EBOOKTelecom Expense Management (TEM) is expanding and evolving as it grows to cross all technology-related spend categories. As you’d expect, all TEM providers will adapt to these changes at varying rates. Some are already ahead of the curve. Others…

MAKING THE JOURNEY FROM ONE TEM VENDOR TO ANOTHER

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We think of software providers selling their products through resellers, but some software providers have radically changed that to a services model.
Value-added resellers (VARs) long ago morphed into managed service providers (MSPs), and…

The New Software Provider Business Model - Toolsmith

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With dramatic change occurring in the Telecom Expense Management (TEM) environment, it’s a good time to re-imagine and re-invent the TEM organization to conquer new challenges more efficiently.
04 DRIVING THE INCREASING IMPORTANCE OF…

RE-INVENTING THE TEM ORGANIZATION TO ADAPT TO ACCELERATING TECHNOLOGY ADVANCES - THE FUTURE OF TEM TEM AND DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION COLLECTION PART FOUR

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Many pundits are recommending that MSPs become MSSPs and "simply add security" to their offerings. It's not that simple.
You hear it all the time. It’s no longer enough to be merely a managed service provider (MSP). It’s time to graduate to…

Why it’s Not Easy to Become an MSSP

 It's no secret that your experience, your skills, your expertise are valuable -- very valuable. They're the result of big investments. The mystery is why you'd ever give away any of the service value those investments have created. Yet MSPs often…

What To Give Away for Free: Nothing

 The primary goal behind uniting the processes and partnership between software developers and IT operators is to achieve an environment in which software is constantly being improved. How does DevOps achieve this? It begins by recognizing that with…

What is DevOps?

 Things were very different in the first few decades of the channel. Channel Leaders knew their quota and felt that was the majority of what they needed to know. It could just as easily have been shoes or other products. A…

New Skills Enabling Today’s Leading Channel Leaders

Along with all other technology-and-communication-related issues,
telecom expense management (TEM) is evolving. As computing and
communications technologies converge and integrate more and more deeply the need to better manage expenses across all…

Benefits of Expense Management Across Spend Categories

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Service companies don't have a chance at profitability if they don't know the meaning of the term "fully burdened cost."
Profit. One of your favorite words, and something that’s easy to figure out when all you’re selling are things. Things…

Are You SURE You're Profitable?

 When everyone is in the office, at their desk, and working on their computers its hard enough to make sure corporate data, the network, and those users remain safe and protected. Having everyone work from home makes it much more difficult. IT…

Keeping Users & Data Safe When Everyone is Working From Home

 Why join a channel community? Being part of such a community reaps many rewards, which we’ve outlined here. Look ahead a few months, maybe a few years, and you’ll see why you want to join a channel community now and grow with it as your world…

Why You Want to Join a Channel Community

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As resellers morphed into service providers, they created huge opportunities to pull products along with projects, changing vendor-partner relationships.
Being a “VAR” has been impossible for many, many years. Yet many channel partners still…

Managing the Shift from Push to Pull

 If you connect it, protect it. The line between our online and offline lives is indistinguishable. This network of connections creates both opportunities and challenges for individuals and organizations across the globe. Internet-connected devices…

If You Connect It, Protect It

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Helping clients transition to IPv6 could be a thriving business for MSPs for years to come.
It’s the project whose time has come - nine years ago. Literally all the IP addresses available in the original internet numbering scheme, IPv4, have…

IPv6 a Big Opportunity for Managed Service Providers

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The sheer complexity of cloud subscriptions - and you'll get a good idea after reading this article - creates opportunity for cloud service providers.
Subscriptions, at the heart of all cloud services, are like software licenses used to be,…

Subscriptions: Software Licensing on Steroids

Changing technology expense management (TEM) providers can be a difficult decision-making process. There’s much to consider. Many questions to be answered before you can take that step. Here are some of those questions to ask yourself:
1. Are you…

Ten Signs Your Organization Needs to Switch TEM Providers

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IT-telecom channel convergence could solve a lot of needs. But will it happen?
Some consider it a pipedream, others a necessity, while still others think it will occur all by itself.
Convergence of the IT channel and the telecom channel has…

Making Sense of IT-Telecom Channel Convergence

At the end of part one of this two-part blog series you were searching for a new, better provider for technology expense management (TEM) services. Armed with a clear understanding of why you’re dissatisfied you have surveyed the industry asking…

Thinking About Making the Switch? Part Two

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With very few resellers left, MSPs are the new channel partners. Here's how IT vendors can stay relevant - and what MSPs should consider when selecting a vendor partner.
There are only two ways for companies to make more money:
One is to…

The Changing Channel: How IT Vendors Should Position Partner Programs

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There is no shortage of quality IT channel partners. Here's how to find the best one for you.
A great channel partner is in the eye of the beholder. It really does depend on whom you ask.
Many industry publications, software developers,…