Why external perspective matters

Posted: 2:34 am
August 1, 2010
Events
8 Comments

Not external perception, external perspective. You have relatively little control over the opinion people have of you, and even if you’re just the nicest guy on earth people will still hate your guts (see Tim Tebow) and find great reasons to.

Few years ago when we were having issues I turned to my friends/clients and asked why they worked with us. Two comments from my buddies Wayne Small and Dean Calvert stick with me to the present day:

“This isn’t a date, this is a marriage.”

Getting everyone in an organization to understand the level of dependence that clients have on us, the level of trust they extend, and in bad times – the level of personal stake they have on the product choice they use to solve problems – is incredible. How do you build that? My personal answer to this is under a press embargo and NDA for a little while, but I can offer you some insight

Autotask ________ Conference

Last week we were invited to Autotask HQ for a ______ conference. As you can guess, literally everything is NDA at this point and in the event that even the company name is NDA, consider this a lovely event I had behind a dumpster doing heroin with my imaginary friends.

First thing they did at 9 AM was to let the CEO lay out the next 2 years worth of the roadmap, with the first year of it clearly spelled out – from vision to agenda to the end game.

The next 6-7 hours was basically spending time with some of the smartest people around and the key executives, developers, support, etc going over the details, suggestions, ideas and implementations.

The final hour was the CEO again, basically saying “Here is a list of places where you make money.”

Note to Self

First of all, I don’t know anyone that does this. The closest thing I’ve seen to this type of event is what Microsoft used to put on back when they had a partner program – back before the CEO would stroll into a keynote looking like he just left a BBQ and the program itself looked less like a time share sales training seminar.

Second, shame on me for not doing this for our partners. I talk to thousands of people each year, I’ve got a bunch of people in my company that talk to far more and we talk to each other every Thursday and Friday. Why we’re not sharing this collective knowledge (that most of you probably get on Vladville in between profanities) is embarrassing.

Third, shame on you for not doing the same for your community.

On To The Next One

I’ve made no secret over what I’ve been doing for the past year.

After we damn near rewrote our process, support, billing and half the products I dedicated myself to a new job – that of the PSA strategy. About a month ago I took a leave of absence to take care of some other business projects that just needed to become rock solid before I took the helm of OWN again.

In about a week or so, I am coming back to the helm of ExchangeDefender. And my first goal is to make sure we let our partners benefit from everything we know about where the money is.

I don’t think I’ve been this excited about what we do in at least 4 years.

This is why your email is getting delayed..

Posted: 4:29 am
July 25, 2010
Exchange, ExchangeDefender
5 Comments

On Friday I actually got into an argument with one of our partners about what is causing an issue with the sudden stop of mail flow from ExchangeDefender. It immediately prompted the “My name is Vlad and I’ll bet you $100 that this will fix it” support policy for anyone that wants to argue with me and consequently, “Vlad is no longer allowed to call partners to help them with technical issues” policy.

There is this new thing in Exchange (new as in it’s been there for 4+ years) called Backpressure. It’s documented here in great detail. In a nutshell:

Exchange 2007 and beyond comes with a self-monitoring system called backpressure that will either temporarily or permanently stop the hub transport role. It monitors memory and drive space. If you start running out of either, Exchange will either temporarily or permanently stop accepting inbound mail.

Here is what it looks like from the outside:

telnet 1.2.3.4 25
Trying 1.2.3.4…
Connected to clientserver (1.2.3.4).
Escape character is ‘^]’.
220 clientserver Microsoft ESMTP MAIL Service ready at Fri, 23 Jul 2010 12:20:28 -0400
ehlo ownwebnow.com
250-clientserver Hello [65.99.255.226]
250-SIZE 10485760
250-PIPELINING
250-DSN
250-ENHANCEDSTATUSCODES
250-STARTTLS
250-AUTH
250-8BITMIME
250-BINARYMIME
250 CHUNKING
mail from: vlad@ownwebnow.com
452 4.3.1 Insufficient system resources

Note: In order to check for inbound mail problems you should be using an SMTP diag. Your Exchange will still be functioning when the backpressure brakes kick in.

