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Joel Abramson, managing partner at Top Down Ventures Today’s In The Channel episode lands on the same morning that Vancouver-based Top Down Ventures announces the close of Founders Fund I at C$38 million – oversubscribed against an original target of US$25 million, and positioned as the first institutional venture fund focused exclusively on early-stage software and AI for the managed service provider ecosystem. Managing partner Joel Abramson joined the show to walk through the fund’s thesis and what it means for the channel. Abramson co-founded and led Fully Managed through more than a dozen acquisitions before its $137 million acquisition by Telus Business Solutions in 2021. He joins general partners Chris Day (founder of IT Glue and ScalePad) and Mark Scott (founder of N-able) at Top Down – three operators who between them have spent about 75 years building and scaling companies inside the MSP ecosystem. The fund’s first exit – zofiQ to ConnectWise, which closed in January 2026 – returned 5.3 times the invested capital in roughly six months. Abramson describes it as a case study in what Top Down looks for: founders solving singular problems with exceptional depth, validated by real MSP operators rather than generalist investors. The macro thesis is equally compelling. The global IT services market is projected to grow from $600 billion to over $1 trillion by 2030. And in 2026, SMB IT spend is on track to outpace enterprise IT spend for the first time ever – a shift Abramson contrasts with what he calls the “SaaSpocalypse” in enterprise, where headcount reductions are translating directly into fewer SaaS licenses. The fund’s LP base of more than 100 MSP operators – including Pax8 – acts as a flywheel for validating investments, sourcing design partners, and connecting portfolio companies with the customers best positioned to stress-test what they’re building. Find Top Down Ventures, including their newsletter and annual research report, at topdown.com. Read Full Transcript Robert Dutt: Hello and welcome to In The Channel from ChannelBuzz.ca, bringing news and information to the Canadian IT channel community for the last sixteen years. I’m Robert Dutt, editor of ChannelBuzz.ca and your host for the show. If you caught The Buzz this morning – and you really should have – you already know the headline. Vancouver-based Top Down Ventures has closed Founders Fund I at $38 million Canadian, oversubscribed, as the first institutional venture fund focused exclusively on early-stage software and AI for the managed service provider ecosystem. The story behind it, though, is rich. Top Down was founded with three partners with deep roots in the Canadian channel community: Chris Day of IT Glue and ScalePad, Mark Scott who founded N-able, and today’s guest, Joel Abramson, who ran Fully Managed through more than a dozen acquisitions before its $137 million sale to Telus Business Solutions in 2021. The fund already has its first exit in the books. zofiQ, an agentic AI platform for MSP service desks that ConnectWise acquired just six months after Top Down’s investment, at 5.3 times the invested capital. Joel joined me this morning to talk about why MSP software needs its own dedicated venture fund, what the first exit tells us about where agentic AI is headed, and one market shift that has the team genuinely excited about the decade ahead. Let’s get right into it. My chat with Joel Abramson. Joel, thanks for taking the time. I appreciate it. Joel Abramson: Great to be here, Rob. Robert Dutt: I wanted to start with the origin story here. I think it’s an interesting one in that you had a big role in building and running Fully Managed through a dozen or so acquisitions, then sold – instead of going off and retiring on a boat somewhere or that sort of thing, you ended up in venture investing in specifically MSP software. Can you walk me through how that happened? How did Top Down come together? Was this something that you sought out or something that Chris Day pulled you into? How did that happen? Joel Abramson: Yeah, well, let’s be clear – I do love being on boats. To tell the origin story, you get to go through a 25-year journey of the MSP ecosystem itself, because there are three general partners: Mark Scott, Chris Day, and myself, Joel Abramson. Our journey dates back to the early 2000s when Mark Scott started N-able, and he was one of the pioneers that really helped value-added resellers and break-fix IT service providers become MSPs. I meet people every time I’m out on the road who have a story about working with N-able – transitioning their revenue model from break-fix to recurring. N-able is a phenomenal company today and I think Mark’s legacy lives on there. Mark started that company and then exited just before the SolarWinds acquisition. Then he went on to start a service provider called CareWorks – an MSP focused on senior care facilities. A really interesting vertical, as well as broad SMB. But I’ll pause his story and focus on Chris, because Chris is founder and chairman and really sets the vision for Top Down. Chris had an MSP as well back in the early 2000s. Eventually that was Fully Managed, and that’s where I joined him. I had a small – much less successful – MSP called Packetsafe