Business Technology Roundtable

My colleague, Joe Panettieri, reports that Dell has won its largest managed services agreement ever with the state of Georgia. This contract illustrates how Dell, and other technology vendors, are shifting their go-to-market strategies to respond to customers' changing IT management needs. Anyone who follows the technology industry knows that Dell has been struggling to keep pace with HP when it comes to computer sales. What few casual observers have recognized is how Dell has amassed a new set of remote management capabilities via a series of acquistions over the past year and a half. Why Managed Services Matter During that time, Dell has acquired SilverBack Technologies, Everdream, EqualLogic and MessageOne to serve as the foundation for a new portfolio of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and managed service capabilities . Dell understands that it will have a difficult time outpacing HP and other technology vendors on the strength of its products alone as laptops, desktops and serve...

Many companies find it expensive to keep up with new Business Technologies -- or simply prefer to devote their limited IT or Telecom resources to the core business, rather than routine ongoing network management. Managed network services can quickly enable your company to evolve , by giving business decision makers access to leading network technologies and management expertise -- without requiring high initial capital expenditures (CapEx), or ongoing investments in technology upgrades. Deploying a Managed Service Solution When a company subscribes to a managed service, a service provider manages the network equipment and applications on the customer premises according to the terms of a service-level agreement (SLA) established to meet the company's unique business needs. Some managed services are also hosted, meaning that the service provider hosts the equipment in its facility instead of the customer's, and delivers services to company employees over the Wide Area Network (WA...

My brother is chief operating officer for a real estate company in Manhattan. He's running a small business facing some very familiar challenges: Rising energy prices, unpredictable operating costs, and tenants who are facing rising unemployment. In addition to those first-hand business challenges, people like him worry about Wall Street's financial mess spilling over into Main Street USA. The flood of bad financial news from AIG, Bear Stearns, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch will force small business owners to rethink their financial bets in the months ahead. Some entrepreneurs may wind up cutting their IT budgets in order to conserve cash. Fact is, they don't want surprise bills for emergency server repairs or break-fix services. A Smarter Strategy Instead of saying no to new technology investments, my brother is pursuing a far wiser IT strategy. He's reaching out to so-called managed service providers (MSPs). Generally speaking, MSPs charge...