Rick Savoia

The dos and don’ts of free trial software pre-installs for resellers

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Software pre-loads are a somewhat controversial practice among resellers in the industry. If done right it can be a great value-added incentive and a tremendous marketing tool. If done poorly, as some major vendors such as Dell, HP and Sony do, it can annoy and possibly alienate customers from both the product and the reseller. The key to success: common sense, good judgement and moderation.

Customers typically want their computers to have what they need on their PC at the time of purchase without having to shell out a lot of money.  Trial versions of popular applications can give the customers some functionality without the added cost of purchasing full versions right off the bat. Trial versions can also introduce new products to customers. A “try before you buy” approach can often hook a customer into the application and entice them to purchase the full product, hopefully from the reseller who sold them the PC. This upsell opportunity can help solidify the customer-reseller relationship and give the reseller an added advantage as a one-stop resource for additional products, service and support.

However, while they can be a great value-add to a new PC and can entice sales of full product,  some large OEMs will overdo it and load down the machines with so much  trial software programmed to boot up with the system that it often bogs the machine down, taking up system memory and space on the hard drive, negatively affecting performance and clogging up a new PC. For this reason, many customers also have this software immediately removed, often paying their tech to do so.

So how do you leverage the potential marketing power of trial software without creating a monster? By following three simple rules:

1. Know your customer. Listen to him or her. Find out what he or she needs and offer only the trial products that are most likely to meet them. If the customer is using the PC for accounting, a free trial of anti-virus software is fine as protection is necessary, but why load it down with trial games? Everyone likes to get something for free but if it isn’t used or needed, free stuff is useless. It’s just common sense.

2.  Whenever possible, install the trial products with prudence. Some software such as anti-virus programs will need to start and run with the operating system, but that free trial version of MS Office doesn’t need to load up and run the entire suite on boot. When installing trial products, configure them properly. Let what needs to run immediately load up and turn everything else off. Let the customer decide if they want to run the applications and when. Optimize the system for best performance. Let the PC run the software. Don’t let the software run the PC. Install trial software with the customer and performance in mind. Use good judgement.

3. Don’t try to be everything to everyone and don’t try to sell everything at once. Everyone needs anti-virus and anti-malware scanners, but do they need them all?  I purchased a Dell laptop once that had software for half a dozen ISPs. It was a huge turn-off and it was the last Dell I bought. I’ve seen brand new PCs with multiple Office suites, utility suites, multimedia applications and security products. Why does anyone need free trial versions of four different backup solutions? They don’t. It may also confuse them as to which one you recommend and endorse as a reseller. Offer a limited number of different products and only one of each type. Pick a vendor you recommend, trust and support for each and install a trial version of the product. Don’t try to install and sell every single application on the market. Promote and sell, but do it sensibly. Use moderation.

NASBA offers Kaspersly AV Pre-installs for System Builders and VARs

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(TheForceField.Net ) October 27, 2009 – NASBA is now offering a free 60-day trial version of security software from Kaspersky Lab for resellers. The software is intended for system builders, VARs and integrators to pre-install on the systems they build and sell to their customers as a value-add for their products.

NASBA, one of the largest IT and CE reseller trade associations in North America,  announced  the offer in an e-mail to members October 22.

Free trial versions of security software suites is nothing new, of course. McAfee and Symantec have been offering trial versions of their anti-virus applications for years through large OEMs such as Dell and HP. 

What makes the Kaspersky offer different is that it is a 60-day free trial, which is double the usual 30-day trial period most other vendors offer. This is smart move on the part of Kaspersky as it is a more soft sell approach as it eases pressure on the customer to make an immediate purchase decision, giving the initial PC purchase and the product itself more value.

In addition to the free trial, special discounts are being offered on KIS products to NASBA members  through D&H distributing. Resellers who have accounts with D&H can contact their D&H rep for details.

Membership to NASBA is free for VARs, system builders and other IT resellers. For more information contact NASBA at http://www.nasba.com .

IObit offers free license for Security 360 Pro

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IObit is giving away full one-year licenses of Security 360 Pro anti-malware utility until November 11, 2009.

IObit Security 360 is a antivirus and antimalware program that detects and removes spyware, keyloggers, trojans, worms and other malware, The utility is available in both Free and Pro versions and they are basically the same program, although the Pro version has more features.

the free version is available to download for non-commercial use. The Pro version includes full functionality and sells for $29.95, however, IObit.com is currently giving away a free one year free license for the Pro version until November 11.

