SMB Community Podcast

Topic 1: Fusion Energy Will Save The World (Eventually)

The most successful nuclear fusion test shows impressive progress and potential at the JET tokamak reactor in the UK.

Link: 

https://www.science.org/content/article/european-fusion-reactor-sets-record-sustained-energy 

Topic 2: Monitoring vs Observability

We are quickly moving into a new era when it comes to monitoring technology. In fact, we need distinctions between observining, monitoring, and responding. Where do we draw the new lines?

Links:

https://www.channele2e.com/channel-partners/msps/see-all-manage-all-are-msps-nearing-end-to-end-visibility/ 

https://thenewstack.io/monitoring-vs-observability-whats-the-difference/ 

Topic 3: Ugly … but useful?

Motorola has announced a new wearable 5G neckband that provides power to special AR/VR headsets. The neckband is particularly ugly and includes a a mini computer with touchpad, SIM card slot, speakers, and other goodies. It also provides 5G connectivity to the headset. 

We discuss the ugliness, the usefulness, and what it tells us about the future of technology.

Link:

https://www.theverge.com/2022/2/15/22934526/motorola-verizon-5g-neckband-vr-headset-ar-smart-glasses-qualcomm 

https://thenextweb.com/news/motorola-xr-lenovo-neckband-headset-analysis 

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Sponsor Memo: BVOIP

BVOIP — the Cloud communications offering designed specifically for IT providers, bvoip offers a complete Unified Communications suite which can also be tightly integrated via Microsoft Teams. Bvoip delivers the modern workforce cutting edge features including Contact Center, integration to your business apps, and real time visibility into your remote workers.

You control the price, with a unique hybrid model that avoids the complex dial tone taxation or compliance bullseye.    Don’t get stuck in a vendor relationship that works against you! Bvoip is channel only company that’s here to support you.  Find out more by visiting https://bvoip.com/mspradio 

:-)

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Host Karl caught up with MJ Shoer, the Chief Community Officer at CompTIA. MJ is responsible for leading a team of passionate leaders who deliver programs and benefits to CompTIA's global community of members.

MJ is a 25+ year MSP veteran, having owned his MSP for nearly 20 years before merging into a friendly regional competitor subsequently acquired by a national MSP. MJ was a longtime CompTIA member before joining the team.

About CompTIA

CompTIA is a non-Profit IT Trade Association. You've certainly heard of CompTIA certifications (A+, Network+, etc.).

At https://connect.comptia.org, you'll find the CompTIA communities, technology interest groups, industry advisory councils, and public sector councils make CompTIA strong. Join today and start collaborating on technology and business-building initiatives, network with peers, open doors to new partnerships, and contribute ideas to shape the future of our industry. There is a place for everyone to connect at CompTIA.

Full disclosure: Karl sits on the Executive Council of CompTIA's Advancing Tech Talent and Diversity Community - the largest and fastest growing community. More info at https://connect.comptia.org/join-now/register?c=ADVTECTLTDIV.

CompTIA Communities and Councils Forum is March 14-16 in Chicago. See https://connect.comptia.org/events/view/comptia-communities-councils-forum-(ccf)-2022?sfredirect=/ccf

Links: https://Connect.CompTIA.org https://www.CompTIAISAO.org https://facebook.com/mshoer https://linkedin.com/in/mshoer https://twitter.com/mshoer

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Sponsor Memo: Linode Linode – a top Infrastructure as a Service provider as voted by G2 and Trust Radius, has resources specifically for delivering digital experiences in the cloud with better ease and affordability while not being locked into long-term agreements and commitments.

Their guide, "The Golden Ratio of Price to Performance in Cloud Computing" details how alternative cloud providers and open source tools can lower costs and ease moving to multicloud envoirments.

This resource and more at https://linode.com/mspradio. :-)

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Topic 1: Nike Sues StockX for NFT Sale of Their shoes

Follow this story if you can. Strictly speaking, an NFT is simply a blockchain receipt that you own a specific thing. StockX sells NFTs that are actually fungible. You can trade you NFT for a physical shoe they hold in a locker for you.

Google Nike StockX NFT and you’ll see ads from StockX that use the Nike name and images. But they are not an authorized Nike retailer. StockX says they’re not selling Nikes, only tokens. Trademark law is confused on the issues.

