Brad Stoller: Addressing unspoken obstacles in sales
After several years of meeting with MSP prospects, you will have likely begun to get a sixth sense for elements of the conversation that are left unsaid but are influencing how your prospect thinks about you and whether or not...
Managing identity between machines remains a challenge
As we move into a time of machines conducting business on our behalf, we need to start thinking about the implications of that in terms of security and identity. If your machine is talking to my machine, we suddenly have...
Data may be the new oil, but the refineries are broken
Data is clearly the new oil in the age of digital process transformation, but as it turns out, much work still needs to be done before that data can be refined. A survey of 200 CIOs conducted by ASG Technologies,...
The pros and cons of biometrics
A new malware targeting banking customers in Brazil calls into question the security of biometric account protections. Interestingly, the sophisticated attack – dubbed as CamuBot, uses very low-tech, retro ways to target its victims. CamuBot was recently described in ThreatPost...
Sales & Marketing
Robin Robins: A big, misunderstood secret to premium pricing in your IT business
When you want to show how filthy rich and successful you are, details matter. That’s why you need to have gold-plated staples, sold in packs of 24 for $175. Or how about a Tiffany tennis-ball-canister … for $1,500? And if...
Inside sales 101: ‘What do you mean there’s no script?’
We field a lot of questions about inside sales. With regard to inside sales, the top question I get asked is the following one: “Do you have an inside sales script?” Unfortunately, no, I don’t. In fact, nobody in the...
As an MSP, you can’t just be a marketer. You also need to be a storyteller
According to a recent study, in the 1970s people were exposed to roughly 500 different ads per day. That was when you took into account television ads, ads you would see reading the newspaper or magazines, and other things of...
Security
MSPs are good medicine for hospitals
Imagine a senior government official with a pacemaker and the chilling scenarios that could play out if a hacker could overcome this device’s defenses. It sounds like something ripped out of a movie script, but it’s slowly creeping closer to...
Ask an MSP Expert: What if my MSP gets hacked?
Q: Recently, the Department of Homeland Security issued a warning stating that advanced persistent threat actors are now targeting MSPs. We work with customers in highly regulated industries, so we have a lot of sensitive data to protect. What should I...
Google launches new authentication service for drop-in identity management
When it comes to identity management, you want to make it as simple as possible. Most small businesses don’t have the development resources to build a solution with solid identity capabilities built-in from scratch. If you can’t afford to build...
Better Business
Ask an MSP Expert: How can we better position new products and services?
Q: We are a fast-paced IT service provider. We are constantly bringing on new customers and adding new solutions to our portfolio. This often presents challenges with communicating new services between our teams—specifically our technical engineers and our sales staff....
Ask an MSP Expert: How can we expand our IT service business internationally?
Q: The managed service business is very competitive and sometimes the United States feels saturated with IT providers. My business is strong and I’m primed to grow it. Are there any options for expanding internationally? Good question! For insights on...
Ask an MSP Expert: How can we proactively plan for the next storm?
Q: Luckily, our area wasn’t affected by Hurricane Florence — but we might not be so lucky next time. What are some steps we can take to ensure that our SMBs have foolproof disaster recovery plans in place? Natural disasters...
Tech Insight
CompTIA survey finds a modern IT channel transformed
A “7th State of the Channel: Trends in the Technology Ecosystem” report from the industry trade association CompTIA suggests that managed services have finally emerged as the top driver of revenue for channel partners. Specifically, the survey of 400 IT...
Cloud infrastructure monitoring has become a critical customer pain point
Resistance to external service providers remains high within many internal IT organizations largely because of two issue: pride and fear. Too many IT teams are reluctant to admit they might need help. If they admit they do need help, they’re...
Tech Time Warp: Spotlight on the FBI Cyber Division
These days, a sexy, offbeat hacker is a movie trope — a recent example Rihanna’s portrayal of “Nine Ball” in the glamorous Ocean’s Eight. Armed with laptops in chunky cases, these hackers use a few keystrokes to hack into government...