The MSP Zone

Can you save money by moving to the public cloud? Of course, you can. Well, maybe. The answer really depends. What started as a response to the 2009 global financial crisis should not be generally applied to all scenarios where on-premise infrastructure is placed into the public cloud. There are always exceptions and best practices.  MSP Zone Guest: Christopher Church, Mainstream Technologies

Does the MSP business model you are operating under still make sense? Is it still relevant to your clients? MSP Zone Guest: Rob Scott, Scott & Scott LLP

2020 is in the past. But, work from home may be a permanent change left from the global pandemic. How will work from home continue to evolve into 2021 and how should MSPs approach this change?  MSP Zone Guest: Nick Emanuel - Webroot, an OpenText Company

Bad people know the generally applied practices for IT management. As such, managed services delivery procedures should be consistently reviewed. These best practices can help your MSP practice become more secure and transfer that security to your clients.

DNS over HTTPS is here. What is it? This episode of MSP Zone will discuss DoH, the threats it is attempting to solve, and how MSPs can use it in their managed services offerings.  Program Highlights: What is DoH? When will this change happen? What are the advantages? What is there to worry about? What do my clients need to know? How does DNS Protection work with DoH? MSP Zone Guest: Jonathan Barne...

Patching isn’t just a process every MSP should be doing. Patching is an essential component to keeping client systems safe and secure, and operational. MSP Zone Guest: Shane Cooper, Webroot, an OpenText company

What is ZTNA? As MSPs face increasing challenges in protecting their clients against global cyber threats, new ways of defense are needed. Could ZTNA be an effective new tool for MSPs? We will discuss.  Program Highlights Applicability to public and private clouds How is it to manage? Best Practices for MSPs MSP Zone Guest: Robert Krug, AVAST

The supply chain in managed services involves numerous technology relationships with external parties. This is a normal practice. There are, however, some easy and necessary steps every MSP ought to take when reviewing their supply chain partners and making decisions that ultimately affect risk and profitability.  MSP Zone Guest: Rob Scott, Scott & Scott LLP

Managing any object (as a managed service) requires skill. But, beyond mere expertise, there are several critical characteristics that can really make your private cloud managed services offering take off in 2021.  Here are 4 fundamental process changes your MSP practice can implement in 2021 to improve your private cloud offering.  Automating the back-office workflow Offering a self-service porta...

2020 will be a historic year, not just because we had a global pandemic. The managed services profession achieved some significant milestones this year. We will examine a few of the highlights in this year-end review of 2020.  MSPs Rose to the Challenge in 2020 The pandemic caused a major separation between professional MSPs and other IT providers Regulation of IT is now upon us Managed services c...

MSP regulation is upon us. But, could there be unintended consequences not foreseen by the regulators and legislators passing such laws? Today, we talk to a Louisiana based MSP to get his thoughts on what impact MSP regulation may have on managed service providers.  Landon Futch - Essential Solutions, LLC Will the laws & regulations actually make MSPs and their clients safer? Is MSP regulation an...

If you are wanting to accelerate your steps towards offering managed security, you have a few options, including build or partner. Today’s episode discusses some of the pros and cons of both the build and partner methods. What are some of the common MSSP challenges? Should MSPs build or partner? Has Work From Home disrupted the legacy managed security deliverable? What is a SOC? Is it just a NOC w...

Managed services agreements are crucial for MSPs and clients. Everything from the duration of the agreement, to pricing, limitation of liability, and other elements necessary to the relationship between MSP and client must be articulated within the managed services agreement.  Today's program examines the current best practices as it pertains to how MSPs ought to construct their managed services a...

As we near the end of 2020, a year that has brought significant global change to everyone, we also look at the ways how this year has impacted the managed services profession and the customers relying on MSPs. While 2020 brought undeniable change, it also brought opportunities to use change as a way to survive and improve upon outdated and even inefficient business practices. This is especially tr...

A conversation with Ampersand, a managed services provider based in Alaska about their journey throughout the pandemic, meeting the needs of their clients, and in general about being an MSP in the last frontier.

Is the MSP profession ready for the channel? Of course it is, you might say. But, we are talking about the reselling of managed services as a channel. Can this strategy be accomplished effectively and safely? What are some of the steps you should take if you are considering such a strategy?  What are the legal risks? Is there a primary MSP relationship which should be established? How do you updat...

Passwords play such an important role in our society and our cybersecurity, we just can't talk about them enough. Today's episode features LogMeIn, creators of LastPass, in a discussion concerning password management for MSPs and password management for customers.  MSP Zone Guest: Rebecca Stone, LogMeIn

When many people are uncertain about the outcome of the recent political elections, there is some certainty in the world. Specifically, there is some good news for managed service providers, regardless of who wins the elections.  Future of managed services is very positive, regardless of who wins the political races.  There appears to be bipartisan support for general data privacy and security pro...

Last week's initial public offering (IPO) for Datto has broader consequences for the global managed services profession. Most of these consequences are good. Let's examine what some of them are.

Is there an MSP standard of care? Standards of care exist in other professions like medical, legal, etc. But, do they exist in the managed services profession?  In today's episode, we will examine the concept of the MSP standard of care, when it would apply, and address ways MSPs can articulate what their standard of care is so clients are aware and educated. MSP Zone Guest: Rob Scott, Scott & Sco...

Are you better off with an MSP or without an MSP? That is today's question. We ask the question in order to realign the discussion of outsourcing IT management in light of recent attacks on MSPs in the past 24 months.

The US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control recently issued and advisory bulletin on the potential sanctions risks of making ransomware payments. Payments to certain individuals, organizations, and even regions, may trigger a US sanction against you, possibly exposing you to further criminal and civil action.  Today's episode discusses ways MSPs can approach ransomware (both inte...

COVID-19 has been disruptive for many businesses, including some MSPs. Some businesses, however, have reacted better than others to the global pandemic; this also includes MSPs. Backup software company Altaro conducted a study of MSPs asking them a variety of questions about the economy, the state of managed services, and the future. Here are some of the highlights of our discussion with David and...

MSPs are responsible for their own actions, but should they be responsible for the external service providers (i.e., vendors) they bring to their customers? This episode discusses this complicated question and makes the complex easy to understand. Episode highlights: Customers must be held liable for actions they take impacting their data privacy and security.  Co-managed services doesn’t mean the...

MSPs have been reporting all year a similar story across many market verticals and geographies. In today's episode, we speak with Chris McHale of SPK and Associates about her clients (many of theme engineering firms) and how they have been doing throughout the pandemic.    MSP Zone Guest: Chris McHale, SPK and Associates