But this isn’t the only issue like this. Turning "Magic the Gathering" cards into NFTs – but not by the owner.   

Links: 

https://www.retaildive.com/news/nike-sues-stockx-over-nft-shoes/618340/  

https://www.vice.com/en/article/m7v5vq/the-harebrained-scheme-to-turn-magic-the-gathering-cards-into-nfts 

Topic 2: Dave's Sad, Irritating Venture into NFTs

Caution: Adult language.

Topic 3: SpaceX Loses 40 Satellites to Solar Storm

Solar storms have knocked out forty car-sized satellites. Worse storms coming. Sun has 11 year cycles and the hyperactivity will peak in 2025.

We think this comes at a very interesting time in the history of technology.

Link:

https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/02/10/1045202/spacex-just-lost-40-satellites-to-a-geomagnetic-storm-there-could-be-worse-to-come/ 

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Sponsor Memo: Cisco

Did you know Cisco helps Managed Services Providers directly? Know about the Cisco Partner Program? Focused on helping partners combine managed services expertise and service creation with innovative Cisco technology and proven go-to-market resources, there’s a program option for you. With provider pricing, MDF, and marketing resources coupled with Cisco’s leading technologies including Meraki, Duo, and Umbrella, learn more with the link right in the show notes.    https://lnkd.in/gsydMya 

:-)

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Host James caught up with founder of Arsenal, Aaron Asher, to talk Sales Development and Appointment Setting.

Since its inception in early 2019, Aaron and his team at Arsenal have worked with 100s of MSPs to provide transparent, no frill lists of services and resources.

Link: www.arsenalbg.com

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Sponsor Memo: Cisco

Did you know Cisco helps Managed Services Providers directly? Know about the Cisco Partner Program? Focused on helping partners combine managed services expertise and service creation with innovative Cisco technology and proven go-to-market resources, there's a program option for you. With provider pricing, MDF, and marketing resources coupled with Cisco's leading technologies inculding Meraki, Duo, and Umbrella, learn more with the link right in the show notes.

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/partners/partner-with-cisco/provider.html

:-)

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Topic 1: $3.6 Bil in Stolen Bitcoin Recovered

$900,000,000 still missing. Bad news: blockchain doesn’t stop people from stealing your stuff. Good news: Once the government finds it, they can prove exactly where it was stolen.

Surprisingly normal money laundering techniques.

- https://www.barrons.com/articles/bitcoin-hack-cryptocurrency-justice-department-51644340993 

Topic 2: Do we have a trust deficit?

Our comments on an article in the Atlantic. A serious follow-on to the "zero trust" of crypto currency.

- https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/12/trust-recession-economy/620522/?mc_cid=3444c21cfd&mc_eid=70cbbe1cdc 

Topic 3 option - Revisiting NVidia-ARM Deal

Have we over-regulated, or is this good for everybody? Nvidia and Arm had worked out an extensive arms-length deal that was quite complicated. Clearly, they were designing a merger with regulators in mind.

Softbank bought Arm for $36 B and was looking forward to getting a payoff on that investment. Is this just about money, or also about technology?

- https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/02/nvidia-abandons-66-billion-arm-purchase/ 

Sponsor Memo: SafeDNS

SafeDNS - the Web filtering solution for MSPs.

With an ever-increasing number of cyberattacks and data loss - customers ask “how to deal with it?”

Answer -Add an extra layer of protection: Web filtering solution on a DNS level. Deploy SafeDNS and be protected in minutes. with a Reseller panel and Whitelabel capability, generate more recurring revenue with AI-powered DNS Threat Protection. all with 24/7 support.  Want to learn more 

For details, please contact us - https://safedns.com 

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In this special edition, I lay out some information on choosing clients, setting expectations, and getting clients to play their role in your company. This is absolutely essential to building a successful business model.

When you look at your ideal client, you need to know what they care about and what they don't care about. What kind of buyer are you? What kind of buyer do you want your clients to be? Those questions will help you decide what matters and what does not inside your company.

