The Technology Bradcast

If you’re using AI to write or rewrite your MSA, congratulations! Your agreement may look good and read like a "real contract," but now it might be unenforceable. Let’s talk about why. Welcome back to the Technology Bradcast.

In software development, app builds, automations, and consulting projects, “done” is not a feeling. It’s a definition. If your agreements don't define "done," you may be in for an expensive lesson. 

If your MSP offers project work, or if you’re an IT consultant or fractional CTO, then you need to be aware of some of the most overlooked (but crucial) points of your agreement with your customers.  These points could be devastating if you fail to address them in your customer-facing agreement. Want to know more? Listen up.

You wake up to an email that says, “We sold the company. We’re terminating. Please arrange offboarding.” Do you have options?  You're damn right you do. Welcome to the latest episode of the Technology Bradcast.

Customers installing unapproved software? IT departments bypassing your security or just plain ol' "doing whatever the hell they want?" That's Shadow IT, and it's a huge headache for MSPs. It creates hidden risks and liabilities, not just for your customers, but for you. Want to learn how to fight it? Listen up! Links for events, articles, and products mentioned in the podcast: Link to Register fo...

Stop being a nice person.  It’s killing your business. You’re doing favors, you're providing out-of-scope work--and you're setting yourself up for failure. Nice people sometimes finish first, but MSPs that define the scope of their services and then stay in their lanes ALWAYS finish first.   

Somewhere along the line, someone told you (maybe a lawyer?) that you can update your Master Services Agreement just by posting the changes and simply telling your customers, "We can update any of our terms and if you keep using our services, you accept those terms." If that sounds familiar to you, then you've received bad advice. Want to know the right way--the ENFORCEABLE way--to update your MSA...

You're doing off-boarding wrong!  You're not considering all of the crucial issues involved when a customer says, "goodbye!" I'm about to give you some winning off-boarding strategies that might save you thousands of dollars in attorneys' fees.  You ready?  Let's do this.  

Lawyers and doctors owe a very special duty of confidentiality to their patients and clients, and that makes them hesitant to hire MSPs. Want to know how to leverage that hesitancy to convince medical and legal verticals to work with your MSP? Listen up. The latest Technology Bradcast is here!

As an MSP, navigating negotiations is key. But what happens when your customers push for terms that shouldn't be on the table? How do you explain things in a way that will settle the issues in your favor? Listen up. 

Industry veteran Eric Pinto, Senior Director of Channel & Product Strategy at SocSoter, believes that the way MSPs sell cybersecurity is broken. And we, at the Bradcast, couldn't agree more! Join us on this episode as we sit down with Eric to discuss what's broken about cybersecurity sales and what mature MSPs can do to fix the situation.  

Insurance can be a costly and unattainable expense for MSPs.  But here comes Cork, offering warranty-based coverage programs that promise financial protection to participating MSPs. Might that help your MSP feel more secure? Might it protect your MSP from financial disasters related to security breaches?  For answers, I sat down with Nick Wolf, Cork's Director of Partner Acquisition. Check out the...

You try to enforce your expensive, attorney-drafted agreement only to find out that you can’t. If that's happened to you, then were a victim of poor implementation. Want to find out how to correctly implement your customer-facing agreements to avoid implementation problems? Listen up.

A law firm experiences a ransomware attack and sues its MSP and solution provider for negligence. The case has all the elements of an MSP’s nightmare: services promised but not delivered, hackers demanding huge amounts in ransom, and backup files that, it turns out, never existed.  As an MSP owner, should you be concerned about this case?  Might it set new and lower standards for liability for MSP...

Late last year, one of the most notable acquisitions in the cybersecurity industry took place: Sonicwall acquired Solutions Granted.  You might have read about the deal, but do you know what motivated two of the most respected cybersecurity companies to get together? Do you know how that acquisition will benefit your MSP?   In this very special episode of the Bradcast, Michael Crean of Solutions G...

There are seven words that cause MSPs to spend millions of dollars unnecessarily. There are seven words that MSPs always use to justify why they were unprepared; why they were caught without contracts, without insurance, without foresight. No other words have exposed MSPs to so much liability, costs, and heartaches.  Want to know what they are? Listen up.

"We don’t have insurance. We don’t always use quotes. We've let our receivables get too high." Too often throughout 2023 I’ve heard those sentences uttered from MSPs nationwide. If they sound familiar to you, then you need to correct that situation right now--and I'm going to tell you how to do that. Welcome to the next episode of the Technology Bradcast.

A CISO has been charged with fraud. Does this mean that CISOs and company directors will be responsible for all cybersecurity vulnerabilities? Has the government’s oversight of the cybersecurity industry suddenly changed? Should you be worried? Listen up.

Your customer terminates your agreement prematurely and without cause.  The payout clause in your agreement requires your customer to pay out the balance of the contract, but your customer's lawyer says it's unenforceable--and maybe it is.  Do you want to avoid the "evil magic" that lawyers use to circumvent payout clauses? Then listen up.

Your customer owes your MSP business a small amount of money, so you file a small claims action and you don’t hire an attorney--because attorneys are expensive, right? But the judge won't let your case proceed unless you hire an attorney.  What can you do?  Listen up.

Guidance is the key to great relationships between MSPs and their customers.  Too many MSPs don't provide the right kind of guidance to their customers, and that’s causing friction--the kind of friction that attorneys resolve by the hour.  And those attorneys don’t give a damn about your business, but I do. Want to know how to provide guidance?  Listen up.

Some MSP's think that they can update their master agreement simply by posting updated terms on a central website. It's so effortless. It's hands-off. It's so...UNENFORCEABLE. If you think you can unilaterally change your MSA and then force your customers to accept the modified MSA simply because your MSA says "that’s the way it is," well, you’re in a very precarious legal position.  Want to know...

New York is about do to away with non-compete provisions. That means that your employees can quit and then open up a competing shop or even work for your biggest competitor.  So what does that mean for your company?  Should you panic?  Should you care? The answers are ahead…listen up.

MSPs that use service agreements only some of the time (instead of all of the time) forget where they are. They forget what could be ahead.  If that's what you're doing, then you need a dose of reality. Listen up.

Your customer’s workforce is distributed.  That's a fancy way of saying, “Employees work from home and don't really care about security.”  As the MSP, you're supposed to manage all distributed devices and make sure everything's alright. But will it be alright? Maybe, but only if you remember that sharing is caring. Listen up.