Analytics/Analysis

Long-time SMB Nation member Phelim Rowe has emerged as a leading industry analyst and has grown his intellectual event model over the past several years. It’s serious business ‘cause he’s a dapper British dude across the pond who takes his body or work seriously and you will be dazed and amazed with his efforts. What stands out to me is his geo-targeting his event conent so he has West Coast SMEs in the MSP world for this event. Join me!

Harry Brelsford | CEO | SMB Nation & O365nation |
Hey, hey, Nation, Nation, back with our friend across the pond, Phelim Rowe. Phelim, always a pleasure. Thank you. You have an event coming up that we want to drive some attention to, but before we do that,

I gave my maintenance guy Jeremy my barely used HP ProLiant MicroServer (aka Home Server) from the old Windows server team days in Redmond. He asked me to keep my eyes open for CPU power.

I’ll start this analysis the same way I’ll end it: GO HOME AND TAKE TWO PEOPLE WITH YOU! It’s that time of year - the start of the 7-month festival season in Austin.

Context

Before I get to my specific event analysis, let me start at the macro-level. Overall, the Austin March festivals and events are strong.

Jason Bystrak, Senior Vice President, Cloud & Advanced Solutions+ Business Unit, is a long-time friend of the SMB MSP family and we caught a hot moment at the recent D&H Next+ event in Austin. It was a thought leadership conference that was smaller by design. About 200 partners and senior executives from the different line card vendors that facilitated real conversation compared to larger MSP events that have become noise and get drunks. The best part for me? NO EXPO HALL – thank God. Made the even feel like an Executive MBA Saturday session.

Matt Linn, co-founder of Thread, discussed the company's rapid growth and recent activities since a capital raise four months ago. Thread is expanding its team and partner base, with a focus on R&D, particularly in voice AI and client intelligence. The company hosts weekly AI service unleashed community calls, attracting over 100 MSPs, which help shape product development through direct feedback. Linn emphasized the importance of value and investment in maintaining community engagement. Upcoming developments include agents to handle administrative tasks, allowing the team to focus on enhancing customer service experiences.

What if? What if automobile manufactures had both direct sales (e.g. Tesla) and a channel (e.g. CarMax)?  Such a strategy would cause tension to say the least. 

Yet this is already occurring in our beloved Small and Medium Business (SMB) - Managed Service Provider (MSP) ecosystem. I don’t know if the SMB MSP community sponsors all went to the same weekend seminar at a third tier airport hotel in a function room but I’m hearing the strategy articulated more than ever.