SMB Community Podcast: Business Advice for Small MSP Owners

Topic 1: Misc. Threats for 2020

What are the effects of a future in which half the world uses an “Internet” with information curated by the Chinese government and half the world uses an Internet with information 90% curated by American companies?

From a slightly different perspective this is not China and the U.S. so much as authoritarian and democratic. And the "free" part of the Internet is becoming divided between U.S. companies and European companies.

Luckily for us, Ryan has lots of hands-on experience in China and other less-than-democratic countries. He considers looking through the lenses of "information" and "transaction." And what about "propaganda" in all of these subdivisions.

. . . Or maybe there's a B2B Internet, a B2C Internet, and a C2C Internet?

Link:
https://www.eurasiagroup.net/issues/top-risks-2020

Topic 2: Is the MSP market “Saturated”?

What does that even mean? Is it possible?

Premise: Lots of opportunity and growth lead to opportunities for managed service providers. But we often hear people say that the market is saturated, and no one challenges that assertion.

We do. We think there's no support for the concept that the IT services market is saturated at any level.

Related Link:
https://www.channelpartnerinsight.com/channel-partner-insight/feature/3085036/us-state-survey-how-north-carolinas-financial-sector-boom-has-shaken-up-the-msp-space

Topic 3: Satya Nadella is worried that what we're doing won't last much longer.

We're obviously in the middle of a massive technology boom. But it does not appear to be improving the entire global economy as one would expect.

We quickly get into a discussion of the complexity of the economy. Lots of things are getting better, but that doesn't mean we should stop trying. There's clearly lots of innovation, but that doesn't guarantee specific economic benefits.

Authors:
Hans Rosling - Factfulness
Robert Gordon - Rise and Fall of American Growth

Related Links:

• https://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-ceo-satya-nadella-economic-growth-worries-2020-1
• https://winbuzzer.com/2020/01/14/microsofts-ceo-is-worried-that-tech-isnt-growing-the-economy-enough-xcxwbn/
• https://www.inc.com/christine-lagorio/clayton-christensen-capitalist-dilemma.html

:-)

We are loving the two way conversations! Fill out the form at https://killingit.smallbizthoughts.com to give us your feedback.

Topic 1: Is the age of hardware over - or are we just beginning?

We used to count computers in thousands or millions. Now we count cameras and IOT devices in billions.

Ryan mentioned this quote recently: "Hardware eventually fails. Software eventually works." - Michael Hartung

Link for Daniel Burris: https://www.amazon.com/Flash-Foresight-How-Invisible-Impossible/dp/0061922293
(Book = Flash Foresight)

One of Burris’ rules for predicting the future is that “the physical” will disappear in favor of the virtual. At the same time, everything is always connected. Hardware seems to be everywhere, not going away. But specific devices are now disposable.

Where do you make your money? As always, there's hardware, software, and services. What's the mix that makes your business work?

Topic 2: How do we differentiate “MSPs” when there are so many kinds of MSPs?

The term "MSP" has become so generalized that it seems to be a generic term for anyone who provides any technician services. What’s the difference between someone like Accenture, versus TeamLogic (franchise), versus someone getting to National Scope (All Covered), versus someone local?

Is everyone an MSP and we just have to sort it out? How does size and reach matter?

As we hark back to Episode One, we continue to work on what MSP might mean going ahead. And what alternatives should we be using? Technology service provider? Solution provider.

What do YOU want your company to be called?

Topic 3: Unique Session - Quick interview of Dave Sobel by Karl Palachuk

Dave's latest venture is MSP Radio - see https://www.mspradio.com - and his first podcast offering is The Business of Tech. BOT is a daily (five days per week) five minute podcast. Each podcast covers three quick topics - all related to members of the technology channel.

Dave has a long history in our community. He has been an IT service provider and a vendor in the channel. So he has an interesting filter to help us all find the value in this and answer the question, "Why do we care?"

Check out his new podcast and let him know what you think.

