Choosing your Managed Services platform, part 1

Lately it seems the whole managed services industry has been turned upside down. Major vendors have suddenly changed how they operate - not so much changing prices as much as adding, changing, or outright removing key features. Frankly it's caused more than a little frustration for those of us who depend on those platforms for our managed services offerings. Computer Troubleshooters is in the midst of reviewing all our managed services partners, so I thought it would be helpful to share what we're looking for.

First, let me clarify and expound on one of my great pet peeves. "Managed Services" doesn't mean anything. Or, rather, it means so many different things to different people that the term is meaningless. It's like saying "IT industry", as if software developers and hardware manufacturers and network consultants were somehow a homogenous group. (I know, I know, most non-IT folks think they are, leading to the popularity of things like this.) Those of you who have been through CT's training on our managed services program (B.E.S.T.) have heard me talk about watching the video discussion among three people identified as the industry's top managed services gurus, and how midway through the discussion they began arguing about things like whether or not managed services as a concept even applies to desktops and notebooks.

For Computer Troubleshooters, our target clients are small businesses (another vague term which I'll probably expound on in another posting later), specifically those in the 5-25 seat area. That's not to say that we don't service smaller clients with 1-5 computers, because we do, and some CT's have been known to service networks of 100 or more. But as an organization we've always targeted the 5-25 seat business, because as a market those small businesses (which are most small businesses) have a high demand for outside IT support from people who understand their needs. So when we talk about "managed services" for this market, we're talking in general about a program that does 4 things:

1. Provides a baseline for "best practices", showing our clients how their systems compare to our combined wisdom on how computers and networks should be configured for maximum productivity and minimum downtime.
   
2. Provides proactive support via 24/7 monitoring, alerting, and management tools.
   
3. Redefines the traditional financial relationship, where the service provider was only paid when their client has problems, to one where the service provider is paid to prevent problems from happening, and where the client's budget (and service provider's income) is more stable.
   
4. Once the client's technology infrastructure is stabilized with parts 1-3, look for new technologies which can enhance the client's business. This means going beyond the basic recommendations like which anti-virus or backup solution to use, into more complex but more beneficial technologies like search engine marketing, IP Telephony, electronic document management, or hosted CRM solutions.
   

Now if you are targeting different sized clients, like mid-sized businesses or enterprise businesses, your definition of "managed services" will be radically different. And even among those targeting similarly sized businesses you may not agree with all four of our points. But this is the strategy Computer Troubleshooters adopted for our BEST program, and it's worked very well for us and for our clients.

But in order to make this work, we need vendor partners who can supply critical parts of the managed services strategy. In this post I want to look a the basic pieces of a managed services platform today, and in my next post we'll look at what new pieces might be added in the near future. At the moment, these are the pieces of our managed services platform which we look for from our vendor partners (including internal CT vendors/departments as well):

1. Remote Monitoring & Management tool (RMM): This is the most fundamental piece of any managed services strategy. In theory you could sell managed services without RMM, but it would be like selling a car with no wheels - it sort of missses the whole point. A good RMM tool should be easily installable at a client site, and provide a good range of monitoring and alerts for all desktops and servers on the network, including mobile machines (laptops, and optionally smartphones as well). It should be easy for the technician to use, provide reasonable diagnostic & remote support abilities to allow the tech to quickly respond to any alerts produced, and it should generate easy to read executive reports for our clients.
   The RMM tool market is the most associated with managed services, and includes vendors like Hyblue, Bird Dog, Zenith Infotech, Level Platforms, N-Able, Kaseya, IT Control Suite, LogMeIn IT Reach, Paragent, and MSP Center Plus. (As well as others I'm sure I've forgotten to mention).
   
   
2. A NOC (Network Operations Center) partner. As managed services has evolved, so has the dependence on a NOC for maximum support. Using a high-quality 24/7 NOC partner allows local service providers to guarantee high levels of service to their clients, without the high expense of hiring excessive technical staff themselves. Some NOC partners work specifically with one RMM tool, others may support a variety. Ideally you want a NOC partner who will not only help you manage the alerts which come in, but who can also accept work on-demand, particularly for work which is best done after normal business hours. NOC examples include Zenith, Seismic, MSPSN, NetEnrich, ITVista, and others.
   