If you’re an SBS user, make sure you have at least 2x RAM (or at least 10GB free) disk space free on the volume on which Exchange resides. If that is not immediately possible, turn off backpressure and restart your Exchange Hub Transport services. If you’re not on SBS and have a real Exchange setup with proper separation between your log / db / queue storage separation, make sure you take free space available on the volumes which hold your queues and your transaction logs.

Case 1: Infrequent Email Delays

Exchange clients who typically only complain about email delays during business hours, or have sporadic email delay issues are likely dealing with a low memory issue. As the server gets more and more abuse throughout the day, it is likely to exhaust all available memory and Exchange backpressure stops processing inbound mail temporarily.

When it does so, the senders are greeted with the 4.5.2 4.3.1 Insufficient System Resources error message above. The message isn’t bounced / returned, the sending mail server will attempt the delivery again in the next few minutes (depending on configuration, server software, etc). ExchangeDefender is set to pound your server every 1 minute.

Case 2: Frequent & Persistent Email Delays

This is related to the backpressure being triggered by low disk storage availability. Start nuking stuff. At best, you’ve just downloaded too much stuff and you’re physically out of space until you delete it. All mail flow will stop until you address the issue.

The more exotic event, in which you have something that temporarily stores data on your server that also holds your queues and transaction logs, find whoever hired you and have them hold your head in the toilet while they persistently flush and slam the toilet seat on your neck until you stop convulsing. Since that’s technically murder, you might have to do this on your own, make sure to put a heavy weight on a toilet seat.

The more exotic event is particularly frustrating because the delays are compounded. We had a partner whose client used the same volume for his backup jobs as well as for Exchange. At the end of the day he’d exhaust nearly all the server space, thereby shutting down Exchange – once the backups were moved to the external device the space was available again and the inbound mail resumed. Another had clients rendering software run on the server, which had a 10GB rendering scratch allocation on C:\. I’ll give you one guess where the queues were. See the toilet seat fix recommended above.

What about compounding? Well, if you have resource issues and are a heavy user of email, inbound mail itself will cause delays. There are only so many messages that Exchange hub transport can route at once so a sudden surge of mail can trigger delays all by itself.

In a nutshell

1. Don’t keep your queues and logs on the same drive.

2. If you can’t comply with #1, make sure you have a ton of ram and hard drive space.

3. Make sure to check out  Exchange 2007 Mailbox Server Role Storage Requirements Calculator: http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2007/01/15/432207.aspx

4. If you are an MSP, and aren’t monitoring the free hard drive space on your servers if it dips below 10GB (again, Vlad’s toilet seat fix is highly recommended) at least monitor MSExchangeTransport EventId 15002.

5. For temporary relief only, turn off backpressure.

I need a cloud strategy

Posted: 1:04 am
July 24, 2010
IT Business
3 Comments

I get this pretty much every day. On Thursday I did a presentation at MSPU and I got a lot of people asking me about how to formulate a cloud strategy.

Being the pimp that I am, I told them I’d not just answer their question but all the ones they weren’t asking. “It’s not what you know, it’s what you don’t know.” Basically, I got a bunch of people to proof read a part of my book for free. 🙂

So here it is in a nutshell, the core of pimping the cloud and pretty much anything in any kind of a business:

All businesses have internal competition. Accounts receivable vs. Accounts payable. Payroll vs. Human Resources. The case for internal competition is that it efficiently allocates corporate resources (ie, cash, people) to make sure the company grows efficiently and responsibly. Without it, companies can burn out their cash or starve their innovation – both leading to doom.

Business growth in IT is similarly structured. You have to recruit and entice a new client base with one hand, while you smack some of it away with the other. Without a steady stream of new business, you cannot find remarkably profitable accounts consistently. Sure, you can spend a lot on marketing and referrals and get lucky every now and then, but long term success is founded on a long term strategy of cultivating your client base and serving their expanding business technology need as they grow.

If your response to the above is: “Well, yeah, no shit Vlad.” you’re on the right track. But I can tell you that at least 90% of the people I speak to don’t get it.

Most IT Solution Providers consider the cloud from what I like to call the blacksmith angle. Blacksmith is someone that looks backwards at previous success patterns and thinks that current and future innovation is a fad. Instead of chasing the fad, they focus on past success patterns. The truth is, success is somewhere in the middle.

