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Check out the “Killing IT Reading List” at https://killingit.smallbizthoughts.com.
Topic 1: Virtual Events — what you want to see
A different kind of discussion here. Would you rather rush out from quarantine to a channel-focused event, or maybe a sporting event, a social event, or even a concert?
We are still waiting for a “killer app” for online events.
Topic 2: The Economy
Where are we? Note: Wild speculation ahead!
We are clearly on our our way to recession. How soon will we start to move out of it?
How paralyzed are you by the statistics? What are the implications for business when there is so much uncertainty? In the previous topic we talked about the specifics of dealing with this regarding conference events. What about the rest of our economic interactions?
And the big question: What is the best approach for your business to take to guarantee survival in this environment?
Topic 3: Technology after the Pandemic – Office space after the Pandemic
You have to dig a bit . . . but there’s a mention of voice-activated elevators. Dave’s favorite interface!
Related Link: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/04/23/offices-after-coronavirus/
— — —
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🙂
Topic 1: CX Rules – Amazon makes it a little more difficult to buy – so you won’t be disappointed.
Amazon has made several subtle changes in response to the current economic environment. Specifically, their delivery times and inventory are no longer as reliable as they used to be. One example: They have reduced the “people also bought this” option so they are not automatically pushing items that might be out of stock or take longer to fulfill.
They are also pushing Kindle versions of books, which never go out of stock.
The goal is to minimize bad Customer Experience and maximize the positive Customer Experiences they can. Their assumption is that people are keeping track of who serves them well and who disappoints them during these unusual economic times.
Related Link: https://www.inc.com/chris-matyszczyk/amazon-is-changing-its-website-to-do-something-truly-unimaginable.html
Topic 2: Good Communication is critical in these unusual times.
Here we highlight a disagreement between an IT department and the people they serve. IT is more critical than ever to every organization – and they need to learn how to work with people!
The School Board tried to blame IT… and IT struck back and got their letter in the WaPo: https://www.washingtonpost.com/context/sbts-s-april-19-2020-letter-to-fairfax-county-school-board/4a5941a3-7e50-47f4-8818-3396a4097c06/?fbclid=IwAR00u5qY7lM6WdzbOdfcrTOVxabZP0f_WEPBpaSqOIt0b7CTutuHTDg5K70
Topic 3: Technology after the Pandemic – Cutting edge technologies to help keep the food chain safe.
IT – and blockchain in particular – will change the way we keep food safe.
Key quote: “Gartner predicts that 20% of the Top 10 grocers worldwide will be using blockchain by 2025 to improve food safety and traceability by creating a secure ledger documenting its production, quality and freshness.”
Link: https://diginomica.com/critical-role-it-assuring-food-safety-pandemic-times
🙂
Topic 1: Community Rant – Helping your clients with finances.
We cannot believe that there are “experts” recommending that you lower your rates, forgive debts, and be the financial support for your clients in the rough times ahead! Just because someone bought time on a webinar does not mean that you should be taking their advice.
There are ways to cut costs by offering different services. Please do not create a “loss leader” service in a recession! Cash remains king.
Please do not simply charge less and give the same level of service: That breaks the value chain.
Topic 2: Education and Online Learning – How much opportunity is here?
Sending all the student home has made clear that there are systemic problems with “universal” online education. Many students do not have the Internet connectivity or resources to simply switch to online education.
In addition, there are lots of teachers who have never used online tools to deliver education. And if all the colleges go online, they will compete in ways they have never competed before.
Yes, there’s “opportunity” here, but the world is more complicated than that simple statement implies.
Topic 3: Technology after the pandemic – Robots Welcome to take some jobs
We were struck by the article below on how robots are being accepted instead of feared, at least in one specific example. There have been commentaries for years about the fear of robots taking jobs. But in this strange pandemic context, we’re finding that robots are welcome to do certain jobs that humans aren’t interested in doing.
🙂
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!
🙂
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.
🙂
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.
🙂
First, a note from listener Chris.
