What does it mean to be great? Is greatness, like genius, something elusive, forever beyond the reach of our definitions? Is it futile to even attempt a definition of greatness? Maybe. But that’s not going to stop us from trying.
So you want to be great?
Welcome to the club. A lot of people desire greatness, but to actually become great, you’ve got to do a lot more than want it – you’ve got to live it. Day in, day out. You’ve got to put in the work. That’s because at the end of the day …
“It’s not about money or connections – it’s the willingness to outwork and outlearn everyone when it comes to your business.”– Mark Cuban, Entrepreneur & Investor
And working hard means working hard at every part of your business, your craft, your goal. Not just the big, fun stuff, but all the boring little details, too. After all …
“Greatness is a lot of small things done well.”– Eric Thomas, Motivational Speaker & Author
If that sounds hard, that’s because it is. So if you’re going to pursue greatness, make sure you pick something you love, because …
“You can only become great at that thing you’re willing to sacrifice for.”– Maya Angelou, Writer & Activist
… and it’s not worth all that sacrifice if you don’t love it.
It’s also not worth the pain. That’s right – there’s pain on the path to greatness. And failure, too. Plenty of failure. But hey, don’t stop when the going gets tough, because here’s the thing …
“Greatness begins beyond your comfort zone.”– Robin Sharma, Author & Speaker
OK, but what if you go for it … and fail? What if you put everything you have into your dream, and things don’t work out? What if –
Look, those thoughts are scary. They’re also human. Every great person in history likely started their journey to greatness with serious doubts. With fear. So embrace those doubts and make friends with your fear, because …
“Greatness comes from fear. Fear can either shut us down and we go home, or we fight through it.”– Lionel Richie, Singer & Songwriter
As for the possibility of failing, that’s just part of the deal. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. So, when you feel that fear bubbling up, just remind yourself …
“No one ever achieved greatness by playing it safe.”– Harry Gray, Business Leader & Philanthropist
In the pursuit of greatness, you can plan, strategize, and learn as much as you can to mitigate risk. But risk can never be eliminated. Greatness requires a leap of faith. It requires courage.
But the best thing about greatness – the thing that makes greatness, well, great – is that it’s usually worth it: the risk, the work, even the pain.
That’s because true greatness is bigger than you. It’s bigger than any one of us. True greatness makes the world a better place. Is the moon landing great? Of course. But so is an act of kindness. So is sitting beside a hospital bed for hours …
“Everybody can be great, because everybody can serve.”– Martin Luther King Jr.
Wise words from Dr. King. Service IS great. Helping others is great. Caring is great.
This brings us to a crucial point: greatness isn’t about how much ‘success’ you have – how much money you make or how many people know your name (even though greatness tends to lead to success). It’s about who you are and how you treat others.
“Most people define greatness through wealth and popularity and position in the corner office. But what I call everyday greatness comes from character and contribution.”– Stephen Covey, Author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
Character and contribution. That’s it, right there. Greatness comes from within, and it manifests in how we affect the world around us – and the people we encounter. And it’s in all of us, too, this capacity to be good, to do good. To be great and do great.
So don’t wait to be great or make plans to be great.
BE great. In your thoughts, in your intentions, in your actions. Greatness starts with the small things. And it starts … right … now.
Go.
***
If you enjoyed this piece, look out for the next “VISION of Greatness” from The 20. And don’t forget to register for VISION ’23, the MSP event of the year!
VISION is just a few weeks away – secure your seat before spots fill up!
What is a SOC?
It’s good to be nervous about the recent explosion of cybercrime, but it’s even better to be prepared. If you’re a business owner, now is the time to invest in your organization’s security posture, but deciding how much to invest, and which tools, strategies, and solutions to invest in, can be difficult, confusing, and stressful. You want to be responsible and keep your business safe, but your budget is limited, which means you’ll have to make tough choices about where and how to spend it. This is especially true for small-to-medium sized business (SMB) owners, who can’t afford the same protective measures as corporate giants. This article is written with you in mind.
One security solution you might have heard about as an SMB owner is a security operations center (SOC — pronounced “sock”). The following discussion will help you answer two questions:
What is a SOC?
Should I establish a SOC for my SMB?
We can’t definitively answer the second question for you, as your business’s particular needs are just that — particular (i.e., unique to your situation). But we can provide general guidelines that will assist you in making an informed and responsible decision.
What is a SOC?
Defining a SOC
The term “SOC” is sometimes used to refer to a facility that houses a team of information security experts. But this definition is quickly becoming obsolete, as there are virtual SOCs which do not exist at a single location. A better definition equates a SOC with the cybersecurity personnel themselves, along with the processes and technology they employ to monitor and manage an organization’s security posture in real time (and generally on a 24/7 basis).
