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Big Thank You to CrossBeam for including us on their list of top-12 pocasts! See the details at “The 12 Best Partnership and Business Development Podcasts (So Far)“ https://blog.crossbeam.com/best-partnership-and-business-development-podcasts
Topic 1: Microsoft gets into the RMM tool space.
We explore the gap between the products being offered by vendors and where the market is going. We used to build machines. Now we build stacks of tools and services.
We continue to evolve, and the environment in which we operate continues to involve.
What is the channel takeaway? Tune in.
Topic 2: The transparency of technology and how that progresses through maturity stages.
How much of an expert do you need to be? Or, more precisely, how deep do you need to go with the technology vs. understanding enough to solve client problems?
Clients just want the solution. You need to be competent, but you don’t need to explain all the details to them.
Related Link:
https://medium.com/invisible/technology-is-best-when-invisible-2b72e31c6e4a
Topic 3: As various companies move into “our” space, how does this affect the services we’re already offering. Again, with Microsoft and others: How do they fit into the solution where I already have other solutions?
And a related question is: Do these “new” players play well with others?
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Sponsor note:
Acronis invites you to the Acronis Global Cyber Summit, this is the premier event dedicated to connecting the IT channel and IT pros with actionable insights, solutions, and strategies for effective cyber protection. Bringing together service providers, value-added-resellers, CIOs, and ISVs, the Summit is the world’s largest gathering of thought leaders and industry experts sharing insights and advances in the field of cyber protection. Featuring a long list of speakers, sign up for free at https://acronis.events/summit2020/.
You’ll even be able to catch Dave doing “why do we care” online. See you there.
🙂
Kicking off Cybersecurity Month, Brian sits down with Tyler Moffitt, Security Analyst with Webroot, Michael Crean, President and CEO of Solutions Granted and Scott Davis, Sales Engineer at Liongard, on the current cybersecurity nightmares IT Service Providers and the SMB are facing today.
Some excellent tips from our experts in this panel with the underlying message of, set your customers up for success. With the resurgence of Emotet and the bad guys getting smarter and smarter playing on current societal emotions with a distributed work force, never has there been a more crucial time to work together with your customers in order to secure their businesses and lively hood.
Steve Weber, Global Solutions Engineer with Sophos catches up with Brian to talk about adding a ‘people’ layer to your security stack. One of the largest pain points IT Service Providers have is finding qualified people to manage their security. Steve discusses Sophos new Managed Threat Response (MTR) 24 X 7 SOC services for MSPs. New tools are great, however having qualified people to operate them is key and this can be a challenge for many.
Cyber Insurance is also driving a lot of change with our service offerings and making services such as 24 X 7 network threat monitoring mandatory in order to qualify for certain policies. This of course requires the proper skill set in order to effectively be able to implement.
With these new tools, driven by Machine Learning and AI are also being utilized by the bad guys against us. For those who are interested in learning more about how ML and AI work and are incorporated into these new threat hunting tools check out https://ai.sophos.com/
Thanks to Sherweb for sponsoring this episode! (Details below.)
Topic 1: 179 Arrested in Massive Global Dark Web Takedown
“Operation Disruptor” is an unprecedented international law enforcement effort, stemming from last year’s seizure of a popular underground bazaar called Wall Street Market. This more than a US-centric law enforcement effort since the dark side of the Internet is international. So, this was a major, successful, multi-national undertaking.
Clearly, this is something you should be talking to you clients about. They don’t need the details, of course, but they need to know that the threat is real!
https://www.wired.com/story/operation-disruptor-179-arrested-global-dark-web-takedown/
Topic 2: Microsoft’s underwater server experiment resurfaces after two years.
Turns out, dunking data centers is a great idea! About 1/8th as many failures, compared to data center up here with oxygen and temperature variations. It’s also a good test for data centers in space or on other planets.
Next up: Placing data centers offshore . . . near you.
Topic 3: Microsoft Lighthouse: An RMM.
We tackle this straight on. Does the new MS Lighthouse with MSP dashboard compete with you? Or is it simply competing for your attention and money?
Announcement: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/small-and-medium-business-blog/announcing-microsoft-365-lighthouse-for-managed-service/ba-p/1698181
Note, also that T-Mobile is offering Microsoft 365 and support services.
And HP is offering managed services . . .
https://www.channelpronetwork.com/news/hp-introduces-subscription-hardware-and-services-program-smbs
And Lenovo is offering managed services . . .
https://www.channelpronetwork.com/news/lenovo-introduces-microsoft-365-managed-services-smbs
Should you be afraid? Energized? Should your clients be warned about these changes? We discuss from many different angles.
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Today’s Sponsor is Sherweb’s Accelerate 2020:
The MSP event of the year is back. This time, it’s virtual and free to attend!
Sherweb’s Accelerate 2020 offers a comprehensive online program to help you gear up for the future of managed services. Industry experts will deliver thought leadership sessions and hands-on workshops on sales, marketing, financials, strategic business planning and customer engagement. Also available will be 1:1 meetings and fun virtual networking.
Want to stay relevant in a disrupted world? Join us from anywhere on October 21st and 22nd. Registration is open at accelerate.sherweb.com.
