Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Clearing Up the Cloudiness

By: Len DiCostanzo, SVP and Dean of Autotask Academy

Even while traveling through sunny Southern California this month, I couldn’t help but notice the noise from the cloud grow louder. The scramble for IT service providers to understand what the cloud is, teach what the cloud is and bring cloud offerings to market is in full swing. Perhaps most interesting is how the cloud hype has attracted all the attention, with managed services moving into the background. At the conference for MSPs I’m attending in Orange County, there was even a track solely devoted to cloud! However, just as with other industry disruptors like managed services, Application Service Providers (ASPs), Software as a Service (SaaS) and the host of marketing spins on IT service delivery offerings, the cloud will eventually quiet down, and reality will set in. In the meantime, how can we cut through the clutter and just make the cloud part of what we do every day?

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

6 Ways Automation Drives Costs Out of Product Sales

By: Len DiCostanzo, SVP and Dean of Autotask Academy

There is some truth to generalizations made by the solution provider community that product sales margins are on a declining trend and that it’s too hard to sell product. But, I argue if you identify and drive out the hidden costs in the product sales process, you’ll notice an upward trend of your profitability. In addition, you will recognize an increased opportunity to sell more services and bolt on your managed service offerings.