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.

Fallout from high profile breaches will have major impact on IT service providers

Fallout from high profile breaches will have major impact on IT service providers

A recent series of high-profile data breaches is likely to have a profound impact on IT service providers for years to come.

/ August 6, 2019
The disconnect between cost of email security and effectiveness of internal IT

The disconnect between cost of email security and effectiveness of internal IT

The single biggest challenge in selling a managed IT service has very little to do with the technology involved. Rather, it’s usually the pride of the internal IT organization that gets in the way of a more rational decision business...

/ August 1, 2019
Cloud computing growth rates raise cautionary note of concern

Cloud computing growth rates raise cautionary note of concern

The two most recent financial reports from Amazon and Microsoft are raising concerns over the rate at which adoption of cloud services will continue to grow. Amazon revealed Amazon Web Services (AWS) revenue grew 37 percent, to $8.4 billion in...

/ July 31, 2019
IT modernization initiatives will require MSPs to place some big bets

IT modernization initiatives will require MSPs to place some big bets

A new wave of IT modernization initiatives is creating opportunities for managed service providers (MSPs) as IT organizations struggle to master the emerging technologies.

/ July 25, 2019
Microsoft is betting on a common data model to win the cloud wars

Microsoft is betting on a common data model to win the cloud wars

If there was one theme that Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella consistently emphasized during his keynote at last week’s Microsoft Inspire conference, it was how critical Microsoft’s Common Data Model will be in ultimately differentiating them as a cloud service provider....

/ July 23, 2019
MSPs should start setting expectations for 5G wireless networking services now

MSPs should start setting expectations for 5G wireless networking services now

The time when managed service providers (MSPs) will need to sit down with customers to have a serious conversation concerning the rollout of 5G wireless networks has arrived. While there’s already a massive amount of hype surrounding 5G networks, cities...

/ July 18, 2019 / 1 Comment
Early detection systems for earthquakes needs IT industry support

Early detection systems for earthquakes needs IT industry support

There’s nothing like an earthquake to provide the literal jolt often required to motivate businesses and IT leaders to think more about disaster preparedness. A recent series of powerful earthquakes in Southern California has reminded everyone just how vulnerable businesses...

/ July 16, 2019
Smart MSPs follow the data in the age of the cloud

Smart MSPs follow the data in the age of the cloud

Despite all the momentum cloud computing has enjoyed for the past ten years, around 80 percent of all applications are still running in on-premises IT environments. The trend that managed service providers (MSPs) need to close track is the rate...

/ July 11, 2019
MSPs need to make some tough strategic decisions

MSPs need to make some tough strategic decisions

There’s an old African proverb that notes when elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers. These days in the land of IT, the elephants that are doing the fighting are cloud service providers and manufacturers of traditional IT infrastructure...

/ July 9, 2019 / 2 Comments
Number of data protection officers increases dramatically in wake of GDPR

Number of data protection officers increases dramatically in wake of GDPR

It seems that a chief data protection officer is not only an official job responsibility, it’s a necessity. It’s estimated there are now more than half a million data protection officers in Europe alone, one year after the General Data...

/ July 4, 2019