SMB Community Podcast

I ran into Arlin in Orlando a few weeks ago, but we never connected for a podcast. So we made a point of connecting my phone a few days ago.

Arlin Sorensen of HTG

Heartland Technology Groups (HTG) have been a major force in the SMB space for many years. HTG programs have traditionally been face to face peer groups. Right now there are about 250 companies in the face to face groups.

But now there are another 70 companies involved with HTG's online program. Arlin gives us some good information about the specialty groups that are evolving. There are specialty groups for managers, smaller companies, and even much larger companies.

HTG's big annual conference will be in Dallas May 6-9, 2013.

In addition, HTG is organizing a "CEO Vision" Summit in Omaha, NE August 15-16, 2013. This will be a special "Ted-Style" format. Arlin gives the details in our podcast.

– Download the Interview with Arlin Sorensen here.

Whether you're interested in the Face to Face peer groups, online peer groups, or specialty programs, you can find out more information at www.htgpeergroups.com.

Check it out today.

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One of my favorite resources in the SMB community is Robert Crane – Directory of the Computer Information Agency. You can find him at CIAOPS.com.

I refer to Robert as a resource because he really is "the man to know" with regard to SharePoint. That includes the SharePoint services shipped with Small Business Server 2003, 2008, 2011, the free version from Microsoft, or the full-price product now available as a hosted environment.

SharePoint Operations Guide by Robert Crane

Robert maintains a massive resource library he simply calls SharePoint Operations Guide. See more information at SMB Books and CIAOPS.com. The SharePoint Operations Guide now includes a great deal of information on Office 365 and how you can integrate these products to add value for your clients.

Robert and I had a phone chat yesterday (Well, today in Australia).

Robert gives us some great ideas about how to make money with these new products. He spells out a wonderful analogy between technology consulting and shepherding sheep. Imagine that you have always tended a small group of servers (sheep). With modern tools you can now tend a much larger flock. So the next question is, how can we add value to the service we provide.

– Download the Interview with Robert Crane here.

Right now – through Christmas Day 2012 – the SharePoint Operations Guide is $50 off at SMBBooks.com. No coupons. No codes. Just add it to your cart. That means more than 2,000 pages of great information on SharePoint and Office 365 for only $249 USD.

Download this PDF to see a "Getting Started" document on the SharePoint Operations Guide, which gives and in-depth look at the contents: Getting Started

Check it out today.

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AVG Announces Cloud Care

As I was wandering the floor at IT Nation, Jessica Turner from AVG stopped me to give me some information about the new AVG program: Cloud Care.

Then Austen Clark wandered up to hand me to AVG marketing goodies. I assumed he was an AVG employee, but he's a very happy client of theirs and volunteered to hand things out. So I snapped this picture:

Jessica agreed to an interview. She brought me up to speed on the new AVG program and the revenue opportunities for MSPs. This service is provided on an as-needed basis with month-to-month payments. Includes anti-virus, content filtering, and remote IT services. We also went into deployment options, installation, their dashboard, how new users are added to the system, and more.

Download the Interview with Jessica Turner from AVG. For more information on AVG Cloud Care, visit www.avg.com/cloudcare. For more information on IT Nation, visit www.TheITNation.com.

For more information on ConnectWise, visit www.ConnectWise.com.

Side story: Jessica has a great sense of humor.

When I interview people, I take a picture of their badge so I get the name right, like this:

I asked Jessica if I could take a picture of her badge. She said yes. And as I focusing in I heard her say "Uh. I'm up here."

I'm up here!

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As the IT Nation show was winding down, I talked to some guys from Continuum.

Joe Consolmagno is a Technical Account Manager for the Mid Atlantic Region. Raymond Vrabel is Director of Technical Account Management.

Continuum was at IT Nation to talk to partners about how they integrate with a variety software programs. In addition, they introduce a variety of products.

I asked Joe about the performance of Continuum worked during Hurricane Sandy's visit to New York and New Jersey. The result was pretty impressive. The combination of Continuum and Datto made response to the disaster fast and easy.

In addition to "Continuum Vault" for disaster recovery, the performance of the cloud-based NOC was excellent. Ray mentioned that during the disaster, about 3,000 virtual servers were spun up in the cloud – many of them in advance of the hurricane just to make sure that companies would have no downtime. Download the Interview with Joe and Ray from Continuum here.

For more information about Continuum, visit www.continuum.net.

For more information on IT Nation, visit www.TheITNation.com.

For more information on ConnectWise, visit www.ConnectWise.com.

