CompTIA Quick Start to Social Strategies for Business Use

While the impact of social technologies on many business processes continues to grow, the use of social media tools and platforms in marketing and sales has become well-established.

On Wednesday, March 28 at 1:00 PM US ET, join Susan Cato, CompTIA Senior Director, New Media Strategies, and Rich Akullian, Autotask Online Marketing Manager, as they describe the social landscape and explain the steps towards becoming a social enterprise.

This webinar is packed with tips and tactics for leveraging social media in your marketing and lead generation activities. Discover how to:

• Use social media to increase your online visibility
• Drive more qualified traffic to your site
• Turn that traffic into leads and sales

You'll also find lists of tools and resources to help you manage your time and measure the results of your social media marketing.

BONUS: Attendees will receive a complimentary copy of the CompTIA Quick Start Guide to Social Media for Marketing.

Register now!

The ABCs of Managed Services: RMM & NOC

Presenting the Autotask - Continuum Integration


It’s an established fact that to deliver managed services properly – and profitably – you need a comprehensive and seamless fusion between your IT business management platform and an intelligent Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) solution.

But imagine the possibilities of combining an RMM with an industry-leading Network Operations Center (NOC) to form a critical integration and an end-to-end managed services solution.

On Monday, March 19 at 1:00 PM US ET, please join us for an informative webinar presenting the integration between Autotask's business management and Continuum's RMM platforms and learn how you can:

• experience significant time savings
• streamline the process from issue to resolution
• deliver 24x7 support with ease
• organize, integrate, automate and optimize your IT business

What You’ll Learn
In just one hour, Owner of Empower Information Systems, Jason Holbrook, will demonstrate how he builds his business and reduces costs by taking advantage of this powerful integration. This is a unique opportunity to see both products working together in action!

Autotask's SVP Community & Business Development, Len DiCostanzo, and Continuum's VP Products, Dee Zepf, will be on hand to introduce their respective systems.

Who Should Attend
Anyone who is looking for more information about Autotask, Continuum, or current partners curious about how a peer uses best practices with the integration.

Register today!

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!

Transform Your Business with a Hybrid IT Services Catalog

Years ago, it was easy enough to deliver break/fix services: you received a call from a distressed client and quickly went to work diagnosing and mediating the issue. Then as your business matured, you probably added professional services to your offerings, but perhaps it wasn't enough to sustain client satisfaction and your business's profitability.

Within the last decade, the industry trend to managed services forced you to re-examine your operations and business model. And just when you mastered that challenge, the buzz around cloud services exploded and further complicated the service delivery landscape.

Are you now wondering what could be next?

You're invited to listen to an insightful presentation led by Len DiCostanzo, Autotask SVP of Community & Business Development and QuoteWerks VP Brian Laufer. On Tuesday, April 19 at 11 AM US ET, Len and Brian will guide you through building a profitable IT services catalog to use to transform your business.

Learn how to organize the products and services you deliver now, and how to incorporate cloud services into your current offerings. Len and Brian will share:

• Industry best practices and standards to transform your business
• Methodologies to define services categories in your hybrid catalog
• Where the 'cloud' fits in your catalog strategy
• Why balancing product sales and services drives profitability and revenue
• Determining your balance with a vertical focus using solution sets
• How to align your catalog with the four critical stages to securing a client for life
• How an à la carte menu makes it easy for clients to buy from you
• How automating catalog sales reduces costs, increases profits

Register now!

The Benefits of Being a Member of the Autotask Community

With 2012 underway and 2011 in recent memory, I’d like to take a moment to celebrate our joint successes from 2011 and highlight what you can look forward to in 2012 as a member of the Autotask Community. Whether you are a current Autotask user and part of the Community already, or considering joining us, this webinar will ensure you understand the benefits of being part of the best Community on the planet.

During this webinar on Friday, March 9 at 11:00 AM US ET, Len DiCostanzo, Senior VP Community and Business Development, will share:

• Our joint successes in 2011
• The Autotask leadership team leading us into 2012 and beyond
• Our service and support delivery options and processes
• Community programs available to you to help drive revenue, and establish yourself as industry experts with your clients and peers
• Community councils you can participate on to provide feedback and establish relationships with peers, vendor partners and Autotask resources
• Upcoming product roadmap items and our new feature request system
• Why Autotask Community Live 2012 will be the best conference you attend all year!