To obtain a free license, go to http://db.iobit.com/license-free/win7-special-offer.php , download the trial and submit your e-mail address.

Trusting your data to the cloud can be Danger-ous

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Users of Microsoft’s Sidekick smartphone experienced an outage early this month that nine days later turned out to be catastrophic. While its not the first time a communications platform has experienced downtime, this time it’s different. This time users didn’t just lose service, they lost access to all their data. Many lost all of the data itself. Permanently.

The outage is the talk of tech sites, blogs and forums and raises what many believe are serious questions about the future cloud computing.

The Sidekick is a smartphone developed by Microsoft-owned subsidiary Danger, Inc. and sold by T-Mobile. User data such as calender entries, photos, address books and to-do lists are all stored on Microsoft Danger servers utilizing a Storage Area Network.

On October 1, 2009 Danger’s servers went down, taking user’s data off line. According to some reports Microsoft was performing an upgrade on its SAN when something went terribly wrong. At first it was believed to be only a temporary outage and by October 8 access to most of the services was restored. However much of the data was not and two days later Microsoft sent an e-mail to users and a notice was posted on T-Mobile’s community forums admitting their data was likely gone for good.

The reason? Microsoft did not back up the servers prior to the upgrade.

Rumour has it the snafu is being blamed on Hitachi , who Microsoft allegedly hired to perform the upgrade. Whether this is true or not is irrelevant to users now. The fact is, Microsoft lost their customers’ personal data and there was no backup. The damage was done.

The irony of all this is that, overall, the entity responsible for this epic fail is Microsoft, a company that should know better. Backup, backup, backup. Isn’t this something Redmond has drummed into our heads over the years? Of all companies to trust with our data shouldn’t they be the company most responsible to manage it?

Now, granted, Microsoft’s business model was not built on cloud computing. Their core business model is based on desktop computing, selling operating systems and software that reside directly on the desktop.  In fact, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has stated in the past that he doesn’t think the public is ready for working in the cloud and to a certain extent he has a point. In spite of Ballmer’s rhetoric Microsoft enter the arena anyway but it seems as if it did so only half-heartedly, a move that was likely made more for the sake of keeping up with Google than actually doing anything innovative in the cloud itself.

This brings up the most important question. Is cloud computing ready for prime time and is it really safe to trust it with your data? This isn’t a new discussion at all, but after such a massive and destructive event as the Sidekick outage it does remind us how important and controversial a question it is.

For instance, many tech business owners, myself included, have been hesitant to promote or sell cloud-based solutions to our customers simply based on the uncertainty as to whether or not the cloud can be trusted.

Take back-up solutions, for instance. There are a number of companies who offer them today and there are a myriad of opportunities to partner with these companies for recurring sales revenue. However, no matter how secure the data is, anything in the cloud is potentially hackable, an inconvenient truth that, unfortunately, has already been proven time and time again.

Aside from the security aspect of placing a data backup in an environment that is just “out there”, one that is essentially virtual and could potentially be accessed by anyone, anywhere at anytime, there is the aspect of reliability as well. Anyone can claim 99.9 percent uptime, but that percentage is relative depending on the length of time against which that percentage is measured. . 1 percent of a day is not very long at all. .1 percent of a year or two is something else entirely.

What if a small business customer backed up all their data to a backup service and that service had a Sidekick event? What if that data backup was unrecoverable? The potential effects could be catastrophic, not only for the customer who lost their data but for the service provider who recommended and sold that service to their customer. Is the loss of that customer and the potential damage to the service provider’s reputation worth risking for an extra buck or two each month?

Yes, it sounds overly paranoid of course, but these are questions some service providers ask and among the reasons why some may not recommend or offer such services to their customers. While It may seem like an overreaction, it could happen and it already did happen to Sidekick users, only worse, because it wasn’t a mere data backup that was gone, it was the data itself that was destroyed.  

Considering the fact that Microsoft purchased a company called Danger and never changed the name was probably not the best move in terms of marketing or building trust in a brand. Since the outage, the name itself now carries a whole new meaning. Seriously, a huge behemoth called Microsoft owns a company called Danger which put all its user’s data in real danger by not backing up its own servers and subsequently lost it all, providing a reason for those who are not fans of cloud computing to bolster their argument that trusting your data to the cloud can be Danger-ous. Now, that’s ironic.

Incidentally, Danger initially launched the Sidekick on October 1, 2002, exactly seven years to the day of the outage.