   
3. Integrated Anti-Malware. This was not originally part of the managed services model, but Zenith started it and it worked extremely well in our models (unfortunately Zenith no longer supports this in the small business market). And when CT started offering residential managed service plans, integrated anti-malware became essential. Including anti-malware (anti-virus & anti-spyware) with managed services is a great bundle for any clients, and can be done a la carte using hosted McAfee options, licensing Trend Micro on a monthly basis, or via vendors who integrate the protection directly into their RMM products (Kaseya, Hyblue, or Zenith for larger businesses).
   
   
4. Integration with industry-leading PSA (Professional Services Automation) software, including Autotask or CT's own TOPS program. Having one ticket system which interfaces with the RMM system and the NOC is a great time saver and productivity enhancer.
   
   
5. Helpdesk. Most MSP's include unlimited telephone support in one or more of their service plan offerings. In our case it's included with BEST Proactive and BEST Trouble-free. For smaller service providers it can be money well spent to hire an outside helpdesk to handle those incoming calls for you, thus providing your clients with faster access to qualified telephone support. Helpdesk vendors include Dove Helpdesk (my personal favorite), MSPSN, Zenith, PC Helps, and more.
   
   
6. Advanced Management Tools. In this category I would include things like software deployment, employee activity tracking, internet traffic control, and desktop imaging. In the small business world these are nice to have, but not essential.

Those six make up the bulk of almost any managed services platform today. Individual service providers can "roll their own" solution by combining any of these, but in a franchise like Computer Troubleshooters we're able to do some screening and negotiating internally to make sure we're picking the best partners for our market, and to negotiate group volume discounts as well.

What's missing in this list? I haven't talked much about backup solutions, including NAS options or online backup. I haven't talked about virtualized environments or hosted (i.e. "cloud computing") solutions. There are also anti-spam options to be discussed, and even more advanced management tools. These aren't technically part of "managed services" today (although they're often added to or included with BEST plans), but they may play a larger role in the next generation of managed services. I'll talk about that more in my next post.

Agree or disagree with me? I'd love to hear your ideas on managed services, and how your implementation fits with (or doesn't fit with) the structure I've outlined here.

Mac Guy on the Road

My "MBP" on the job in a Hong Kong hotel today

So it's been three months since I purchased my Macbook Pro (used, on Ebay, because I'm cheap). Many of my PC friends were wary of my early enthusiasm, and several said "Yeah, well, it's a new toy right now, but talk to me in two months." Three months later I'm still a Mac guy, so I wanted to share some updates on my Apple experience thus far.

First, the things I don't like - and it's a short list. I traveled to the UK earlier this month, and realized before boarding my flight at ATL that I'd forgotten to bring my power adapter. No worries I thought, I'll just pick one up somewhere. Several electronics stores in Hartsfield sold "universal" notebook power supplies - but none worked with any Apple notebook. No worries, my hotel in Liverpool had three large electronics stores within walking distance - but none of them had Mac power adapters either, even though at least one sold Mac notebooks! I was very fortunate that Liverpool has an Apple store, so I spent half my first day figuring out how to get there so I could get my replacement power cord. (the local Computer Troubleshooter in Liverpool graciously offered to bring me one, but searching for an Apple store seemed as good a way as any to explore the city so I decided to go on my own). Similarly becuase the Macbook uses the DVI port instead of VGA, I have to bring two adapters with me if I expect to plus into a projector somewhere. (Two because I have a history of losing one and need a backup just in case).

Other things that I don't like: no SD card slot (but I have a USB/SD card reader that I can bring with me). Battery life is only about 2 hours per battery for me, and you can't hot-swap the batteries on an airplane (I carry 3 batteries with me for long trips, but I have to Sleep the notebook before swapping). And occasionally my Windows environment (I run Windows on the Mac simultaneously with the Mac OS using VMWare Fusion, mostly so I can use Outlook) loses sound for some reason.