Register now!

Taking Advantage of the Changing Landscape for IT Services

The good news is, despite everything you have heard about the global economy, changing technologies, shifting business models and increased competition, if you deliver technology solutions you are in exactly the right business – and at a very exciting time!

In this special, one-hour webinar on Tuesday, March 6 at 11 AM US ET, Autotask CEO and 2012 CRN Channel Chief, Mark Cattini, will describe the macro social, economic and technology trends that are reshaping opportunities for solution providers – and how you can take advantage of them to build a more predictable and profitable business for the future, including:

• The rising global demand for IT services
• Changing IT consumption patterns of SMBs
• The democratization of software purchasing
• The impact of BYOD and BYOA
• The impact of SaaS and the cloud

Autotask SVP Community & Business Development Len DiCostanzo hosts this distinctive conversation with his fellow Channel Chief. Citing current research and real world examples, and drawing on more than two decades’ C-level experience in the channel, Mark will connect the dots, describe where the new opportunities are, and how you can leverage them to guide your clients through the coming changes.

Register now!

Streamline Your ISV Business with Automation, Transparency

Just like many solutions providers, ISVs (independent software vendors) can be challenged to find a process for providing seamless, agile solutions and responsive support to customers.

Software developer Unifund was no different. The ISV was struggling against internal silos that slowed customer sales and support until it discovered Autotask.

Today, the ISV enjoys an internal transparency and automated workflow that has led to improved customer service, faster and more effective solution deployments, and increased revenues.

Want to learn more about how Autotask can support your ISV business growth? Register now for this upcoming webinar on Thursday, March 8 at 11 AM US ET!

Sean Marlow, director of field services operations for Unifund, will share his experience with Autotask and explain how the ISV has utilized Autotask to empower better communications, higher staff utilization levels, and improved customer satisfaction.

Moshe Binyamin of Autotask will also explain how Autotask can move your ISV business toward scalable, profitable growth.

Register now!

Effectively Using Social Networking to Build Your IT Business

It's nearly impossible for any business to refrain from social networking. But to make sense of all the different methods, recommendations, and tools can be a real challenge.

In this one-hour webinar on Thursday, February 16 at 11 AM US ET, independent IT business consultant Richard Tubb will present an introduction to social networking focused specially for IT business owners.

Rich Akullian from Autotask will be on hand to talk about how to incorporate social media in the IT business management platform's CRM module.

Register now for these key takeaways:

• principles for using social networking
• ROI of social networking
• social networking vs. social media
• tips for Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook
• business reasons to blog
• what are content loops and how to use them
• third-party tools to better manage social sites
• how social networking differs from traditional business networking

Register now!

How to Leverage the Popularity of the Cloud to Make it Rain

Cloud computing: technology revolution or marketing gimmick?

You will hear arguments on both sides. But one fact is beyond argument: the cloud has fundamentally altered the way technology services are bought and sold. Ignore this change at your peril!

The MSPs and VARs that capitalize on this shift and update their selling strategies to reflect the popularity of cloud computing will enjoy a more reliable stream of clients, revenue and income. More importantly, these businesses will cement a competitive advantage that will continue to pay dividends down the road.

Join Kutenda CEO Mike Cooch and Autotask Online Marketing Manager Rich Akullian on Wednesday, February 15 at 1 PM US ET as they identify the challenges and opportunities facing IT service providers in today’s rapidly changing business environment.

Don’t miss your opportunity to discover:

• How the cloud has changed the rules of game—and why yesterday’s selling methodologies won’t work today
• Why it’s imperative that you become a change agent
• The simple lesson about sales that all IT service providers must learn
• The 3 core skills that top salespeople always focus on and mediocre salespeople rarely do
• How to match your selling process to the client buying process (a key ingredient for selling success)
• The 4 places to look for qualified leads
• How to embrace your selling role (even if you’re not a so-called “natural born seller”)
• How to know when the time is right to close the deal and how to do it right
• The top 3 misconceptions preventing most VARs and MSPs from reaching their earning potential

The cloud has the potential to be either a costly disruption or a lucrative opportunity for your business—it’s up to you!