 

 

 

 

My Laptop Terminator: Rise of the Netbooks

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Last month I headed out to Washington, D.C. for a family trip. As expected, I wanted to be able to check routes, access my e-mail and keep tabs on The Force Field web portal. Naturally I planned to bring along a laptop, however the battery wasn’t working well and I didn’t want to cart around something I had to keep plugged in everywhere to use. I was not inclined to keep tabs on another piece of luggage, either. I wanted something with mobility like a cell phone but with the ability to run multiple applications simultaneously like a laptop.

The solution was a new netbook.

I purchased an Acer Aspire One KAV60 netbook with an Atom N270 processor, 1GB of memory (upgradeable to 2GB) and a 160GB hard drive. This fit the bill perfectly. It was small and lightweight, yet allowed me to do everything I needed and then some. The best part was the price. It was below $300.

Now, granted, it didn’t include an optical drive, so I couldn’t run anything from a CD or DVD. In fact, my wife was a little skeptical of it at first because she couldn’t play DVD movies. However, with access to the Internet, we didn’t need one and it wasn’t missed. Every application I needed to install was available for download on the Internet. Anything else I needed could be loaded from a USB thumb drive or an SD card, which could be easily inserted in the multi-card slot embedded in the base of the unit. As for watching movies? Hulu and Netflix took care of that.

If I needed real computing power on the road, all I needed to do was log into my computer at home using GoToMyPC from Citrix and I could access all my serious applications and multitask from there. All I really needed was access to the Internet. With a choice of ethernet or wi-fi in the system, we were set. No worries.

It was then that I understood the full and historical implication of this: the Rise of the Netbooks was upon us.

I am not always distracted by the possible ramifications of new technologies and don’t automatically assume one will change the future of an entire industry. But it does happen, and often enough within the last twenty years to make me more watchful of anything new that comes along.

Take the Super 8 movie camera, for instance. Before the mid ’70s 8mm motion picture film was the way we recorded our family events. When video came along, it changed everything. Music was sold and distributed on vinyl records and audio tapes until the introduction of the Compact Disc. Now the CD is taking a back seat to iPods and mp3 files. Needless to say the iPod alone has had a tumultuous effect on the entire recording industry.

Since its initial introduction to the computer marketplace the laptop has been the de facto standard for computing mobility around the world. However, as given in the previous examples, every technology has its end of dominance or end of life. The laptop, as with anything else, is not immune to such obsolescence.

When I returned home from our trip with our netbook, I went up to my office and looked at my laptop, sitting on the table. It looked big, bulky and old. I’ve turned it on a few times since, mostly to download updates for applications and the operating system. Once or twice I used it to surf the Internet. Then I would turn it off, open the netbook and watch a movie online.

Now that I’ve turned the netbook over to my wife as a replacement for her old desktop, I need to buy one for me. Unless something changes, my laptop toting days are over. It’s another netbook for me.

There’s no doubt netbooks have a place in the computer market. They fill an important gap between desktops and full featured portables. In fact, for what I use a laptop these days, which is primarily for web-based work, the netbook has generally replaced it altogether. I considered purchasing a new laptop but I really don’t want to lug it around. The netbook does what I need a laptop to do on the road and I can slip it into a bag or case with my other gear easily, eliminating the need for a separate laptop bag.

As netbooks increase in popularity and performance, could they ultimately replace laptops for general use? If so, how will it effect the portable repair industry? Will it create a niche market for netbook repair or will they be so cheap that few netbook users will opt to repair them and simply toss them for new ones?

The rise of the netbook could be the beginning of a new era in the PC marketplace. The question is, will it offer new opportunities for techs or will it be the beginning of the end for the laptop repair provider? Which ever way it goes, stay alert, watch closely and be ready. The Rise of the Netbooks has begun.

Are Social Networks Effective Tools For Marketing Your Business?

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I read a thread on Technibble today on the topic of social networking sites and whether or not using them for marketing your business was actually beneficial. The responses were somewhat mixed but the general consensus was that they are. Interestingly, the individual who posted the initial query was not a fan of sites such as Facebook and had reservations about using it for business purposes. This is not an unusual position.

I have talked with a number of tech business owners who have no interest in social networking. In their view, sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter seem to be mindless diversions or a waste of valuable time. They are also somewhat intrusive. They don’t want their personal lives publicly displayed on the net for all to see or search for on Google. They don’t want to market their businesses in a fashion that to them is perceived as “unprofessional”.