The overarching purpose of a SOC is to bolster an organization’s cybersecurity by identifying, mitigating, and preventing risks before they escalate into larger, business-disrupting problems. In our day and age, being proactive about cybersecurity — as opposed to reactive — is a must, and establishing a SOC means fully embracing the proactive philosophy.
Who is in a SOC?
The exact makeup of a SOC will vary, with larger SOCs containing more people and more specialized roles. But, generally speaking, a SOC team will include analysts, engineers, and managers.
Analysts’ primary responsibility is to detect potential security threats and assign them a level of urgency in order to trigger the appropriate response. Your SOC’s analysts are your first line of defense against malicious actors who want to penetrate your organization’s network.
A SOC’s engineers design, implement, and maintain the tools that constitute your organization’s security architecture. This means ensuring that your systems receive regular updates, as well as recommending any changes that seem necessary in light of the ever-evolving security landscape. Security engineers are also responsible for documenting security processes and protocols, which allows the rest of the SOC team to carry out their duties effectively and efficiently, as well as ensures that your organization remains compliant with relevant governmental and industry regulations.
Overseeing the entire SOC are security managers. A security manager’s duties are many, and include coordinating the activities of analysts and engineers, hiring/training new staff, working closely with management (e.g., the chief information security officer) to align security strategies with business goals, and spearheading responses to major security incidents.
Some SOCs will have personnel with highly specialized roles (e.g., compliance auditors and forensics investigators). Also, depending on the size of a SOC, a single person may take on multiple roles.
How does a SOC work?
Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)
A SOC protects your organization by proactively scanning your organization’s entire digital infrastructure — networks, databases, servers, endpoints, applications, websites, etc. — ideally on a 24/7/365 basis.
Most SOCs exhibit a “hub and spoke” architecture, where computer-generated log data from various systems in your organization is continuously collected and analyzed for anomalous (i.e., suspicious) activity. The amount of data we’re talking about here is vast, and the modern SOC employs a security information and event management (SIEM) system to corral all of this information and organize it in a way that makes it amenable to human analysis.
The power of SIEM software comes from its ability to sift through huge batches of data in mere seconds, and employ machine learning to define “normal” network activity. The latter is especially crucial for preventing “threat fatigue,” which arises when a SOC is overwhelmed by simply too many alerts, many of which are false alarms. With an effective SIEM solution, a SOC can rely on technology to weed out false positives, freeing up team members to focus on actual threats.
Incident Response
When a SOC does come across a legitimate threat, it’s all systems go. After the urgency of the threat is established, a sequence of responsive measures is initiated to shrink “breakout time” as much as possible (“breakout time” is the time it takes an intruder to move from the first compromised machine to other parts of your network). These measures can include isolating endpoints, deleting files, stopping harmful processes, and deploying backups to negate ransomware.
Prevention Techniques
In addition to detecting and responding to threats, a SOC is also tasked with preventing incidents from occurring in the first place. One way a SOC achieves this is by analyzing breaches and performing
“root-case analysis,” which allows security personnel to trace a cyberattack back to its source. Finding out where intruders were able to penetrate your network enables your SOC to shore up gaps in your security posture and prevent similar events from occurring in the future. A SOC can also prevent future attacks by proactively searching for weaknesses in your network and system. “Ethical hacking,” for example, involves members of your SOC attempting to breach your network to learn what will and won’t work when actual hackers make similar attempts.
Does Your Organization Need a SOC?
A SOC can do wonders for your organization’s security posture, which raises the question: why would any company choose not to have a SOC?
That one’s easy — a SOC is pricey! Paying the salaries of the personnel alone will set you back a good amount (security experts can command 6-figure salaries).
That said, times have changed, and the chances of experiencing a cyberattack have gone up exponentially in the past few years. The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center received 791,790 cybercrime complaints in 2020, a 69% increase from 2019. These complaints caused more than $4.2 billion in losses. We live in dangerous times, and taking extra precautions to keep your business safe isn’t paranoid in the current climate — it’s sensible. Establishing a SOC for your business gives you something that’s hard to put a price tag on: peace of mind.