So that's the bad list - but there's a much, much longer list of things that I love. I haven't had a crash or lock-up except once, whereas my old PC notebook used to hang at least 2 or 3 times a week (in fairness to the PC, I tend to run a LOT of unusual applications, so having occasional crashes doesn't surprise me). Most operations are faster than they were on my PC, even though this is a 2.16GHz Core2 Duo and my PC was a 2.2GHz machine. The wireless network connects faster, which doesn't sound like much but if you're trying to download your emails during a 10 minute airport layover, that's helpful. The backlit keyboard is surprisingly useful in dark hotel rooms (like as I'm typing this right now).

The two things I like the most right now are VMWare Fusion, and Front Row. VMWare Fusion lets me run my Windows environment inside my Mac environment, which is necessary for me since many applications I use (including Microsoft Outlook) only work in a Windows environment. VMWare Fusion gives me that ability, and more than that it allows for near-seamless file sharing between the Mac and PC sides of the system (whereas in the old days you used to require a translation program of some kind to let one OS see files on the other). So I have one "Desktop" and one "Documents" folder, and both OS'es see them the same. Cut & Paste also works between the OSes, which is amazing and helpful.

Front Row is the newest thing I've started using. It's integrated with iTunes, so that any music or video you have purchased or ripped into your iTunes library is available in Front Row. By using the Mac Remote Control (a tiny little thing) I can choose to listen to specific music or watch specific TV shows or movies - which is really handy. For example when I was in the UK I missed the season premiere of "The Office" back home, so I was able to download it on iTunes and watch it from my hotel bed using the Mac Remote. I've also used it to watch movies during long flights, or to listen to music while getting dressed in the morning. Sure, there are similar programs in the PC world, but this one is built into the Mac OS and the Mac hardware, and it just works.

So, so far my "Mac enthusiasm" shows no signs of abating. More and more we see our small business clients migrating to the Mac environment, and now that I've "drunk the koolaid" I can see why. For businesses where most of their work is web-based, or based on Microsoft Office, you can likely accomplish 99% of your work in the Mac, making it a valid option for businesspeople today. And for those who still need Windows apps, programs like VMWare Fusion make that an easy option too.

Why Everyone Should Buy a Ford Flex

In my post yesterday I talked about how the current economic situation is affecting Computer Troubleshooters in general - today I want to talk about one way I've used the current downturn to my advantage, by posting a review of my new Ford Flex.

To provide some background - I was not looking for a new car. My CT-wrapped Subaru Baja had served me well and was paid off. It was also one of the best cars I've ever owned. BUT, in just the month of September my Baja was stolen, recovered, wrecked (while parked), and then erroneously impounded by the Dekalb County police who apparently forgot to note in their database that it was no longer stolen. When it was taken the first time I started looking around to see what I might want to replace it with, and came across the Ford Flex. After the wreck and the impounding I started to think that maybe someone was trying to tell me it's time for a new car after all.

Then I read stories about how automakers have been hard hit by the recent economic conditions. Dozens of dealerships around Atlanta have closed, including the Subaru dealership near me. To try and stimulate sales many manufacturers are offering some pretty strong incentives to potential buyers, especially those with good credit. I got an email from a local Ford dealer offering me $4000 under dealer invoice on a new Ford Flex, plus they gave me full trade-in value for my Subaru even though it was wrapped and wrecked, plus they gave me some service incentives as well to help a friend whose having some car troubles. All in all it was a deal I couldn't pass up. If you're in the market for a car, now is a REALLY good time to go shopping because there are some great deals to be had.

