I have struggled with the MSP model since it came out and have considered writing about it for some time.  Today, I realized why we aren’t an MSP.  It’s that the MSP play turns both the client and the provider into commodities.  For those that don’t know, MSP refers to “Managed Service Provider” and has become an ascendent business  model for IT service providers.  The model is predicated on charging fixed monthly fees (usually per client and per server) for a limited list of services.  The provider then tries to scale up and service more clients with fewer technicians by leveraging remote access and monitoring tools.

Patching and monitoring is necessary but not sufficient.

Intuitively I feel that IT services are difficult to commoditize.  This isn’t the fast food industry.  The MSP model says that proactively patching and monitoring systems will reduce service requests.  I find that almost impossible to believe.  Patching and monitoring could not have prevented 95% of the service requests that our company sees in the average week.    Of course we do patching and monitoring.  This is dictated by Best Practice.  Of course patching and monitoring can help a service provider “proactively” fix some problems before they become visible to the end users.  This is true for everyone who follows best practice, regardless of their model.

So what do we do?  How are we different from MSPs?

We didn’t buy an expensive framework to cram all of clients into.  We build custom solutions suited to each individual environment.  We support existing systems as long as they are meeting business requirements.  MSPs have the tendency to push clients to a unified platform that lowers costs on the admin side.  Our model is more flexible.  We go on-site regularly.  We talk to clients face-to-face and work to understand what they are trying to do.  Sure we can provide remote support as needed, that’s trivial these days.  But relying on remote support exclusively turns both the client and the provider into a commodity.   First IBM dumped their commodity businesses in favor of high value-add services and now HP seems ready to follow in their footsteps.  I feel good about trying to learn from them.

Given my recent concerns about security, I have pushed myself and my associates to switch to the Mac OS for our desktop systems (hey, Google did it!). Aside from the standard problems all Windows users will experience in the transition like learning new keyboard shortcuts, I have come to the surprising realization that Mac OS Snow Leopard (10.6.6) really is inferior to Windows 7 in several ways:

1. Finder – Compared to the Windows Explorer, Finder is terrible for managing files. Lack of a proper tree view and inflexible sorting are just two of my primary complaints. I have tried working around this using the outstanding shareware muCommander. But that is only a partial fix, mu is just a Java app and isn’t deeply integrated.
2. Gretchen points out the relatively crippled “Open File” or “Save File” dialog boxes in the Mac OS. In Windows, these dialogs are full-fledged Explorer windows that allow any action to be taken on any file (renaming, deleting, moving, etc.). In Mac OS, no file actions can be taken on other files at all without a $30 add-on.
3. Maximize windows – I understand that some people might want a maximize that allows you to still see the desktop (for dragging and dropping?), but it is annoying that there is no shortcut to properly maximize a window to the entire screen. (though I read this might be fixed in Lion.)

Then there are all the nice gestures and shortcuts that I miss from Windows 7 such as bumping a window against the top of the screen to maximize, or right clicking on the taskbar to launch another instance of a running app.

I had always assumed that the Mac OS was pretty much as usable as Windows, but now I am not so sure. Oh well at least I don’t have to worry about malware anymore…or DO I?

Berkeley Outlet - office furniture and a cool website

Gret was finally complaining about her horrid office chair so we went looking for local place with used office furniture.  We wanted a greener option than buying new furniture.  Also, we wanted to avoid toxic chemicals off-gassing from new furniture.   Gret and I were impressed by Berkeley Outlet’s raw and minimal website.  We headed over and found a great purple chair in almost new condition that didn’t smell.  This would be a good place for startups on a budget to check out.

Yep, it's purple

Fatal System Error on Amazon

I recently read the book “Fatal System Error” which paints a pretty harrowing picture of world-wide computer security.  According to a 2008 study of 20,000 machines by security firm Secunia, 98 percent of Windows machines run at least one piece of software with a well-publicized, un-patched security vulnerability.  So this leads me to think we should consider using more Mac’s in the enterprise.  As Walt Mossberg recently pointed out, Macs are not inherently more secure, it’s just that there are far fewer exploits targeting them.  Attacking Windows is the most efficient use of a hacker’s time apparently.  Maybe use a Mac as the dedicated machine to talk to the bank that I proposed last week?

As I ponder switching to a Mac myself, I am using the NoScript Mozilla addon to help protect my poor, vulnerable Windows 7 box.   Just visiting a compromised website is one of the most common ways that machines are getting hacked these days.  Even totally legitimate sites are getting hacked all the time and inadvertently spreading malware.  NoScript helps by preventing any scripts from running unless you explicitly allow them.  It’s a bit of a bother, but then again so is identity theft…

I talked with the founder of OTX West, Bruce Buckelew, a couple of months ago while dropping off some stuff.  I was impressed by his ingenuity and his compassion.  He pointed out that it’s a good life lesson for kids to learn that you don’t need the latest and greatest model of computer to do a lot of useful activities.   Most of the machines OTX West hands out are Pentium III’s & IV’s.  But he has refurbished old Pentium I laptops so that they can surf the web and even handle streaming video.  (Apparently the audio stream is unaffected, but the images form a sort of slideshow effect that he claims is very watchable.)

I love the idea of extracting value from seemingly useless items and helping narrow the digital divide at the same time.

OTX West - click image to visit their site