Microsoft has called Office 365 its “fastest growing business” in history. The company has seen nearly 150% growth in the number of small and medium sized (SMB) businesses that have adopted the platform, making it more successful than Office or Xbox.

Step into the cloud with hosted voice. Learn which providers fit your customers' needs with this hosted voice guide.

Download our "Hosted Voice Provider Guide".

Leading National Technology Master Agency Expands Sales Organization

Leading National Technology Master Agency Expands Executive Leadership

“How can I compete with a carrier direct sales team?”

That’s the question I often hear from agents looking to gain an advantage over their competition. What they mean is, “How can I compete with a team that has an arsenal of marketing resources, training support, and sales material at their disposal, backed by a huge corporation?” To our independent agents this is a feat that is intimidating at best and discouraging at worst.

Now is your opportunity to guide your customers into the next phase of their business technology strategy. Customize this flyer with your logo and contact information to send to your customers.

On July 14, 2015 Microsoft will cease to support or issue any security updates for Windows Server 2003. That means if your customers continue to run their Windows Server 2003 environment after this date they are going to be opening themselves to potentially disastrous security threats.

The telecom landscape is constantly changing with new, more efficient technologies being introduced to the marketplace seemingly every day. The scalable access to cloud-based offerings, fast-expanding use of video beyond conferencing, and machine-to-machine communication (M2M) are just a few of the services changing the dynamics of telecom today. These offerings are redefining the essence of how businesses communicate both internally and externally.

With Microsoft support for Windows Server 2003 ending on July 14th, establishing a migration plan for your customers is a top priority. Possible options include upgrading their server, moving to a hosted environment, or updating to Microsoft Office 365. But which is the best choice for them?

Albert Einstein once said the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. I’m guessing that he didn’t arrive at his famous E=mc² equation on the first try, and I’m sure he didn’t use the same steps each time he failed, expecting to get the right answer.

In the past, hardware, software, and connectivity services have been sold to your customers as standalone technology elements. Convergence changes this dynamic, bringing each of these components together into a single, unified, and fully-integrated buying experience.

At MSP Alliance's Spring Conference last month the organization released its predictions for the managed services market. According to its research, in 2015 the managed services market in North America will account for $154 billion in sales.
 

Designation Comes Amid Exciting Change in Distribution Channel, Technology Convergence

CHICAGO – April 16, 2015 – TBI, the nation’s leading technology solutions Master Agent, announced today that company Vice President Ken Mercer has been named to The VAR Guy’s inaugural “Top 50 Channel Influencers” list.

When pitching corporate clients, VARs need to go beyond the same old technical differences, strengths, and limitations of MPLS and Ethernet services. Instead, focus on the operational and business advances that are tipping the scales in favor of the LAN-turned-WAN technology.

TBI Vice President Ken Mercer has been named to The VAR Guy’s inaugural “Top 50 Channel Influencers” list. The 2015 list honors top executives and experts in the information technology channel all of whom were nominated by The VAR Guy readers. A copy of the list can be viewed on The VAR Guy's website.

*This article was originally published on channelpartnersonline.

Cloud computing has been pitched hard to enterprises as a means to achieve a lower total cost of ownership and a higher ROI while still meeting IT service needs. What isn’t always factored in is in-house manpower savings — it’s an often overlooked benefit in the Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) justification equation.

There are many benefits your customer can gain by moving his voice or total communications to the cloud. For example, both Hosted VoIP and UCaaS will get your customer out of the time-consuming business of buying, maintaining, and updating his own hardware and software systems.

*This article was originally published by The VAR Guy.

With cloud computing catching the attention of CFOs, COOs and CMOs, VARs need to ask the right questions to determine what companies are best served by a public, private or hybrid cloud architecture as the network foundation for their business applications.

By the year 2018,the Unified Communications as a Service  (UCaaS) market will reach $5.3 billion. This is according to market research firm Wainhouse Research.

Over the course of the past few weeks, Adam Knudsen and I have laid out some foundational information about what Managed IT opportunities look like. We’ve discussed the various solutions and services in a strong Managed IT portfolio, and we’ve also discussed some great entry points for sellers of traditional telecom services.