So now I'm the proud owner of a Ford Flex, and honestly it's the best car I've ever owned. It's incredibly comfortable - the giant leather seats have all kinds of adjustments and even seat warmers (not really needed here in Georgia but still nice). The headrests could use more adjustment options, and as other reviews have pointed out it would be nice if the steering wheel telescoped, but having adjustable pedals helps. My Flex also has "egress assist", which means when I pull the key out the driver's seat slides back automatically to make it easier to get out, and when I put the key in the seat moves forward back to it's memorized position. This is slightly disturbing since for a brief second I always imagine myself in the trash compactor scene in Star Wars as the seat pushes me towards the steering wheel, but overall it's a nice feature.

For a gadget lover the Flex has everything you could ever want. Seperate climate controls for the driver, passenger, and rear seats. Lots of power ports everywhere you can think of, plus an AC outlet built into the center console. There's even a USB port inside the center console which can charge a USB device as well as connecting any MP3 player into the sound system. And speaking of the sound system - I got the 10-speaker Sony-built system with Microsoft Sync technology, and it's really amazing. I wasn't sure what to expect of Sync, but the voice recognition is remarkably accurate even when I ask it to call friends with hard-to-spell names (it connects to my cell phone whenever its' within Bluetooth range), and the sound quality is fantastic. There are almost too many options in the sound system (I don't know how I'm going to find time to fill all 30 presets for the AM/FM radio, or the other 30 presets for the Sirius satellite radio). And the onboard computer lets me keep track of things like my average miles per gallon (which is only around 18 for me so far, but I only drive about 10 miles a day and through a lot of stops, so I expect it will get closer to the advertised 24mpg when I'm taking longer road trips). It's the most fuel-efficient vehicle of it's size, but you'd never know it by how powerful and responsive the engine feels.

Gadgets are great, but the Flex really shines in style and functionality. I've had the car for 10 days and already several people have stopped me at traffic lights or parking lots to ask me about it. I also got a chance to test the cargo-friendly fold-flat seats when I took some tables to a festival this past weekend, but I'm really looking forward to utilizing all 7 seats the next time I drive for a youth event at church.

So if you're in the market for a cool, functional vehicle that can carry a large family or a lot of customer computers, take a look at the Ford Flex. Besides getting a great car at a great price, you'll also be helping your local car dealers stay in business during these challenging times, which is good for your local community and your local economy too.

CT and the Economic Crisis

A popular question I get these days is "So how is the economic crisis affecting Computer Troubleshooters?". Interestingly I get this question mostly from strangers - someone in the elevator who sees the logo on my shirt, for example.

First of all let me share this site from Money Magazine which I think does the best job of summing up how the current financial situation is affecting most Americans. The truth is that despite the gloom and doom in the headlines every day, most Americans are not directly affected by the financial meltdown. True, many retirement funds (including my parent's) have been diminished, and some people are seeing a direct impact on their personal finances: I heard this week from a college-age friend who was laid off from his restaurant job, and from another friend who owns a handyman business and who told me he's seeing less work right now. But most of us are OK.

Like every business I suppose CT is affected by the economic crisis, but not always in the ways you would expect. We've seen isolated incidents of collections problems, mainly with small business clients in the home building or auto sales industries. At least three CT's have had to close because the owner was affected by some poor decisions in the real estate market (these were mostly in southern California and Arizona). But other than that, business appears to be booming for many of us.

Take our small business clients. Even though most small businesses aren't directly affected by the economic situation, there is some anxiety in the marketplace. This may manifest itself in a reluctance to increase expenses, either for large-ticket purchases or for hiring new staff. But for us, as the "IT Department for Small Business" [tm] this just means that those same businesses are more likely to incur higher maintenance costs as they keep older servers & workstations in service longer, and it means they're more interested in looking at ways to work more efficiently with a smaller staff (which is right up our technological alley, so to speak). With all the uncertainty in the market small businesses are also more eager to look for ways to reduce and stabilize their IT budget, which is exactly what our B.E.S.T. managed services program is designed to do. And we've done well in ramping up services this year that small business clients find most helpful during recessionary times - services to help them improve their productivity and their profits through better use of technology such as our new VoIP and Search Engine Marketing services.