Issue clarification Link:
https://www.informationweek.com/cdc-plagued-by-virus-of-a-different-strain/d/d-id/1051659
Topic 1: Louisiana Secretary of State on Defining MSPs
We do a little analysis on Dave’s interview on his Business of Tech podcast. What consitutes “malpractice” for an IT service provider?
“If self-regulation doesn’t work, the government will step in.”
And, of course, how will legislation define MSPs and MSSPs?
Topic 2: COVID-19 and a Possible Recession
I’m not any of us understands what’s going on with the Covid-19 virus or with the economy. But there definitely appears to be a connection. We analyze a bit for the IT consultants out there.
Topic 3: Robots aren’t taking our jobs, they are becoming our bosses
An interesting twist from The Verge. AI without humanity can be very stressful. We speculate on what this means and where we’re heading.
🙂
What?! Episode 50 of the Killing IT Podcast! We’re almost at the one year mark. And we really appreciate your listenership.
Topic 1: Coronavirus / Covid-19 and Traveling Today
All of us travel a lot. Some notes from Karl’s travels to Thailand and Cambodia, etc.
We also discuss several industry cancellations and the longer-term implications of this on the broader economy. Since this recording (a couple days a go), CompTIA’s CCF, Channel Partners, and South by Southwest have all canceled.
Other comments on caution vs. panic, supply chain, Christmas sales, and more.
Related links:
https://scoop.upworthy.com/17-year-old-builds-website-track-coronavirus-epidemic
https://www.zdnet.com/article/coronavirus-update-2020-tech-conference-cancellations-and-travel-bans/
Topic 2: Technology in Cambodia
Karl’s notes from the field, particularly with regard to sensitive humanitarian work and the effect of China/Cambodia relationships. How this relates to the sex slave trade. The economics of working with other countries.
Again: How does this reality affect your, your clients, and their business?
Related Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/01/business/china-coronavirus-surveillance.html
Topic 3: Defending High-Tech And Its Billionaire Entrepreneurs
Dave declares a rant regarding a commentary piece in CRN magazine. Ryan and Karl throw in their two cents.
Related Link: https://www.crn.com/news/channel-programs/column-defending-high-tech-and-its-billionaire-entrepreneurs
That’s it for this week. Comments welcome. There’s a form below.
More information on Karl’s SMB Online Conference here: https://www.smbonlineconference.com.
Karl’s out this week in Cambodia, so Dave and Ryan are the hosts this week.
Topic One: ChannelPro State of the Channel Info
ChannelPro released their “State of the Channel” report. Dave and Ryan focus in on a few key data points. Number one is, who is a managed service provider (as compared to those who claim to be one).
Once again, we question whether the term MSP has any meaning any more.
Next point – Only 67% are paying attention to security challenges. Does that make sense?
Other topics include cloud revenue and management of cloud infrastructure. Related link: https://www.channelpronetwork.com/article/2020-state-channel-cloud-and-managed-services-are-all-grown?page=0%2C0
Topic Two: Asigra warns that RMM platforms with integrated backup will be the next attack vector for ransomware
Dave and Ryan see this as FUD – fear, uncertainty, and doubt. This “press release” is really just a marketing piece.
Dave says this is an irresponsible move in the current era of outright attacks on MSPs and our clients. Ryan takes the argument to a different level and wonders whether they’re really saying that aggregated services are naturally less secure.
Dave awards to Asigra the first ever Troll Press Release Award.
Link: https://www.pr.com/press-release/806072
Topic Three: Low code and no code application development
Ryan digs into new changes in “Low Code” application development. This concept hit Gartner’s radar about three years ago. There are now hundreds of services that make low-code and no-code development easy to use for the masses.
This is very interesting to folks in IT who used to make a bunch of money selling programming. Now clients can do a lot of this themselves.
But is it a good idea? Will clients destroy their own security? Or perhaps they’ll create something that’s not backed up, not documented, not encrypted, etc.
Link: https://medium.com/swlh/what-is-low-code-development-f45550c3243d 🙂