Featured Guest: Joseph Landes

I talked with Joseph Landes from Nerdio about the specifics of moving clients to the Azure cloud - and the special tools Nerdio employs to make sure you know what it will cost. They also have some cool tools for reducing the cost of running client operations on Azure.

Joseph worked at Microsoft for almost 25 years before joining Nerdio to help MSPs learn how to build a successful and profitable cloud practice in Microsoft Azure.

Nerdio's flagship product, Nerdio for Azure, has helped thousands of MSPs around the world transiton from the on-premises world to the cloud using automation. Nerdio has significant expertise and technical know-how in the Azure space and is the definitive Azure solution for MSPs.

Site: www.getnerdio.com

:-)

About the SMB Community Podcast: Weekly business advice for small MSP owners from Amy Babinchak and James Kernan of the Small Biz Thoughts community — MSP sales, MSP pricing and agreements, hiring and leading an MSP team, MSP operations, selling your MSP, and AI for small MSPs. Produced by MSP Radio. More for MSP owners at smallbizthoughts.com.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Ryan and I kick off the year and Dave joins us mid-way through.

Topic 1: California Privacy . . . Coming your way.

California has a new privacy law that will affect lots of other areas . . . because you probably do business in California. And, of course, once one state starts regulating something, other states will follow.

Very soon we'll all have to post policies about how we collect, sell, and share data about people we work with. You may not be collecting this information, but you should definitely find out whether your clients need to comply. As we've mentioned many times, compliance is your friend.

Help make your clients' lives easier!

Link:
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/california-consumer-privacy-act-explained_n_5e0649b9c5b6b5a713adf862

Topic 2: California Law Might Kill the Gig Economy

Big changes are coming to the world of the "gig" economy. How do you know if you're an employee or contractor? This is one that you *have to* pay attention to. Once again, once a state begins to legislate, the other states will jump in.

Dave makes the excellent point that this binary view of employment is simply broken. Our current economy was never built on this binary distinction: contractors have been around forever.

Link:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/heidilynnekurter/2019/10/31/california-destroys-1-trillion-gig-economy-with-new-law

Topic 3: Unicorn vs. Zebra

"Unicorns" are super successful startups who reach $1 Billion in value. Now enter the Zebra - a company that is fundamentally sustainable. See the link to the Zebra manifesto below.

The new(ish) movement is to focus on sustainable business models rather than the over-hyped expectations from massively expensive startups. AND almost all of us in SMB business space are building zebras rather than unicorns!

https://www.pcmag.com/news/372112/why-silicon-valley-needs-to-dump-unicorns-for-zebras

https://www.zebrasunite.com/

Startup cycle graphic on Wikipedia is in this article:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Startup_company

Feedback always welcome at https://killingit.smallbizthoughts.com

:-)

My guest this week is my friend Scott Millar from IT Rockstars and MSP Video Academy.

Scott is the founder of IT Rockstars. He has an extensive career spanning both IT and marketing.

As systems engineer at heart, Scott saw an opportunity at a young age in generating leads to his break-fix computer repair business using online marketing techniques.

This evolved into the managed service space where Scott has worked for over 15 years. Now he's helping fellow MSPs and IT business owners generate more leads and win more sales.

IT Rockstars offers IT business the opportunity to build a process into their business that will generate a steady, reliable stream of warm leads using proven digital marketing strategy and tactics.

Scot has a passion for SEO, but also realized that there are much quicker and more sustainable ways of marketing an IT business.

Find out about the four marketing pieces he offers every month, as well as some great "best practice" tips for Facebook Live and repurposing your video content on LinkedIn.

Links:

• https://www.itrockstars.net
• https://mspvideoacademy.com

:-)

About the SMB Community Podcast: Weekly business advice for small MSP owners from Amy Babinchak and James Kernan of the Small Biz Thoughts community — MSP sales, MSP pricing and agreements, hiring and leading an MSP team, MSP operations, selling your MSP, and AI for small MSPs. Produced by MSP Radio. More for MSP owners at smallbizthoughts.com.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Topic 1: Drone food delivery goes nationwide in 2020

Flirtey has announced drone delivery of food services in Reno, Nevada. And they have announced that they will go nationwide in 2020. Earlier they announced a service to deliver defibrillators in emergencies.

