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Brian catches up with Marketing Consultant Pete Busam, Founder and President of Equilibrium Consulting to discuss leveraging digital tools to engage and grow your base. Marketing isn’t a sprint, it’s a marathon that needs to become a part of your everyday routine…not just for you but for everyone in your organization. The key is to focus on what is resonating and to build on it. The old adage, you can’t manage what you can’t measure, Pete gives some great takeaways on how you can use current tools to measure your engagements and use this information to grow and evolve both your Marketing message as well as the mediums to deliver.
Topic 1: Jargon of the Week . . . DBIO
Take it apart: Digital Business Infrastructure Operations. Is this usable terminology? Just another four letter acronym?
“Digital Business Infrastructure Operations (DBIO) is an end-to-end approach to delivering managed services. It spans the entire digital value chain – from the core to the edge – and is supported by robust network and security infrastructure.”
One aspect – building things backwards – just amounts to selling solutions instead of selling “stuff” and integrating it. That sounds like the advice for last 50 years.
https://techcentral.co.za/time-to-turn-the-managed-services-model-on-its-head-dbio-thrprom/104714/
We’d love to hear comments on this one.
Topic 2: Jay McBain sees the Future
We love looking at the future of our industry. It’s kinda what this podcast is about. We dig into this a bit and then introduce Topic Three – then discuss both of them together.
Jay McBain’s 2021 Channel Predictions:
https://go.forrester.com/blogs/what-i-see-coming-for-the-channel-2021/
Topic 3: Techaisle see the Future at Little Differently
One important topic here is “Digital Equality” vs. “Digital Divide.”
https://techaisle.com/blog/437-top-10-smb-and-midmarket-predictions-for-2021
Again, great topics here: Give us your feedback!
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Replay from Beyond the Curve 3.0 Virtual Event in January, MJ Shoer, Executive Director of the CompTIA ISAO, guest moderates this Cyber Expert Panel Session unpacking the Solarwinds event and the massive paradigm shift its driving.
MJ is joined by Art Gross, CEO at Breach Secure Now, Michael Crean, CEO of Solutions Granted and Billy Austin, Co-Founder and President at RocketCyber.
This was an attack on our entire industry and we all need to take note. Never has it been so clear that we need to come together against these bad actors.
Gill Langston, Head Security Nerd at Solarwinds MSP tells us that an MSP can be described as ‘6 Hat Sam’. That has never been more relevant than now, while helping our clients navigate a pandemic. We can add Actuary and Underwriter to these hats as Gill talks with Brian about leveraging risk intelligence with our customers.
You can get more insights and connect with Gill at his monthly blog Patch Tuesdays .
We cannot ignore what’s going on with Reddit. This one is more “of interest” than a direct hit on topics we think you need to know about. There are many ramifications for business people, of course. And it’s also a reflection of some bigger trends in society generally.
We spent more time on Reddit, so this show only features two topics.
Topic 1: /r/wallstreetbets/ . . . Good, bad, or just ugly?
Sub Reddit takes on hedge funds. “Professional” hedge fund managers are selling Game Stop short – and the Reddit users are forcing the stock UP. They are bankrupting professionals hour by hour.
Overall, is this just gambling, or is there s business purpose here?
Lots of related links.
https://apnews.com/article/gamestop-stocks-reddit-updates-0bfe08b10002e7bb334983948f53b6e4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nKQ90CzxgM
https://www.cnet.com/news/reddit-and-elon-musks-gamestop-stock-surge-its-a-ponzi-scheme/
https://www.theverge.com/2021/1/27/22251964/amc-stock-price-reddit-wallstreetbets-trading-gamestop
Reddit: These folks are intentionally manipulating stocks. Completely outside the world of regulations. https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/
Topic 2: Apply Says They’ll Increase Privacy by Default
Apple promises you will be “opted out” by default from targeted remarketing. Is that necessarily a good thing? Do you really want to see a lot of random advertising?
Google has this cool tool – https://adssettings.google.com/authenticated
Apply thinks you value privacy so much that you don’t care that you’ll be ignoring a bunch of ads. Google’s bet is that you will tire of random, unrelated ads and choose to go back to the world where ads are relevant once again.
What do you think? Drop some comments at https://killingit.smallbizthoughts.com.
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As we move into 2021 and really assess the gravity of the monumental paradigm shift happening all around us, Joe Alapat, Founder and CEO at Liongard talks with Brian about seizing the opportunities. Making deliberate business offering decisions and being fully prepared to deploy and implement. From good will engagements to creating transparency for services delivering an effective cybersecurity stack, or as Joe refers to it ‘Reducing the blast radius’.