As I told several executives that I’m pitching a solution to recently:

“You’re going to have a tougher and tougher time finding people that are going to go from managing their business with Excel & Notepad and dedicate themselves to automating business processes that don’t even exist.”

The same applies to the IT Solution Provider crowd. You’re going to have a tougher and tougher time trying to find a company that needs to build out a computer network, or a new server – if they even had IT in the first place. They are out there – but how much money will you spend to find them?

Is the case for a server or a network gone? Absolutely not. Have customers started putting their workstations on eBay in favor of working on their Internet enabled TV? Absolutely not.

But choosing not to build out a lead generation system based on a profitable and proven technology is insane. It’s dead easy to grow horizontally, especially when you have the right staff or the right partners.

The cloud is an opportunity to quickly and cost effectively build up a huge client base without building a huge support department or staff. It is a complement to a long term strategy of delivering professional services to customers that have chosen you as their platform. Microsoft and Google get this. They are cannibalizing themselves because they know that the platform is the marginalized good and what you help your clients accomplish with it is where the money really lies.

Seriously. How often do you get shot down in a business proposal over dollars and cents? And how often do people not even blink at the cost even if you’re the most expensive solution on the table?

Would you like to know why?

When you don’t understand or don’t appreciate something, you will only qualify and consider it at the factor you do understand: the economic one – how much is this going to cost me and which one is the cheapest? But as the business grows and technology needs pile up, it’s more cost effective to have the best solution because the cheapest one will require hidden costs or unravel a string productivity losses.

There. Now you know everything you need to know about the cloud, infrastructure, failed and winning business strategy. If you’d like to know more, sign up for one of our webcasts.

To be honest, it’s not really about what solution you pick (although I’m really, really, really biased) it’s important that you have and implement a lead generation and a prospect grooming / qualifying process in your marketplace.

Somewhat personal…

Posted: 8:55 pm
July 22, 2010
IT Business
1 Comment

Most of you may not know, but I’m 31.

And man, if you look at the archives of this blog, I’ve said some hella dumb stuff in the past 6 years of writing this thing.

One of my agendas for 2010 and beyond is to stop being petty and stop worrying about the little things. Because you know what, I don’t wake up each day trying to make sure every little light is on and that every little corner of my kingdom has fresh paint. I wake up each day because every day I help my partners move an inch forward towards what they want to accomplish. That’s why in 2010 I’m the one at OWN with the most miles traveled, most conference calls minutes killed, most webcasts pulled off and spending as much money as I can to push my partners. It really is all about you, because if you do well, we will continue our track record.

We’re kicking ass on all fronts and in all areas, and frankly the past year has been spent in the PSA business – if the process of getting paid and justifying our value isn’t met it doesn’t matter what we’ve done for the client – they need to realize the benefits and be aware of them too.

The Process

First, look at the big picture. Is the decision I’m about to make, or a comment I’m about to put out there really something that fits into my overall strategy?

Second, does it really make an impact? If what I’m about to do is not going to make a difference a year from now on, pass.

Third, self control. This one is a toughie. I’m a bit of an inconsiderate asshole. When you have a tunnel vision to your agenda you don’t happen to see all the people your train is running over. That’s both a gift and a curse. You can’t get to where you need to go without focus. You can’t just blindly plow forward. I’m trying to work myself towards that middle – where I don’t say the first thing that’s on my mind but also don’t let opportunities pass me by.

The Week

In the past 3 days I’ve watched four of my business partners engage in the most juvenile show of childish pettiness I’ve seen in a long time. They are all grown men and women, working in senior levels of multimillion dollar corporations. One was pissed off about the time he was speaking. Another was pissed off about a competitors presence and shirt color. Another was pissed off about voting fraud on a video site. The last one was just pissed off at being in the middle. Not kidding.

Now, that’s their problem and they have to live with it. I love them all dearly.

From my perspective, I realize that as these people piss off each other over petty shit, I may be doing the same to you. I hope that most of you that read this blog don’t mistake what I’m doing here. I hold Own Web Now Corp and everyone we work with to a higher degree. I don’t take people that drop their services with us back and I don’t hire employees back. I feel OWN owes a lot to the industry that developed it, and I also feel like I owe this industry to talk about things that are threatening us.

Sometimes we’re the biggest threat to ourselves. From our ignorance to our lost opportunities.