We talk a bit about moving the conversation from "drone" to the discussion of the last mile of delivery services.

Link:
https://www.aviationtoday.com/2019/12/19/flirtey-trials-drone-delivery-industrial-center-nevada/

That link is a great example of the number of hurdles that need to be overcome in drone delivery.

We'll try to talk a bit less about drones in 2020, but we do see it as one of the emerging technologies that has moved well past the "hype" cycle.

Topic 2: Resilience and Recharging Your Batteries

Resilience: The concept is that you have to do more than merely relax - you have to relax as deeply as you work. Recharging your batteries - and helping your employees do the same - is extremely important to you business.

Two similar links:
https://hbr.org/2016/06/resilience-is-about-how-you-recharge-not-how-you-endure

https://healthyheels.org/2018/12/08/building-resilience-through-rr/

Plus a bonus from Karl:
https://www.relaxfocussucceed.com

Please subscribe to Karl's Relax Focus Succeed blog and newsletter. See that site.

Topic 3: Recap our own podcast

What we've been up to.

Dave tells the story of this podcast, how it came to be, and what we're up to. We are amazed and happy to present our 40th Killing IT podcast.

Our goal since Day One has been to change the conversation in our industry and channel. Please give us your feedback and let us know how we're doing.

Happy New Year to all.

We'll see you on Episode 41 next year.

Please "like" our podcast wherever you can and share with your friends.

Happy New Year!

:-)

We recorded this show a few days ago. You can tell right away that we're all in a good mood.

Topic 1: Ring, Cameras, and Security

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/epg4xm/amazon-ring-camera-security

Ring cameras are easily "hacked," although most of the problems aren't really technical issues. Dave's big question is, “Why aren’t people selling solutions to this?”

As technologists, blaming users is generally not a good strategy. Our job is to make money helping people to understand their technology and using it properly.

Also mentioned: Mark Smith talking about making money with IoT devices, especially cameras: SMBCommunityPodcast.com.

Topic 2: "Trust" in Software Defined Networking

The “cloud” is the ultimate example of virtualization of business. But the cloud is not the only netowrk you use. You also have a LAN and perhaps a WAN. With the emergence of SDN, we begin to manage all these technologies together. And the biggest piece of managing all this is trust.

We have a lively discussion and a bit of disagreement about the rolls of technology and human interaction in building trust.

Link:
https://apple.news/ACt3y8HyCShWwNBvN3gbYaQ

https://blogs.oracle.com/oracle-communications/software-defined-networks-crucial-to-digital-transformation

And a slightly more bold take:
https://www.eweek.com/networking/why-network-transformation-is-foundational-for-digital-transformation

And a slightly more broad network take:
https://www.networkcomputing.com/networking/do-digital-transformation-right-transform-your-network

Topic 3: Alexa, change the subject!

Amazon's virtual assistant can now be used to stop family disputes at Christmas by stepping in with 'distraction' questions.

Is this cool or simply sad? Is the perennial family feud really something that 1) Needs to be solved? and 2) Needs to be solved with technology. Perhaps using Alexa for games and family activities would be better than simply "Change the subject."

Final thought: Advancements like this help people to be more comfortable with the voice interface.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-7804761/Alexa-change-subject-Amazons-virtual-assistant-used-stop-family-disputes.html

https://www.amazon.com/Tonic-Design-Co-Change-Subject/dp/B077H7WRVN

:-)

IoT Playbook - Part of the ChannelPro Network

I interviewed Mark Smith from ChannelPro Network and IoT Playbook.

Smith has been in IT for more than 25 years. He was the founder of Windows NT Magazine, a global media company that helped over 1M IT professionals. Mark is the Host of IoT Playbook, part of the ChannelPro Network.

IoTPlaybook is on a mission to find the early IoTMSP pioneers and get them to reveal their playbooks so that you benefit from the lessons they've learned from the hard way.

