Aaron Booker from Varvid talks to Jim McNelis who is the Principal at DITO. DITO is a Google Apps authorized reseller. They provide cloud-based email, calendar, and document virus and SPAM filtering to businesses worldwide. They currently have 3 full-time and 4 part-time employees. They are looking to automate tasks and functions by establishing a PSA solution at the SMB Nation Conference. Jim checked out Connectwise Business Automation services and got to step into the cash cage, 20 seconds to grab as much cash blowing around and stuff it into his pockets. With all that cash he grabbed, he was able to have a great time for the rest of his trip. What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.
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Harry Brelsford – SMB Nation SBS’er of the Year Awards
Varvid captures Harry Brelsford of SMB Nation talking about the SBS’er of the year award. The award goes to those in the SBS community who have given more than they’ve taken from the community to recognize them. This year the woman SBS’er of the year award went to Karen Christian of the North County Technology Group. She is a user group leader with Windows Networking Solutions User group, she is also on Yahoo on a number of user groups sharing feedback when she can. The male SBS’er of the year went to Jim Locke of the SMB Technology Network. He founded the SBS group in Los Angeles and has been launched a new site for social networking called SMB Vars at http://community.smbtn.org
Andreas Ernst: LogMeIn
Aaron Booker of Varvid speaks with Andreas Ernst of LogMeIn. LogMeIn is a new line of products targeted to the SMB space. A new feature of LogMeIn is that you can now remotely manage all your clients from a centralized management console. Their users and customers value about their web-based management console called LogMeIn Central. It allows you to deploy an unlimited number of free clients as well as paid ones. The platform works with both Mac and Windows users.
Jerry Koutavas, President ASCII Group Inc
Aaron Booker of Varvid speaks with Jerry Koutavas who is the President ASCII Group Inc. ASCII is continually looking for ways to help out their membership. They specialize in providing solution providers with the tools necessary to survive and grow in the competitive technology market. Their 3 main initiatives are: To save members money, To help accelerate the way members do business, To solve problems through their conflict resolution desk. They strive to help members work out the business issues they may have.
Kevin Hodak, Sales Engineer: GFI Software
Aaron Booker from Varvid speaks with Kevin Hodak who is the Sales Engineer for GFI Software. They acquired Hound Dog and merged their technologies with the larger resources of GFI. Now GFI is promoting GFI Max, a hosted monitoring solution that is easy to use and set up in as little as 10 minutes. There is even a free 30 day trial available on the GFI website. They bill the customer based on what they use each month. There is no sign-up fees, contracts or commitments required for the customer. People are really excited about the possibilities for GFI including Hound Dog loyalists who will see things they could only dream of before they had the resources of GFI.
Jeff Ragusa – Channel Manager: Google Apps
Aaron Booker from Varvid speaks with Jeff Ragusa who is the Channel Manager for Google Apps. Jeff runs the Small Business Reseller Program for Google Apps. Google Apps is a business products suite that Google has been offering to businesses of all sizes for 2.5 years now. Earlier this year they launched a reseller program around that. He’s at SMB talking to Solution providers, MSPs and VARS about the reseller program. Google apps are changing the business models for a lot of providers. Some businesses are switching to using cloud based models like Google Apps. They can focus on managing their business and less resources on things that they can upload to the cloud. Jeff ends the interview by explaining how to get started with Google apps.
Aaron Booker and Pat Dolan Report from SMB Nation Las Vegas 2009
Varvid’s Aaron Booker and Pat Dolan Report from SMB Nation 2009. They have noticed a lot of new partners. One interesting thing they’ve found is that a lot of new businesses that are in the cloud space and not traditional Microsoft Partners. As the change in business climate begins to happen, people have to prepare for new business models for the future. There will be less margin from hardware and software, the future business is going to be in selling services and pointing customers in the right direction for their business. Since the guys are doing their first morning interview after a 3am night in Vegas they are still recovering from the night before.
Kumar Majety, Director Thinkserver Product Marketing: Lenovo
Aaron Booker from Varvid speaks with Kumar Majety who is the Director of Thinkserver Product Marketing at Lenovo. Lenovo launched their server products last year and have been doing well with the business community ever since. They have a unique set of products that are designed for SMB customers. They have great incentives and rebates. In fact they were ranked number 1 by CRN on margins and rebates. Lenovo designs energy efficient products, they are unique in the industry having a tower and rack mount which are energy star certified. An end user can save money on energy efficiency and create less environmental impact using these Energy Star certified products.
Matt Makowicz from Ambition Consulting
Matt Makowicz speaks to Aaron Booker of Varvid at SMB Nation 2009 in Las Vegas. He runs a consultancy called Ambition Consulting dedicated to helping IT partners grow their business. They do sales training, marketing training, private 1 on 1 business coaching, boot camps, and he’s written several books. One of the most common questions is about how much one should compensate a sales person. Every business is different – one key thing to look at is comparing personality and culture when deciding who to hire and how they’ll fit into your company.
