Online sample provider uSamp and DIY online research firm Ask Your Target Market (AYTM) have partnered to make uSamp’s panel of more than 1.7 million US survey respondents available to AYTM clients.

The partnership is driven by uSamp’s SampleMarket 2.0, which offers real-time, self-service access to its panel.

AYTM’s platform enables users to drill down into a panel of millions of US consumers to find their ideal research respondents based upon psychographic and demographic characteristics. Users can then use the tool to design their own survey of up to six question types, with routing, images and video.

‘AYTM has opened an entirely new niche for businesses that previously lacked the access, expertise or budget to conduct market research,’ states uSamp co-founder and CEO Matt Dusig. ‘We share that sensibility with AYTM – that the boundaries of market research are now expanding to encompass businesses of all sizes and complexities.’

Lev Mazin (pictured), CEO and co-founder of AYTM says the partnership makes projects of virtually any scale feasible on his company’s platform.

 

Monetate, the leading independent provider of testing, targeting, and personalization for websites, announced today that retail industry veteran Elaine Rubin has joined the company’s Strategic Advisory Board.

Rubin is an online retail pioneer who has spent the past 18 years building, managing, and advising direct-to-consumer businesses on their eCommerce and digital marketing initiatives. She developed and led such eCommerce giants as 1800flowers, iVillage, and the northeast practice of Amazon’s Enterprise Solutions.

Key Facts:

• Recognized by Advertising Age as one of the Top 20 Executives in Interactive Marketing, Rubin co-founded and chaired Shop.org, a division of the National Retail Federation and the world’s leading trade association for Internet retailing. She received the NRF 2008 Silver Plaque Award for her contribution to the retail industry.
• Rubin further strengthens Monetate’s world class Strategic Advisory Board, which now includes: Bob Myers, CEO of Sheplers and board member of Shop.org; Bryan Eisenberg, best-selling author, speaker, and online marketing authority; Kevin Ertell, retailing veteran, founding member of Shop.org’s Policy Advisory Committee, and now CMO of OnlineShoes.com.
• Monetate’s Strategic Advisory Board is chaired by Sam Decker, a former Dell executive and founding CMO of Bazaarvoice. Decker recently founded social media curation startup Mass Relevance and is a member of Monetate’s board of directors.
• Rubin is currently founder and Chief Prophet at Digital Prophets Network, a community of experts and thought leaders available to help advise and educate retailers in eCommerce strategy.

Quotes:

• “I was very impressed with how cleverly Monetate overcame the technological challenges inherent in delivering a genuinely quick and easy way for marketers to test and target website content and features. I look forward to providing strategic advice and guidance to the Monetate team as it continues to help a growing list of eCommerce enterprises to increase conversion, grow revenue, improve customer loyalty, and build their brands.” Elaine Rubin, Founder and Chief Prophet, Digital Prophets Network.
• “I am both honored and delighted to welcome Elaine Rubin to the Monetate Strategic Advisory Board. Her years of eCommerce experience and insight will be invaluable as Monetate continues to cement its role as the leading independent provider of testing, targeting, and personalization for websites.” David Brussin, Founder and CEO, Monetate.
• “Few people can match the amazing breadth of experience and record of success in online retailing that Elaine brings to the Monetate Strategic Advisory Board and I am very excited to work with her as we guide Monetate towards its ambitious objectives.” Sam Decker, Monetate Director, Chair of the Monetate Strategic Advisory Board.

HOUSTON, April 11, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — With the government’s “meaningful use” incentives hanging in the balance, Seymour Hospital needs to quickly implement an electronic health records system that will meet the needs of users at the 49-bed hospital. ChartAccess® Comprehensive EHR from Prognosis Health Information Systems emerged as the go-to choice after an exhaustive review of systems from several vendors.

“We looked at technologies from a variety of companies and felt that Prognosis had the most user friendly system,” says Leslie Hardin, CEO at Seymour (Texas) Hospital. “What really prompted us to choose ChartAccess, however, is the fact that Prognosis is willing to customize the system to meet our unique needs. With that kind of support, we feel that we can confidently move forward with our plans to meet the meaningful use requirements.”

The hospital is planning to begin system implementation in June and then work toward meeting the meaningful use requirements associated with earning incentive funds through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) by October.

Seymour also is leveraging the technology to join a growing Texas RHIO. Under this innovative connectivity model, all participating hospitals dial into one centralized solution remotely, making it much easier to get systems up and running. The ChartAccess EHR is integrated with billing, laboratory, pharmacy, radiology and other ancillary systems at the various hospitals, which allows it to serve as a data repository for all clinical information. As a result, the solution provides a seamless continuum of care for patients, not just as they receive services at Seymour but as they receive care across the entire region.

One of the first two Complete EHRs to receive ONC-ATCB-2011-2012 certification, ChartAccess is designed to quickly lead providers toward such EHR success. Designed by clinicians for clinicians, the system makes it easy to overcome the cost, usability and workflow obstacles that commonly stand in the way of EHR implementation. In addition, the solution meets the mobility needs of end-users with features such as iPhone and iPad applications that make it possible to view patient rounding lists, process orders and access results at the point of care.