I have also talked with those who wholeheartedly embraced social networking either on a personal level, a business level, or both and who invest a lot of time daily to exploit this type of public exposure to its maximum potential. They are not afraid to Twitter the day away or publish the most mundane details of their lives on Facebook with the ultimate goal of building online relationships with family, friends, associates and complete strangers for fun, profit or both.

 I certainly do not subscribe to the notion that social networking as a marketing tool is a bad thing or a waste of time. Neither do I think it is always the best or the only way to go. I do, however, think that utilized wisely, social networking on a professional level can be a very useful and effective tool in marketing your business. The key, as I view it, is the approach.

There are businesses that do quite well with sites like Facebook and Twitter. They have developed relationships with their customers on more than just a professional level. Using social networks these relationships have become both more professional and personal in a positive way. By monitoring social networking sites these companies watch and listen to customers more closely and customers enjoy a more direct and instant communication with the companies they do business with. This one-on-one relationship is in complete contrast to the typical phone IVR and web based customer service models which typically serve to insulate companies from their customers and their needs, effectively hurting customer relationships instead of nurturing them.

Of course, not every company “gets it”. There are many businesses that jump into the social network marketing model without a clue as to how to do it right and ultimately hurt their reputations instead. This is because, as with everything else, there is a right way and a wrong way to do it.

For instance, there are a few companies I followed on Twitter that seemed to treat every “tweet” as if it were an ad. Each post was a blatant shout to buy a service or product, often in repetitive, word-for-word carbon copies. There was no useful information in the posts, no links to newsworthy or interesting blogs on a mutual topic of interest, no attempt to engage me personally in any meaningful dialogue. They were all just mindless billboards with sales pitches in 140 characters or less. These are companies I did not follow long and I did not consider to do business with.

I also heard of companies who started out with a less than stellar reputation for customer relationships and turned their reputations around with social networking. These companies followed their customers, listened to the chatter on these social networking sites from those customers who had issues with the company and then contacted those customers personally to resolve those issues and make things right. These companies were actually listening to their customers and responding to their needs. They weren’t selling to their customers, they were building relationships with them – and that is what “social networking” is all about.

There are a few companies with loyal legions of fans and followers who have built their businesses and profits through social networking. Any company can do this if they follow proper social “netiquette” and utilize social networking sites for what they were designed to be – not as conduits for commercials, but as tools for personal interaction with others.

Is social networking a good and viable marketing tool for your business? That all depends on how you use it and how you want to interact with your customers. If your goal is simply to make a quick sale and move on to the next, probably not. If, on the other hand, you’re in business for the long haul and your goal is to develop long-term, meaningful and profitable relationships and develop a loyal customer base with word-of-mouth referrals (the best kind of advertising in any book), then social networking sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter are free and powerful tools that can help you achieve that objective.

Tips for building your business in a stressed economy (and why you should follow them)

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I just started to clean my office a few minutes ago and began sorting through a stack of trade magazines when I ran across an issue of ChannelPro from May 2009. I stopped to parse through it and found an article that compelled me to stop and write this blog post.

This is one reason why I seldom clean my office. I get caught up in something I find during the process and go off on a tangent that goes into a completely different project. needless to say I never seem to finish the office.

The article that caught my attention was one written by guest columnist Randall Cochran called “5 Tips For Building Your Business in a Tough Economy “. It wasn’t an unusual title; the general topic  of building businesses under current economic conditions is a common one these days. Everyone seems to have tips, tricks and views on what it takes to start and manage a business under a stressed economy and such an article could easily be lost among many others.

But the first couple of tips caught my attention. Then I skimmed the other three. Then I read the article. It got me started.

The reason it compelled me to stop and blog about it was because it was exactly what we were discussing in FF Episode 35 . Exactly. Point by point, each item pointed out the same principles and advice we covered in episodes 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 34 and 35 of The Force Field podcast.

I wish I could reproduce the entire article here, but I can’t. However, I will paraphrase the 5 tips. You can read the entire article at your discretion.

The five basic tips are as follows:

  1. Educate yourself.
  2. Partner with your peers and other providers.
  3. Utilize vendor tools and resources.
  4. Find vendor programs that fit your business model
  5. develop relationships with your vendors

Now, I understand that the concept of working “in the channel” is a new and alien concept to many of you. There are those who think they are too small and won’t profit from it. There are others who think they are too big and successful already to need it. Either way a lot of providers, from field service professionals, computer shops and small VARs to large system integrators, vertical system resellers and MSPs can all service themselves and their customers by utilizing resources provided by the vendors and manufacturers of the products and services they support and sell.

