Channel Commentary: Relevant Comments for VARs, Resellers and Solution Providers

So this is my last column with Channel Insider. After selling my MSP, I’ve taken a new role as the Director of Partner Community with Level Platforms, and the leap to the vendor side of the channel changes things for me.

If the 2000 decade was about automation for the IT services channel, the current decade could well be about social media. At least that's what former Autotask CEO and industry visionary Bob Godgart believes. Here's why

Don't count on customer loyalty in 2012. According to a new study, fickle customers are among the top challenges that non-financial services companies will face this year. How will your company rise to the challenge?

Verizon and Netflix's recent gigantic errors in judgment can serve as lessons for the rest of businesses. Here's a look at the right way to treat customers.

I recently sold my MSP business, and now with the benefit of hindsight, here are the mistakes I believe I made when I started it and built it. Has your company made similar mistakes?

Gordon Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares where the celebrity chef helps struggling restaurant owners fix what ails their businesses just may be the recipe to help you shape up your own business.

Mobile devices will dominate the IT conversation in 2012. Are you ready to make the most of this opportunity and build it into a revenue stream?

Specializations can make the difference in a vendors or IT solution providers business in today's more competitive environment. But that doesn't mean there aren't issues to overcome. Here's a deeper dive into the world of specializations.

Everyone agrees that increasing the availability of capital to small business will help boost our economy. Two proposals in Washington now could encourage that by creating rules for crowdfunding, a way for a large group of investors to make small investments in a business.

Specializations can boost revenue and profitability for IT solution providers, but how do you decide on a vertical or technology niche? Here's a look at some of the factors to consider.

While cloud computing has yet to demonstrate it can save users money, the jury is in when it comes to managed services.

There's a difference between knowing what your business is worth to you and what it might be worth to a potential buyer.

Sure, Best Buy is a giant in consumer electronics retailing and already has its Geek Squad which competes with those solution providers targeting the S part of the SMB market. But even with its acquisition of a real managed services provider, MindSHIFT, Best Buy won't make a dent in the managed services market. Here's why.

Only humans can solve problems. Most end-users come to you because they need a problem solved. Companies whose people can solve customer problems are gold. They will help retain customers even when a competitor lowers prices. Here's what else humans can do.

A recent Wall Street Journal commentary by a professor of management at Wharton offered some suggestions to cure today's high unemployment. Here's why those ideas just don't work for small business.

You keep hearing about specialization, but how do you decide whether or not to make the investment and which specialization to choose?

Multiple mobile devices are cropping up in businesses everywhere. Chances are you're carrying an iPad, and so is the executive in the airplane seat next to you. Managing and securing these devices represents a major opportunity for IT solution providers.

If you are looking for better pay, a better job, or a better way to market yourself or your company, getting an IT certification can get you started on a path to greater success.

Developers--from Java creator James Gosling to thought leaders in open source, DevOps, Web, mobile and other areas--weigh in to share their views on how Apple s Steve Jobs impacted programmers.

Whether you are trading on Wall Street or participating in Occupy Wall Street, chances are you have an iPhone in your pocket or an iPad in your briefcase. Apple is transcendent and universal. Thank you, Steve Jobs.