References and links:

- Uncommon Service by Frances Frei and Anne Morriss https://www.amazon.com/Uncommon-Service-Putting-Customers-Business/dp/1422133311/

- My blog: https://blog.smallbizthoughts.com

- My YouTube: https://youtube.com/smallbizthoughts

- IT Service Provider University: https://www.itspu.com - Customer Service Course at ITSPU: https://www.itspu.com/all-classes/classes/customer-service-for-it-service-providers/

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Sponsor Memo: PCMatic Think you know PC Matic? Think again.

PC Matic is working with MSPs to deliver true zero trust/default deny endpoint security. Allowing only trusted applications and blocking all the rest. A light weight, simple to deploy & easy to manage approach to application allow-listing.

Layering a default deny approach provides MSPs of all sizes the ability to again focus on prevention, and PC Matic delivers this without impacting performance or efficiency.

Find out more about by visiting https://pcmatic.com/MSP

Be sure to ask about PC Matic's exclusive lead sharing program for MSPs backed by a prime time national TV campaign.

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Topic 1: The “Antiwork” movements, The Great Resignation, and the stupidest movement in America

You've seen the movement. But you may have missed the Reddit page. Did you miss the anti-work interview gone wrong? Check out 

https://mashable.com/article/antiwork-subreddit-fox-news-interview 

With some counterpoints on loyalty:

https://www.businessinsider.com/companies-loyalty-employers-workers-employees-great-resignation-jobs-quits-2022-1 

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2022-01-24/amazon-employees-are-burned-out-and-leaving-their-jobs Amazexodus  

Topic 2: Apple Airtags Revisited: Bringing stalking to the masses.

Airtags are certainly not the only tags out there. But, as with all things, Apple brought them to the masses. And that includes the masses of criminals who somehow take everything good and misuse it.

Bad behavior includes following women from a bar after slipping an airtag in her bag, and tracking expensive cars so you can steal them more easily.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/jan/20/apple-airtags-stalking-complaints-technology 

Scary video watched over 3.9 million times on TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@angel.edge95/video/7033117374861577477 

Topic 3: It's time for a Robot Roundup!

Where do we stand? Can (should) robots deliver booze? Do they have rights as pedestrians? Is outsourcing policing to them a good idea? Or should they just unload trucks?

https://www.zdnet.com/article/should-robots-be-able-to-deliver-booze/#ftag=RSSbaffb68 

https://www.axios.com/sidewalk-robots-legal-rights-pedestrians-821614dd-c7ed-4356-ac95-ac4a9e3c7b45.html 

https://www.vice.com/en/article/v7dz7b/police-outsourcing-human-interaction-with-homeless-people-to-boston-dynamics-robot-dog  

https://www.theverge.com/2022/1/26/22902568/boston-dynamics-stretch-robot-logistics-dhl-deal 

https://listverse.com/2019/03/18/10-times-robots-were-brutally-assaulted-by-humans/ 

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Sponsor Memo: Linode

Linode is the alternative to costly and complex cloud providers. Serving nearly a million developers and organizations around the world, Linode accelerates innovation by making cloud computing simple, affordable, and accessible.

As the world’s largest independent cloud provider, Linode gives its partners the ability to: - Improve margins without sacrificing performance - Provide solutions that include 100% human support your customers can rely on - Scale on a platform with proven reliability - Eliminate vendor lock-in - Offer a smarter alternative for multi-cloud management - Design solutions with no pricing surprises

Join the movement to a simpler, alternative cloud. Visit https://Linode.com/mspradio 

:-)

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Cyber Incidents, Cybersecurity Insurance, and SMBs.

Host Karl interviewed Ron Pelletier from Pondurance. Pondurance is a cybersecurity incident response organization.

Ron is the original Founder of Pondurance, having started the company from his basement in 2008. Ron has over 25 years of cyber security advisory experience. He started his career as an officer in the US Army, followed by nine years with Big Four firm, EY. As a strong consensus builder and customer advocate, Ron is focused on evangelizing the Pondurance brand as well as customer success.

There are many kinds of cyber attacks. What's the right incident response for each of these? What are the roles of monitoring as well as actual response?

Additional Relevant Cyber insurance policy prices are skyrocketing due to the increase in ransomware attacks. With that higher price comes less coverage. Add to that, more companies are applying for cyber insurance than there is funding. When demand exceeds availability, you get increased rates, and that's happening universally.