I have discussions with other providers who are always looking for new ways to market their businesses and find more customers. They are always talking about the tough competition and they are always looking for a competitive ‘edge’. Well, here it is.

A large percentage of providers do not use vendor programs. This means that the minority of those who do already have a competitive edge over their counterparts. Why aren’t these programs utilized more?

Why do the majority of providers dismiss these resources? I could understand it if these tools were outside the reach of these business owners, but they are not. In fact, here are reasons of my own to argue why you should use these resources.

  1. They are free. FREE. They don’t cost you money to join. You can’t beat free.
  2. They don’t require a large investment of time. You use what you need as you need them.
  3. Co-branding opportunities abound. You are associated with your vendor.
  4. They add credibility to your company. You have a relationship with your vendor.
  5. You can better service your customers. You have a higher level of service and support.

Did I mention these vendor partnerships and programs are free? Even if you only purchase the actual products from retailers on the Internet, there are still many advantages to joining these programs from a training and marketing perspective.

You don’t have to take my word for it. Join NASBA . It’s free. Subscribe to ChannelPro . it’s free too. Both of these resources will give you a better perspective of the industry, your competitors and your own business, even if you don’t participate in any programs.

If you want to compete, you need to know what is out there, what your competitors are using and who you can collaborate with to better manage your business, especially in these economic times.

Reviews of service platforms

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I don’t normally write reviews of vendors, contractors and other resources listed in the IT Business Resource Directory for several reasons.  First, the site itself is vendor neutral. That is, The Force Field as a portal does not endorse any specific resource. Second, as a portal, I wanted let the members do it themselve, leaving the praise, criticism or judgement of any specific company or organization to those who work with them directly. Third, it’s a lot of work and I just don’t have time to do it.

While The Force Field remains neutral, I, as a member, also have my own voice independent of the portal. Therefore I can post my own opinions and experiences in my own articles under my own blog or as one of the contributing writers in a review or editorial.

End disclaimer.

There are numerous service venues and platforms popping up on the web. Some are good, some marginal, some questionable and a few are outright scams. Many of our members have dealt with a number of each over the years and have the scars to prove it. As more of these services and companies appear, it is more important than ever to differentiate between the good, the bad and the ugly to protect ourselves, our customers and our businesses.

Therefore, from time to time I will post reviews on these various “platforms” in order to enlighten and protect IT service professionals from mistakes that could cost them more than just money.

Today I will review Service Magic.

Review: Service Magic

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Service Magic is a web based service platform that matches homeowners to qualified service professionals. The company was founded in 1999 and is primarily intended for home improvement projects and services such as carpentry, plumbing and other home repairs.

However, in recent years Service Magic has expanded into IT as well, and this, I believe is where they have problems.

The system is simple. Buyers put in requests for contract work and the requests are routed to service providers in their areas to perform the work. In simple terms, it is like most of the other platforms such as OnForce, ServiceLive, etc.

The difference is that with Service Magic, the requests are actual leads for the work. The leads are routed to a maximum of three providers, the providers contact the buyer directly and the buyer chooses who will perform the work. The contact information is not filtered or hidden. It is sent directly to the providers.

The buyer routes the lead at no cost to him or her. The provider pays a flat fee for receiving the lead. That fee is based on value within a category of services predetermined by Service Magic.

The upside to this system is that both buyer and provider are free agents on the platform. Once the lead is accepted and the work is performed, both are free to conduct future business together. In other words, unlike many other venues and platforms, Service Magic is a true, bona fide marketplace.

The downside is that it isn’t cheap. Every lead that is sent to the provider is billable, whether the lead pays out or not.

Now, on the surface, this seems like an open and fair deal. You win a few, you lose a few and it all works out in the end, right?

In principle, this is right, provided the company operates within and stands by a set of principles. However, any system can be manipulated or abused. Every transaction is based on a level of trust between the buyer and provider. Yet the party that most to be watched is not always the buyer or the providers. It is often the platform itself and the organization that runs it.

Yes, I was with Service Magic for a couple of years. Currently my status is suspended – at my request. Basically they are set up for general service contractors and offering IT services is clearly out of their league. I have had numerous issues and discussions with them to no avail. I have tried to explain that the IT service market is not like general houshold maintenance work and requires an understanding of the business to be able to offer their services to it at a fair price.

