When we unveiled the MSPmentor 100 research report on January 28, we expected to turn a few heads. But in the past 48 hours, even we have been surprised by the report’s success.
The MSPmentor 100 is a global research effort identifying the world’s most progressive managed service providers. It’s also a great case study for those who are dabbling in Web 2.0 technologies, research, content, marketing and branding. Based on several key metrics, the report is a big success. Plus we learned a wealth of information to help us with our next online research project.
I don’t want to reveal too much about our secret sauce, but let’s just say we found some worthwhile ways to attract and retain a global MSP audience in recent months.
Of course, we know we can’t rest on our laurels. Top service providers will read the report year round, but the mainstream media will forget about it in the next few hours. Web media seems to be changing as fast as we blog (and we blog pretty darn fast across all of our web sites). We see plenty of challenges ahead — for us, and for all media companies.
But January, I’m pleased to say, was a stellar success. We launched The VAR Guy and MSPmentor. We made sure both sites allowed readers to interact with one another and with us. We launched our eNewsletters. We lined up sponsors in the US, Canada and India. We mastered a new ad system. And we dove into our first research report. The MSPmentor 100 was the perfect icing on the cake.
Now, onto February…
As the market for managed services continues to mature, perhaps we’ll witness growing demand for independent third-party certification of MSPs.
In particular, some areas of expertise may require higher degrees of skills validation — I’m thinking managed security, as an example.
The Cisco Powered program offers a way to Find a Managed Service Provider globally.
BTW, I’ve been reading both MSPmentor and The VAR Guy.