I just figured, watching the last few days unfold from a somewhat independent third party,  I owe all of you that are offended by what you read on Vladville a huge apology.

Please don’t misplace my sincerity – I could give two shits less if you disagree with me and I hope you do – that’s why I put stuff in the open so we can discuss it and find a better way to make money. Nobody is beyond making mistakes, learning from them, and benefiting from the lesson they learned. I just don’t want you all to think it’s coming from a petty angle because I sincerely love and appreciate all my partners.

You’re paying for the Ferrari’s. I’d like more. The better off you do, the more Ferrari’s I get. I don’t want you to think I do any of this for anything less than that. 🙂

As always, thank you for your business, and thank you for all your money.

How would you build a RAMzilla?

Posted: 8:06 pm
July 18, 2010
Misc
1 Comment

Recently I wrote a blog post detailing some gear we use for large scale data backups (“How do you backup a ton of stuff?”)

So here is what I’m looking at: Giant RAM drive.

The workstation-class system with 24 GB RAM is under a grand.

Solid server-grade stuff from Dell with 32 GB RAM is $1683. Double the RAM and the price nearly quadruples. But that’s Dell.

The idea of running a primary database or an entire system virtualized on a ramdisk has a huge appeal. We run a lot of stuff in a ramdisk to make a more responsive experience and with the replication to more reliable stuff it makes for an awesome solution.

So what do you think, have you had to build something beefy? I know the easy way is to just go to SSD but the performance is really not the same.

Don’t let others make you feel bad for being remarkable

Posted: 10:57 pm
July 16, 2010
Work Ethic
9 Comments

Note: This is a bit philosophical with some motivational Vlad sprinkles. Perhaps it’s a collosal waste of your time and bandwidth but I hope it helps some of you find motivation and inspiration that what you’re doing is indeed right and good.

Over the past year there has been a lot of talk about the balance between your personal and professional life. That the two are separate entities to be balanced and measured. The whole work-life balance sounds great on paper but I wonder if I’m the only one that sees the tone a little too dismissive and judgmental.

For the explanation of the life-work balance from a religious standpoint, take a look at this blog post by Arlin Sorensen. My buddy Karl Palachuk wrote a lot on the subject in his book Relax, Focus Succeed and on his blog. But for the lazy ones in the bunch, the concept of life balance has a wiki page.

So.. Dear balancers.. why so judgmental? Literally every piece I’ve read on the subject so far is trying all it can to portray hard working people as irresponsible, anti-family greed work mongers who are doomed to die alone with a cat and a wall full of work achievement awards.

God, I hope not.

Here is how I feel about it:

I write this blog for the entrepreneurs. For the people that break their back to see their vision come to reality. For people that sacrifice personal time, sleep, vacations and savings to turn crazy business concepts and napkin drawings into ways to help people, make money and help further others along what they enjoy – and what they sacrificed to earn through school, college, internships and hard work working from an entry level job on up.

We’re trained from very early on that you can achieve anything you want if you just work hard enough for it. I’m certainly an example of that. I know thousands of people like that as well, not just entrepreneurs either.

We’re taught that there is a progression – that work itself is a part of life, that career development and personal development are not separate entities requiring separate times and infinite segregation.

Your work, and it’s accomplishments are a part of who you are.

You don’t go to work to escape your home life. You don’t count the minutes of work left until you can escape your work jail and go home.

The true American dream is loving what you do, working hard at it and that the process itself yields to happiness and prosperity.

Now, here is how I really feel:

It seems to me like the whole work-life balance is a self-help concept designed to help people cope with the feeling that they’ve wasted their life chasing something that didn’t pan out and they want to warn the workaholics among us that if we do the same thing they do we’ll end up miserable.

Today I even got an email that quoted a finding from a research/study:

“Marital happiness is far more important than anything else in determining personal well-being. If you have a successful marriage, it doesn’t matter how many professional setbacks you endure, you will be reasonably happy. If you have an unsuccessful marriage, it doesn’t matter how many career triumphs you record, you will remain significantly unfulfilled.”

I told my wife I’m quitting my CEO role in favor of working for a McDonalds across the street so I could spend an extra hour with her which would make our marriage more successful.

She disagreed.