Networks, and I rolled my little MSP into Chris’s marquee MSP, Fully Managed, and together we set on this journey. We wanted to bring that company to ten cities with $10 million in revenue in each city and then sell it to a Canadian telco – and it’s not revisionist history, it was actually the goal. But then a couple of years into our shared journey at Fully Managed, Chris got pulled into building software. It was because I’d built a bunch of software for Fully Managed to run on, and he made the mistake – or the fortuitous opportunity – of showing it to his peer group. His peer group was like, “I want to use that.” So he said, “Okay, well, I’ll build it for you.” He started building a documentation platform from the ground up and called it IT Glue, and that was a phenomenal ride for him – taking it from a couple of peer group mates trying it out to selling to Kaseya in 2018 and building a very large company in a relatively short amount of time. Not without a tremendous amount of hard work and grind. He was on the road with pop-up banners signing up logo by logo by logo in the early days, but eventually the movement just took shape and every MSP realized that they needed a documentation platform, and IT Glue took off. So IT Glue exits to Kaseya in 2018. Chris has to make that decision: do I want to golf and travel for the rest of my life, or what brings me joy? And so he actually started Top Down as a way to re-engage back with the MSP community. He had an early portfolio of three companies: Warranty Master, a company he had started with his brother; Backup Radar; and Quoter. Together those three early companies started to grow at their own individual pace. Keep in mind, we’re still running Fully Managed over here – I’m running it for him. Then we ended up putting Fully Managed together with Mark Scott’s MSP, and that’s how the three of us came together. Then yes, we did a number of acquisitions. We grew Fully Managed to be $100 million in revenue. It wasn’t the straight line Chris and I had talked about – ten cities in ten years – but it was maybe seven cities. The bridge version: Telus came in and said they wanted to acquire Canada’s largest MSP, which was Fully Managed at the time. They had done a bunch of research and nine months later we consummated that transaction, at the end of 2021. I’d been working with Chris for a number of years on the early-stage portfolio, because we’d get a couple of calls every month with people saying, “Hey, I’m starting this project, Chris, are you interested in taking a look?” So we started to build this reputation as investors in early-stage MSP software companies. We tried some other stuff – everything from consumer packaged goods (we still have a couple of investments) to starting a country music label, which we’ll save for another time. But we always knew our home, I think, was in the MSP space. After the Fully Managed exit, we decided we wanted to really compound our impact. We had this idea of a venture fund – and maybe I’ll pause there, because I can continue the journey, but we’ll wait and see if you have any questions up to that point. Robert Dutt: Understandable. It’s a wild journey, and it really is back to the heart of the early days of the MSP movement – as you say, from break-fix and VAR models. I guess tell me a little bit about where you’re at now. The fund is positioned as the first institutional VC targeting early-stage software and AI for this ecosystem. Why do you think this space needs a dedicated fund? What does a generalist venture fund miss or get wrong when they’re looking at the space? Joel Abramson: We’ve been doing early-stage investing for a few years – five years. At the same time, Warranty Master became ScalePad, and ScalePad started to gain really, really great momentum. ScalePad brought in a growth equity partner, Integrity Growth Partners, who are just phenomenal folks. They capitalized the business and that grew ScalePad from $10 million to $50 million. They were great partners, great board members, and we watched these guys – we were like, wow, we’ve been through this journey a couple of times. They add a lot of value, and we’re really excited about that relationship. We were doing our thing with the early-stage companies, and so we looked across the ecosystem. We said, there is a ton of capital that’s ready to invest in companies in the MSP ecosystem when they get to a certain scale – that was kind of the scale that ScalePad had gotten to. Then we looked down and said, well, what about the guys that are just starting out? There’s not a ton of support. There’s a ConnectWise pitch contest that grants $60,000 or $70,000 to early-stage companies. And there are early-stage investors – we’ve seen companies like Pax8 and Huntress go through many rounds of financing and they started somewhere. But we saw that the strongest source of capital in the MSP ecosystem was actually coming from angel investors. It was Joe Paniterri and Kevin Blake and Channel Angels, and they had done a number of deals, bringing together really early-stage capital and putting $100,000 into a business fueled from a number of different folks. That’s really, really cool. But where’s all the venture? You look across horizontal software and there are funds of venture that just pour in. In the big markets – the