In recent research to understand trends in managed services, I read an article about Southwest Airlines unique success in a commoditized market.  It proves to show that great customer service and relationships, combined with repeatability and standardization ultimately create best in class profits.  In the IT managed services business model, profitability is ultimately driven by the same two core components; relationships or “value” and repeatability for “scale”.

One of the most challenging parts of a channel partner’s business is the need to differentiate yourself from the competition. With a wide variety of MSPs to compete with, anything that helps you stand out in the minds of your customers can make a real difference to your business. In addition, keeping track of your customers and their solution deployments can be time-consuming and complex. Symantec recently committed to address both these problems with the release of the Partner Management Console (PMC).

Hi there IT Nation!

Thanks to everyone who was able to make the trip to Orlando this year for IT Nation 2012. We really had an amazing event, complete with Jim Collins, Arnie Bellini, tons of awesome speakers, great parties... I could go on!

But let's get down to business. There are breakout session slide decks to peruse! So hop on over to the University to click through all of our Breakout session presentations. You can find them in the Community Tab > IT Nation Breakouts > IT Nation 2012 Break Outs.

Videos of all the breakout sessions and Arnie Bellini's keynote will be coming in the next few weeks. We'll make another announcement at that time!