Mike Vizard

All posts by Mike Vizard

Mike Vizard has covered IT for more than 25 years, and has edited or contributed to a number of tech publications including InfoWorld, eWeek, CRN, Baseline, ComputerWorld, TMCNet, and Digital Review. He currently blogs for IT Business Edge and contributes to CIOinsight, The Channel Insider, Programmableweb and Slashdot. Mike blogs about emerging cloud technology for Smarter MSP.

Home network security becomes a bigger concern post holidays

Home network security becomes a bigger concern post holidays

One of the biggest cybersecurity challenges that has emerged in the last two years in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic is the number of people regularly working from home. Most of those individuals are relying on consumer-grade networking gear...

/ January 9, 2023
10 trends for 2023 that MSPs can’t afford to ignore

10 trends for 2023 that MSPs can’t afford to ignore

The past year was like no other, beginning with a recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic that wreaked havoc for more than two years, only to see a sharp rise in inflation limiting economic growth. Heading into 2023 it’s hard to...

/ January 3, 2023 / 1 Comment
Cybersecurity stays at the top of the IT priorities list

Cybersecurity stays at the top of the IT priorities list

As another year comes to close, most managed service providers (MSPs) are already squarely focused on the next. After all, there is little to be done now that could have a meaningful impact on financial results for 2022.

/ December 26, 2022
Cloud security will finally be in the spotlight for 2023

Cloud security will finally be in the spotlight for 2023

After more than a decade of varying levels of irrational exuberance in terms of deploying application workloads in the cloud, there is now a greater appreciation for cloud security. In fact, a survey of 350 IT leaders from large enterprises...

/ December 20, 2022
MSPs need to lean into zero-trust IT

MSPs need to lean into zero-trust IT

There’s a lot of hype surrounding zero-trust IT as a buzzword, but at the most fundamental level it’s all about ensuring security based on a known identity of an end user, application, or device. Forrester Research analyst John Kindervag is...

/ December 14, 2022
Software Bills of Material (SBOM) – the next managed services opportunity

Software Bills of Material (SBOM) – the next managed services opportunity

There’s a lot of focus these days on the security of open source software that is shining a spotlight on how dependent organizations have become on code created by third-parties that finds its way into multiple applications. Most of that...

/ December 7, 2022
Cyber insurance carriers exerting greater influence over security services

Cyber insurance carriers exerting greater influence over security services

Providers of managed security services may soon find themselves working more often for cyber insurance companies that are getting involved in cybersecurity both before and after a breach. To begin with, the requirements for renewing cybersecurity policies are becoming more...

/ November 29, 2022 / 1 Comment
Business leaders gain cybersecurity perspective

Business leaders gain cybersecurity perspective

Convincing business executives even in the best of times that they need to invest more in cybersecurity has always been challenging. A survey of 722 C-level executives conducted by PwC, however, suggests the times are finally changing.

/ November 22, 2022
MSPs can reduce costs with site reliability engineers

MSPs can reduce costs with site reliability engineers

As the global economy becomes more challenging to navigate, the need for managed service providers (MSPs) to automate more processes becomes even more pronounced. The cost of labor is still the single biggest IT cost, so there is always a...

/ November 15, 2022
Cybersecurity skills gap continues to widen even as ranks swell

Cybersecurity skills gap continues to widen even as ranks swell

The (ISC)2 association of cybersecurity professionals estimates there are now 4.7 million cybersecurity professionals being employed around the world, making for an 11.1 percent increase year-over-year for a total of more than 464,000 additional jobs. At the same time, (ISC)2...

/ November 7, 2022