However, certain businesses need a SOC for more than peace of mind. If your company is in one of the following industries, a SOC isn’t just a good idea, but a necessity, as it will be vital to protecting highly sensitive client information and intellectual property:
Payment Card Industry
Healthcare
Manufacturing
Financial Services
Government Agencies
Education
To be clear, even if your business is not in one of the above industries, you should not automatically conclude that you don’t need a SOC. For instance, if you have ongoing security issues or if you’ve suffered a serious breach in the past, investing in a SOC might be a wise business decision. Another reason to seriously consider opting for a SOC is compliance. If you’re facing a bevvy of strict regulations, or if maintaining compliance is something your organization is struggling with, a SOC can help you put those issues to bed.
At the end of the day, deciding whether to set up a SOC is a complex cost-benefit analysis. Whatever decision you make for your business, it’s important to keep in mind the following: a SOC relies heavily on technology, but the strength of a SOC ultimately comes from people. Your organization’s security posture is something that needs to be actively maintained, as the threat landscape is in a state of continual flux. So, if you do opt for a SOC to keep your business protected, you want to focus on building a team of committed professionals who continually strive to keep abreast of trends in the cybersecurity world. Anything less isn’t worth the investment.
Post-Pandemic Principles for MSP Growth
The pandemic was hard on all of us, and it rocked the business world to its very foundations. But it’s like Einstein said, “In the midst of difficulty lies opportunity.” This is definitely true in regard to the situation that managed IT service businesses are currently facing. Managed service providers (MSPs) are on the cusp of a potentially very fruitful next five years.
Covid-19 dealt us all a bad hand, but MSPs who play their cards right can stand to benefit from certain conditions that prevail in the post-pandemic world. The key phrase here is play their cards right. Although the MSP market is expected to grow a lot in the next five years, not all MSPs are going to be lifted by the rising tide. As in most industries, a select portion of MSPs are going to feast on profits, while everyone else fights for scraps.
To sum up the situation: what you’re facing right now as an MSP is an opportunity, not a gift. Current conditions are conducive to MSP growth, but getting to where you want to be with your business is still going to depend, more than anything else, on what YOU do.
The purpose of this blog post is to equip you with some general principles to guide you forward as you navigate the next several years of your MSP’s journey. Principles are important in life; they give us structure and focus. They allow us to cut through the noise and chaos and build toward a greater goal.
But before we get to “post-pandemic principles for MSP growth,” let’s review why right now is a great time to commit to your MSP’s growth.
The Time is Ripe to Grow Your MSP
The Rise of Working from Home (WFH)
We saw a sweeping transition to remote work as a consequence of Covid-19 — a change which appears to be here to stay. The rise of WFH complicates individual companies’ IT infrastructures and provides new points of ingress for threat actors.
What this all means for MSPs can be spelled out in two words: greater demand. Specifically, there is now a greater than ever demand for the type of proactive cybersecurity that MSPs tend to offer. This brings us to the second post-pandemic reality that has the potential to catalyze MSP growth …
Cybersecurity
Even before the rise of WFH, cybercrime was already a growing problem. The digital age is a dangerous one, and as more and more cyberattacks make the news, businesses are waking up and smelling the coffee: modern businesses cannot survive — let alone thrive — without a robust security posture. A survey of SMBs carried out by ConnectWise found that 79% of respondents were worried about undergoing a cyberattack in the next six months. And this very justifiable fear will translate to spending — or, investment rather: a study published by MarketsandMarkets™ forecasts that the global cybersecurity market will balloon to $248.26 billion by 2023 (it was at $152.71 billion in 2018).
MSPs stand to capitalize on these trends as their cybersecurity offerings tend to be more proactive and comprehensive than those offered by traditional break/fix outfits.
Digitalization
Finally, there’s the digital revolution itself, which continues to carry out society forward at breakneck speed. The IT landscape is constantly evolving and gaining complexity, and businesses are beginning to embrace — though perhaps not as quickly as they should — the idea that your IT provider shouldn’t just fix your computers, but turn your entire IT environment into an asset that improves your business’s operational efficiency and boosts profitability. And this idea is of course at the very heart of the MSP business model.
If you’re reading this as an MSP owner, the above three post-pandemic realities should be heartening, as they make one thing abundantly clear: Your MSP can really take off in the next several years. But don’t just expect it to happen. Make it happen. Put in the work. Plan intelligently. Make necessary changes to your business even when it scares you — especially when it scares you.
And keep the following principles in mind as you move forward with your business, as they can help you get the most out of your efforts.
Principles to Grow By
Principle #1: Go Deep!
This principle is vague and abstract, but therein lies its value: you can apply it to various aspects of your business. Here, we’ll look at two ways in which “go deep” serves as a useful guide.
