013 00:57:00 +0000

We get this question a… Read More...

The post Yes, Public Cloud MSPs Can Be Certified and Audited appeared first on MSPAlliance.

The Road to Converged Infrastructure

mspradar — Thu, 16 May 2013 23:00:18 +0000

While the transition toward converged infrastructure in the data center has been steadily gaining momentum, it's looking like 2013 and 2014 are when the bulk of most IT organizations will be making this shift. A recent survey of 100,000 IT professionals conducted by Zenoss, a provider of IT management software, found that while almost one-third of those professionals said they have already made the change to a converged infrastructure, a little more than half are just beginning the journey. That's good news for solution providers in the channel that should view this shift as a significant opportunity to sell not only new gear, but also consulting services that help IT organizations re-engineer management processes across the data center.

MSPAlliance® Announces Educational Training on Creating Trust and Transparency in Your Managed Services and Cloud Practice

mspradar — Thu, 16 May 2013 23:00:09 +0000

Webcast to feature MSP Executives, … Read More...

The post MSPAlliance® Announces Educational Training on Creating Trust and Transparency in Your Managed Services and Cloud Practice appeared first on MSPAlliance.

AirWatch Raises Another $25M for Global Expansion, R&D and Content Collaboration

mspradar — Thu, 16 May 2013 23:00:03 +0000

Mobile Device Management vendor AirWatch has raised another $25 million in venture capital funding which the company plans to use for global expansion, scaling its research and development operation and investing in development and sales of its secure content management and collaboration platform.

10 Innovation Myths MSPs Must Overcome

mspradar — Thu, 16 May 2013 23:00:03 +0000

What are the 10 biggest innovation myths, and how can managed services providers (MSPs) overcome the myths? Penton's VP of HR offers some potential guidance that may educate MSPs.

Netsuite Targets Manufacturing with New Release

mspradar — Thu, 16 May 2013 17:00:28 +0000

The Cloud-based ERP vendor goes after manufacturing, a sector CEO Zach Nelson calls “the last industry that hasn’t moved to the cloud” with new functionality in its flagship business management suite.