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.

Windows 10 migrations
Pace of Windows 10 migrations in the enterprise slower than anticipated

Pace of Windows 10 migrations in the enterprise slower than anticipated

Internal IT teams may be looking for a little extra help now that many of them are starting to realize Windows 10 migrations aren’t nearly as simple as once thought. A survey of 400 enterprise IT professionals conducted by Adaptiva,...

/ May 10, 2018
Network automation race
Network automation arms race is on

Network automation arms race is on

Network automation is a doubled-edged sword that as far as managed service providers are concerned is about to cut both ways. On one side, network automation has the potential to significantly reduce labor costs for MSPs. On the other side,...

/ May 8, 2018
IT staff costs
Average cost of IT staff with top-ranked certifications exceeds $100K

Average cost of IT staff with top-ranked certifications exceeds $100K

Ranked by the salary, the top 15 certifications for IT staff can command salaries and benefits well in excess of $100,000 each once healthcare and other benefits are calculated. The most valued certifications as ranked by Global Knowledge, an IT...

/ May 3, 2018
GDPR deadline
Demand for external GDPR expertise starts to increase

Demand for external GDPR expertise starts to increase

With less than a month to go before organizations are required to comply with the General Data Protection Rule (GDPR) that the European Union has pledged to enforce starting May 25, it appears organizations are finally reaching out to external...

/ May 2, 2018
IoT ecosystem
Complicated IoT ecosystem starts to take shape

Complicated IoT ecosystem starts to take shape

As the number Internet of Things (IoT) projects that get launched continues to gain momentum, a new report from Ericsson, a provider of networking equipment, suggests telecommunications carriers and managed service providers will be jockeying for position in the years...

/ April 26, 2018
Java cloud migration
Java cloud migration starting to accelerate

Java cloud migration starting to accelerate

Managed service providers can gain insight into the rate at which production applications are moving into the cloud from a survey of 1,800 developers published today by The Eclipse Foundation. The survey finds that half the respondents are running less...

/ April 24, 2018
containers
IT service providers are falling behind the container curve

IT service providers are falling behind the container curve

IT vendors and many of their IT services provider partners are generally slow to recognize uncomfortable truths. IT vendors tend to develop and allocate the resources they make available to IT services partners based on the sales goals they create...

/ April 19, 2018
GDPR compliance
Confidence in ability to meet GDPR mandates rides high

Confidence in ability to meet GDPR mandates rides high

Right about now inquiries from customers concerned about their ability to comply with the General Data Protection Rule (GDPR) that is set to implemented by the European Union on May 25 should be skyrocketing. But as is often the case, most...

/ April 17, 2018
IT services
IT services deals dipped sharply in 2017

IT services deals dipped sharply in 2017

Both the number of IT services deals and their total contract value (TCV) declined significantly in 2017. A new report from the market research firm GlobalData says the 4,099 IT services contracts announced in 2017 represent a 26-percent decline over...

/ April 12, 2018
BI applications
Standing at the crossroads of managed BI cloud services

Standing at the crossroads of managed BI cloud services

Business intelligence (BI) applications have been moving steadily to the cloud for some time now. A new “2018 Cloud Computing and Business Intelligence Market Study” published by Dresner Advisory Services finds the number of organizations planning to increase spending on...

/ April 10, 2018