We're even taking that one step furthur by expanding our HaaS (Hardware-as-a-Service) offerings this fall. HaaS allows a small business to get the latest & greatest hardware & software, plus a complete Proactive service plan, for one low monthly fee. A typical example would be a small business who gets a a new Dell Small Business Server, four new state-of-the-art workstations, all fully loaded with the latest Microsoft Office, plus our premium data backup package. If purchased up front that could approach $10,000, plus $520/month for our total service package. For a small business worried about conserving capital, that's a lot of money. But in a HaaS offering we could do the whole thing for no money up front and around $800/month. Considering that this includes everything they'll ever spend to cover any normal IT problem (i.e. no surprise bills in the future), that's a bargain -and so far it's proving to be very popular with our small business clients.

As an interesting side note I was talking with one of our funding partners for the HaaS program last week I asked him the same question everyone asks me - "How's the economic situation affecting YOUR business?". Thinking that if it affected anyone I knew, surely it would be affecting a financial guy. But he said it really wasn't - he said that 80% of his funding sources were completely unaffected by the larger financial meltdown, and even for the ones who were it was only a minor blip. Approval rates and interest rates are comparable to what they were a year ago. I guess that's the nice part about working in the world of small business - we're a lot more stable than some other businesses.

There are two other areas besides our core small business clients where CT could be affected: our residential business, and franchise expansion. What we're seeing, both internally and from external news reports, is a "nesting" pattern among our residential customers. This means they're pulling back from external expenses, like expensive vacations or new car purchases or even going to the movies, but they're investing in their home entertainment experiences. And for most residential customers, "home entertainment" is becoming more PC-oriented. In my own living room I've got a PC connected to my HDTV so I can watch shows from hulu.com, and apparently I'm not the only one. Residential customers are spending more on their home technology, and that's good for us in general but especially good for our H.O.S.T. managed services plans - the industry's only managed service plans for home technology.

And franchise recruiting is going well - we've added 5 new US locations in the last 8 weeks, plus locations in Australia, Canada, the UK, and South Africa. During times like these more people feel uncomfortable in the corporate world and look to "take control of their own destiny" through self-employment, so CT benefits from that as well. True some have more trouble getting financing, and those looking to use our 401k conversion program may be less likely to tap into their retirement funds if the funds are 22% lower than they were last month thanks to the stock market pull-back. But we're expanding our internal financing options to compensate, and I expect our growth will continue to improve.

So as strange as it sounds, the economic crisis has been pretty good for Computer Troubleshooters so far. Granted there are always exceptions and not everyone is doing as well as we'd like them to, but overall things are good and improving. This looks like it will be my third recession as a small technology business owner, and so I can tell you from my past experience that there are good things that come from a recession. As a business owner you may find that things like office space and some services are cheaper because of the reduced demand. Gas prices are coming down, which for a business that does a lot of our work at the customer's location is important. And finding good employees, particularly right now if you're looking for salespeople, general administrative help, or level 1 technicians, can be easier and less expensive than it would have been two years ago. It's also a time when some of our weaker competitors (usually the poor-quality, low-price ones) will close down, leaving more potential clients for us.

It's not all doom and gloom, no matter what the headlines say. I know there are people affected by the economy today, including friends of mine. But I believe very strongly that as business owners we have a responsibility to be successful and profitable, so that we can add value to our employees, our clients, and our communities. And everything I see tells me that Computer Troubleshooters is doing very well, and will continue to be successful for the forseeable future.

Innovation

(Our 2008 Solutions Catalog with all our client programs -
ask your local CT for a copy!)

Last year when we started our partnership with Merry Meeting, it gave me a chance to formalize our business plans for the first time really since we got started back in 1999. I copied some of the format of Merry Meeting's business plan and added some touches of our own. The business plan gives us clear strategic objectives, tactical plans, and highlights our Mission and our Values.

