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We are in the wild west of the digital age with security tools at the ready, yet so many out there still are not locking their front doors. Mailprotector Channel Chief, Matt Scully and Director of Partner Success, Mark Glowacz sit down with Brian to discuss Email vulnerability and why MSPs need to add encryption into their security stacks.
You can catch Matt next week at our next Beyond the Curve Cyber Event where he will be talking about the importance and ease of adding email and data encryption into your security offerings.
Our very own Robin Miller sits down with Allison Cohen, Director, Live & Virtual Events with The Channel Company, Michelle Ragusa-McBain, VP, Global Channel Strategy with JS Group and Kathleen Martin, Senior Manager Member Communities with CompTIA. With decades of experience and insights in the Tech Industry, they open up about how they got their start and provide resources available to assist women, whether just starting their career or those looking to pivot into the IT Industry.
Great chat for all of us to listen in on…Yes, the men out there too! We don’t always see their perspective and challenges, however the awareness value this can bring to an organization and team is immeasurable.
As discussed in this session, more information on The Channel Company next ‘Women of the Channel’ event can be found here: https://event.thechannelco.com/wotc-west
Following is a link to the CompTIA ‘Advancing Women in Technology’ community
https://www.comptia.org/membership/communities-and-councils/advancing-women-in-technology-community
Facebook group for Women in Technology ‘Tech Worlds Half’
One very serious topic, and two somewhat-lighter topics this week. Please post questions or comments. And don’t forget to share with your friends.
Topic 1: Open Source Managed Service Tools?
Here’s a seriously interesting question: Is open source software for managed services a beautiful vision of the future . .. or a nightmare. We have different thoughts on this one.
Link:
Topic 2: The next interface? Gesture controls.
We start with a link to a white paper that lays the groundwork for this discussion. It’s a quick read, and very interesting. We also encourage you to Google “computer gesture control” to dig deep into the kinds of products and software you can start deploying today.
We also added a link to one cool example: BMW’s radio control.
Links:
https://arxiv.org/pdf/2010.13197.pdf
https://www.bimmer-tech.net/blog/item/124-bmw-gesture-control
Topic 3: Touchless in 2020
On a somewhat related note, gest controls are one example of touchless controls. Clearly, the need to go touchless has come to the forefront during the pandemic.
https://www.engadget.com/touchless-contactless-technology-2020-160048513.html
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Sponsor Note:
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Ryan Morris, Principal IT Consultant with Morris Management Partners has a thought provoking conversation with Brian which always creates clarity in order to plot our path forward. As 2021 gets underway and we can see our emergence from the pandemic coming, how will business architectures and models emerge. Ryan feels we are on the brink of the next massive technology paradigm shift and history has shown that when these happen, they create massive revenue generating opportunities. ‘The Everywhere Organization is a robust multi leg business model. A model that is compelling for your customers and you’ states Ryan.
Ryan and his team have created a tool for MSPs to use in these conversations by way of an assessment or scorecard. Not a network or security assessment but a wholistic business assessment which looks at the human side of remote workforces. This provides clarity so that you are able to effectively prescribe the proper hardware and software for your customers to thrive in this new era.
For a copy of the white paper Ryan discusses from CB Insights, you can get the full report by clicking here or following https://www.cbinsights.com/research/report/reopening-office-tech-work-post-covid/
You can join Ryan in his live session at our next Beyond the Curve virtual event coming up on January 20 and 21 from 2:00 – 4:30 PM EST. For event information and registration click here.
To contact Ryan directly and get more information on taking a wholistic approach with your customers click here
Topic 1: Forrester says US online holiday shopping to reach $173 B
Constant question: How much of this is temporary vs. permanent?
Have you built a store for your clients? We think this is a great opportunity for IT professionals.
Related Link:
Topic 2: Is there any good news for MSPs in 2021 Cybersecurity?
Predictions include:
Link:
https://www.dbta.com/Editorial/News-Flashes/Cybersecurity-Predictions-for-2021-144487.aspx
Topic 3: 75% of electrical capacity growth expected to be renewable for the next three years
Solar, Wind, and Water power are growing dramatically – without regard to political points of view. Coal dominates the power source being retired.
This actually matters, going forward.
Link:
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As 2020 comes to a close (Queue cheering in the background) we can look back at the silver linings and change that Covid has pushed. The SMB has been reluctant for years to move their infrastructure to the cloud and wanted tested and true on prem servers….appliances they could see and feel. With so many now open to the cloud through necessity, the conversation needs to shift back to securing the data. Is O365 backing up? Is it secure? What is the process for spooling it back up in the event of a disaster now that its in the cloud? Are we still compliant?
