Clive Longbottom

All posts by Clive Longbottom

Clive Longbottom is a UK-based independent commentator on the impact of technology on organizations and was a co-founder and service director at Quocirca. He has also been an ITC industry analyst for more than 20 years.

The importance of DLP and DRM to an MSP

The importance of DLP and DRM to an MSP

As organisations struggle to come to terms with a hybrid workplace where people are working on a spectrum from full-time in the office to full-time at home, there is one area that should be top of mind for them –...

/ March 8, 2022
Moving from BYOD to BYOO: the opportunities for MSPs

Moving from BYOD to BYOO: the opportunities for MSPs

Organisations have long struggled to manage the pivot from the use of employer-provided devices to those being sourced and purchased by the employee. The sheer diversity of devices and the lack of the means to monitor, manage, and secure them...

/ February 7, 2022 / 8 Comments
Security is the foundation of an MSP’s relationships with its customers

Security is the foundation of an MSP’s relationships with its customers

Everything’s moving along quite nicely: your customer is happy with the service you are providing, there have been no significant service interruptions, costs have remained in line with inflation, and so on. The relationship between the MSP and customer is...

/ January 3, 2022
Metaverse | SmarterMSP
The greatest show coming to town: The metaverse

The greatest show coming to town: The metaverse

Ladies and Gentlemen! Roll up, roll up for the greatest thing you will ever see! Marvel at the way you can live a new life, working from the comfort of your own home. See work as you have never seen...

/ December 15, 2021
The importance of online marketplaces to MSPs

The importance of online marketplaces to MSPs

The rise of the hyperscaler clouds (e.g. Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform) has changed how many organisations work. In addition to providing a basic platform for organisations to install and run their own applications, these platforms have...

/ November 2, 2021
MSPs can offer hosted managed desktops to customers

MSPs can offer hosted managed desktops to customers

In my most recent post, I looked at why the use of hosted managed desktops makes sense to an organisation at a high level. In this post, I’ll drill down further as to why MSPs should be looking into offering...

/ September 14, 2021
Hosted desktops to the rescue

Hosted desktops to the rescue

It seems that most countries, when it comes to the pandemic, have moved from a contain and manage to more of a ‘how do we live alongside the problem?’ approach. At the moment, many discussions are looking at whether employees...

/ August 17, 2021 / 1 Comment
Social media – an MSP’s friend or foe?

Social media – an MSP’s friend or foe?

For MSPs, the power of social media cannot be underestimated. This is a double-edged sword: although social media can be a strong positive force, it is also an easy way to lose the hard-won trust of your customers in a...

/ May 31, 2021
Composite applications and microservices vs. hosted applications

Composite applications and microservices vs. hosted applications

There is a move in the MSP space to replace monolithic hosted applications with more dynamic composite applications built from a collection of microservices. While this approach provides a number of positive outcomes, it also comes with its challenges. Let’s...

/ October 27, 2020
Where do MSPs go next post-pandemic?

Where do MSPs go next post-pandemic?

COVID-19 has had a massive impact around the globe. Businesses across the travel, tourism and hospitality sectors have been hit badly, while a few (such as those in the healthcare and government sectors) have for the most part come through...

/ September 22, 2020