"Ed has taken thirty years of battle-hardened experience running managed services businesses as a systems integrator, communications provider, equipment manufacturer, offshore provider and an independent start-up and put it in a highly readable, yet incredibly detailed and indispensable book." Bob Boles CEO, Hostway Corporation "The Managed Services Playbook is the blueprint for building and running a successful managed services business. The explosion in managed services at Avaya was fueled by many of the strategies and plans Ed has outlined in this book." Mike Runda President, Avaya Client Services "Successfully running a managed services business is a difficult task with many nuances which make it very different from other IT services. Ed has unlocked these secrets which have eluded so many businesses. The advice in The Managed Services Playbook is priceless." Chris Formant President, Verizon Enterprise Solutions "Ed's proven ability to build high growth, high profit managed services businesses has made him one of the top managed services executive in the industry. The Managed Services Playbook details the keys to success for all those involved in managed and cloud businesses and can be mapped to proven, measurable results." George Humphrey Senior Director, Research and Advisory - Managed Services, Technology Services Industry Association (TSIA) "As IT vendors of all shapes and sizes rush to move their businesses to the cloud and managed services, The Managed Services Playbook should be required reading for anyone involved in those businesses." Dave D'Aprano Group Executive - IT Outsourcing, Dimension Data

Technology-as-a-Service Playbook defines the tactical and strategic plays technology companies must run to build a profitable subscription business. Whether you are a pure-play cloud company or a traditional technology provider making the pivot to the cloud, this book will help guide your decision-making and execution around the "as-a-service" model to put your company on a path to profitable growth. This cloud-driven journey will affect every part of the organization. How offers are designed, built, marketed, sold, and serviced will all need to change. And these transformations are not limited to OEMs--they will also directly impact the vast network of channel partners. After all, it's not just about building recurring revenue, it's about building PROFITABLE recurring revenue. Technology-as-a-Service Playbook is the road map to the next-generation tech business model.

If you’re at the sharp end of management, juggling conflicting demands to keep your organization’s promises to customers, with ever-reducing resources whilst implementing the latest digital change programme and keeping your team happy – this is the book for you. Active Operations Management gives you the framework and tools to help you take control and make the most of the evolving world of service operations. The challenges of robotics, remote working and lean operations demand a new approach to give people and organizations the confidence they need to thrive and deliver in the agile age. This ground-breaking playbook specifically addresses the practical needs of operations managers. Discover: The four critical activities for effective control, and the daily and weekly rhythms which make them effective and sustainable. Practical measures of work and performance which enable like-for-like comparisons and resource balancing across diverse teams. Real-world examples showing you how to raise productivity, improve staff engagement and wellbeing. Online resources which support your control of the truly agile operation. Neil Bentley and Richard Jeffery have spent over 30 years working with operations managers to simplify and bring structure to the challenges of managing in complex organizations. Today their Active Operations Management methodology is used by thousands of managers, raising performance and ensuring the wellbeing of those involved.

Charles Henson, managing partner of Nashville Computer, the premiere cyber security and IT service firm in Music City, offers advice in this book on how MSPs can protect their clients from ransom ware, data theft, and other malicious acts by hackers.The unfortunate truth is some MSPs' credentials and backend access are available today for sale on the dark web. Small business owners can't afford systems to protect themselves and their clients that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. That's why MSSP Playbook is vital. It will walk you through what Charles' company has done, as well as how he's worked with other MSPs in building out a security stack. You'll learn how to vet those essential security vendors, what dangers to look out for, and how to eliminate the need to hire a six-figure security engineer and instead find a strategic partner who has already hired, trained and staffed the Security Operations Center (SOC).

The common advice that most people get about leading and managing a team doesn't work. Brandon Allen shares his 15 years of experience in managing and leading high performing teams and businesses. Some of the things you'll learn:• How to have a team that works together and inline with your vision• How to communicate more effectively with your team• Create your management style and strategies to ensure that your styleshows up in your business.• Putting together a winning culture in your business• Simple ways to use your team more effectively so you are working more inwhat you do best.

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 The cloud era is going to disrupt the tech industry more than any other transformation. The attraction of the sharing economy is the ability to simply access rather than own physical and human assets. #2 The sharing economy can be implemented in many industries, but this book is concerned only with tech and near-tech industries. The categories of these offers take many popular names. They are software-as-a-service, platform-as-a-service, infrastructure-as-a-service, managed services, and so forth. #3 It is still early in the cloud era of tech, and it is difficult to predict the future. However, we have observed some winning patterns that will be important for executives and managers to consider. #4 The ability to prove deliverable business outcomes will supplant win the feature bake-off as the central focus of senior leadership at tech companies. This will cause a dramatic re-thinking of investments and top talent allocation. Offers will go vertical in order to better deliver full value to the customer.

The Data and Analytics Playbook: Proven Methods for Governed Data and Analytic Quality explores the way in which data continues to dominate budgets, along with the varying efforts made across a variety of business enablement projects, including applications, web and mobile computing, big data analytics, and traditional data integration. The book teaches readers how to use proven methods and accelerators to break through data obstacles to provide faster, higher quality delivery of mission critical programs. Drawing upon years of practical experience, and using numerous examples and an easy to understand playbook, Lowell Fryman, Gregory Lampshire, and Dan Meers discuss a simple, proven approach to the execution of multiple data oriented activities. In addition, they present a clear set of methods to provide reliable governance, controls, risk, and exposure management for enterprise data and the programs that rely upon it. In addition, they discuss a cost-effective approach to providing sustainable governance and quality outcomes that enhance project delivery, while also ensuring ongoing controls. Example activities, templates, outputs, resources, and roles are explored, along with different organizational models in common use today and the ways they can be mapped to leverage playbook data governance throughout the organization. - Provides a mature and proven playbook approach (methodology) to enabling data governance that supports agile implementation - Features specific examples of current industry challenges in enterprise risk management, including anti-money laundering and fraud prevention - Describes business benefit measures and funding approaches using exposure based cost models that augment risk models for cost avoidance analysis and accelerated delivery approaches using data integration sprints for application, integration, and information delivery success