The first has to do with your MSP’s offerings. Now, although it’s simplistic to say that it’s better to perfect a service you already offer than it is to add a new one, MSPs are often too eager to expand their repertoire, rather than ‘deepen’ it. Deepening your MSP’s offerings can simply mean getting better at them, or it can mean choosing one or two to focus on as specialties and points of emphasis in your marketing strategy. MSPs who specialize appeal to niche markets who are willing to spend a little more for tailored IT support. So don’t lose sight of the importance of mastery in your efforts to make your MSP a jack of all trades.
The second application of the “go deep” principle concerns client relationships (also the focus of the next principle). Many MSPs believe that adopting a “growth mindset” means something like: Seek out as many clients as possible. This can be detrimental for a variety of reasons (bad clients do more harm than good!), but one distinct cost of growth-by-expansion is that it can take your focus away from clients you already have.
The key to MSP profitability is, let’s not forget, recurring revenue, which you get when your clients stay put — when you build long-term relationships with the people you serve. Expansion is good, but not if it stretches you so thin that you can’t provide white-glove service and support to the businesses who are trusting you to do so. So instead of always looking for new clients, devote plenty of time and resources to deepening the relationships you have with your existing clients. It WILL pay off.
Principle #2: Put Relationships First
Our second principle for MSP growth in the post-pandemic world is really an extension of the first. However, given how utterly crucial relationships are to MSP health — and how they’re often underappreciated or just plain neglected — we think a separate discussion on the importance of relationships is in order. The discussion doesn’t have to be lengthy though, because the principle says it all: PUT RELATIONSHIPS FIRST. If you’re into mantras, work this one into the rotation. Say it to yourself in the mirror every morning before work. Buy a bumper sticker. Get a tattoo!
All jokes aside, find a way not to lose focus of the fact that your MSP is only as successful as the relationships it builds.
The relationships your MSP builds with clients are, of course, of the utmost importance. Happy clients stay put, and the best way to make your clients happy is to actually connect with them on a human level. They’ve hired you to be their IT provider, not their friend, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t make an effort to get to know them. Asking for referrals isn’t a bad practice, but if you’re truly taking care of clients, they’ll often refer you without needing to be asked. When that happens, you know you’re doing things the right way — with a human touch.
Take care of your clients, but don’t forget to foster relationships within your MSP too. Check in with your employees, promote a positive and supportive company culture, solicit feedback — and don’t go about doing this in an ‘artificial’ way, like a robot that feeds on metrics. Putting relationships first doesn’t mean pretending to for the sake of profit. It means actually caring, actually listening, actually connecting. If you can be real with your clients and your employees, and form genuine human connections with them, you can help your MSP stand out as a true IT partner in a sea of IT providers.
Principle #3: Figure Out How to Talk to Prospects and Clients about Cybersecurity
You might be thinking, “Aren’t principles supposed to give us answers, not tell us to figure things out on our own?” But here’s the thing: there is no agreed upon answer in this case — no consensus among MSPs as to how best present the issue of cybersecurity to prospects and clients.
Channel Future’s recent survey of MSPs yielded a variety of answers to the question: How are you addressing customers’ cybersecurity concerns? Some MSPs reported that they take an optimistic tack, reassuring customers that they’re being protected by “best-in-class products and suppliers.” Other MSPs said they choose to be frank about the severity of situation, telling customers outright that nobody who uses the internet is “safe.”
It’s not as though there is one perfect way to broach the issue of cybersecurity, and how you frame it for your clients will depend on your style of communication, among other factors. That said, finding out what works for you can give you a competitive edge.
Fear tactics can be too aggressive, but generic optimism and confidence might sound hollow and inauthentic to your prospects and clients. Try to find that sweet spot, where you’re honest about the very real dangers of cybercrime, but at the same time, confident and reassuring in how you characterize your MSP’s approach to cybersecurity. If you can pull of this feat of nuance, it will help you convert more leads and boost that bottom line.
Principle #4: Marketing, Marketing, Marketing!
If you choose to follow only one of the principles presented in this blog post, let it be this one. Here’s the deal. You might not like marketing. You might even think it’s silly — that it shouldn’t matter what font you use on your website, whether you post regularly on social media, etc. Or maybe you’re just not comfortable ‘putting yourself out there’ the way marketing often requires. And that’s fine. You don’t have to like marketing. But you do have to do it — if you’re serious about growing a successful MSP in this ultra-competitive industry. You have to do it consistently, seriously, and well. Why?
Because it WORKS. Look at what successful MSPs are doing. Put aside your pride and really look. They’re marketing up a storm. And they’re not going about it willy-nilly, either. They’re systematic, and in many cases, they’re hiring experts, because let’s be honest, most people who found MSPs know a lot more about tech than they do marketing.