Valley and New York – and then in secondary markets, there are funds focused on those areas. But we saw early-stage MSP software companies as vastly overlooked. So we said, what if we could bring together capital from the MSP ecosystem? Because we’ve made plenty of millionaires just by acquiring them with Fully Managed. You look at how that scales out across the ecosystem: you’ve got Evergreen and Integris and Thrive and all these folks buying up MSPs. The stats are over 200 search funds, family offices, and MSP aggregators buying MSPs right now. That’s generating a lot of wealth for a lot of people. Then you have MSPs that are super profitable and people are making good cash flow. Then you have all the software companies that have exited with similar stories to Chris’s. There’s actually quite a bit of capital that could be put to work back into the ecosystem if we just found a way to harness it and focus it on innovation. We said, instead of doing a couple of deals a year, what if we could make 8 to 10 investments a year by bringing capital together? And then what if we could build a system around that to take everything we’ve learned working with early-stage companies – applying those practices, bringing folks together for design partners, early customers, advice, and partnerships in the MSP ecosystem? So we set out to raise a $25 million venture fund, and we said we were going to focus on educating the MSP ecosystem on what investing in a venture fund looks like, because it’s really just going to fuel innovation for MSPs themselves. Our goal was to have half the fund raised from the MSP community and half from outside – similar to what it was at Fully Managed: let’s tell the world about what a great opportunity exists in MSP. We were super successful in the first bucket. We got really well received by the MSP community. We have over 100 LPs in the fund and we exceeded our target of $25 million. In the second bucket, we still have a lot of work to do. We’re one year into our Outliers podcast, we’ve produced one white paper, and we’ve had hundreds and hundreds of conversations in the institutional community, educating funds of funds and family offices on the opportunity for early-stage MSP software investing. We only got a couple of participants in this fund – which is all right, because it shows the strength of the MSP ecosystem. We still oversubscribed our target. But we’re excited to continue that journey of educating institutional investors for our second fund and beyond. Robert Dutt: You mentioned you’re in at the early stage. Where in the lifecycle do you typically start looking, and what does a target portfolio company look like at the point you’re getting involved? Joel Abramson: I’ve only been doing this for a few years, so I’m still learning some of the language, Rob. But we talk about early stage being right at inception – which is called pre-seed, the first money into a company. Maybe they have an idea of what they want to build, a prototype, a business plan, some people, but they haven’t actually started that path to launch – all the way up to around that first million or million and a half of revenue, where they’d be called a late-seed investment or an early Series A. So maybe it’s the second money in, or in a Series A it could be the third. But really we’re focused on the early stage where we can leverage the strength of our LP base – a lot of strong MSPs – as well as the strength of the community that Top Down works to enable and bring together. That can be for design partners, early customers, folks to help with advice, and then partnerships in the MSP ecosystem. Maybe a company is working with ScalePad to solve a problem and ScalePad can help by bringing that product to its customer base. It’s really about building the things that matter most to MSPs. And that’s why I think we love this ecosystem so much – it’s a partnership of vendors and service providers. If we look forward to how AI is going to impact things, you have small and medium businesses at the frontline – all the enablement use cases there, all the cybersecurity use cases. Then you have the service provider layer, which is MSPs helping them with all those things. Then you have a middle layer of supply chain software like the companies we invest in. And on top of that, you have the hyperscalers, the cloud companies, the frontier companies. That four-tiered system really matters, because without the innovation from Microsoft and Anthropic, the macro doesn’t move forward. But very rarely is it going to go straight from there into frontline workers’ hands. The two layers in between – the layer we invest in, and the MSPs themselves – are really what’s helping bring the value from the top to the end market. We think it’s an incredibly resilient ecosystem. We think there’s nobody better positioned to help with AI transformation than MSPs. And that layer between the frontier companies and the hyperscalers and the MSPs is really important – that’s where innovation happens on their behalf, and that’s the kind of companies we’re investing in. Robert Dutt: One example of that would be zofiQ, which I think was your first exit – and some pretty startling numbers there: a six-month turnaround, selling to ConnectWise, bringing back more than 5x what you put in. What