Brian talks with Vault America CEO, Zak Karsan about not only securing your customers cloud data but also properly partitioning and protecting it while allowing it to be easily accessible. Zak states ‘Security, Security, Security’…We couldn’t have said it better ourselves!
Vault America is offering free O365 Back Up Licenses for MSPs through the pandemic, to give you an opportunity to test drive their solution. This also comes with a free consult on securing customer data and ensuring that your remote customers are protected.
As discussed in the beginning of this episode, Zak sits on the board of the Scleroderma Foundation of New England…a horrible disease that is near and dear to Zak and his family. His goal is to raise awareness and support for this debilitating disease. For more information please check out their website here .
Special show – and video! We recorded a video version of this podcast. You can view it at https://killingit.smallbizthoughts.com. Or on YouTube on the Small Biz Thoughts channel (https://youtube.com/smallbizthoughts).
In this episode, we take a look at technology in the year gone by and what it means for the year ahead. So, we’re breaking away from the strict timing and 3-topic format.
First up: What’s the status of our big pizza/burrito delivery race? Delivery improved on many fronts in 2020. But none of us took delivery of a burrito! No visible progress, although technology is inching forward
That morphed to a discussion of how much of the “changes” from 2020 will stick? How much of the pandemic-centric behavior is preferred in the long run? How much business travel will return, and how soon?
We certainly learned a lot about location independence and remote work in 2020. Over time, people actually started stretching a bit and adding creativity to the remote component.
In all of this, there’s still a human component to the changes. That will certainly affect the speed and nature of any return to the in-person world that emerges in 2021.
Then we looked at . . . the things we totally missed. What did we not see coming a year ago. One biggy was the visibility of our industry to legislatures. It looks like 2021 will be a year of increasing regulation.
Another is the nature of cybersecurity. Ryan was hoping that we’d stop selling on fear, but fear seems to be the future. But, on a positive side, a lot of clients have finally seen true value in the money they spend on technology. Many IT service providers are enjoying great success.
The barrier to entry in IT is higher than it used to be, and true competence is noticeably more difficult than ever. The era of the amateur are over.
A final umbrella discussion is on the changing nature of the supply everywhere, at every level. The problems with JIT (Just in Time) delivery have never been more obvious. Will companies build a little slack into their systems.
Again, our discussion turns to percentages. Some will; some won’t. What lessons will be learned?
. . . We had a great time making this show. We hope you enjoy. Please like, share, subscribe, and send us any questions you have. We have a question form at https://killingit.smallbizthoughts.com.
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Brian catches up with Raffi Jamgotchian, President and CTO with Triada Networks to talk cybersecurity and a new book he recently co-authored with 30 other IT Service Providers called ‘On Thin Ice’. They speak to security frameworks, compliance and how you can use these to harden your stack and fill the gaps. Frameworks can be overwhelming when first getting started, however the result is always 100% clarity. Among others, Triada are using the CompTIA Security Trustmark which was built around the NIST Framework.
For a copy of On Thin Ice from Amazon Click Here (A great gift idea for all of your clients!)
For more information on CompTIA Security Trustmark Click Here
Heading straight on toward year end . . . and Episode 100.
Stay tuned for a December 29th Year-end special. But today’s show is also good.
Topic 1: AI may help you find your doppelganger.
The YouTube video below has a look at the technology involved in AI doppelganger research. You can see right away that this dataset can be used to “crowdsource” the improvement of this technology.
Related Links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1nz5Bkpmcw
Mentioned in passing: Google’s AI singing blobs. https://artsandculture.google.com/experiment/blob-opera/AAHWrq360NcGbw?cp=e30
Topic 2: Google went down . . . and the world went down with it.
Well, for a short while. Below is a commentary (not news) about the use of technology to track us and control us. We discuss how accurate this is, and the lessons we hope to learn from the analysis.
Commentary:
Topic 3: Life after the pandemic: What we’re learning from Vaccine Apps
Tracking might be good or bad. “Vaccine Passport” apps may be used for ways they are not intended. Aside from fighting the pandemic, there are some obvious questions about privacy, HIPAA, and personal liberties.
We discuss. And remind you that there’s tech that you might be able to integrate into your service offerings.
Related Link:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/13/technology/coronavirus-vaccine-apps.html
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Amy Luby, Channel Chief Evangelist with Acronis tells us, ‘Let’s make 2021 the year of cyber fitness’. Brian catches up with Amy to discuss what the Acronis Research Team has found in their year end report which shows the evolution of Ransomware to Data Exfiltration. As IT Service Providers we need to continue to move toward a proactive cyber posture and fortify our defenses as the attacks only continue to grow in frequency and sophistication.
