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We start with a nerdy technology catch-up.
Topic 1: The Channel Gets a Boost
We all know that there’s been a spike in spending as the first response to the big stay-at-home orders. So most tech companies have seen a good influx of cash. We recommend that you consider this a short-term boost. CRN thinks it will be a longer term up-tick. We discuss.
Related Link: https://www.crn.com/news/cloud/coronavirus-driving-massive-surge-in-tech-purchases-the-channel-company-research
Topic 2: Should you lower rates in response to economic downturn?
(No. Here’s why.)
We agree that this is definitely NOT the time to lower your rates. Raise value, but don’t lower rates. Create new offerings, if you need to, but always be strategic about it.
When you rely on recurring revenue, dropping rates is a critical error because it echoes across the months ahead!
Topic 3: Technology after the pandemic – Changes to cities
Once everyone moved “home” in response to the pandemic, some of them may not go back to the office. How extensive will this be?
Many people will go back to business as usual, but we also think there will be a lot of permanent changes. This includes restaurants, commercial offices, and many of your clients.
Feedback welcome!
🙂
IoTSSA Advisory Board member, Eric Rieger from WebIT Services in Illinois joins Brian in a discussion with Rayanne Buchianico, President of ABC Solutions Accounting Firm and Geoff Lane, SR. Director of Public Advocacy at CompTIA to discuss the navigating the CARES Act.
The largest financial relief package since the great depression, there is of course a lot of information and dis-information floating around out there while businesses are trying to translate and interpret what they qualify for and what they don’t. ‘Always go to the source’, states Rayanne Buchianico.
Geoff Lane tells us that more is coming. A CARES act 3.1 is coming down the pipe that is expected to be a larger infrastructure package with another one coming behind it. Details will follow as the situation is changing almost by the hour.
Some useful links discussed:
Check with your local state governors on local support https://www.nga.org/
ABC Solutions Blog https://abcsolutionsfl.com/blog
CompTIA resource forum https://covid19.comptia.org/
IT Channel Veteran and Technology Attorney Brad Gross founder of Bradley Gross Law, talks with Brian about the legalities of Covid-19.
Are we putting our techs at risk when deploying them out in the field? What can we do to protect our staff and ourselves while we navigate through this difficult time? Brad gives us some great insights on things we can be doing and need to be aware of such as scope of work creep, enforcement of business policies and maintaining confidentiality while we are mobilized. Is your documentation and statements of work in order, not just for today but for when we come out of this beyond the curve?
Listen and watch closely as Brad has also extended a very generous offer to IoTSSA members and our Podcast audience!
Intro chit-chat is all about baseball and getting back to “normal.”
Topic 1: 3D Printing Comes to the Rescue
We had earlier said that 3D printing was no longer interesting. Well, now it’s interesting again! Several groups have grown up around the use of 3D masks and spare parts in response to the current virus problems. Once you start following these links, you’ll certainly find more.
https://www.google.com/search?q=3d+printing+covid&rlz=1C1GCEU_enUS819US819&oq=3d+printing+covid
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/31/science/coronavirus-masks-equipment-crowdsource.html
Topic 2: Is it Okay to Start Selling to Clients?
(Short answer: yes.) Yes, of course – but don’t be a jerk about it. Your clients need you. And they need you now. And they will need you for the duration of the “social distancing.”
A few people are saying that it’s bad form to be marketing and selling right now. We take a different perspective: If you are selling the right thing to help clients and make their business better, then they will be grateful that you helped them in their time of need.
Topic 3: Life After Pandemic – Telemedicine:
Come with us now . . . to the future. When all this hub-bub is over, how will the future world be changed by things we are doing in the middle of this unique point in history. Today we look at changes in telemedicine that we think will last forever.
Link:
and always keep an eye on . . . The Medical Futurist: https://medicalfuturist.com/category/telemedicine/
Stock mentioned (this is not an endorsement): TDOC.
🙂
In the face of today’s challenges it’s clear that we truly are better together. As the saying goes ‘It takes a village’, can truly be applied to not just the IT Channel rather any and all social and business dynamics across the globe. How is our mental health holding up through this fight with a faceless enemy and how are our partners and colleagues coping?
Brian checks in with Channel veterans Scott Barlow, VP Global MSP at Sophos, Zak Karsan, CEO of Vault America and Dan Wensley, CEO at Warranty Master to see how they are coping and what mechanisms they are turning to and using. They also discuss not only what they personally are doing to help support colleagues and partners but also what their companies are offering and doing to ensure we all come out of this better and stronger. As Dan says ‘We have the opportunity now to work on our business, not in it’.