Now, it can be scary to invest in marketing. When you begin marketing in a serious way, the results aren’t always immediate. It’s anxiety-inducing not to see a healthy ROI right away. But that’s just the way it works. You market your butt off, nothing happens. You keep going, making tweaks and adjustments. Nothing happens. A few more months. More tweaks. More adjustments. You see a few results. Nothing big. Then you start to notice a trickle. A lead here and a lead there. After a year — maybe more — the trickle grows stronger. You refine your methods even more. Now the trickle is a stream. Your sales pipeline gets fuller and fuller. You’re amazed to find yourself actually turning down work because your team is at capacity.
This is the pattern we see time and again, so if you’re planning on bringing your MSP’s marketing up to speed, you MUST (a) commit to being patient, and (b) commit to actively working on your marketing on an ongoing basis — or to hiring professionals who will do so.
Grow Your MSP with The 20
We’ve seen that MSPs face a potentially lucrative five years if they get their houses in order. The MSP market is growing, but it’s also becoming increasingly crowded and competitive. There’s no shortage of demand for the type of IT services and solutions that MSPs offer, but how do you distinguish your MSP in the eyes of your potential customers? How do you separate yourself from the herd?
The 20 is an exclusive business development group of MSPs aimed at dominating and revolutionizing the IT industry with its standardized all-on-approach. Growing a successful MSP requires a lot more than technological prowess, and The 20 offers a robust RMM, PSA, and documentation platform, along with proven processes for sales and marketing, to help MSPs not only separate themselves from the herd, but leave it in the dust. Instead of assembling all the moving parts your MSP needs in a piecemeal fashion, join The 20 and get them all in one convenient package. Learn more about what The 20 does and how we can help your MSP achieve monumental revenue generation and unprecedented profitability and growth.
VISION 2021 – Why You Don’t Want to Miss Out!
VISION 2021 provides two days of compelling speakers, educational sessions, and networking focused on MSP business best practices, thought leadership, and growth.
Join world-class MSPs and ITSPs for two days of non-stop learning and a wealth of insightful sessions. The conference is supercharged with content catered to every member of your MSP team, from tech to exec.
Connect with IT professionals and experts from around the world. Exchange best practices and share tips, tricks, and secrets for success with a powerful network of MSPs.
Here are the top 10 reasons you don’t want to miss #VISION21:
100% Live Event
Our event is fully live. Not virtual, not hybrid, 100% live. We’re all ready to get back to live events and we have an awesome 2 days planned.
Attendees
Come surround yourself with the nations top MSPs, share best practices & network with like minded business owners.
Sponsors
We have a full slate of industry leading vendors including Datto, Dell, Huntress Labs and more.
Killer Content
Come learn results generating strategies to grow and scale your MSP!
Location
The event is being held in Arlington, Texas at live at Lowe’s right next to the Dallas Cowboy and Rangers stadium.
Breakout Sessions
Breakout sessions, along with our main stage speakers! We have a wide variety of breakouts covering technical training to sales and everything in between.
Party
Nobody parties like The 20! Join us for live music, drinks & dancing.
The Year of the Return
Our theme this year is the year of the return, we have a kick off reception on the 28th which will include an actual delorean based off the Back to the future franchise.
The 20
If you are an MSP looking to grow and scale your business come hear from the best with sessions from our CEO Tim Conkle.
Speakers
We have a great line up of speakers covering a wide range of topics. Our keynote speaker this year is Maye Musk. Maye is a best selling author, model, trend maker and rule changer with a fascinating family. She’s mother to three incredibly successful entrepreneurs – Elon, Kimbal, and Tosca.
Join us at VISION for an incredible conversation with the amazing Maye Musk! Register Now!
Artificial intelligence (AI) offers the promise of bringing infinite automation at and beyond a level humanity is capable of at present. It also brings forth the promise of the singularity where all technical growth and development collapses into the automation cycle of advanced artificial intelligence. There isn’t an argument on whether this will happen or not (if we can avoid destroying ourselves until then), just a matter of when. The issue is that the “AI” of today isn’t really all that intelligent, but most people think it is.
Most modern AI is glorified machine learning (ML) at best. Even the most advanced lacks any comprehension or understanding of what it is doing. You have a black box; you plug data into it, and you get out some (hopefully) correct results. That isn’t to say ML isn’t impressive and can’t deliver results; you just need to know what you have and what you’ll get from the process.
There are some overblown claims in ML and AI, but if you understand what AI can do, and more importantly what it can’t, you can temper your expectations to fit reality. I’m going to refer to these various technologies as AI for the sake of convenience unless the distinction is pertinent.