did you see in that company that made you say “we’re in,” and what did the ConnectWise acquisition tell you about the market for PSA and agentic AI and where that’s all headed? Joel Abramson: It starts with Lee and his team. We get the fortunate opportunity to look at a lot of things that are being built and we’re still learning, trying to keep pace. As the last couple of years have played out, we’ve been students of what people are building and how they’re looking at solving problems, armed with the knowledge of the last 25 years of the ecosystem. When we met Lee, we were really impressed with him as a founder. He had a strong track record of purpose-building solutions. When Chris and I sat down with him, it was obvious he was solving singular problems with a tremendous amount of depth, versus some of the other folks we’d seen building solutions who were really going an inch deep and a mile wide. Knowing how mission-critical these solutions are to MSPs – that for every time they mess up a service ticket, they put that customer relationship at risk – we knew that Lee’s approach was just bang on. He was obsessed with solving singular use cases. It showed in the team he put together, the technology he built, and what customers were saying about the product. It’s very atypical to make an investment and then six months later have it acquired. When it was all going down and we were talking to the ConnectWise folks, it was bittersweet. We’re so happy to see ConnectWise gain this incredible capability, but we were sad to know we weren’t going to have Lee in the Top Down portfolio anymore. Ultimately, thrilled – because what it means for ConnectWise is that they can get this really powerful technology into a lot of people’s hands. That has a tremendous impact for the ecosystem, the end market, the MSPs partnered with ConnectWise. They can get this great innovative technology out into the market much faster than Lee could on his own, just going out and telling the story and waiting for the momentum to build. Thrilled for ConnectWise, thrilled for Lee and the team to jump into an organization like ConnectWise. And proud that we were able to play a tiny part on that journey. Robert Dutt: zofiQ was automating the service desk with AI agents. From what you saw inside that experience with them, and looking across the portfolio now, I’m curious – especially given your background running an MSP – when you’re talking to MSPs about what some of these companies are doing, how ready are they to adopt and operationalize this kind of agentic tooling? Both in terms of willingness and interest, which I’m sure is high, and actual aptitude and ability to make the operational changes that come with it? Joel Abramson: It totally depends on the MSP’s maturity. I’ve been through the life cycle of MSP maturity many times – two steps forward, one step back, a bunch of times. Every MSP is on a similar treadmill of growing and maturing, then having to embrace new technology, then getting hit by outside factors: whether it’s COVID, the move to remote work, the push back to the office, or the change in technology. It’s not a static industry, but it is an industrial-strength ecosystem because it’s so mission-critical for the customers MSPs serve. Everybody is at their own part of the journey. Companies like zofiQ come around and they focus on building the right technology, then working with the ideal MSPs that are at a place where they can embrace it. I go back to an inspirational investor, Dave Lahn, who always talks about the different buckets of work: the hero work, all the work that supports the hero work, and then all the work that should be done but isn’t. I think about MSPs with that third bucket. As a 20-year MSP operator, there were all these things I knew I wanted to do but could never get around to because we were always fighting fires, then trying to do proactive work, then project work – it compounds and you never had enough hands for the work that should be done that isn’t. I think that’s one of the huge opportunities with AI – actually getting that work done, staying on top of it, and providing more stable, secure environments for MSP customers. If AI is the great enabler for MSPs themselves, then how exciting is it to be in a position where I can’t think of a service provider that supports small and medium businesses that’s better positioned to bring AI enablement down to that market than an MSP. I doubt it’s the accountant, I doubt it’s the janitor or the maintenance people. I think it’s the MSP, because you’re already talking technology. As MSPs continue to evolve from the server room to boardroom conversations, AI is an incredible hook to get into that conversation. That’s why the work ScalePad does around customer success and supporting the strategy conversations is so critical. But the next wave of companies we see are really around helping MSPs actually deliver AI use cases successfully to their customers. That transformation will take place for a long, long time. Robert Dutt: Your base of limited partners includes more than 100 MSP operators, including Pax8. That’s unusual for a VC fund. Was that a deliberate choice? And how does having operators as limited partners actually change how you source and evaluate deals? Joel Abramson: It just makes us so