For the past 6 years (8 if you count Blogger) I’ve been documenting the evolution & extinction of the IT service provider. When I first started blogging my role revolved primarily around the technology – and the IT service providers were heavily engaged in debates on what is enterprise and what is SMB. Today, the [...]

Greetings from beautiful Southern California and Mickey Mouse! Here is what I want you to think about: What does the technology landscape look like without you? Dream. Think. Share. vlad@vladville.com Most people that read Vladville are in IT industry at some level (service providers, consultants, SPFs, LARs, VARs, MSPs) and our industry is rapidly consolidating [...]

Last night I had a very interesting conversation on where the line is drawn between producing a quality product and maximizing profitability. Believe it or not (software, MSP, IT Solution Provider, SPF) there is a tradeoff between perfection and profitability – the better you try to get your product, the more it costs and less [...]

Rich people tend to make stupid decisions. Stupid decisions that, with eBay’s help, address a big problem in my life: driving the same sports car on consecutive days. This injustice, of my garage, driveway and back yard (redneck style) not being packed with cars from Ferrari, Porsche and Lamborghini can only be corrected by doing [...]

Channel, which is the name stupid marketing people at big hardware firms call the collection of VARs, MSPs, resellers and computer builders, is dying. (you might not like what I have to say) Let’s not argue about that, we have the numbers to back it and the number is growing rapidly. And it’s not just [...]

I’m in Dallas at the MSPU event and I have to admit they have really brought out an impressive attendance. Quite impressive. I don’t really want to give Erick all the credit in the world for it, but it is very evident that the riffraff is gone. The SPF mentality that once dominated our industry [...]

Blogs are free for a reason: We rarely talk to you about what we’re going to be doing tomorrow, much like books and articles, it’s about the past and the present. So let’s look at today in the little world of IT: the HTG cult is pushing with cutting the lowest performers and making sure [...]

Since Chris Rue is now done speaking and I can attribute quotes to him without fear that he’ll be gunned down for his low “Microsoft opinion / revenue” ratio, last week he really called the Microsoft/Partner relationship: It’s kinda the equivalent of an abusive relationship Like…MS keeps beating the fuck out of us And yet….we [...]

My last post titled Game Over raised some eyebrows. I got a ton of very interesting feedback from all over the spectrum (as far as I can match you to your revenue/company size within OWN via SM). The responses fall into several categories: There is no future in commodity services because there is always someone [...]

It’s the second quarter of the year, time to write one serious post without the Vladville act. I’ve decided to make this once-a-quarter event as to not distract the audience withe unfortunate reality (but tremendous opportunity) we find ourselves in. I don’t have to tell you, you already know it – servers aren’t selling. Projects [...]