The entire team at OnForce wanted to wish you a very happy and joyous holiday season. We know this has been challenging year for many businesses and we are very grateful that you chose OnForce as your partner in 2009.  As we look towards the future, we are planning for – and expecting 2010 – to be good year for all of us.

To our customers, professionals, and partners, I would like to personally wish you and your loved ones a warm holiday season.

Last week, we announced our Q3 2009 OnForce Services Marketplace Index (OSMI.)  As I looked into the numbers, I noticed some promising signs for the services market. The OnForce marketplace experienced cost stabilization across IT and CE service work for the second quarter in a row. This fact, along with industry reports, indicates that the economy is making a slow return to stabilization and ultimately to growth.  The other finding that I noticed which keeps me hopeful is that installation service work increased slightly in the third quarter. While I am cautious to say we are at the end of this economic downturn, it is safe to say that IT spending may be on the road to recovery. In the next quarter I expect this trend to continue as VARs start to conduct more project work and product refreshes.

Not only is the OSMI for Q3 encouraging, I feel it is inline with what we are seeing with the rest of the economy.  Overall, there have been positive signs in the technology and services technology industries that lead me to believe a slow revitalization is coming our way.  In recent months, Apple has recorded two historical quarters; IBM’s earnings climbed for the third quarter; Hoover’s reported the first triple digit percentage increase in new IPOs in August; and two hardware companies (Dell and Xerox) made service organization acquisitions, proving that service work is where they can create new revenue streams.

Is the worst behind us? Most likely.  But there is still some work to do and I believe we are currently in a technology reset. This reset will continue for some time and we will not be out of it for another nine – twelve months.  During this period, companies will maintain the equipment they can, but will start to loosen their grips and install equipment that absolutely needs to be replaced.

While there is no crystal ball, I think the economy will continue to see small upticks and positive news in the upcoming quarters.  Let me know if you agree.

There have been several interesting acquisitions recently.  In the last two weeks alone, we saw two hardware companies, Dell and Xerox, acquire services companies to help broaden their already large portfolio.  While marrying hardware with services is not a new concept – just look at the success IBM has seen – people are wondering if this will be a successful move for these two companies.  Only time will tell. Do you agree or disagree? Read my recent blog entry on The VAR Guy and weigh in on the discussion.

The VAR Guy Blog Post

This year’s CompTIA Breakaway is buzzing with excitement.  And I am proud to say that OnForce has a huge presence at the show and is actively involved with several events this week.  What I’m equally excited to report is that Breakaway is well attended with thousands of VARs, vendors, and distributors of all sizes, who are actively participating in breakout sessions, panel discussions, and peer-to-peer groups.

However many of these organizations are now facing the reality of our economy and are gaining new perspective on what that means for them.  Many are realizing that there is a lack of infrastructure to help them succeed during this time.  And with this tough reality, comes many questions on how to remain profitable, while weathering this storm.  Several questions/themes my team has heard this week include:

• How can my company continue to grow?
• Can I reinvent my company so we come out of this time successfully?
• Does my company need to make transitions in order to remain profitable?
• And if so, what do we do next?
• Should my organization adopt a vertical strategy?
• Do we explore new markets?

These are just some of the things we have heard.  Companies here are asking the right, albeit tough questions this week and they are looking for that silver bullet that can help them emerge from this time.  And CompTIA is bringing everyone together at Breakaway to find the right answer.

Personally, I believe that whether there is one silver bullet that can help everyone, still remains to be seen. Companies need to continue to look for opportunities to grow and sustain their business – and that is going to take some time and may be different for each individual organization.  But tell me what you think.  Are we going to emerge out this tough economy soon? Will companies start to become profitable again? Is there one answer for everyone? I would like to hear your thoughts, so please share them here.

The OnForce pros are a valuable asset to our community. Over the years, we have worked to ensure that our service providers have the highest quality of technicians to leverage for all of their CE and IT requirements.  While the OnForce Pro Online Community remains strong, we decided to create a Pro Advisory Council. The ProCouncil consists of five top OnForce PowerPros who have leveraged the platform to grow their individual businesses over the years.  PowerPros are those who have demonstrated strong performance and have met certain criteria, including completing 50 work orders on the platform; taken various OnForce training; and obtaining at least a 95% rating. These members work hand-in-hand with us and provide honest feedback about the OnForce marketplace and ways we can improve.

I enjoy speaking with our pros and I try to engage them in conversation every chance I get.  Feel free to meet our Pro Council and hear from them what they hope to accomplish in the next year. They all had diverse things to say, but a couple of themes came through loud and clear: 1 – the OnForce Marketplace helps them grow their business, and 2 – our Platform has room for improvement on how it operates.

I believe we are only as good as our OnForce pros, so as we work with the Advisory Council, I want my team can get honest feedback and learn from their experiences.  We want to hear how we can improve the platform for them and our service providers, alike.

I encourage you to meet our Advisory Council and listen for yourself how they hope to improve OnForce in the coming months.