Is bigger better?

Is this a bad example of Private Cloud, in the end you can easily argue this is what was being attempted in this CRN Article?  Does this illustrate that the larger and more complex you make an environment the more expensive it becomes to manage?  Or do you just want to put it down to mis-management and/or government bureaucracy?

If you note the article, a major issue is the heavy customisation and the demands of many varied departments - sounds like many corporates to me.

Or is it the need for public service organisations to employ layers of consultants to cover their backs?

My exposure to government IT technical resources has mostly been very positive, often they are some of the best technically I have met.

So my questions are: 

Is this because of the un avoidable layers of bureaucracy?

Is there a level of complexity where you get a diminishing return on centralised infrastrucuture?

I have always promoted the benefits of centralisation but would be keen to hear any comments on this.

MSP Reporting Suggestion

I was recently asked input on what information an MSP should supply to their customer.  At one level it depends on just how technical the customer is; but either way, I don't believe that you should routinely overload the customer with too much information.  In the end they either ignore the volumes of data or ask questions about things they don' t really understand.  Today's PSA and RMM solutions are capable of producing volumes of information but still lack a good clear "Executive Summary" - they try, but not quite there.
Your job as a MSP is to make sure you adhere to the word "Managed" - so you had better manage.  Yes, this can be a little extra work on the surface, but I suggest by doing this you will not only save more time but have a happier customer.  This information will in the main be extracted from your PSA & RMM systems but you can then add some value around this. I have shown a screen shot of a basic report.

Of course, you can either provide or make available on request the fully detailed information; but this way you are being a better IT Manager for your client.

HDS takes out Solawinds in a heartbeat

HDS Operations Analyzer with it's very cool root cause analysis trumped Solarwinds in a quick EOFY sale. Once the client saw the detailed capabilities of Analyzer and the great local support he quickly changed his mind and placed an order within 24 hours!!

Xangati Update

TrackITOnline have had a great customer win with Xangati, being a very hi profile company with a large VMWare platform running Citrix.