The advantage to using them is that it can be a better deal than the Yellow Pages if you are in a metropolitan area and are the only tech for their region. The leads are precisely that – leads. They don’t own the customer. You do. That was the main reason I went with them. If you want to build your customer base, it can be another source for leads.

However, it isn’t for everyone. The reason they were not listed in The Force Field IT Business Resource Directory before today is because I held off on publishing the listing. I did so on a promise to their rep that I would not publish anything about them – good or bad – until I had cooled off a bit from my last encounter with them.

I really like the overall concept but the execution is lacking. When I moved to Charlotte I temporarily suspended the account because they had been sending me leads and I was concerned they would continue to do so during the move. After the move they kept calling me to turn them back on and the pitch was that the new area I was in was hot. According to the rep they had 30 leads in the area and no one to send them to. Suspicious, I said okay on the condition that I would have a few free ones to cover some past issues. They agreed and – guess what – nearly a month with no leads. They finally sent me two, both of which were bogus. When I finally received one that was legit they wanted to bill me for it and I found out that the free leads were only good for thirty days, something which was never disclosed to me.

To add to the insult, one of the free leads was supposed to be a “refund” for a bad lead they sent me when I was still in Orlando.

I won’t go into the details, but to make a long story short, the rep was not correct about the “hot leads” and I called them on it. They offered to give me five free leads, which they later called and accused me of trying to “game” from them, which they initially offered me without my asking for them, and which I never actually got to use. They would just take money from my credit card and there was no way to stop it without actually cutting off the card. In the end they wanted to play the free leads game with me again at which point I told them where to go, cancelled my account (which was a very long call as the rep debated the issues with me) and I haven’t heard from them since.

(Incidentally, they owe me money, but I wrote it off as a loss because they don’t refund in cash, only in leads.)

They were initially charging me $8 for leads and then raised it to $9 with no notice. They did bill me once for an $11 lead because it involved wiring (Actually I had chosen the category “network” for advertising home and small office wireless networking but they lumped it into the electrical and low voltage wiring category because they didn’t have any sub-category for setting up wireless networking).

The company was set up for doing building and maintenance projects, not IT and they just didn’t know how to incorporate it into their platform. In my opinion, Service Magic is clueless when it comes to the IT industry and it shows.

The perfect platform would be a Service Magic lead generation approach with an OnForce platform and management. Service Magic is a marketplace in the true sense of the word. Unfortunately, based on my own experience, they seem to lack the integrity and trust that OnForce initially built into theirs.

If you want an example of a real marketplace , it is Service Magic. It doesn’t attempt to control or manipulate the marketplace, only provide a platform on which the client and provider can meet. Unfortunately, in my opinion, it isn’t the best one.

About the OnForce OSMI article on the front page of The Force Field

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I know that there will be a few OnForce providers who will raise their eyebrows over the publishing of the press release for the latest OnForce Market Services Index on the front page of the site today, especially in light of recent events. Yes, it is an OnForce-written press release and, yes, I did somewhat unofficially recuse myself from promoting OnForce. That was not the intention of the post.

While the OSMI is primarily aimed at potential Buyers and not Providers, it does contain a lot of information and statistics about the state of the industry that can benefit IT companies on both sides. It is a good use of their resources and, of course, it’s free.

I generally post the OSMI reports specifically for our own edification regarding industry trends, because, whether we like to admit it or not, OnForce, as do all of us collectively, do help shape and influence the overall marketplace.

The reason I posted this particular Q1 2009 report was primarily to use it as an additional source to compare it to our own data gathered from the four part series of The Force Field podcast we recently concluded on The State of The IT Industry.

The results of the OSMI closely mirror and quantify the data and upbeat outlook from all the guests on the shows. This certainly encouraging.

There is another important reason to check out the OSMI. If you look at trends withing specific areas of the industry that are listed, you will notice a few that seem to be poised for further growth. As you may recall, one of the reoccurring themes of the shows in the series was that of finding such areas in which to diversify in order to survive when times were slow in the areas you service.

If you study the OSMI you may find additional areas to move into that are still largely untapped or are potentially profitable and in which you can expand your businesses.

I know this seems somewhat hypocritical to post press releases for the company but I assure you that it is not my intention to actively promote the company. It is simply to take advantage of something they have that we can use to promote our own businesses. The OSMI is is a marketing piece for them and I understand that. It does, however have some statistical data that can prove to be of value to us all and I, for one, would like to make the most of it while we can.