Bringing Law and Order to the Channel

Submitted by Dan Liutikas on March 31, 2015, 8:38 pm EDT

While liability should be a major concern for virtually every business owner, how many entrepreneurs make finding a well-experienced attorney a top 5 priority? In reality, acquiring new clients and establishing protocols often takes precedence when setting up an IT services operation.

How to Help Your Customers Win the Big Data Challenge

Submitted by Mike Noble on March 31, 2015, 8:29 pm EDT

The old standby block data, easily handled by said spreadsheets, is quickly being replaced by unstructured data. Driven by the growth of the 3rd platform (mobile, cloud, big data, and social) unstructured data has become a power to be reckoned with. We’re talking video and audio files, scanned images, and machine data of all kinds. In fact, there’s so much of this data floating around that close to 80 percent of all new IT storage is now devoted to managing unstructured data. And it’s doubling every two years.

How Valiant Helps Creative Clients Stay On Cutting Edge

Submitted by Sarah Kuranda on March 30, 2015, 3:58 pm EDT

An admitted computer geek and frustrated artist, it was only natural for Tom Clancy to form a creative technology support company. That was 12 years ago. Now, Valiant Technology has evolved into an extremely successful MSP focusing on providing technology and IT support to the creative industries in New York City.

Overcoming Resistance To Data-centric Strategy

Submitted by Matt Brown on March 30, 2015, 2:41 pm EDT

Solution providers working in big data may be noticing some reluctance on the part of their clients to truly embrace all that big data can bring them.

Not only that, getting those customers to come around to big data could be an uphill battle, and at what point is it no longer worth your time?

Employees Keep Taking These Five Mobile Security Risks

Submitted by Lindsey O'Donnell on March 30, 2015, 10:46 am EDT

Suprising Discrepancies

Mobile security company Lookout recently published results of a mobile privacy study that found surprising discrepancies between people's attitudes and actions about privacy on their mobile phones.

How Zebra Technologies Will Win The IoT Market

Submitted by Mark Haranas on March 26, 2015, 4:33 pm EDT

Zebra Technologies is expecting to become a major player in the emerging Internet of Things market following its $3.45 billion acquisition of Motorola Solutions' enterprise business late in 2014.

West Monroe: MSPs Should 'Eat Their Own Dog Food'

Submitted by Matt Brown on March 26, 2015, 2:34 pm EDT

Like many professional services firms, West Monroe Partners struggled with the big challenges facing the IT industry: recruitment and retention, skills shortages and adapting to changing customer demands.

But the Chicago-based firm tried something it says improved its overall end user experience and strengthened its sales team.

Here's How Your Customers Think About Cloud Adoption

Submitted by Matt Brown on March 24, 2015, 1:50 pm EDT

As organizations turn increasingly to the cloud to host more and more of their critical operations, solution providers should be prepared to meet their needs.

Of course, as more organizations head for the cloud, more service providers will crop up to help them, increasing competition to the max, and making it especially important for solution providers to be ready to answer their questions.

In Tight Talent Market, Acknowledgement Works

Submitted by Matt Brown on March 23, 2015, 2:55 pm EDT

Now more than ever, companies that do business in the channel need to pay attention to their recruitment, hiring and employee retention practices.

A widely acknowledged talent shortage, heated competition and an ongoing industrywide shift away from a capital expenditure model to a subscription-based services model mean organizations are forced to address staffing needs with less time, and money.

ScanSource Execs: VARs Must Evolve To MSP Model

Submitted by Ramin Edmond on March 23, 2015, 11:39 am EDT

Any IT expert will tell you it's important to be able adapt to today’s ever-changing market, and the most critical transitions resellers need to make tend to be the toughest.

Discussing the biggest opportunities for resellers, ScanSource executives insist that switching from the traditional reseller model to a managed services model is the most important move for partners to make. The Greenville, South Carolina-based distributor has put significant time and resources into helping its partners kick-start this evolution.

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