strong. We have the brainpower of over 100 people there for us to tap and leverage. At our Horizons event in November – where we bring all of our LPs together – I’ve never seen a more aligned group of individuals, focused on supporting the supply chain of an ecosystem, come together and have meaningful conversations without any real individual agenda. We think about it as a flywheel. We have a group of limited partners with all of our capital in this fund together. Of course we all want to make money – but I think what drives that outcome is supporting innovation and figuring out exactly where the best place to put capital is today that can have the largest impact tomorrow. zofiQ is a perfect example. Here’s a strong founder with a huge problem, solving it at the deepest level, that MSPs are going to be able to take forward and dramatically impact their businesses and their customer experience. That, to me, is the genesis of venture investing: aligning all those things and putting the right pieces together. We think about the strength of the mindshare of our LPs, figuring out ways to connect them with our portfolio companies, ways to validate our thesis and investments by harnessing that energy, and then making the right investments and providing the right support throughout a portfolio company’s lifecycle, thanks to that really, really strong LP base. Robert Dutt: So if I’m an MSP owner listening to this – not an investor per se, just someone running a managed services shop – why should I be paying attention to what you guys are doing and what you’re funding? What’s the typical practical downstream impact on my business? Joel Abramson: You could look at our portfolio with a degree of confidence that these companies are getting great support to build great products, that they’re talking to top MSP operators around the world to help shape what gets built. The average MSP is the benefactor of that, because it means they’re getting great product built that they can use in their MSP or deploy to their customers. We’re doing this to earn and keep the reputation that a Top Down-backed company means tier-one innovation, great people behind it, that it’s been validated and tested – and that MSPs themselves can be the benefactor of that by leveraging this technology. Robert Dutt: You closed this fund at about $38 million, oversubscribed, in what you called a slog of an environment – and I get that. What does that tell you about where institutional capital is actually flowing in 2026? And what does a successful Fund I set up for Fund II? Joel Abramson: A lot of institutional capital is flowing towards the frontier companies and the supply chain of AI. We think that’s great, because just like the Microsofts and Googles that have powered the ecosystem for the last ten years, we think heavily capitalized AI companies are fantastic for the downstream companies – the software companies we’re investing in, the AI companies we’re investing in, the MSPs themselves, and the SMB layer. Capital flows down as well. As vertical-focused funds like ours demonstrate a strong track record, more institutional capital will flow into vehicles like ours. Certainly a lot of capital is tied up at the top right now, but we see that as a great thing because we’re not super concerned about the capital cycles of the next three months. We’re much more concerned about the capital cycles of the next two decades. As we’ve mobilized a non-insignificant pool of capital to support early-stage MSP software companies, we strive to earn the right to have a second fund with a more diverse group of participants, and subsequent funds beyond that – as long as we continue to find the right companies to partner with and add value along the way. Robert Dutt: And that seems like – just with the names you’ve mentioned and the names I can think of off the top of my head – a target-rich environment. There are lots of companies building specifically for the MSP market for obvious reasons. But I’m curious: without necessarily naming names or tipping your hand, what problem or product category are you most excited about in the MSP software pipeline right now? Where’s the white space that’s still underbuilt? Joel Abramson: In our research paper, we talk about two big macro things happening in the market right now. One: we think this market – let’s broaden it to IT services, not just MSP – is going from a $600 billion addressable market to a $1.3 trillion addressable market, certainly $1 trillion by 2030. That’s a huge market. On the MSP side specifically, we have four or five scaled companies at or above a billion in revenue. Ninja is on its way up there. N-able, of course, is a big company. But you’re talking about a much larger addressable market – there’s still empty canvas where new companies can scale up to fill the middle and eventually be alongside some of those platforms. We expect those platforms to continue to grow and thrive, and we hope to build or invest in companies that can partner with them to take advantage of their distribution and ultimately make small and medium businesses better through MSPs. All that said, what are some of those categories? I don’t think it’s new MSPs starting up and buying PSA – that market is fairly saturated. Nor do I think it’s more EDR or XDR – those are