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.

MSPs need to help customers confront their cybersecurity fears

MSPs need to help customers confront their cybersecurity fears

Halloween is supposed to that one day of the year when ghosts, goblins, and other supernatural threats are supposedly allowed to roam the land before the onset of the dark days of winter. Unfortunately, for cybersecurity professionals, every day feels...

/ October 31, 2019
Crunch time for Windows 10 migrations arrives

Crunch time for Windows 10 migrations arrives

With less than three months to go before Microsoft ends free support for Windows 7 on January 14th of 2020, a survey published today by Ivanti, a provider of IT asset management tools, finds that 59 percent of the IT...

/ October 29, 2019
IT service providers should start gearing up for 5G now

IT service providers should start gearing up for 5G now

It may still be a while before 5G wireless network become pervasively available, but a report published by Infosys this week makes it clear that organizations are already starting to formulate their strategies. A global survey of 850 senior business...

/ October 24, 2019
Gartner outlines top ten technology trends for 2020

Gartner outlines top ten technology trends for 2020

The futurist Paul Saffo often reminds IT leaders that it’s important to never mistake a clear view for a short distance. At the annual Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo conference this week, the analyst firm once again identified the top ten strategy...

/ October 22, 2019
Survey suggests large portions of IT budgets are being wasted

Survey suggests large portions of IT budgets are being wasted

A new report on IT spending trends for the coming year suggests there is a significant opportunity for managed service providers (MSPs) to help organizations get a better handle on where and how IT budgets are being allocated.

/ October 17, 2019
Survey uncovers massive digital business transformation gap for MSPs to fill

Survey uncovers massive digital business transformation gap for MSPs to fill

A global survey published today in advance of a FutureStack event in London hosted by New Relic, provider of a platform for monitoring applications and infrastructure, suggests the rise of digital business transformation is likely to be a boon to...

/ October 16, 2019
IT services providers need to fill the digital business transformation void

IT services providers need to fill the digital business transformation void

The rise of digital business transformation initiative has the potential to be a major boon for IT services providers. Organizations of all sizes are starting to recognize they need to not only employ IT to become more efficient, they also...

/ October 10, 2019
Bots with conversational interfaces come to Managed Services

Bots with conversational interfaces come to Managed Services

Managed service providers (MSPs) should start moving now toward incorporating conversational interfaces into their customer service applications. Chat bots that rely on natural language interfaces are already employed on the Web. The next wave of these bots, however, will support...

/ October 8, 2019 / 1 Comment
What it really takes to become a Managed Security Services Provider (MSSP)

What it really takes to become a Managed Security Services Provider (MSSP)

If an IT solution provider wants to become a managed security services provider (MSSP), they will need the ability to remediate a cybersecurity breach in well under two hours, based on how long it currently takes the average IT organization...

/ October 3, 2019
Spending survey indicates MSPs are holding, but not gaining, ground

Spending survey indicates MSPs are holding, but not gaining, ground

One of the first IT spending forecasts for 2020 contains both good and somewhat disappointing news for managed service providers (MSPs). Based on a Spiceworks survey of 1,105 IT leaders in the U.S. and Europe, spending driven by the need...

/ October 1, 2019