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.

Downturns drive digital business transformation opportunities

Downturns drive digital business transformation opportunities

In the face of a global economic slowdown, the one thing for certain is that necessity is about to become the mother of invention yet again. While there is no shortage of organizations that to varying degrees have already embraced...

/ October 13, 2022 / 6 Comments
MSPs need to focus on cloud services that matter most

MSPs need to focus on cloud services that matter most

There’s no doubt that cloud computing services can be overwhelming to navigate, but a new survey suggests that the actual number of services regularly used by organizations is rather narrow. Civo, a provider of cloud services, recently surveyed IT leaders...

/ October 6, 2022
Cloud-native security is becoming a bigger concern

Cloud-native security is becoming a bigger concern

For some time now, containers as a new type of software artifact that are foundational to cloud-native applications have been appearing more frequently in production environments. Initially, most of those applications were built by sophisticated developers but as the value...

/ September 29, 2022 / 7 Comments
Cloud security incidents on the rise

Cloud security incidents on the rise

As more workloads are deployed in the cloud, it’s become increasingly apparent that most organizations are struggling with security. A recent survey of 400 cloud engineering and security practitioners and leaders by the market research firm, Propeller Insights on behalf...

/ September 22, 2022
Higher salaries make IT hiring for MSPs more challenging

Higher salaries make IT hiring for MSPs more challenging

IT labor is still the most expensive cost any managed service provider (MSP) is going to incur, and a new report suggests those costs will only continue to rise. The report, based on an analysis of 907,000 interview requests involving...

/ September 19, 2022 / 10 Comments
Multi-cloud computing surfaces MSP opportunity and peril

Multi-cloud computing surfaces MSP opportunity and peril

A survey of 1,000 technology practitioners conducted by HashiCorp, a provider of tools for managing cloud infrastructure, suggests that as more organizations embrace multi-cloud computing the number of challenges being encountered is starting to multiply as well. Conducted by Forrester...

/ September 7, 2022
MSSPs must defend their value proposition during an economic downturn

MSSPs must defend their value proposition during an economic downturn

Managed security service providers (MSSPs) are going to need to prove their worth during an economic downturn that has security leaders starting to ask tougher questions about the value of their services. A Forrester Planning Guide 2023: Security & Risk...

/ September 1, 2022 / 7 Comments
Changing cyber insurance requirements create managed security challenges

Changing cyber insurance requirements create managed security challenges

As cyber insurance requirements become more stringent, managed service providers (MSPs) are finding a need to make sure clients that don’t implement appropriate levels of security, either sign a waiver or find another provider. When the first wave of ransomware...

/ August 25, 2022 / 5 Comments
Demand for cloud data migration expertise will soon increase

Demand for cloud data migration expertise will soon increase

Managed service providers (MSPs) have over the last 10 years racked up a significant amount of revenue helping organizations move data into the cloud. However, a new survey suggests that there is now an opportunity starting to emerge to help...

/ August 18, 2022 / 5 Comments
MSSPs will be at forefront of wave of security platform consolidation

MSSPs will be at forefront of wave of security platform consolidation

Managed security services providers (MSSPs) are going to soon be at the forefront of a wave of consolidation of cybersecurity platforms as more organizations not only look to reduce overall costs but also streamline security operations. A survey of 280...

/ August 11, 2022