BONUS: Register today and enter to win a list of 1,000 local contacts! We’ll be drawing winners from our list of registrants after the event. Register now to enter your submission today.

Register now!

Overcoming Road Blocks in the IT Sales Cycle

When most technology solution business owners first open their doors, they often don't think about the many potential marketing hurdles potentially blocking their path to success.

However when these obstacles do arise, most entrepreneurs roll up their sleeves and go to work trying to devise a way forward.

Well then what could ever stop these extremely ambitious IT professionals in their tracks? A well-known phrase is 'you can be your own worst enemy'. It's possible you might inadvertently be creating some self-inflicted marketing challenges!

To find out the top five most common roadblocks technology firms impose on themselves, register now for this upcoming webinar on Tuesday, February 14 at 1 PM US ET!

Join John Black of MSP Telemarketing as he reveals several marketing 'patches' that can be applied to your current marketing campaigns. Rich Akullian of Autotask will also present on how to use the Autotask CRM to track your relationships better with an integrated IT business management platform.


Register now!

Top Considerations Before Designing Your Managed Service Packages

Are you looking to implement new managed services and make more money in 2012? In this one-hour webinar, industry professionals talk about how to build a successful migration strategy for your customers!

On Wednesday, February 8 at 11:00 AM US ET, join Stefanie Hammond, Senior Partner Development Specialist of N-able Technologies and Len DiCostanzo, Senior VP Community & Business Development of Autotask as they share their insights on the importance of understanding the needs of your target customer when developing your managed services programs. This seminar will also review the different types of programs that exist on the Program Development spectrum and discuss the typical core and optional features that MSPs include in their various program packages.

In this session you'll learn:

• The different types of Managed Service offerings in the marketplace from a la carte to Fully Managed.
• What you need to ensure you are ready to go to market.
• Common features and elements that are included, optional, or excluded from service offerings.

This webinar is ideal for:

• Any service provider that is currently living in a break/fix world and is tired of the constant fire-fighting that T&M work brings! This webinar will provide you with the foundational knowledge needed to evolve your business out of the traditional break/fix model and provide key strategies on how to move into the Managed Services space.
• Any young MSP that is relatively new to the MSP space and is struggling on how to best design their Managed Services practice.

Register now!

CompTIA Quick Start to Virtualization

Virtualization has become a critical component of many IT strategies and is a foundational technology in cloud computing.

Please register for this webcast on Tuesday, February 7 at 1 PM US ET to understand this underlying element of the cloud. Terry Hedden, Founder & CEO of Infinity Technology Solutions and Rich Akullian, Online Marketing Producer of Autotask, will present on helping firms better address issues such as cost structure and security.

In addition to learning how virtualization works and the benefits and issues, Terry will review how you can get started including:

• understanding your workloads
• building the business case
• training your staff
• examining IT policies and plans
• starting small
• monitoring and adjusting as needed

Register now!

Streamline Your Billing with the Autotask - FreshBooks Integration

Autotask is pleased to announce its newest integration with FreshBooks - the SaaS-based online billing and invoicing software!

If you're looking to shorten the billing cycle and invoice your IT products and services online, join this webinar on Thursday, January 12 at 1 PM US ET to hear our featured panel give an introductory overview of Autotask and FreshBooks working together! There will also be time for an interactive Q&A period with the speakers.

Key features of this integration give users the ability to:

• Seamlessly export Autotask invoices to FreshBooks
• Automatically update Autotask account information in FreshBooks
• Automatically create Autotask billing items in FreshBooks
• Automatically update FreshBooks invoice numbers in Autotask
• Invoice customers and accept payment online
• Create payment notifications and reminders
• Synchronize an unlimited number of Autotask-to-FreshBooks customers and transactions

“Businesses shouldn’t have to spend hours each month manually synchronizing data across multiple cloud applications,” says Steve Mendoza, co-founder of itDuzzit.