And I do as well. Would you like toknow why? Because there is no study published by slackers who barely push 40 hours while bitching about how much they hate working. How come? Because that insightful research is published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics under the title “Unemployment Statistics” and it sounds a little something like this:

“Hard working, passionate people wanted. Half-assers need not apply.”

Slightly paraphrased.

But you can bet your butt that you have a job because someone sacrificed a ton of their time and resources to give you one. If you’re a business owner, remember that everyone has a choice and that they worked very hard for their money to part with it for your service.

So life-balance folks…

Do us all a giant favor and don’t be so dismissive of us insane folks that love what we do and consider it an immovable, undetachable part of who we are.

We’re happy that you find happiness, peace, or even absolution in suggesting that hard work is bad and that everything must be in balance.

The rest of you..

Don’t ever let someone tell you hard work is bad or that you’re a bad person for pursuing your dreams.

Don’t listen to people who are pretentious enough to think they know anything about you, your family or what makes you happy.

Make that decision yourself.

And then earn it. Because you know what – unless you’re going to start spewing semi-criminal garbage and call it a 3 Hour Workweek, your prosperity and happiness are dependant on how bad you want to earn it.

And if I may be so bold to suggest that your family will still love you, still respect you as a provider (be a man or woman), still support you in the personal fulfillment that comes from being a valuable person in our society and your community…

Go out there, give it all you’ve got and kick some ass.

All the awesome things we take for granted have a foundation in hard work and sacrifice.

How amazing is the work you do? How many things do you enable?

Don’t for a moment allow someone to suggest your work is an affront to someone else.

Don’t ever allow anyone to suggest your hard work makes you a bad person or cheats your family.

Think of your life, and everyone in it – what would it look like without you? Does what you do make that life better? Benefit everyone around you? Your goal on this earth is to enrich and benefit whatever you’ve just envisioned – and no, that is not wrong. Or embarasing. Or shameful.

It’s just your life. Live it in guilt and shame over everything you aren’t doing, or be thankful and happy every morning you open your eyes and can work on making it a great one.

Because… you know… there is a reason they say: Have a great day. I hope you do, every single one of them.

WPC Day 3 – Signs of Hope

Posted: 1:49 pm
July 14, 2010
Microsoft
2 Comments

Microsoft WPC is a fun event, lot’s of information comes out and in typical Microsoft fashion, it’s always about the hope and potential of mostly unfinished or half baked ideas. That’s not necessarily a negative thing, as it provides for an elaborate ecosystem of solution providers that can develop and position the technology in a way that makes a difference for the end customer.

I guess most of the fear on the partner side is that Microsoft is getting a lot less half baked stuff and is relying less on partners to solve the “simple” stuff. That’s just the impression that I get.

Today looked different. You can sense a feeling of humility in the Borg collective. They have taken punches from all angles and some hard decisions (ie, cuts, firing, product drops) had to be made. It seems to have refocused them.

Even Kevin Turner, the embodiment of competitive Microsoft that doesn’t need anyone and is winning, seems clearly bothered that despite the advances Microsoft is making, they are hardly getting the credit for it. Lot’s of stats and numbers in that conversation, some damning for the competition – Microsoft laptop share is into 90% percent while Apple is around 7% – yet Apple gets all the press and all the fame.

In my humble opinion, Microsoft executives need to figure out how it is that all the buzz is around Apple and Google and how Microsoft is not even in the discussion. For Microsoft – who has the most elaborate partner program, the ecosystem, the marketing budget and the loyal following among partners and developers – what is Microsoft doing for it’s partners?

We all pay to come to the Microsoft WPC to find out what Microsoft is doing next, because we’ve been herded in a way that we should follow Microsoft. I think Microsoft is at a point where (given all it’s competition) it needs to start talking to it’s base and get it excited about it’s products again.

Which brings me to the highlight of the event: Bill Buxton from Microsoft Research is the person Microsoft needs to put front and center as it tries to “reboot” it’s offerings. Bill is an extremely passionate and excited guy that seemed to truly love the technology Microsoft is making – Microsoft needs more of that. Microsoft’s new chief, while I can understand is nervous and awkward on the third day of his new job, is nowhere near where Allison Watson was and has a long way to go. Things look good for Microsoft but there are a lot of if’s and big decisions they have to make. Don’t envy the position one bit.