A shared web-native EHR system delivered via a “cloud computing” model, ChartAccess software applications are made available as a service over an encrypted health information network. The EHR provides clinicians with a complete view of patient data to support optimal and safe clinical care. Users can access the solution by using a standard operating system and a secure browser.

“Providing an easy-to-use system with all the right features and functions is just part of what we do. We also establish strong partnerships with hospitals and work with them, side by side, to ensure that our system is fully optimized,” says Ramsey Evans, CEO of Prognosis. “We don’t just tell hospitals about the requirements emanating from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Instead, we join hospitals like Seymour in their journey to qualify for the incentive dollars, and ultimately in their quest to utilize technology for the greater good of their patients.”

About Prognosis

Prognosis Health Information Systems, Inc., Houston, aims to improve the quality and safety of patient care through ChartAccess, a certified Comprehensive EHR. Designed to be fully operational in less than six months at a predictable, affordable cost, the solution enables hospitals to meet meaningful use and improve patient outcomes by leveraging built-in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) milestone and quality measure tracking functionality. PHIS uses 21st-Century technologies to offer small community hospitals a pure browser-based system that can run on-premise or in the cloud. For more information, go to www.prognosishis.com.

WASHINGTON, April 11, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA), the principal trade association for the software and digital content industries, announces the finalists for the 26th annual CODiE Awards in the business software categories. Finalists will now be reviewed by SIIA members, who will vote on winners for 26 categories. The winners will be announced on Wednesday, May 25th at the CODiE Awards Luncheon, to be held as part of the SIIA All About the Cloud conference.

One hundred thirty-one nominations from 98 companies were selected as finalists from among 395 total nominations. Nominated products underwent an extensive review by judges via live demonstration, trial product access, and analysis of product documentation. Twenty companies qualified with multiple nominations, including:

• Adobe (3)
• Aspera (2)
• Bridgeline (2)
• Fiberlink (2)
• Fortify (3)
• Good Technology (2)
• Host Analytics (2)
• Informatica (2)
• LexisNexis (3)
• MeLLmo (2)
• NetSuite (5)
• Nexonia (2)
• Novell (2)
• Plex Systems (3)
• Salesforce (4)
• SAP (2)
• Sugar CRM (2)
• Synygy (2)
• Volusion (2)
• Wolters Kluwer (2)

A list of the finalists is shown below, but also may be reviewed at http://www.siia.net/codies/2011/finalists.asp.

“We are pleased to have such a diverse range of companies and products as finalists this year,” said Rhianna Collier, Vice President of the SIIA Software Division. “The competition is always tough and it reflects the level of innovation across a wide range of companies in this industry. The growth in participation certainly mirrors what we are seeing as priorities in the business software market – especially the need for effective integration of applications and demand for powerful security solutions.”

The CODiE™ Awards, originally called the Excellence in Software Awards, were established in 1986 by the Software Publishers Association (SPA), now SIIA, so that pioneers of the then-nascent software industry could evaluate and honor each other’s work. Since then, the CODiE Awards program has carried out the same purpose – to showcase the software and information industry’s finest products and services and to honor excellence in corporate achievement.

2011 CODiE Awards Finalists (listed by product name, then company name):

Best Document Management Solution

• Carbonite Online Backup, Carbonite Inc.
• Central Desktop, Central Desktop
• RightSignature, RightSignature
• OneFile, Wolters Kluwer Financial Services

Best Project Management Solution

• AtTask, AtTask, Inc.
• Clarizen Work Management Solution, Clarizen
• OpenAir, NetSuite, Inc.
• Tenrox Project Workforce Management Solution, Tenrox Corporation

For more information on the finalists or to learn more about the CODiE Awards Program, contact John Crosby on +1.202.789.4469.

About SIIA

The Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) is the principal trade association for the software and digital content industry. SIIA provides global services in government relations, business development, corporate education and intellectual property protection to more than 500 leading software and information companies. For more information, visit www.siia.net.

New, confirmed details about the Synnex managed services channel strategy have finally emerged. The distributor is working closely with MSPs and VARs to pursue one million freemium managed nodes and a mid-market opportunity of at least $100 million. The catch: MSPs need to leverage the freemium software nodes by end of 2011. Confirmed partners in the Synnex managed services effort include Axcient, Intronis, Level Platforms, Symantec and Reflexion. Here’s the scoop.

At the Synnex Varnex conference in Boston today, dozens of VARs and MSPs have been discussing the Synnex ServiceSolv effort — which involves:

• ProSvc (professional services);
• FieldSvc (field services); and
• ManagedSvc (the managed services piece).

