On with the Speedos!!!

[River Valley Computer]

I don't know about the rest of you but the rug got pulled out of our business this month. Our larger store has been VERY dead the last two weeks and our smaller one is worse. We thought that we would put on our speedos and parade up and down the street but ........no. Five old men in speedos - I don't think so!

We're in a semi-rural and vacation area with minimal businesses. The ones that are here are small ones and most aren't interested in MSP. We do have about ten businesses we take care of but most of our business is end-user.

This has given us time to think.......

We are (and I'm sure you are too) seeing a trend of the demise of desktop and laptop repair for customers and most are using their cell phones and tablets instead. We used to do service on both of these but made a conscientious decision to drop servicing cell phones and tablets. BEST DECISSION MADE!!

We used to sell at least 5-10 desktops a week and 3-5 laptops but no more. We did really great with refurbished Dell and HP business class computers but we are getting VERY concerned about the impending Windows 11 'invasion'. Most of the raw refurbishable computers we can get will 'theoretically run Windows 11. We know there are patches out there to install Windows11 on these machines but we are sure that Microsoft will put a halt to that and we will NOT sell them with Windows 11 for that reason! Hopefully newer Gen 8 or newer refurbables will become available soon.

Just our food for thought. Your thoughts?

 

[britechguy]

Most of the raw refurbishable computers we can get will 'theoretically run Windows 11. We know there are patches out there to install Windows11 on these machines but we are sure that Microsoft will put a halt to that!

As far as anything I'd ever consider selling to a client where Windows 11 is wanted (and that's pretty much everyone, now) I would only consider supported hardware. Period. End of Sentence. There is zero to be gained by selling hardware not officially supported where you use one of the crafty workarounds to get Windows 11 to install on it.

I really doubt that the "crafty workarounds" are going anywhere, but since all it takes is an Intel i-series 8th gen or newer, and AMD processors of approximately that same vintage, to fully support Windows 11 hardware with this configuration is no longer a rare thing to see in the refurb market. And as business equipment comes off lease you can be sure that more and more and more of it is going to appear on the refurb market.

 

[callthatgirl]

I've noticed it slow down too in the past couple of weeks, I blame it on Q2 taxes due lol.

 

[Porthos]

our business is end-user.

I had to close the shop several years ago and work from home. Break/fix died for me when Win 10 went mainstream due to the rapid drop in infected computers. Malware was about 60% of my business. Then smartphones and tablets boomed.

 

[phaZed]

Break-fix is way down for me, too. So much so, I've opened and started a Website and Hosting Company that is virtually guaranteed to offset the losses as I already have clients that will carry the initial and yearly investment.

I was able to successfully grow my MSP business to a comfortable client base, and am continuing, but at a much slower pace. Businesses and non-profits are still "looking for service" - but even they are downsizing their costs, and I'm picking some of those up.

Kinda feels like a 2009-2010 economy, IMO. The consumer is hurting everywhere you look - and so are the brick and mortar stores/malls/etc. Things seem generally 'dysfunctional', to me.

Two weeks ago, I went (literally) walking in search of businesses in need of a website (and got some!) The last time I went on a sneaker-hunt for business was in 2009.

 

[frase]

Is rather slow down here as well, I think due to people not having the $$$. As where I am liveability, food, fuel all exhorbitantly taxed to the max.

 

[Canadian Tech]

Ontario Canada here and it's been dead slow this month, last month was good though. The price of refurbished computers have really skyrocketed here. I've sold a few 6th gen refurbished laptops for $400 plus taxes but the 8th gen are way over priced right now. In fact prices here are about double what you pay in the USA.

 

[Larry Sabo]

We're really small potatoes but net income is up 20% YTD and 69% QTD.

 

[britechguy]

Malware was about 60% of my business.

I can't, honestly, sing, "Those were the days, my friend, we thought they'd never end . . ."

It was definitely true when I opened my doors that malware/virus removal was a huge part of my business, and I seldom did N&P afterward because it was too traumatic (and impractical) for the owners.

I can't say that I look back on that period with undiluted pleasure.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

We're status quo thankfully for our MSP/business clients....we did set a good annual increase for this years numbers (divide by 12 and we have our new monthly goat for 2023). Jan - Apr all missed that monthly goal by about 15%. In May we did organically hit our monthly goal...and then had a decent server project which put some icing on top of the cake by about 30+k....which made up for one of the prior months shortages..and a thin slice of another months shortage.

We'll likely still make our annual goal because we do have server projects to get done (the sunsetting of server 2012R2 is this Sept...so...upgrade time for clients on those servers). Also we have clients that we are doing migration projects to 365...retiring their on prem servers...or at least greatly reducing them (move files to Teams/SP, etc). So hopefully we'll still meet our goal for 2023.

Can't say it's been "dead"....but yeah since Jan it's been a bit slower as far as hardware sales, and haven't picked up new clients in a few months. Luckily our MSP is a little over 60% of our monthly and we're trying to get it to 80% of our monthly goal.

 

[River Valley Computer]

We're really small potatoes but net income is up 20% YTD and 69% QTD.

Great!!!!

 

[DRPCNZ]

I'm to have noticed the slow down the last month. I only do breakfix 98% small businesses, 2% home user. In saying that though the last 18 months have been dam busy, I would go so far as to say one of my better years out of the last 30