To better your chances for being approved for cyber insurance, it's best to know why companies are denied cyber insurance in the first place, how they can be better prepared for the application process, and what to do to prepare for the years to come. Landon would like to discuss preventive measures small businesses can take to address questions that cyber insurance carriers have added to their underwriting questionnaires, as well as simple and cost-effective ways for organizations to reduce your cyber risk.

Links - http://www.pondurance.com

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Sponsor Note: Acronis

Are you still relying on a frustrating patchwork of legacy solutions? Modernize your cybersecurity and data protection with Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud. It's a single solution that combines backup, anti-malware, and endpoint protection management. As an MSP, you can easily improve clients' security posture, eliminate complexity, and generate more recurring revenue. Learn more about Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud at https://Acronis.com.

:-)

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Topic 1: Is 2022 the Year to Embrace the Grind?

Is this your year to take on big challenges, set the cruise control, or something else? This topic was inspired by our friend TC Doyle at Channelnomics.

“Not every year or period is destined to be a transformative one. For every 1945, 1989, or 2001, there are plenty of 1913s, 1953s, and 2005s.”

https://channelnomics.com/2022/01/embrace-the-grind-thats-2022/

Topic 2: Mark Cuban Takes on Walmart. 

Is he disrupting anything? What about basic strategy?

“The ultra-straightforward business plan of undercutting middle men and offering a proven product for a better price than anyone else seems almost quaint today, but Cuban knows what he’s doing — in a generic way, at least. “

https://techcrunch.com/2022/01/24/mark-cuban-cost-plus-pharmacy-lower-prices-reduce-stress/

Topic 3: Activision bought by Microsoft.

This is much more than a gamer play. Does this give us a peek into the future of edge computing and next-level technologies that coordinate operations across the internet?

We have some opinions. 

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Sponsor Note: Egnyte

Are you still using on-prem file servers and VPNs to share files with remote workers? Egnyte is a business class cloud sharing solution that works more like your on-prem server than other solutions.  With a security first approach to file sharing and collaboration, Egnyte offers multiple options for sharing files and collecting files from outside sources.   And do it all addressing data governance and compliance.  Want to learn more?  Check out Egnyte.com/mspradio, and when you do, tell them the guys at Killing IT sent you.

:-)

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This is the first in a series of interviews we'll be doing with Field Effect in 2022. Host Karl talked to Toby Nangle, Global Channel and Partnerships Lead for Field Effect.

We start out by agreeing that it's going to be another tough year on the cybersecurity front.

Toby has worked extensively in the Education Technology, Cloud, IT Infrastructure and IT Security sectors. His expertise lies in developing cohesive channel strategies, identifying and developing the shortest path to revenue for new technologies, and implementing the necessary internal and external structures to support channel partnerships.

Field Effect works to bring simplicity to a complex process of delivering top-notch cybersecurity. Their primary product is Covalence, which bring great security monitoring from a wholistic approach. Rather than deploy a variety of "DR" (detection/response) tools, Covalence monitors all traffic on both your on-site and cloud networks with one portal.

Alerts are managed through a central system and delivered to MSPs. Of course it also connects to your PSA and other tools.

If you're interested in offering a successful managed security practice, the Field Effect partner program is a great place to start. We dig into a good deal of the technology as well as deployment and monitoring for the MSP. Their service is sold on a per-user basis in order to make sure people don't exclude devices due to price. Their ideal market is between 25 and 2,500 users. (Not strictly enforced.)

Related links:

Field Effect Website https://fieldeffect.com

Follow Field Effect on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/field-effect-software/

Follow Field Effect on Twitter https://www.linkedin.com/company/field-effect-software/

Sponsor Note: BVOIP BVOIP — the Cloud communications offering designed specifically for IT providers, bvoip offers a complete Unified Communications suite which can also be tightly integrated via Microsoft Teams. Bvoip delivers the modern workforce cutting edge features including Contact Center, integration to your business apps, and real time visibility into your remote workers.

You control the price, with a unique hybrid model that avoids the complex dial tone taxation or compliance bullseye. Don't get stuck in a vendor relationship that works against you! Bvoip is channel only company that's here to support you. Find out more by visiting https://bvoip.com/mspradio :-)

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