The Promise Of AI
It feels like there’s some kind of AI or ML solution strapped into everything and anything. Security and networking solutions throw in AI. Analytic solutions bolt on ML. This isn’t a coincidence either; we’ve reached an awkward spot in the development of technology. We’re past the era of heuristics and human-generated algorithms in many fields.
There’s been an arms race in technology. Hackers use more and more novel techniques to exploit software and people at levels where even the slightest human slip-up can snowball into catastrophe. Modern viruses have become polymorphic messes of novel exploits that defy analysis outside of dedicated technical research. Humans can’t keep up. They need something at least fractionally intelligent for all the minutia — something that doesn’t get tired and doesn’t make mistakes.
This is where the promise of AI comes in. All of the various AI solutions claim to do this and more; they’ve unlocked the magic solution to every problem, and their solution does things better than any of the old-guard solutions. You just need to buy in, and all your problems will disappear like magic.
Limitations Of AI
Unfortunately, that’s all sales talk. The facts are buried in the fantasy, but it’s up to you to figure out what’s what. Even the simplest machine learning can bring something to the table, but you’re going to disappointed if you’re expecting a steak and you get a bowl of chips instead. Current-generation AI solutions are limited in many ways.
There isn’t an AI solution that has any degree of sentience or understanding of what it’s doing. You get your magic black box, which approximates a human by some measurement, but even the most advanced AI doesn’t understand the data, the results, what it’s doing or why it’s doing something. The AI can’t understand any part of the process, so bad data gets bad results. Another flip side to this, if the principle the process was created around was flawed, the entire process will be flawed as well. A person can use their better judgment to know whether something makes sense or not — a machine can’t (yet).
You need to know the right questions to ask to determine whether a product can or will fit your needs. What theoretical principles are behind the implementation? How does it collect or work with training data? Is the process adjusted regularly, or is it static? Are the real-world statistics in line with the theoretical statistics? What do you need to maintain? You need to pull at the thread until you unravel the whole thing to something you can understand. Otherwise, what exactly are you buying? There’s going to be a limit, and it’s up to you to figure out what it is.
Putting These Factors In Perspective
AI offers the promise of boundless improvement to virtually any process when done right, but that hinges on it being done right. What are you trying to solve, and how does the solution target that? You need the right solution for the right problem, or else you’re just wasting time. A good programmer won’t necessarily make a good technician.
If you’re introducing your findings to your company, you need to temper their expectations. A solution doesn’t have to be bad to not be the right choice, but many people treat it as a zero-sum game. This reductionist approach makes sense when you don’t understand all of the factors: Either it works, or it doesn’t.
You’re fighting an outside salesperson familiar with the product, what it can do and all of the smooth talking to sell your superiors on how sleek it is. If you don’t understand it and no one else at your organization does, who can make sense of the claims enough to make the right choice? To top this off, if you don’t understand it enough to relay the information, who will trust your interpretation of the solution for better or worse? It may be worthless, but you can’t just say that; you need to explain and show why it doesn’t fit.
The future is going to be lined with developments in AI, but that doesn’t mean every product that adds AI will be the right choice every time. What are you trying to do, and what does the solution do? Pull the fact out of the fantasy and see what you can actually expect. It’s not magic, but as Clarke’s Third Law states, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” Do you want to fall for magic snake oil or see it for what it is and unlock the true potential behind a given technology?
Meet Brian & Mary of Mid-Atlantic Data & Communications!
Tell us a little about your MSP…
Mid-Atlantic Data & Communications is currently located in Roanoke VA. We were started in 2004. We started this company originally just to make an extra $1200 a month in cash.
How long have you been a member of The 20?
We’ve been a member of The 20 since April of 2020.
Why did your MSP originally look to partner with The 20?
We partnered with The 20 to drive down the cost of our tool sets, partner with other resources that had knowledge that we didn’t and save money.
Tell us about the biggest change in your business since joining The 20.
Understanding scale and letting go.
What do you like most about being a member of The 20?
Our favorite part of being a member of The 20 is the 24 hour help desk as part of our sales strategy.
What do you think is the most important quality necessary for success?
Letting go.
What are your biggest business challenges?
Our biggest business challenge is documentation.
What are your areas of focus for 2021?
Operations and Sales/Marketing
What advice would you share with an MSP looking to scale their business?
Decide what you want to become and never lose focus on your goals!