When it comes to our Core Values, many are the same as any company should have: start with Integrity & the Golden Rule, build with clear Objectives, commit to Excellence, and earn a Profit. We added two that I feel are critical to this particular business: Innovation, and Balance. Balance is a topic unto itself, but the demand in this business is so strong it's easy to get overworked so it's something to keep front and center in all that we do. Innovation though is what I want to talk about today.

I'm very proud of the Innovation we've done at Computer Troubleshooters over the years. We've been at the cutting edge of our industry in literally hundreds of areas, being the first or one of the first computer service franchises to:

• expand overseas


• build a franchisee intranet


• offer employee hiring & management assistance


• offer a web design & hosting service and content-managed franchisee websites


• offer an optional CT call center service


• create a robust managed services program


• create a National Account program (and more recently a National Client program) to drive more work to our franchisees


• create a content-based marketing system with automated marketing portals

This year we've gone even furthur. We start with the premise that our job is to help our small business clients be successful. A big part of that is making sure their computers & technology are running smoothly and are as trouble-free as possible. Beyond that though there are many ways we can help small businesses be more successful through technology, so this year we've added:

• The ReImage tool. While it doesn't work in every situation, when it works it's a HUGE timesaver for us and for our clients.


• Search Engine Marketing and Optimization services, in conjunction with ReachLocal and others. Over the last three years we've seen a marked decrease in the effectiveness of traditional advertising (notably Yellow Pages and Newspaper) and a similar increase in the effectiveness of online advertising, particularly with search engines. Our new program not only ensures that our franchisees get the most bang for their online advertising buck, it lets us offer those expert services to our small business clients as well.


• An Electronic Document Management program. Of all the programs we've rolled out in 2008 this one is probably the most boring, and the most useful. Every business has at least one file cabinet (if not a dozen or more), and many even wind up renting storage space to hold old files for retention purposes. Now we can offer inexpensive systems that let them store all their paper files on one computer database, and access them from any PC on the network (with proper authorization, of course). Saves time, saves money, and just makes good sense for small businesses everywhere.
  
• Our IP Telephony program. The telephone world is rapidly shifting from the proprietary PBX systems of the past to the new, feature-rich & low cost VoIP-based systems of the future. We're making sure that Computer Troubleshooters everywhere are in the best position to help our small business clients migrate to the new systems by aligning with the best partners and creating internal support & training options for CT's and their technicians. CTUSA has been running on a Fonality IP-PBX system for years so I can speak from experience - once you get a VoIP system it's hard to imagine going back.


• "Cloud Computing": The big buzzword this year seems to be "cloud computing" - it's almost (but not quite) what "managed services" was last year. The idea is that some applications are better when run from the web instead of from a local server - and this is more often true with small businesses than it is with larger ones, becuase it's a better value for a small business to pay for a hosted application instead of hiring staff or paying us to support a local server. Hosted Exchange is a great example: an 8-person law firm might want the benefits of Microsoft Exchange, but setting up and supporting an internal Exchange server could be cost prohibitive. Hosted Exchange gives you all the same benefits, but someone else handles all the server management responsibities. The challenge of course is partnering with the right providers, so CT has been busy lining up the best hosted services for our small business clients. So far we've got Hosted Exchange, Sharepoint, email, office, database, CRM, online meeting, and collaboration tool applications, and we're reviewing more. While it's not right for everyone, we're making sure CT's can help their small business clients choose the solution that's right for them.

There are dangers in innovating though. You have to start from a strong foundation, because it's easy to get distracted by the promises of "something new". So taking care of a client's basic hardware, software, networking and services needs has to be the core of what we do, THEN we can look at new options to enhance their business. And not every innovation works out - for example a few years ago I was approached by a company who was going to put an end to spam by making people pay to send legitimate emails. Needless to say that idea never went anywhere, but some other ideas like our CT Software Development service are good solutions but for relatively rare situations (we still operate the CT-SD and they do great work, but most small businesses don't need much custom-written software).

