Service for tracking products specifically employed by MSPs enters beta
While there is no shortage of online sites that compare products for end users, the number of sites that provide a similar service for managed service providers (MSPs) has been comparatively slight. MSP Navigator is now beta testing a namesake...
3 sales questions your MSP should be asking prospects
In my work with MSP business owners, the one topic that seems to cause leaders more consternation than any other is sales meetings. I can understand why! Many MSP owners, like myself, started their businesses off the back of their...
A threat to watch in 2020
Each year brings new threats, evolutions of old ones, and the typical arms-race between the good guys and the bad guys. One of the virtual battlefields expected to be active this year based on end-of-2019 trends: online advertising.
Does your 2020 business plan include these critical details?
The CORE of what I teach is summed up in a favorite quote from my long-term mentor Nido Qubein: “Who your customer is today is a piece of data; who your customer should be is a piece of strategy.” Yet,...
Sales & Marketing
Resolve to stop doing these things that hurt sales
It’s never too late to better yourself. Maybe you’re sticking to your resolution, maybe you’re not. But it’s not too late to start over… or start something new! Everyone wants to know what they should DO to be successful in...
Channel Chat: How MSPs can develop their brand in 2020
Each new year represents an opportunity to reflect on the past and find opportunities for improvement. This is no different for MSPs and their branding. 2020 offers a chance for MSPs to refresh their brand development. To find out the...
Here’s why you don’t need a new website for your MSP business in 2020
Last year, I wrote an article about what you need to know to make your MSP website generate more leads in 2019 and I’m still receiving feedback. I always love when I’m able to start a conversation like that, but...
Security
View from Australia: Is 2020 the year of the deepfake?
Malware and hackers do not recognize international boundaries. Human-made viruses quickly sweep across the globe like sneeze-passed cyber versions of their biological namesakes. The good news is that security precautions don’t stop at the borders either. Some of the most...
Identity access management emerges as major opportunity for MSPs in 2020
Managed service providers (MSPs) are keeping an eye out for any opportunity to expand the portfolio of services they offer. The challenge is determining what pain point affects a broad enough range of customers to financially sustain a practice. At...
2020 brings mounting pressure to MSPs’ defense against social engineering
In 2020, attackers using social engineering techniques to deliver payloads of malware will continue to adopt mainstream business practices – becoming as professional in their operations as the organizations they attack. In turn, businesses are seeking to become harder targets...
Better Business
It’s a metadata world
As mentioned in a previous piece, it is critically important for an MSP to ensure that its services are adequately advertised to attract more customers. This can be through emails, paper-based adverts, or whatever, saying “this is what our service...
Ask an MSP Expert: How can I efficiently manage my IT help desk tickets?
Q: As my MSP continues to grow, we’re receiving more support tickets, and it can be hard to keep up. We need a more organized process for responding to support calls. How can we streamline the ticketing process to be...
How MSPs can go beyond surviving, to thriving
The competitive landscape for MSPs is evolving rapidly. Let’s start with the perspective that matters the most — that of your clients. They are human, like you and me, and we are all becoming less patient and forgiving of services...
Tech Insight
Tech Time Warp: Yahoo! domain name registered
Like many tech companies that made it big, Yahoo! has a rather inauspicious origin story. Initially, Yahoo! was the pet project of Jerry Yang and David Filo, graduate students in electrical engineering at Stanford University. “Jerry’s Guide to the World...
Keep an eye on the edge in 2020
It wasn’t that long ago that you had to learn about how the cloud would affect you and your client. Even as some stragglers are still getting their arms around those changes, the industry has begun a new subtle shift...
Why being secure is not the same as being compliant
While speaking with managed service providers (MSPs) on whether or not they are offering security to their SMB customers, I often end up in a conversation dealing with compliance. The subject of compliance is often at the forefront of partners...