Microsoft WPC Day 2: Mixed bag of copies..

Posted: 10:01 am
July 13, 2010
Microsoft
2 Comments

Today was a mixed bag for Microsoft – in the areas in which Microsoft leads (Xbox, Messenger) it looks amazing. In the areas in which it’s following (virtually everything else in the consumer space) the future for Microsoft looks like the past of it’s competitors. To say that Windows Mobile doesn’t have a chance would be giving it a huge compliment.

Not really a business conversation at all, but as a Microsoft fan and junkie, here is a short summary:

Xbox – a-f’n-mazing. At first I thought this was going to be a poor man’s copy of Nintendo Wii but the demo of Halo and the little girl playing with the baby tiger made one thing clear – sell your coffee table and get a big cushy rug because you’ll be jumping all over the place and falling down a lot 🙂

Personal Cloud – Take on old Microsoft Mesh demo a few years ago, but a little less techy and a lot more appropriate for the mobile and devices. While the demo was quite cool and Microsoft has a chance here if it leverages ActiveSync, it has the iPhone problem – if it requires all of your friends to use all of the same stuff (like SkyDrive, Onenote) then write it off. Otherwise, it could be a game changer. It certainly will make your Microsoft devices far more friendlier and easier to use.

Windows Mobile Phone – Sad. The biggest applause was for the ability to edit PowerPoint. And that’s from 10,000 Microsoft salesmen and partner executives. It has all the stuff that made Zune a dud combined with what killed Windows Mobile. Oh, and HP was curiously absent from the mobile discussion as well.

To sum it up: When even your employees and your sales force can’t get excited abotu what you’re doing, you’re probably not doing it right.

snooze

I’m going to look on the positive side here: Microsoft Windows has a chance to stay around for a long. long time if it can link up the Personal Cloud and extend it beyond all-Microsoft sphere because it has no mobile chance.

WPC Keynote: We know you’re scared but please stop whining

Posted: 9:25 am
July 12, 2010
Microsoft
4 Comments

Here is the summary:

We’re following Google to the cloud. Forget about Software + Services, just cloud.

Apple pretty much owns us as we missed the whole iPhone, iPad but we’re following.

We have a lot of money, so if you follow us you’ll make a lot of money too.

We know you’re scared about changing your business.

Oh, and I’m sure I’ll hear about the channel conflicts, competition, margins, blah, blah, blah, blah.

That last part is pretty much a verbatim quote from Steve Ballmer’s closing.

Wow. Anyone remember a few years ago (WPC 2008, Houston) when I posted that picture of the new Microsoft Partner Program – it was an action shot and the partner seemed to be in a bit of a pain from the “interaction”;

Be honest… how far off was I?

Washington DC – Cloud, Cloud, Cloud, Cloud..

Posted: 10:36 pm
July 11, 2010
IT Business, Microsoft
2 Comments

Sick of it yet?

It’s about to get a whole lot worse.

Microsoft WPC, at least from the vendor standpoint, is all about the cloud. By my brief account while trying to locate the ExchangeDefender booth (#743) the cloud is bigger than Windows for Microsoft. That’s a bit ambitious. If you’re ignoring the cloud hoping it goes away, Microsoft is about to unleash a storm of very good reasons why your clients do not need you anymore. And for those of you that think Microsoft is too big and too slow to reimage itself and take on the market leaders – ask Sony about Xbox and Google about Bing. We’re still dealing with the dominant market player here, one that makes billions of dollars in the marketplace.

They are making a move in a different direction, my suggestion is you follow it for a profitable route.

Now, I mentioned I’m writing a book about this – now well over 1/3 done. Running a business on cloud solutions is not the same as running a technology solution provider – but it’s a lot cheaper and hence more profitable when done right. I’m taking my time from a very (again, thanks to many of you) very profitable business at Own Web Now to share what we’ve learned in over a decade of doing where Microsoft want’s to go.

And I want to help you get there first.

So if you’re in DC, track me down and talk to me. I promise not to try to sell you anything. If you have a concern, so do hundreds of other consultants and I want to make sure it’s addressed. Ignoring problems has never made them go away, taking advantage of opportunities always has a chance for a win. So let’s brain up.

Bottom line: If you’re in WPC, look for a guy wearing purple.