I often tell people that the best part about Computer Troubleshooters is that we have the best R&D department in the world: 500 franchise locations all over the world, all looking for and trying out new solutions every day. The best ones rise to the top and make it into our Solutions Catalog. The rest tend to be discussed and dropped fairly quickly. But by constantly finding new solutions, new vendor partners, and new technologies we're sure that CT will always stay out in front when it comes to effective innovation.

Thank You!

Photo from the IP Telephony Workshop

I'm home - and after 6 days in Cleveland, it's good to sleep in my own bed again. CT Conferences always wear me out - there's so many little things that pop up during the event that need to be handled, and so many people to talk to and workshops to listen to that I feel like I'm running a marathon 24/7 until the end. So today is my traditional post-conference recuperation day.

I do want to thank a LOT of people who worked hard to make this year's conference so successful:

• To Kroll OnTrack, NTR Global, and all 40 of our other sponsors - THANKS for making our event as special as it was. Your participation and special CT offerings were a huge part of the conference this year, and we all appreciate our partnerships with you.
  
  
• To Jim Greenfield (CT-Manhattan), Alan from Adtran, Mike from Fonality and Mike from CommPartners - THANKS for making our "IP Telephony 101" workshop such a smashing success.
  
  
• To Randy from Cabinet NG - I think we're all going to be looking at electronic document management options for our clients now thanks to your workshop - thank you for being part of our event.
  
  
• To Crystal & Stuart from ReachLocal and Nipa from Jenesys Group - I think your presentations will have the most tangible benefit to our small business clients and to our own websites, and we're looking forward to our national deals with both of you - THANKS.
  
  
• To Marsha from EMSI - your PR 101 workshop was the "crossover" hit of the conference, attracting franchisees from all our sister-brands as well. And your performance during the "CT Idol" event was spot-on perfect, and a great highlight for day 2 of the event - thank you.
  
  
• To Matt Makowicz from Ambition Mission - thanks for not one but TWO workshops on Selling Managed Services, and for the bootcamp & book deals. Several CT's told me your workshops were their favorite session of the conference, and I heard the bootcamp 'prize' definitely made Friday night's poker game more interesting - thank you.
  
  
• To the eight CT's (Bill, Brian, Jim, Roy, Rob, Jay, Marcus, & Chris) who were brave enough to talk about their business strategies, successes, and challenges during the BEST roundtable and the Successful CT roundtable - THANKS. Many people - including me - always find these sessions to be the most valuable because it's "real" experience, not just theory. Thank You.
  
  
• To the six CT's (Mary Ellen, Charles, John, David, Marcus, & Raine) who bravely entertained and educated us all during the "CT Idol" competition - thank you. Congratulations to Charles for winning the event, and special thanks to John for teaching us all that bribery doesn't pay. :)
  
  
• To Ramsey from MSP On Demand, John from 19Marketplace, Crystal from ReachLocal, Jamie from MSPSN, Rob from Microsoft, Mike from Zenith, and especially to Brian for filling in for SecureMyCompany - THANKS for making our Recurring Revenue workshop a smashing success.
  
  
• To Mort from Meraki and the guys from DattoBackup - I think you're tied for the most innovative new products we saw this year. And to Patrick from DRG and Mitch from DrBackup - I think you're tied for most reliable conference sponsors. We appreciate you all being part of our event - thank you.
  

Thanks also to my staff, Fayola, Chris, Audrey & Glenn, for excellent work this weekend, and thanks to all our partners at MerryMeeting for organizing a great event. And thanks to Corey from CT-Independence for getting our own routers setup so we didn't have to pay the crazy hotel internet rates!

And special thanks has to go to Allyn Davies, who worked tirelessly to organize everything. Putting together a normal CT conference is never easy, but I can't imagine putting together combined conferences for five different MerryMeeting brands - I think at one point we were using 10 different meeting rooms simultaneously, with multiple lunches & breaks & speakers & social events & the walk for charity.... I can't imagine putting all that together, but it all worked out really well. THANK YOU.

Next year we're just starting to make plans but we're looking at a late April / early May date - mark your calendars! If you're a CT or a CT vendor, look out for some surveys coming out soon to solicit your input on content & formats for next year's event.

