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.

AI
Rise of AI drives increased demand for data management expertise

Rise of AI drives increased demand for data management expertise

A pair of surveys suggest that when it comes to artificial intelligence (AI) the biggest winners just might be managed service providers (MSPs) that have much needed data management expertise. The first survey of over 830 senior data and analytics...

/ October 9, 2025
Global politics meets IT staffing: The H-1B visa crossroads

Global politics meets IT staffing: The H-1B visa crossroads

H-1B visas that enable IT professionals from overseas to work in the U.S. have always been a controversial issue. However, with the current administration’s decision to impose $100,000 annual fees for each successful applicant, the issue may soon simply fade...

/ October 2, 2025
MSPs
Survey: Skills shortage crisis bodes well for MSPs

Survey: Skills shortage crisis bodes well for MSPs

A survey of over 200 enterprise chief information officers (CIOs) conducted by the Futurum Group finds nearly three quarters (72 percent) of IT leaders identify talent acquisition and retention as the top challenge, followed by cybersecurity (49 percent) in a...

/ September 25, 2025
VMware
MSPs take center stage in Broadcom’s VMware strategy

MSPs take center stage in Broadcom’s VMware strategy

After an initial spate of controversy surrounding the Broadcom acquisition of VMware, it appears the company is now counting on partners to help organizations that have licensed the VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) platform to help install it. VCF surges as...

/ September 18, 2025
AI agents
AI agents unlock new management opportunities for MSPs

AI agents unlock new management opportunities for MSPs

A report from International Data Corp. (IDC) projects that spending on agentic artificial intelligence initiatives will reach $1.3 trillion by 2029. Over the next five years, developers, and organizations will increase the number and complexity of third-party and custom-built AI...

/ September 11, 2025
MSPs caught in the tug-of-war over legacy systems

MSPs caught in the tug-of-war over legacy systems

Each Labor Day, the cost of IT labor invariably becomes a topic of discussion. After all, even in the age of artificial intelligence (AI), the single biggest segment of any IT budget remains staffing. The cost incurred depends greatly on...

/ September 4, 2025
Data center
Data center drought: MSPs scramble for capacity

Data center drought: MSPs scramble for capacity

In the months and years ahead, many IT leaders will urgently turn to managed service providers (MSPs) to help them find IT infrastructure resources to run their workloads. An analysis of the data center colocation market was published by JLL,...

/ August 28, 2025
AI tools
AI tools spark surge in security service needs

AI tools spark surge in security service needs

The rapid spread of generative artificial intelligence (Gen AI) tools has reached a tipping point, raising serious cybersecurity concerns, and creating opportunities for managed service providers (MSPs). A survey of 200 North American security leaders conducted by OpinionRoute on behalf...

/ August 21, 2025
Survey reveals the real IT priorities for 2025: Cybersecurity and cloud take the lead

Survey reveals the real IT priorities for 2025: Cybersecurity and cloud take the lead

A survey of over 1300 IT leaders finds that, while organizations are increasing investment in artificial intelligence (AI), they remain more focused on traditional challenges such as cybersecurity and cloud computing. Conducted by Experis, a managed and professional services provider...

/ August 14, 2025
cybersecurity
Trust starts with empathy: A better way to sell cybersecurity

Trust starts with empathy: A better way to sell cybersecurity

A survey of 200 U.S. cybersecurity professionals suggests that about a third (33 percent) don’t trust third-party providers—not due to doubts about the providers’ expertise, but because of uncertainty about their own capabilities Conducted by Censuswide on behalf of CyXcel,...

/ August 7, 2025