🙂
Brian has an eye opening round table discussion with IoTSSA Contributor, Ryan Morris, Principal Consultant with Morris Management Partners. IoTSSA Advisory Board Members, Brian Weiss, CEO of ITech Solutions and Jason Tierney, Partner at C3 Integrated Solutions about sales opportunities and challenges in today business environment.
New opportunities in pivoting toward the Co-Managed Services offering, leveraging our Solution Providers skill set and tools to support internal IT Departments. Dealing with fear and it’s impact on prospecting…How can we better leverage our vendors for marketing and in the sales process? Using security as a catalyst so that you can capitalize on this spike in demand and a captive audience with the SMB.
Brian catches up with Nancy Hammervik, Executive VP of Industry Relations at CompTIA to discuss the state of the IT Channel and the accelerated change that Covid has forced. Nancy states ‘This is technology and providers time to shine’. We have seen IT Service Providers rapid migration from supplier to trusted business advisor.
They cover a lot in this session from the CompTIA ISAO (Information Sharing Analysis Organization) to our joint 2020 Cyber Scholarship. As we see rapid scale happening in the channel, staff support is becoming an even larger pain point for IT Providers. Look to within and develop your champions when building your teams. This can be done through certifications and step 1 is the CompTIA A+ cert. We will be awarding to 3 deserving individuals on October 6 as our 2020 Cyber Scholarships. Nominations close on September 28, so don’t wait…nominate your future champion today to get them started on a career in technology.
Topic 1: Google disrupting Higher Ed.
Should be jump on this boat? Education is overdue for disruption, but is this the right approach?
And what’s up with CompTIA?
Where we move away from 4-year degree and toward certifications, it rubs up against our industry very much.
Another factor, of course, is the cost of higher ed. And, just to add one more factor: There’s more knowledge to be had than is humanly possible to have.
Topic 2: Should we make broadband a national effort?
First off: It seems embarrassing that we are discussing this in the United States!
Read this and come back: https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/9/10/21426810/internet-access-covid-19-chattanooga-municipal-broadband-fcc
Karl harkens back to his experience in Australia over the last few years.
The potential here is amazing, for IT Service Providers (not just Amazon and Microsoft). There are many, many ramifications for this.
If nothing else, increased connectivity means more potential buyers for all services (for all – not must Apple and Facebook).
Your feedback welcome!
Topic 3: Section 230, revisited.
Censorship. Regulation. Publishing. Responsibility. This one covers it all! When both parties agree on something, you know there’s a problem.
https://www.getrevue.co/profile/caseynewton/issues/trump-attacks-section-230-275602
All of this stuff can help you start ongoing conversations with your clients. You just have to figure out where to start.
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Sponsor note:
Acronis invites you to the Acronis Global Cyber Summit, this is the premier event dedicated to connecting the IT channel and IT pros with actionable insights, solutions, and strategies for effective cyber protection. Bringing together service providers, value-added-resellers, CIOs, and ISVs, the Summit is the world’s largest gathering of thought leaders and industry experts sharing insights and advances in the field of cyber protection. Featuring a long list of speakers, sign up for free at acronis.events/summit2020/. – you’ll even be able to catch Dave doing “why do we care” online. See you there.
🙂
Brian talks with Tina Gravel, SVP of Channel and Alliances with appgate, about the importance of Zero Trust policies and tools with remote work forces. There was a mad scramble to get businesses set-up remotely and keeping business operating. Now is the time to review what we have implemented and are systems configured to properly manage identities in the new landscape.
Topic 1: Are all your smart devices going to be used in evidence against you?
Follow up on the topic of having an AI app get you out of a ticket. Between your cloud-stored camera footage and device recordings, police might be able to be used to defend you . . . or convict you.
We discuss several sides of this emerging technology, including the integrity of the data as well as our right against self-incrimination.
Alexa, Play My Alibi: The Smart Home Gets Taken to Court Link: https://www.wired.com/story/gadget-lab-podcast-470/
Topic 2: Tech companies want to get you back to your office
35% of companies have no timeline for getting back to work. But, some very big tech companies are helping you start to move in that direction. But, at the same time, those big companies aren’t headed back to their offices!
Link: https://www.wired.com/story/big-tech-help-get-you-back-office/
Topic 3: Making money from electricity instead of Bitcoin. Huh?
Recently, power prices in Taxes popped over $200 per megawatt-hour. One company, Layer1, stopped mining Bitcoin for 30 minutes and reaped returns of 700%.
This highlights an ongoing issue of the true costs of bitcoin.
🙂
We can all agree that Hybrid Networks are here to stay, however it isn’t just working from home…. its remote workers operating wherever they are. Home, the lake house, the coffee shop or the inlaws…our perimeters continue to expand as Covid forces this new paradigm shift.
Brian talks with Jason Norton, Product Marketing Director with VIPRE, Travis Ray, Director of Channel Sales with HighWire Networks and Matthew Koenig, VP Sales and Marketing with Secure Now about moving into 2021 and what MSPs should be planning for in todays cybersecurity landscape.
*Note – Our apologies for a few sound issues in this broadcast.
