The Technology Bradcast

Scope Creep:  It usually starts with your customer saying, “You know what else we need?” or “That other thing—that’s included, right?” And it ends with someone being disappointed, either you or your customer.  Want to know how to avoid scope creep?  Listen up.   Music: "Werq" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License    

Listen to this episode of the Technology Bradcast right now and change your life forever!  It's the best thing you'll hear all day!  (The episode is abut puffery.  Get it?) Most MSPs use puffery to promote their services.  But when puffery creates legal obligations, liability happens.  Use puffery the right way and avoid liability.  Listen up.   Music: "Werq" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licens...

I've heard lots of MSPs say, “We don’t need agreements or statements of work for small projects.”  If you think that way, I’m about to scare the hell out of you.  Listen up.   Music: "Werq" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons:  By Attribution 3.0 License

MSPs: Are you offering money back guarantees?  Stop it right now.  They're awful, and they are a losing proposition.  Want to know why?  Listen up.   Music: "Werq" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons:  By Attribution 3.0 License

I just spoke on Fox Business News about the Ring Doorbell lawsuit and why it should be dismissed.  But what does that litigation have to do with MSPs?  More than you think.  Listen up.   Music: "Werq" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons:  By Attribution 3.0 License

What if you're providing a malware solution to your customers, a virus gets through, and your customers end up infecting others.  Are you liable?  Listen up...   Music: "Werq" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons:  By Attribution 3.0 License

The California Consumer Privacy Act is about to become the law of the land (in California).  It's the toughest consumer privacy law in the U.S.--or is it?  Should you panic?  Do you need to change everything you're doing?  No. Listen up.   Music: "Werq" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons:  By Attribution 3.0 License  

I only do "major" agreements and so should you.  So-called "minor" agreements may sound appealing because they're small, but they put your company in significant legal jeopardy.  Want to know why?  Listen up...   Music: "Werq" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons:  By Attribution 3.0 License

Bring Your Own Device (or "BYOD") presents serious scope and security problems for managed services providers.  Your agreement probably doesn't properly limit your company's liability for BYOD-related issues...but it will after you tune in to this week's Bradcast.  Listen up.   Music: "Werq" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons:  By Attribution 3.0 License

Premature termination.  (I’m talking about contracts here—get your mind out of the gutter.)  How do you stop a customer from terminating a long term contract before the term of the contract is done?  I’m going to give you secret strategies that you can implement right now...so listen up.  

In this episode, we're talking about what you should do (and definitely should NOT do) if your customer won’t sign your master service agreement. Listen Up.   Music: "Werq" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons:  By Attribution 3.0 License

So you want your customers to sign an agreement saying that they won't post negative reviews online about your company’s services?  Don't do it.  Not only are such provisions (called "non-disparagement clauses") virtually impossible to enforce, they might violate federal law. Listen up.      Music: "Werq" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons:  By Attribution 3.0 License

New York's new "SHIELD Act" purports to be a "game changing" enhancement to existing data breach notification and data protection laws.  In reality, it stinks.  It's not a tough law, it's not a game changer, and it won't make a difference in the way most MSPs conduct business.   Music: "Werq" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons:  By Attribution 3.0 License

It's the final entry in our three-part discussion about Security as a Service--and we're talking about FIREWALLS. Implementing firewalls and managing BOTH the equipment AND your customer's expectations are all important issues that you MUST think about in the contract process.  So let’s get to it…you're gonna' learn a lot.     Music: "Werq" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative C...

We continue our quest to examine the holy trinity offerings of security as a service--and now we're taking aim at SIEM solutions. Do you customers understand what a SIEM solution is?  Do they understand what it isn't?  If they don't, you're not properly managing expectations--and that could cost you plenty. Sit back and listen to Part 2 of the Holy Trinity of Security as a Service and learn how to...

Firewalls. Pen Testing  SIEM solutions. They comprise the holy trinity offering of security as a service--and they expose your company to tremendous liability.  What protections do you have in place? Do your client’s specifically and conspicuously waive liability for the "Parade of Horrible Things" that will come marching up their main street once pen testing begins? Listen to Part 1 of the Holy T...

When reselling services, you need to consider what you're getting from your upstream providers before making promises to your downstream customers.  Sounds simple, right?  Most MSPs don't do this--and that is a problem.   Music: "Werq" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons:  By Attribution 3.0 License

One of my clients asked me, "How detailed should my statement of work be?"  Great question...     Music: "Werq" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons:  By Attribution 3.0 License    

You're going to suffer a security incident, and when it happens, you’re going to freak out. So will your customers.  Plan for the inevitable, and get an incident response plan in place.  You'll thank me later...     Music: "Werq" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons:  By Attribution 3.0 License

How are you going to handle transitioning your customer to another provider?  Give us 4 and one-half minutes, and we'll tell you all about it.   Music: "Werq" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License