Kyle Hanslovan, Co-Founder and CEO at Huntress Labs sits down with Brian and shares some real time threats that are happening amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Ransomware continues to pivot, staying current with phishing attack messaging and social engineering. Remote workers need to be put on high alert for the bad actors who aren’t letting up amid this crisis.
Kyle talks about the rapid dissolve of network perimeters we have seen in just a few short weeks. As we quickly deploy remotely and start operating on the other side of the firewall, now we really can describe us as being in the wild west!
We’re staying positive in our home offices. But we’ve all got lots of online activity scheduled.
Mentioned: Dave and Sharon’s how-to video on hosting a virtual party: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vwt6hYdwUD8 and how to be a good guest at a virtual party: https://youtu.be/GLRmHARTsic.
Topic 1: Companies “doing it right” in the current environment.
Many companies are suddenly facing a new environment – and one most were not prepared for. How are they responding? We talk a few winners out there. For example:
Paypal is delaying payments on their “Working Capital” loans for ninety days. BMW – suspend the next two payments. Both of these are designed to avoid a negative hit on your credit report.
Messaging with the right tone: Examples include Nike “Stay together at home,” Coca Cola, and Burger King.
Topic 2: L.A. Wants Uber’s Big Data
Uber Sues the city of Los Angeles over access to their big data. And of course this leads into the discussion of data availability . . . and even into our previous conversation about the Contract for the Web.
Link:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/uber-sues-los-angeles-over-data-sharing-rules-11585104223
Related link: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/25/coronavirus-singapore-to-make-contact-tracing-tech-open-source.html
Topic 3: “Life After” segment: Robotics & automation
Wherein we pick a technology to discuss what it will look like “after” the current economic downturn is over.
Related Link: https://www.brookings.edu/blog/the-avenue/2020/03/24/the-robots-are-ready-as-the-covid-19-recession-spreads/
Book referenced: A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future by Daniel H. Pink. Also a great audio book.
🙂
We have a special guest this week – Marie Rourke, Channel Chief Chief Channel Strategist at WhiteFox Marketing Inc.
So after our catch-up on what we’re doing under quarantine, we jump in.
Topic One: Tim Berners-Lee’s Open Letter on the Role of Women on the Internet
Tim Berners-Lee is widely regarded as the creater of the World Wide Web.
Link: https://webfoundation.org/2020/03/web-birthday-31/
He pinpointed three areas that cause women harm. The first is access. The second is online safety. And the third area that requires attention is gender discrimination that arises from bad engineering/algorithms.
As Dave points out, we brought in Marie so we don’t have just three guys talking about the role of women. Thanks for the assist, Marie!
Topic Two: Ten trends for a post virus world
Here’s the article that got us kick-started. We really encourage you to read this.
https://skift.com/2020/03/17/after-the-virus-10-consumer-trends-for-a-post-coronavirus-world/
We enjoy some of the new things people are trying. And we’re happy to see some cool, cutting-edge technology coming into its own. We are particularly intrigued with who is in the right place in the right time.
Topic 3: New Show Segment – Life After Covid
Putting it all together, we introduce a new show segment. We’re going to speculate from time to time on what we think the “new normal” will look like once we are allowed to leave our houses and wander out into the world.
We each give some opinions about what has changed and won’t completely change back after the quarantine is over.
🙂
We can all agree that we are dealing with an unprecedented enemy that is affecting each and every one of us globally. While trying to adjust and adapt through this difficult time we need to look beyond today. What will the landscape look like when we come out the other side? What similarities does this crisis have with past events and what can we learn from them? Unlike the 2008 financial crisis, with Covid-19 we can see the cycle and make a relative estimate on when we will emerge.
Channel champions Larry Walsh, CEO of The 2112 Group, Ryan Morris, Principal with Morris Management Partners and Dan Wensley, CEO at Warranty Master have a very matter of fact discussion with Brian on what we need to do to emerge beyond the curve and position ourselves for long term success.
The 2112 Group have just released their ‘Covid-19 Impact on the Channel’ report and our experts discuss their findings and the new realities we face only a few short months beyond 2020 projections in January. You can download the complete report for free here.
Mark Smith, Host at IoT Playbook and Joel Zaidspiner, VP and Associate Publisher at ChannelPro talk with Brian about the exciting opportunities facing MSP’s today and how they can leverage IoT to exponentially grow their business.
Mark gives some great examples on the shift from managing what business owners consider cost to integrating your practice into their business growth and positioning you as a profit generator. This completely flips the conversation and your position at the table from requesting additional budget they see as cost to presenting ROI for them on capital expenditure. This combined with legislation puts MSP’s in an excellent position for massive growth.
For more information on how you can capitalize on these opportunities, IoT Playbook are hosting their IoT Online Summit tomorrow March 25th. You can register for the event here https://go.iotplaybook.com/online-summit-march2020