Plano, Texas, May 10th, 2021 — The 20 MSP, a leading business development group for managed service providers (MSPs), today announced that CRN®, a brand of The Channel Company, has named Crystal McFerran, Chief Marketing Officer, to the highly respected Women of the Channel list for 2021. This annual list recognizes the unique strengths, vision and achievements of female leaders in the IT channel. The 2021 Women of the Channel list acknowledges women from all over the IT channel, including vendors, distributors and solution providers.
The women honored on this year’s list pushed forward with comprehensive business plans, marketing initiatives and other innovative ideas to support their partners and customers, helping them through the uncertainty brought on by the global COVID-19 pandemic. CRN celebrates these exceptional women for their leadership, dedication and channel advocacy.
McFerran has been critical in her leadership of The 20’s strategic planning, demand generation activities, and go-to-market execution for managed service provider members. She is an accomplished marketing professional with over 16 years of experience in B2B marketing, demand generation, marketing communications, lead nurturing, content strategy and multichannel marketing for the IT industry.
“CRN’s 2021 Women of the Channel list acknowledges accomplished, influential women whose dedication, hard work, and leadership accelerate channel growth,” said Blaine Raddon, CEO of The Channel Company. “We are proud to honor them for their many accomplishments and look forward to their continued contributions to the IT channel.”
“I am extremely proud to be part of this list and to be recognized alongside many talented, hardworking, incredible women,” McFerran said. “I want to thank CRN for this honor and look forward to representing the women in the channel.”
The 2021 Women of the Channel list will be featured in CRN Magazine on May 10th and online at www.CRN.com/WOTC.
About The 20 MSP
The 20 is an exclusive business development group for Managed Service Providers (MSP) aimed at dominating and revolutionizing the IT industry with its standardized all-in-one approach. The 20’s robust RMM, PSA, and documentation platform ensures superior service for its MSPs’ clients utilizing their completely US-based Help Desk and Network Operations Center. Extending beyond world-class tools and processes, The 20 touts a proven sales model, a community of industry-leaders, and ultimate scalability.
For more information, visit https://www.the20.com.
Follow The 20: Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook
About The Channel Company
The Channel Company enables breakthrough IT channel performance with our dominant media, engaging events, expert consulting and education, and innovative marketing services and platforms. As the channel catalyst, we connect and empower technology suppliers, solution providers, and end users. Backed by more than 30 years of unequalled channel experience, we draw from our deep knowledge to envision innovative new solutions for ever-evolving challenges in the technology marketplace. www.thechannelcompany.com
The 20, leading MSP consortium, announced the appointment of Daniel K. “Danny” Astin as Strategic Advisor to Tim Conkle, Chief Executive Officer of The 20.
In this position, Astin will be a thought leader and trusted strategic advisor to the CEO on the strategic direction of The 20’s corporate and security organizations which includes guiding the C-Suite in managing compliance issues for the company related to cybersecurity initiatives, governance and providing senior management with actionable guidance regarding company strategic growth opportunities.
“Danny is a trusted advisor with a strong background and proven success in advising high-growth private technology and companies in many different sectors and strategic situations. He will be instrumental as The 20 continues to execute on our MSP growth strategy,” said Tim Conkle, CEO of The 20.
A frequent presenter and advisor to SMB’s in the IT sector Astin has over 30 years of unique business experience advising corporations, SMB’s and the entrepreneurs that lead them. Astin’s advices regularly concern core strategies related to business, contract, litigation strategy, dispute resolution, geopolitical relations, reputation enhancement, crisis management and other key business strategics. Astin’s advisory experience includes prior service in the U.S. Navy’s Judge Advocate General’s Corps., as counsel to the Commanding Officer Michael; B. Nordeen (call sign “Nordo”) USS Constellation (CV64). After leaving active service Astin and Nordeen assisted a delegation of investors’ attempt to privatize shipyards in Taiwan at Keelung and Kaohsiung. During active duty Astin served simultaneously as Prosecutor and Defense attorney. Astin served in the Office of The United States Trustee, United States Department of Justice, (America’s bankruptcy “Watch Dog”), for oversight of some of the largest and most complex restructuring cases pending at that time.
“I am excited be a part of The 20 team, whose core values reflect mine and with such a talented team of professionals,” said Astin. “I am looking forward to playing my part in The 20’s growth story.”
Astin is founder of March Brown, Envoys & Advisors, and is Managing Partner of Ciardi Ciardi & Astin LLC (CCA) of Delaware, a nationally recognized boutique law firm headquartered in Philadelphia. Danny Chairs the International Business Law Consortium’s (“IBLC”), Salzburg, Austria, “Creditor Working Group”, and recently presented to foreign firms on the newly enacted bi-partisan “Corporate Transparency Act.” Danny is the Representative for the IBLC in Delaware interfacing with exemplary advisory firms situated throughout the globe.