pretty saturated markets too. There’s still market share that will trade, don’t get me wrong, and innovation will build on top of it. But doubling the market requires new products, new revenue streams, and obviously AI is a critical part of that. Whether it’s the evolution of agentic service work to do all the work that should be done but isn’t, or raising productivity levels so the service is that much better, or helping the average SMB with a sophisticated IT strategy that evolves into an AI strategy – we see the category of AI services enablement for MSPs as a huge, huge opportunity. In the enterprise, we’re living through what I call the SaaSpocalypse – the idea that big SaaS companies are going to see fewer licenses because people are going to downsize headcount and thus take an impact on their top line. But we see the SMB market as more resilient, because my accountant with 60 people and one person in marketing – they’re not going to downsize that one-person marketing department. That person is actually just going to get that much better thanks to all the tools they’re using. SMB IT spend is expected to outpace enterprise IT spend for the first time ever in 2026. We believe that’s because of the resiliency of the SMB market – the idea that when a big tech company lays off 5,000 people, those people don’t all sail off into the sunset. A lot of them move into the SMB economy and start small businesses. Maybe the IT folks start an MSP. So we see the SMB part of the economy continuing to thrive, and it’s showing itself this year – thanks to this crazy stat that SMB IT spend will outpace enterprise IT spend for the first time ever. For all those reasons, we’re very excited about the opportunities it creates in the companies that we’re invested in. Robert Dutt: That is a crazy stat, and it’s worth underlining – because of where you and your peers and so much of this community is focused, right in that SMB space. And closer to home, as a Canadian podcast, we’re very much a nation of SMBs. So it really is super impactful here. Joel Abramson: Yeah, I would agree. Robert Dutt: For people who want to follow what you guys are doing – whether they’re founders, MSPs, or just interested in what’s coming in terms of new AI-first MSP software – where do they find you? How can they find out more? Joel Abramson: TopDown.com. We publish a newsletter and try to share all the learnings we’re gaining each quarter. We publish a white paper annually. We have a conference in November called Horizons – if you’re interested in investing in the MSP ecosystem, our goal is to bring everybody together as peers. We do a lot of dinners and events around the big MSP events. Our goal is always to bring everyone together as peers, not in a supplier relationship where you’re being sold to – just everybody trying to solve this thing together. The community aspect of the MSP ecosystem is so strong, and that’s how you engage. I’m pretty easy to find and always interested in a conversation with anybody from inside the ecosystem or outside, as we try to build this thing one brick at a time toward 1.3 trillion of addressable market. Robert Dutt: Brilliant. Go get that. Go build that. I appreciate you taking the time, Joel. Joel Abramson: Thank you so much for having me. Robert Dutt: There you have it – Joel Abramson from Top Down Ventures. I’d like to thank Joel for his time this morning. Thank you as always for listening to In The Channel. A few things stuck with me from this conversation. First, the framework Joel described: frontier AI companies at the top, then the supply chain software layer that Top Down invests in, then MSPs, then SMBs at the front line. It’s a clean way to think about how AI value actually gets delivered to small and medium businesses. And the point that MSPs are the most natural vehicle for that delivery is hard to argue with – from where I sit, and probably from where you sit too. Second, that stat about SMB IT spend outpacing enterprise IT for the first time ever this year. If we’re in what Joel calls the SaaSpocalypse for the enterprise, we’re in a resilience story for SMB. For an audience of MSPs, that’s your market, and that’s your moment. And the zofiQ story. A six-month hold, 5.3 times the invested capital to ConnectWise. What Joel said about what made it work – going deep into a singular problem rather than an inch deep and a mile wide – is as much a product philosophy lesson as it is a venture capital story. If you want to follow what Top Down is doing, find them at TopDown.com, where they publish a regular newsletter and annual white paper on the state of MSP capital. Their Horizons conference runs every November if you’re engaged in this ecosystem as a founder, an operator, or an investor. If you’re enjoying the show, please give the podcast a follow or subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or most of the major podcast directories. Ratings and reviews are always encouraged. Until next time, I’m Robert Dutt for ChannelBuzz.ca, and I’ll see you in the channel.

Send us a textWhat do street food in Vietnam, varsity football, and DMARC email authentication have in common? In this immersive episode, Joey Pinz sits down with Michael Chester for a lively conversation that connects personal transformation with global impact.

