Jim Hamilton Posts

This is the second part of my commentary, “Why Managed Services.”  In the last article, I examined the reasons that managed services are good for the SMB end customer.  In this piece I will discuss why managed services mean better business for the solution provider.Every once and a while, I step back and marvel at the way IT has changed my life. Thanks to constant innovation, my house is a veritable museum of advances in IT.  In one corner of my house, my CD collection sits gathering dust, never ...

This is a two-part article on the business case for managed services.  In the first part I will examine why managed services means better service for the SMB end customer.  In the second part, I will discuss why managed services means better business for the solution provider.To start today’s discussion-- and to enter into the mind of an SMB end customer-- I’d like to tell you the story about my broken furnace on a cold November day in Canada. Being the resourceful person I am, I confidently tur ...

Something that has occupied a lot of my thinking lately is the development of an industry-wide standard for managed services.  No matter who I talk to, from large OEM manufactures to the smallest of service providers, each sees value in the development of a standard that clearly communicates an MSP’s managed services proficiency to their customers, partners and vendors.  A standard would significantly help promote managed services to end users, differentiate strong MSPs from the less qualified, ...

Good, timely information is valuable.  A recent trip to New York reminded me of this when my wife and I made a last minute decision to eat at a trendy restaurant in SoHo. After a quick call, I secured a table, but only if we could get were there in the next half hour.  I punched the restaurant’s address into my phone and, thanks to the magic of the internet, Google, GPS and my iPhone – I am provided with walking directions to the nearest subway station, the train to catch and when it will arrive ...