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I always like catching up with Dan Wensley from Level Platforms. Dan makes a point of starting out this interview with a ringing endorsement of the IT Nation conference.

Level Platforms recently added helpdesk and NOC support for MSPs. The phones are answered in North America – primarily in Ottawa, Ontario. The key to success is the integration with clients' existing RMM solution.

We talked quite a bit about the lessons from Hurricane Sandy and the power of cloud services during a disaster. Hurricane Sandy was a real test for how MSPs will react to disasters in the age of cloud-based management and disaster recovery.

Dan is proud of the performance of their NOC during the hurricane, and he's confident that they will perform just as well in the next disaster. Download the Interview with Dan Wensley from Level Platforms here.

For more information on Level Platforms, visit www.levelplatforms.com. For more information on IT Nation, visit www.TheITNation.com.

For more information on ConnectWise, visit www.ConnectWise.com.

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My friend Nancy Hammervik is the Senior Vice President, Industry Relations at CompTIA. On November 9th she was awarded a Bronze Stevie Award as "Female Innovator of the Year – Government or Non-Profit – 11 to 2,500 Employees."

The Stevie Awards were created to honor and generate public recognition of the achievements and positive contributions of organizations and business people worldwide. All organizations and individuals worldwide may submit nominations to the Stevie Awards for Women in Business. The Stevie Awards are given out by the American Business Association.

We talked about her role mentoring women in business and specifically women in IT.

Nancy deals with pretty much everything in CompTIA that deals with partners: Communications, education, and a lot more. Their goal is to be vendor neutral while providing education and opportunities for VARs and MSPs. Download the Interview with Nancy Hammervik from CompTIA here.

For more information on CompTIA, visit www.comptia.org. For more information on IT Nation, visit www.TheITNation.com.

For more information on ConnectWise, visit www.ConnectWise.com.

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Alan McDonald is President and CTO of Xilocore.

Xilocore is a "business continuity and disaster recovery" company focused value added resellers. The develop entire disaster preparedness plans that can be added to managed service offerings.

In addition to simply having a business continuity plan, Alan talks about testing recovery systems on a regular basis.

He notes that the most successful partners for his product are those that focus their business around disaster recovery. And of course I made him answer some questions about their partner program. Download the Interview with Alan McDonald from Xilocore here.

For more information on Quosal, visit www.xilocore.com. For more information on IT Nation, visit www.TheITNation.com.

For more information on ConnectWise, visit www.ConnectWise.com.

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While at IT Nation last weekend, I grabbed Kent McNall, CEO of Quosal for a quick interview. This "killer combo" of products is one of the most impressive things I saw over the weekend.

Quosal was one of the highlighted products in Arnie Bellini's keynote speech. Kent gave us some of the details about how Quosal connects the LabTech RMM to the ConnectWise PSA. We talked in some depth about the "possibility engine" in LabTech that triggers quotes from Quosal.

From little things like the need for RAM, all the way up to creating an automated proposal for replacing an entire server, the LabTech/Quosal combination can help you find opportunities among your clients that you might otherwise miss.

Quosal was written as an open application, so it works nicely with Autotask and other products in addition to ConnectWise. And with the LabTech integration it is very obvious that other RMM tools will want to develop a competing product as well. Download the Interview with Kent McNall from Quosal here.

For more information on Quosal, visit www.quosal.com.

For more information on IT Nation, visit www.TheITNation.com.

For more information on ConnectWise, visit www.ConnectWise.com.

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One of the fun people I don't get to see enough is Ian Watkins from the UK. He has been using ConnectWise for seven years.

I caught up with Ian as he was in line to get into one of the breakout sessions. So we recorded this podcast in the hallway.

He gives us his perspective on the data protection issues for companies in the UK and European Union. We also talked about other vendors — and some comments about the music at the event. Download the Interview with Ian Watkins – ConnectWise user from the UK.

For more information on IT Nation, visit www.TheITNation.com.

For more information on ConnectWise, visit www.ConnectWise.com.

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While hanging out in the PacketTrap booth, the talk turned to an interesting product combination that surprised me. Geoff Parker from PacketTrap tells me that a number of partners came by the booth and mentioned that they use these tools together.

Hmmm . . . aren't they both RMM tools? Well, yes, but they each have some outstanding features that makes them even better in combination.

This is a quick interview but very interesting.

Download the Interview with Geoff Parker from PacketTrap here.

For more information on PacketTrap, visit www.packettrap.com.

For more information on LabTech, visit www.labtechsoftware.com. For more information on IT Nation, visit www.TheITNation.com.

For more information on ConnectWise, visit www.ConnectWise.com.

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