Month: April 2018
DoD won’t budge on winner-take-all cloud contract stance
In March, the Department of Defense set in motion a high-stakes, winner-take-all battle for its cloud contract. Reports suggest that the agreement could last a decade and be worth close to $10 billion dollars. Here’s the thing though, the cloud...
Carrie Simpson: Thought leadership prospecting the right way
Thought leadership prospecting combines personalized interactions with automated marketing touches. It uses carefully curated content and intelligent one-on-one discussions to begin and nurture relationships with qualified prospects. The good news is that you can start thought leadership prospecting using the...
Angela Leavitt: 7 key marketing KPIs for MSPs
The beginning of any new year is an exciting time for MSPs, especially when it comes to your sales and marketing efforts. You have a blank slate and, hopefully, another full year of data from which to learn and move...
Atlanta ransomware attack highlights IT vulnerabilities of cities
Atlanta, car-clogged highways aside, is the elegant, magnolia-draped metropolis of the South: cosmopolitan, visionary, and Olympic caliber. But, for a few days in March 2018, the daily rhythms of governmental life came to a screeching halt. Water bill payments couldn’t...
Confidence in ability to meet GDPR mandates rides high
Right about now inquiries from customers concerned about their ability to comply with the General Data Protection Rule (GDPR) that is set to implemented by the European Union on May 25 should be skyrocketing. But as is often the case, most...
Alex Hoff: The advantages of intent-based networking
Intent-based networking makes it possible to manage a network simply by identifying your intent—in other words, what you want to happen. Configure guest Wi-Fi. Set up VoIP phones in Branch 3 office. Software then figures out the best way to...
Tech Time Warp: Java gets its start
The software that runs millions of smartphones and made the Internet more functional celebrates an anniversary this week. On April 8, 1991, James Gosling and a Sun Microsystems development team—then known as the “Green” development team, working on a project...
Cloud 5: Microsoft battles Slack, Amazon against the world
Welcome to The Cloud 5, our weekly feature where we scour the web searching for the five most intriguing and poignant cloud links we can find. Before we jump into this week’s links, please have a look at one of...
IT services deals dipped sharply in 2017
Both the number of IT services deals and their total contract value (TCV) declined significantly in 2017. A new report from the market research firm GlobalData says the 4,099 IT services contracts announced in 2017 represent a 26-percent decline over...
Gary Pica: What Henry Ford can teach you about service levels
Henry Ford once said, “Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black.” Keep this in mind when packaging your IT solutions. By not giving potential clients options, you’re reinforcing your...