“The Autotask FreshBooks integration demonstrates how itDuzzit can automate the integration process and help companies save time, save money, and get the most out of their cloud applications."

Register now!

Boost Your Efficiency, Predictability and Profitability

Please Note: This webinar will be broadcast at 11 AM Sydney, AU time.

Sponsored by N-able Technologies:

You are invited to this introductory webinar to learn about improving your business's efficiency, predictability and profitability. Please join us to see how Autotask can help you grow in 2012!

Next Wednesday, January 11 at 11 AM AU EDT, Adam Ross, Regional Sales Manager for Autotask, and Nathan Franks, Director & Principal Consultant for Dynamic Business Technologies will take you through a month in the life of a new IT services client.

In this insightful hour, you'll see how IT business management & remote monitoring software can help you better manage all the stages of the client lifecycle, including:

• Sales & Opportunity Management
  creating a lead, opportunity and quote, then winning and closing the opportunity
  
• Contracts & Service Desk
  creating a contract and completing associated service tickets
  
• Billing & Invoicing
  check timesheets, generate and send invoices, monitor client contract values
  
• Client-Facing Reporting
  provide clients visibility into past tickets and alert issues, and SLA performance
  
• Internal Reporting
  allow management to mine business intelligence such as profitability and staff utilisation

Register Now!

New Integration: Autotask & Cisco OnPlus Service

Are you looking to streamline the monitoring of your clients' networks and networked devices and the proactive management of issue alerts and service tickets?

Autotask and Cisco have a solution!

The Cisco OnPlus Service integrates with Autotask's Service Desk module to alert partners about ongoing issues happening on their clients' networks. OnPlus automatically opens service tickets based on occurring events, assigns them to a dedicated queue in Autotask, and notifies the pre-determined resource.

To learn how this can provide enhanced value in your managed services practice, join this webinar for an introductory overview of Autotask's IT business management software, the Cisco OnPlus Service, and a brief walk-through of the integration.

Featured speakers include: Len DiCostanzo, Autotask SVP of Community & Business Development; Efrat Noy, Cisco Product Manager; and Lisa Jenkins, Cisco Business Development Manager.

Mark your calendars and register now for Thursday, January 26 at 1 PM US ET!

Transform Your Business with a Hybrid IT Services Catalog

Sponsored by N-able Technologies:

Years ago, it was easy enough to deliver break/fix services: you received a call from a distressed client and quickly went to work diagnosing and mediating the issue. Then as your business matured, you probably added professional services to your offerings, but perhaps it wasn't enough to sustain client satisfaction and your business's profitability.

Within the last decade, the industry trend to managed services forced you to re-examine your operations and business model. And just when you mastered that challenge, the buzz around cloud services exploded and further complicated the service delivery landscape.

Are you now wondering what could be next?

You're invited to listen to an insightful presentation led by Len DiCostanzo, Autotask SVP of Community & Business Development on Tuesday, January 10 at 1 PM US ET. In this hour, Len will guide you through building a profitable IT services catalog to use to transform your business.
Learn how to organize the products and services you deliver now, and how to incorporate cloud services into your current offerings. Len will share:

• Industry best practices and standards to transform your business
• Methodologies to define services categories in your hybrid catalog
• Where the 'cloud' fits in your catalog strategy
• Why balancing product sales and services drives profitability and revenue
• Determining your balance with a vertical focus using solution sets
• How to align your catalog with the four critical stages to securing a client for life
• How an à la carte menu makes it easy for clients to buy from you
• How automating catalog sales reduces costs, increases profits

Register now!

Separate Yourself From Your Competition by Recruiting the Best Talent

In today’s market, it is imperative to stand out from your competition. Nothing impacts how your clients view you more than your engineers' ability to properly design and implement your technology solution offerings. In other words, the talent that makes up your team separates you from your competition.

On Tuesday, January 24, 2012 at 1 PM US ET, join Mark Bier and Todd Billiar of VAR Staffing and Rich Akullian of Autotask as they share key insights on how to quickly identify and recruit the talent that makes an impact.