Playbooks show you the strategies, the business models, the technology stack, the marketing & sales angles, and everything else you need to succeed with each IoT managed service we cover.

Playbooks are designed to apply in your business right now.

Why you need to add IoT Managed Services to your business now

Links:

• podcast.iotplaybook.com
• www.FreeIoTClass.com

:-)

About the SMB Community Podcast: Weekly business advice for small MSP owners from Amy Babinchak and James Kernan of the Small Biz Thoughts community — MSP sales, MSP pricing and agreements, hiring and leading an MSP team, MSP operations, selling your MSP, and AI for small MSPs. Produced by MSP Radio. More for MSP owners at smallbizthoughts.com.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We continue two favorite topics this week, and introduce a new one that is sure to be a perennial favorite.

Topic 1: Revisiting disruptions

It's a new era for "disruptive" technologies. There's a now a clear business model for disruption. Uber did it as a bad citizen (do it first, ask permission later). They essentially viewed fines as a marketing expense. Now they are being pushed out of some markets.

Many cities are now picking up on transportation disruptions very quickly and either regulating them preemptively or stopping them quickly. Example: Bikes and scooters . . . and cities learning to see them coming.

We discuss what disruption looks like going forward now that it has become standardized to some degree.

Related link on Uber, Lyft, and the last mile - https://www.wired.com/story/transit-agencies-turn-uber-last-mile/

Topic 2: Driverless Deliveries and the Invasion of the Robots

Let’s talk Driverless car versus drone Burrito delivery.

This is a fast moving target. Here’s the update.

Links:

https://dfw.cbslocal.com/2019/12/05/robots-invade-ut-dallas-campus-deliver-food/?fbclid=IwAR36opUvaUC9DkZX9sIzhE3jaaSM8oOkg8ghgfjoYn7rPq0m7b-ajSiWbfg

https://www.engadget.com/2019/12/10/walmart-driverless-grocery-deliveries-houston/

Topic 3: The Splinternet

China and other nations that lean toward the authoritarian side of things are seeking to create an "alternative" Internet. After all, the Internet started by the U.S. government has a rather U.S.-centric view of rules and requirements.

We previously discussed the "Contract for the Web," which is steeped in Western values and a liberal approach to inclusion, participation, and freedoms. Here we begin the conversation about what an emerging multi-internet system will operate.

https://thenextweb.com/podium/2019/06/10/the-splinternet-is-here-and-your-company-needs-to-be-ready/

https://contractfortheweb.org/

More to come on all these topics. Subscribe today!

I interviewed Alan Conboy of Scale Computing a few days ago.

Alan is the CTO office at Scale Computing. With more than 20 years of experience, he is an industry veteran and technology evangelist specializing in designing, prototyping, selling and implementing disruptive storage and virtualization technologies. Prior to Scale Computing, Conboy held positions at Lefthand Networks, ADIC, CreekPath Systems, and Spectra Logic.

Conboy is notably one of the first movers in the X86/X64 hyperconvergence space, and one of the first 30 people ever certified by Storage Network Industry Association.

Here we discuss Scale's latest partnership with Acronis, a global leader in cyber protection. This OEM partnership offers Acronis Backup to customers through Scale Computing channels, expands its disaster recovery capabilities and delivers archiving, enhanced data protection, and threat mitigation on the Scale Computing HC3 platform.

Sites:

• https://www.scalecomputing.com
• https://www.scalecomputing.com/blog
• https://twitter.com/ScaleComputing (@ScaleComputing)
• https://www.facebook.com/ScaleComputing/ (@ScaleComputing)
• https://www.linkedin.com/company/scalecomputing/
• https://www.youtube.com/user/ScaleComputing

:-)

About the SMB Community Podcast: Weekly business advice for small MSP owners from Amy Babinchak and James Kernan of the Small Biz Thoughts community — MSP sales, MSP pricing and agreements, hiring and leading an MSP team, MSP operations, selling your MSP, and AI for small MSPs. Produced by MSP Radio. More for MSP owners at smallbizthoughts.com.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.