Within the ServiceSolv, Synnex is pushing a Lifecycle Management Program (LCMP) for VARs and MSPs pushing into the midmarket (customer engagements with 100 seats or more). The information below comes from VARs and MSPs who have been discussing the Synnex LCMP effort…

Synnex Managed Services: Freemium and More

The LCMP effort — let’s just call it Synnex Freemium Managed Services for VARs and MSPs — includes…

1. Remote Monitoring and Management: This piece comes from a Level Platforms deployment hosted in Synnex’s Greenville, S.C., data centers. The Level Platforms system includes some customizations. In addition to monitoring servers, PCs and mobile devices, this particular Level Platforms deployment includes warranty capabilities. Roughly 95% of the deployments are hosted by Synnex, though some MSPs prefer to deploy Level Platforms within their own premise.

Another interesting twist: Synnex is offering VARs and MSPs one million free Level Platforms nodes. The freemium offer is good for a year, and includes some base-level monitoring capabilities. But the freemium nodes have to be deployed by the close of 2011.

2. Storage Management, Online Backup and Recovery: This piece comes from Axcient and/or Intronis.

I don’t have deep details details on the Axcient component — though it sounds like Synnex-Axcient are countering the Zenith Infotech BDR (Backup and Disaster Recovery) platform.

Also, the Synnex-Intronis details are coming to light. Intronis, as part of a freemium program with Synnex, offers channel partners 100 gigabytes of free storage in the cloud. Once MSPs or VARs push beyond the 100 gigabyte level, the channel partners are moved to a paid 250 gigabyte cloud storage plan.Intronis has data centers in Massachusetts and California

3. Anti-Spam and Email Security: As part of the Synnex freemium strategy, Reflexion is offering MSPs free hosted email security without the content filtering layer (that’s an extra cost). Deeper details are at http://www.reflexion.net/synnex.

• What’s free: The freemium piece includes RBL Protection; checking for known users on incoming mail; and scanning for viruses.
• What’s paid: The paid add-ons include Check Allow List, Check Block List, Address on the Fly, Check Permitted Language, Check Permitted Countries, Heuristics/IP Reputation and Bayesian Filtering.

4. Anti-Virus: Provided by Symantec in a monthly service provider model. Also of note: Symantec and Level Platforms seem to be spending more time together lately…

5. Network Operations Center and Help Desk: The NOC, owned and operated by Synnex, is located in Manila, Philippines. All NOC employees speak English as a first language and report into Synnex’s Greenville, S.C., offices.

6. PSA Software: To be extra clear PSA software is not built into the Synnex offering. However, the Synnex solution integrates with both Autotask and ConnectWise. Plus, it sounds like selected Synnex channel partners are beta testing an integration between Autotask and VARStreet (a product sourcing platform that Autotask acquired in 2010).

The $100 Million Opportunity

Synnex is using some interesting math to describe the managed services market opportunity. It goes like this…

• Roughly 45 percent of the systems so far linked to the Synnex-Level Platforms service are at least four- to five-years old.
• If MSPs refresh all of those servers and workstations, it’s a $500 million opportunity, according to Synnex math.
• But if MSPs shoot for a more conservative 20 percent refresh rate, it’s a $100 million opportunity for Synnex and channel partners.

I’m not endorsing the math — just simply sharing it.

Partner Commitments

In order for Synnex partners to participate in the managed services freemium effort, the MSPs and VARs need to…

1. Have a dedicated sales lead that must participate in:

• scheduled bi-weekly calls with a Synnex services manager;
• a regional workshop;
• hybrid VAR/MSP sales peer group; and
• online forums.

2. Have a dedicated technical lead that must participate in:

• orientation;
• assisted installs;
• weekly reporting on deployments; and
• online forums.

Sales Development

Synnex is assisting MSPs with sales development for potential customer engagements with 100 seats or more. Once a Synnex MSP achieves 4,000 managed nodes, Synnex has promised to host an executive dinner for that channel partner. The Synnex-funded executive dinner includes:

1. Synnex managing the call downs to target attendees;
2. confirmation of up to 20 target customers as attendees;
3. resources for dinner presentations; and
4. additional market research and findings to assist MSPs with their messaging.

No doubt, gatherings like lunch-and-learns and executive dinners can drive sales leads. But marching towards 4,000 managed nodes is no small task, so that’s a pretty lofty hurdle VARs and MSPs will need to clear in order to earn the free dinner.

Competitive Market

Of course, Synnex isn’t the first distributor to launch a managed services partner program for VARs and MSPs. For instance, the Ingram Micro Seismic partner effort has existed for several years. Also, Ingram in November unveiled the Ingram Micro Cloud effort. I expect plenty of updates from Ingram Micro at the VentureTech conference in Chicago this week.

Synnex has spent more than a year developing a counter-strategy to Seismic. The Synnex effort included recruiting former MSP Services Network CEO Amy Luby and former ARRC Technology Service Coordinator Brian Freistat to Synnex. At present, it sounds like the Synnex freemium managed services effort focuses on the U.S. midmarket opportunity, with potential Canada coverage coming soon.

Lingering Challenges

The new Synnex efforts sound promising. But it’s clear the MSP opportunity remains challenging for many VARs and resellers attending Synnex Varnex. Though there are seasoned MSPs attending the conference, some attendees are still trying to understand basic MSP requirements like pricing and compensation models; PSA and RMM software; and NOC requirements.