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.

Time to focus on customer renewal rates in age of the cloud

Time to focus on customer renewal rates in age of the cloud

When it comes to selling IT solutions in the age of the cloud, the biggest change for IT service providers is the emphasis that needs to be placed on customer renewal rates for services that are sold as a subscription....

/ June 23, 2016
security breach
The growing importance of security breach incident management

The growing importance of security breach incident management

How an IT organization handles a breach is now arguably more important to the business affected than all the time and effort they put into preventing one from happening. In this day and age, some kind of breach is now...

/ June 14, 2016
crossing the it selling chasm
Geoffrey Moore shares advice on how to cross the IT selling chasm

Geoffrey Moore shares advice on how to cross the IT selling chasm

When it comes to selling an IT project, many IT vendors and their partners have come to appreciate that the part of the budget controlled by the internal IT organization only represents a few percentage points of the total operational...

/ June 9, 2016
ransomware 3
Ransomware exposes poor data management hygiene

Ransomware exposes poor data management hygiene

As ransomware attacks continue to proliferate, the soft underbelly of IT — how organizations often manage their data in a cavalier manner — is finally being exposed. Ransomware combines social engineering techniques, malware, and encryption to take an organization’s data hostage. As...

/ April 28, 2016
fbi malware
The FBI wants to see your malware

The FBI wants to see your malware

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) would like IT services providers and their customers to share their malware with them. As part of its ongoing efforts to combat cybercriminals, the FBI has developed a massive database of malware that it...

/ April 21, 2016
Are you a victim of service catalog sprawl?

Are you a victim of service catalog sprawl?

The number of catalogs the average organization is able to provision services through is starting to spin out of control. A new survey of 766 technical support professionals conducted by HDI Research finds that 85 percent of IT professionals now identify...

/ April 7, 2016
ransomware
KeRanger brings ransomware to the Mac

KeRanger brings ransomware to the Mac

Not too long ago one of the benefits of using a Macintosh for work was that there wasn’t enough of these systems in place to make it worthwhile for hackers to target them. Fast forward to today, and the growing...

/ March 8, 2016
market leaders
Why MSPs should target companies that aren’t market leaders

Why MSPs should target companies that aren’t market leaders

When it comes to drumming up new business, just about every IT service provider knows to segment opportunities by vertical industry. But rather than going after the market leaders in each vertical segment, IT service providers might be better off...

/ February 26, 2016
ransomware
Locky malware creates potential IT security nightmare

Locky malware creates potential IT security nightmare

Most IT service providers that have any experience with IT security knew it was only a matter of time before a ransomware exploit wound up taking an organization’s data hostage in a way with no known remediation. Taking advantage of the...

/ February 23, 2016
cybersecurity attacks
Cybersecurity attacks against IT service providers get more advanced

Cybersecurity attacks against IT service providers get more advanced

Like any pirate, most cybercriminals prefer easy targets. So, while the number of attacks continues to increase, the majority of them are looking to exploit vulnerabilities that are easily defended. A new report from Arbor Networks suggests that the number of...

/ February 2, 2016