About The 20 MSP
The 20 is an exclusive business development group for Managed Service Providers (MSPs) aimed at dominating and revolutionizing the IT industry with its standardized all-in-one approach. The 20’s robust RMM, PSA, and documentation platform ensures superior service for its MSPs’ clients utilizing their completely US-based Help Desk and Network Operations Center. Extending beyond world-class tools and processes, The 20 touts a proven sales model, a community of industry-leaders, and ultimate scalability. For more information, contact us.
Plano, Texas, March 29th, 2021 – The 20 MSP is being acknowledged by CRN®, a brand of The Channel Company, in its 2021 Partner Program Guide. This annual guide provides a conclusive list of the most distinguished partner programs from leading technology companies that provide products and services through the IT Channel.
Given the importance of IT vendor channel programs, each year CRN develops its Partner Program Guide to provide the channel community with a detailed look at the partner programs offered by IT manufacturers, software developers, service companies, and distributors. Vendors are scored based on investments in program offerings, partner profitability, partner training, education and support, marketing programs and resources, sales support, and communication.
The 20 is a group of Managed Service Providers across North America who have joined forces to perfect a single service delivery model with unified resources to deliver excellent IT support. Paired with outstanding service delivery, The 20 provides a successful platform with proven processes to help IT providers grow.
“We are honored to be recognized in the 2021 CRN Partner Program Guide,” said Tim Conkle, CEO of The 20.”We’ve seen impressive growth among our MSP members and we’ve worked hard to design a partner program that reflects our dedication to their success. The 20’s success is inextricably linked to that of our MSP members.”
“As innovation continues to fuel the speed and intricacy of technology, solution providers need partners that can keep up and support their developing business.” said Blaine Raddon, CEO of The Channel Company. “CRN’s 2021 Partner Program Guide gives insight into the strengths of each organization’s program to recognize those that continually support and push positive change inside the IT channel.”
The 2021 Partner Program Guide will be featured in the April 2021 issue of CRN and online at www.CRN.com/PPG.
About The 20 MSP
The 20 is an exclusive business development group for Managed Service Providers (MSPs) aimed at dominating and revolutionizing the IT industry with its standardized all-in-one approach. The 20’s robust RMM, PSA, and documentation platform ensures superior service for its MSPs’ clients utilizing their completely US-based Help Desk and Network Operations Center. Extending beyond world-class tools and processes, The 20 touts a proven sales model, a community of industry-leaders, and ultimate scalability. For more information, visit: www.the20.com.
The Channel Company enables breakthrough IT channel performance with our dominant media, engaging events, expert consulting and education, and innovative marketing services and platforms. As the channel catalyst, we connect and empower technology suppliers, solution providers and end users. Backed by nearly 40 years of unequalled channel experience, we draw from our deep knowledge to envision innovative new solutions for ever-evolving challenges in the technology marketplace. www.thechannelcompany.com
McCarty’s IT was established in 1959 and is located in Parsons, Kansas. We serve customers in Southeast Kansas, Northeast Oklahoma, and Southwest Missouri.
How long have you been a member of The 20?
We joined The 20 in April of 2018.
Why did your MSP originally look to partner with The 20?
When starting out so much time was spent looking for vendors and as we know, there are tons of them. Most aren’t suited for startups. Sure they’ll sign you up, but you’re paying for a larger set of tools than you’ll be needing for a few years possibly. Then there’s the learning curve of figuring them all out. The 20’s model solved that. I paid for what I needed, I got a support team and a group of fellow members to help guide us through.
Tell us about the biggest change in your business since joining The 20.
When we started out it was just US. No support, no fallback plan, no one to back me up. Now, I have a team that’s got my back and can help through almost anything that comes up. It’s been huge for me and those I serve.
What do you like most about being a member of The 20?
I’ve seen disasters hit other dealers. From natural disasters to computer related disasters, the response has always been the same. As a group, we rally around those that need the most. It’s a great team!
What do you think is the most important quality necessary for success?
Persistence. You’ll have bad days. You’ll have bad weeks. You’ve only lost once you quit! Just. Keep. Going.
What are your biggest business challenges?
Finding the balance between charging forward as fast and as out of control as possible, while still providing the great level of service your customers expect and deserve.
What are your areas of focus for 2021?
Sales / Marketing / Growth
What advice would you share with an MSP looking to scale their business?
An MSP looking to scale their business?
Plug into a network of peers who are likeminded, that understand your platform, and are going the same direction you want to go. Together we get there faster.
