Run Your IT Business like You're Going to Sell It: Maximize Profit Now and Build Business Value for the Future

Do any of these topics come into your mind regarding your IT business on a daily basis?

• Profit
• Growth
• Insurance
• Stability
• Retirement/Moving On

Unless your business is really a hobby and you don't need the money, it's impossible not to have at least two of these items on your mind every day. When you own a business, these topics are what operating that business is all about.

Whether you plan on selling your business ever or never, setting your business up as if you were going to sell in the near future is the best way to maximize your personal income now. As a result you can actually have something of value to sell should you choose to, need to or have the opportunity come knocking on your door.

Register now and join Autotask’s Len DiCostanzo and Cogent Growth Partners' George Sierchio for an informative session on July 17th at 1PM EST to learn:

• All the right reasons for running your business as if you want to someday sell it
• Possible exit strategies available as an IT business owner and how they differ
• How to maximize your business value and profitability to you and to a future buyer
• Why planning/preparing to sell is a self made insurance policy
• What positives can happen now as a result of structuring your business for a future sale
• How Autotask’s IT Business Management solution can help you maximimize profit now and build business value  for the future.

Understand Your IT Business Model to Maximize Performance

Time and energy are precious resources to all business owners. Do you have a process for quickly reviewing financial performance on a regular basis to know where you are today and where your business is headed?

On Wednesday, March 14 at 11:00 AM US ET, join Autotask’s Len DiCostanzo and CoreConnex’s Tony Lael to gain insight into which areas you need to focus on to optimize your IT services business and measurably improve your financial performance compared to your peers. Teresa Bell from Citrus Networking Group will also be joining to share how she optimizes and measures her own IT services business.

During this session you'll learn:

• How to find out where to focus in order to optimize your business and improve performance
• How to create and follow a regular process for determining priorities
• How you can better monitor the financial performance of your contracts and your company
• How to benchmark your performance against peers and better forecast your future
• How financial dashboards can help give you the visibility you need to manage the process

Register today!

Specialize to Compete - But Don’t Forget the Basics

By: Bob Godgart, Founder, Chairman, and Chief Visionary Officer

In the last few months I’ve spent a lot of time on the road, at events and visiting with countless VARs, MSPs and other technology solution providers. And, I can tell you first hand that this is an industry in motion! As technologies and markets evolve, solution providers are carving out their own unique market segments, areas of specialization and core competencies in order to compete and grow their businesses.

Focusing on Profitability Using a PSA Tool

By: Bob Godgart, Chief Visionary Officer

Fortunately, today's new IT business management software tools promise a variety of ways to optimize the profitability in your managed services business. They furnish a range of features and functions for handling projects and service contracts that let MSPs more easily define and measure key metrics and get a much clearer picture of their profitability.

What are some of those features?

Build Solution Sets to Sell Products AND Services With Confidence

By: Len DiCostanzo, SVP and Dean of Autotask Academy

You may have started your IT company as an IT consultant, selling professional or technical services by the hour. Typically, you’ll let your clients buy products from another source, maybe even a source you recommend, because you feel that it’s just too hard to make money with all the competition and small margins.

Then you realize the downside to this strategy when you lose a client to a competitor who sells products, but then bolts on the associated servicing of those products in a one-stop transaction. Even loyal clients might not think they are violating your business relationship, feeling like they are simply buying from someone something you don’t offer.

Back To The Future For IT Product Sales

By: Len DiCostanzo, SVP and Dean of Autotask Academy

During my 20+ years as the founder and CEO of a successful IT solutions company, I saw first-hand the importance of evolving our business models to meet the needs and capabilities of our clients and our own companies. And, as I work with our customers and countless others in the channel now, I see that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Automate to Achieve the Ideal Hybrid IT Business Model

By: Bob Godgart, Founder, Chairman, and Chief Visionary Officer

For years the prevailing wisdom has been for IT solution providers to focus less on moving products, and more toward a business model built primarily on services delivery. The conventional thinking was that product sales involve too much work for too little margin, while services allow for more predictable and stable recurring revenue.

While this is true, there are downsides to a strict focus on services. Three important ones come to mind:

What Service Providers Can Learn From the Industrial Age

By: Bob Godgart, Founder, Chairman, and Chief Visionary Officer

The word "efficiency" was born out of the manufacturing age as a concept for increasing the output of factories. In its simplest form, the idea is to get more coming out of the factory from the components and raw materials you bring in. This is done by optimizing the manufacturing process, and often times bringing in new tools to speed up and/or automate those process.