Thanks,
Chip

Cleveland Rocks!

We're about halfway through the main part of the Computer Troubleshooters North American conference here in Cleveland tonight, and so far it's been an excellent event. This is the first time we've combined conferences with the other MerryMeeting brands, and even though we don't see them much (all but one of our sessions is CT-specific) it's made for a much larger, more energetic event than we've had in a while.

I think though that there's something else different about this conference. Mark Mitchell, owner of Computer Troubleshooters Lansing, said something yesterday that really seemed to sum it up - he said "Two years ago everyone would have been discussing the best way to defrag a customer's hard drive during a tune-up. Today everyone's talking about the right technology solutions for their small busines customers." And it's true - almost everything this week has been about finding the right technology to help our small business customers improve their organizations through technology. Whether it's finding new ways to customize our BEST (managed services) programs to meet a customer's needs, or whether it's exploring new opportunities in backup, IP Telephony (VoIP), or Search Engine Marketing, everyone this year is enthusiastically taking on the role of IT consultant rather than computer fix-it guy, and that's a good thing.

Technically the conference is going into it's fifth day tomorrow, but the first two days were just training three new franchisees (San Diego, Phoenix, Colorado Springs) so that's not technically part of the conference proper. The real conference began on Thursday with our Regional Directors day, where we analyzed data from successful and less successful franchisees around the system to come up with better ways to coach and support them. My favorite from this day is that our RD's are going to restructure one of their monthly training sessions so that they're functional instead of geographic - this means that every CT in the US & Canada will have TEN different training courses they can take every month (and that get recorded to store in our archives), and three coaching & support calls.

Today was the first day of the main conference, and we wound up with about 90 attendees from CT plus 250 from the other brands. We also had an awesome vendor turnout with over 20 great vendor partners here to update us on (or introduce us to) their products and any CT special deals they have with us. We started the day with a keynote from Sam Tyler, a PBS documentary filmmaker who has interviewed business motivation legends like Tom Peters, Stephen Covey, Jim Collins, and most recently worked on a film about Lance Armstrong. He shared his analysis of what we can learn from each of them, along with some very motivational video clips.

Then we got into our CT sessions with an opening presentation followed by our (extended) BEST roundtable. Four Computer Troubleshooters who are among our top managed services oriented locations talked about their businesses and offered advice and insight to the rest of us in a 90 minute Q&A session. (Big thank-you to Brian, Bill, Roy, & Jim for teaching us!)

Following a lunch break we watched Sam Tyler's video on Lance Armstrong (excellent), then the CT's chose one of two tracks: either a Selling Managed Services workshop with Matt Makowicz (author of books on Selling and Marketing managed services and a fantastic sales traininer), OR an IP Telephony workshop featuring gurus from CommPartners, Fonality, and Adtran, and lead by our own VoIP guru Jim Greenfield (Computer Troubleshooters NY Metro). I got to sit in on both sessions - both were amazing. (We also had a "Women in Business" session midway through the afternoon - I did not sit in on that one, for obvious reasons).

The day ended with a combination local beer tasting & vendor expo, which for any conference planners out there I have to say this is something everyone should do because it gives the attendees a reason to spend a lot of time talking with the vendors in a very comfortable atmosphere. We followed that up with our CT awards dinner, which went well even though we had some technical glitches with the awards themselves and some were missing! We'll fix that. It was impressive as always to hand out the 5-year award pins to the CT's who've been growing their businesses since 2003 (or longer if they didn't pick up their pins at last year's conference). Next month will be even more interesting as I hand out our first-ever TEN year award pins at the Australian conference - it's amazing to think that four of us will have been in business for a decade now!

(And I won't mention the after-hours poker game that I'm completely unaware of, but congratulations Tomás for winning the Matt Makowicz managed services boot camp prize!)

I'm really pumped up about the new energy in our group this weekend. It's easy to see why we're the world's best computer service / technology solutions franchise!