Actionable take-aways from this webinar will include:

• How to save time by reviewing only high-caliber, pre-screened candidates who can make an immediate impact on your business
• The negative impact of a "bad" hire
• How staffing levels contribute to your ability to remain nimble in a competitive environment

Register now!

Learn to Hire The Best and Avoid The Rest

Sponsored by Autotask

You are systematic with technology, accounting, and possibly sales. Why not with your employees? The starting point is to adopt a proven, 10-step hiring system to improve the way you find, qualify, hire, and onboard superstar employees. The Success With People HIRE THE BEST AVOID THE REST system is your solution. Here is what you will learn in this interactive webinar on Tuesday, December 20 at 1 PM US ET:

1. Systematic Power: Why a complete system is more effective than your current method of hiring.
2. Team Member Strategic Plans: How to create “job descriptions on steroids” that convince great candidates to work for you.
3. Recruiting: Five ways to find top performers that are not considering your company today.
4. Interviewing: 15 Tips to fully interview people so you don’t hire Dr. Jekyll and get Mr. Hyde.
5. Talent Assessments: How to really understand someone’s natural behaviors and motivational values on the job.
6. Background Checks: Six facts you must know before hiring anyone and why.
7. Reference Checks: Seven questions that get people to open up when checking references.
8. Extend The Offer: Eight ways to extend an offer that convinces top performers to join your team.
9. First Day: More than 10 ways to make your new employee’s first day on the job more productive, profitable, and personal fulfilling.
10. Never Stop Selling: What you can do to systematically keep new hires fully engaged as time passes.

One idea that helps you hire just one employee is worth $10,000 or more. This hiring system is probably worth millions if you hire dozens of people over the next ten years because this event is a 10-step proven hiring system with dozens of ideas. For many of you this is the most important webinar you will attend this year.

Register now!

CompTIA Cloud Foundations Workshop & Certification: Module 5 - Operations Management

At Autotask Community Live, CompTIA debuted its Cloud Foundations Workshop and Certification Program. It was so well received that we've teamed up with CompTIA to bring you the modules in a convenient webinar format.

Take advantage of the substantial business opportunities in delivering cloud solutions to customers! On Tuesday, December 13 at 1 PM US ET, Dan Shapero will lead this fifth and final module of the Cloud Foundations Workshop, and help you recognize many of the operational elements of your business that need to be modified as you build a cloud business.

Len DiCostanzo of Autotask Corporation will also be on hand to share how IT business management software can be the central platform for managing your evolution to the cloud and delivering a whole new range of services more profitably.

Learn to develop insights into these operations management components:

• Deal economics
• Cash/revenue flow
• Creating effective sales compensation plans
• Establishing operating metrics & evaluators

Register now!

The New Rules of Selling Technology Services

In the old days…

• Repeat business and referrals were enough to drive technology firm growth.
• There were very few service providers who did exactly what you do.
• LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, webinars, blogs… didn’t even exist.
• Providing great service and results led to more business and new business.
• ‘Sales’ was a dirty word. You didn’t need to do much selling to win clients.
• Practices were packed with business. (Think back before 2007.)

Then…

• Practices were scrambling to survive.
• Clients were going out of business or cutting back.
• Price pressure was rampant. (This is in the “new” old days. Think March 2009.)

The economy ups and downs and ups, changes in buyer behavior, the web, social media, sales enablement tools, and increased competition have transformed how and why clients buy.

Today… you must transform the way you sell to keep up and to help buyers buy from you.

On Thursday, December 8 at 1 PM US ET, join Kutenda CEO Mike Cooch - previous Founder and CEO of one of the fastest growing MSPs in the industry - live as he reveals the new rules of selling technology services and explains how you must transform the way you sell so you can help buyers buy from you.

Also presenting on the webinar will be Autotask's Rich Akullian who will share how IT business management software can provide you with true service intelligence, better equipping you for sales.

Don’t miss your opportunity to learn:

• Why what consultative selling methodologies teach you won’t work today
• How to match your selling process to clients buying process (a key ingredient for selling success)
• The 4 places to look for qualified leads
• How to embrace your selling role (even if you never thought you would)

Register now!