When looking to catapult and scale your business, transparency and control is critical.
Topic 1: Update on the update: Alphabet cancels their balloon-based internet offering
Apparently, they listened to last week’s show. After many years and billions spent, Alphabet (Google) has dropped their plans to provide Internet access to remote areas via lighter-than-air balloons.
Side note: We are deep inside an era where private organizations are taking on challenges – and trying new things – without direct government help.
Related Link: https://www.cnet.com/news/google-parent-company-shutting-down-loon-its-internet-beaming-balloon-project/
Topic 2: Shall we adopted the word “integrator” to describe our channel partners?
A view from another industry. The Commercial Integrator magazine proposes the work Integrator for their slice of the channel. We think this mostly works. Is there a similar term for the so-called managed services providers in the channel?
Related Link: https://www.commercialintegrator.com/business_resources/technology-integrator/
Topic 3: Is this a good or bad use of chat bots?
Microsoft has patented some technology that they now say they will not produce. Basically, they can take pretty much anyone with a substantial data record and create a “realistic” chat bot. This easily includes lots of famous people. But it might also include someone close to you who just happens to be dead.
Creepy? Some people think so. What do you think?
Related Links: https://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-patents-a-chatbot-to-imitate-real-people-2021-1
https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/27/tech/microsoft-chat-bot-patent/index.html
“Microsoft patented a chatbot that would let you talk to dead people. It was too disturbing for production”
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With the massive shift to a distributed workforce and businesses operating without perimeters, there has never been a better time to look at partnering your cybersecurity offering. Cybersecurity is a specialty knowledge that requires a different skill set and expertise. Partnering allows you to continue to grow your business, focusing on your core skills and offerings which are needed more than ever by not only the SMB but also enterprise sized organizations.
Solutions Granted CEO, Michael Crean gives Brian some great insights and things you should be looking at when looking for a cybersecurity partner. As they say – You need to be right every time, however the bad guys only need to be right once. Do you have the resources and expertise in house to effectively secure your clients…every time?
Solutions Granted are an MSSP that take a holistic approach in partnering with MSP’s to not only secure their clients, however also support with client conversations, whether its adding to their security stack or ensuring compliance is being met. You can find more information about Solutions Granted and contact info in our Security Solutions Showcase.
Topic 1: SpaceX Takes Off!
SpaceX launched sixty more satellites last week – with ONE rocket. They now have more than 1,000 satellites deployed. Their target is a total of 1,440. These will be dedicated to Internet-beaming.
Last year, SpaceX launched 26 rockets successfully. This year, the goal is 40. Most of those rockets have landed successfully on their floating platforms in the ocean.
Related Link: https://www.space.com/spacex-starlink-17-satellites-launch-webcast
Topic 2: Microsoft coming after your customers. Really.
Amy Babinchak has raised the alarm with a couple of blog posts. We look at Microsoft’s complicated relationship with their so-called partners.
Third Tier Links: https://www.thirdtier.net/2021/01/13/microsoft-really-is-coming-for-your-clients-this-time/
https://www.thirdtier.net/2021/01/19/what-microsofts-new-auditing-initiative-means-for-partners/
Topic 3: It’s never good news when the popular media know what we do for a living
When our problems become “mainstreet” topics, it’s not good for us. This includes the concept of Managed Services and the basics of Ransomware. We discuss.
Related Link: https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/19/tech/ransomware-2020-review/index.html
— — — Sponsor Note:
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Closing in on 100 episodes . . .
After a few hiccups on the Internet, we managed to record this week’s show. Please support our advertiser!
Topic 1: Azure in a box?
Microsoft is rolling out data centers “in a box.” Earlier, we reported on Microsoft putting data centers on the ocean floor. This containerized project has been in the works since at least 2008.
Note: We hereby claim copyright to the phrase, “Dude. I need a data center.”
Link:
Topic 2: Net Neutrality Revived for 2021
Dead? Not at all! With the recent election, the Democratic version of Net Neutrality could see the light of day. We use this as a launching pad to discuss access in a larger context, including bandwidth availability, and its effect on education, business, and opportunity.
Link:
Topic 3: Amazon to compete directly with UPS, FedEx, and USPS?
Amazon is buying 11 used Boeing 767-300 jets from Delta and WestJet, the first time it has bought rather than leased. We speculate about what Amazon’s up to . . . and several non-obvious related technologies. Once again, supply chain is a huge topic for 2021.
Link:
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