In Episode 351 of the CIAOPS “Need to Know” podcast, we explore how small MSPs can scale through shared knowledge. From peer collaboration and co-partnering strategies to AI-driven security frameworks and Microsoft 365 innovations, this episode delivers actionable insights for SMB IT professionals looking to grow smarter, not harder. Resources CIAOPS Need to Know podcast - CIAOPS - Need to Know podcasts | CIAOPS X - https://www.twitter.com/directorcia Join my Teams shared channel - Join my Teams Shared Channel – CIAOPS CIAOPS Merch store - CIAOPS Become a CIAOPS Patron - CIAOPS Patron CIAOPS Blog - CIAOPS – Information about SharePoint, Microsoft 365, Azure, Mobility and Productivity from the Computer Information Agency CIAOPS Brief - CIA Brief – CIAOPS CIAOPS Labs - CIAOPS Labs – The Special Activities Division of the CIAOPS Support CIAOPS - https://ko-fi.com/ciaops Get your M365 questions answered via email   Security & Threat Intelligence Secret Blizzard AiTM Campaign: Microsoft uncovers a phishing campaign targeting diplomats. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security/blog/2025/07/31/frozen-in-transit-secret-blizzards-aitm-campaign-against-diplomats  Multi-modal Threat Protection: Defender's advanced capabilities against complex threats. https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/microsoftdefenderforoffice365blog/protection-against-multi-modal-attacks-with-microsoft-defender/4438786  AI Security Essentials: Microsoft's approach to AI-related security concerns. https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/microsoft-security-blog/ai-security-essentials-what-companies-worry-about-and-how-microsoft-helps/4436639 macOS TCC Vulnerability: Spotlight-based flaw analysis. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security/blog/2025/07/28/sploitlight-analyzing-a-spotlight-based-macos-tcc-vulnerability/ Copilot Security Assessment: Microsoft's framework for secure AI deployments. https://security-for-ai-assessment.microsoft.com/ Identity & Access Management   Modern Identity Defense: New threat detection tools from Microsoft. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security/blog/2025/07/31/modernize-your-identity-defense-with-microsoft-identity-threat-detection-and-response/ AI Agents & Identity: How AI is reshaping identity management. https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/microsoft-entra-blog/ai-agents-and-the-future-of-identity-what%E2%80%99s-on-the-minds-of-your-peers/4436815 Token Protection in Entra: Preview of enhanced conditional access. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/entra/identity/conditional-access/concept-token-protection Microsoft Earnings & Business Updates FY25 Q4 Earnings: Strong growth in cloud and AI revenue. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/Investor/earnings/FY-2025-Q4/press-release-webcast Copilot & AI Enhancements   Copilot Without Recording: Use Copilot in Teams without meeting recordings. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/use-copilot-without-recording-a-teams-meeting-a59cb88c-0f6b-4a20-a47a-3a1c9a818bd9 Copilot Search Features: Acronyms and bookmarks walkthrough. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nftEC73Cjxo Copilot Search Launch: General availability announcement. https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/microsoft365copilotblog/announcing-microsoft-365-copilot-search-general-availability-a-new-era-of-search/4435537 Productivity & Power Platform PowerPoint Tips: 7 hidden features to elevate your presentations. https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/microsoft365insiderblog/take-your-presentation-skills-to-the-next-level-with-these-7-lesser-known-powerp/4433700   New Power Apps: Generative AI meets enterprise-grade trust. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/blog/power-apps/introducing-the-new-power-apps-generative-power-meets-enterprise-grade-trust/  

Send us a textIn this energetic and introspective episode recorded live at Pax8 Beyond 2025, Joey Pinz talks with Gene Kim, VP of Sales at Absolute, about what MSPs truly need from their security vendors — and how personal resilience echoes in business strategy.Gene opens with reflections on surfing at San Onofre State Beach, how the ocean provides a space for introspection, and how tracking progress — even in hobbies — helps him stay motivated. This passion for metrics carries into his work, where he supports MSPs navigating the challenges of brand visibility, cybersecurity threats, human capital gaps, and delivering operational excellence to SMB clients.The episode also explores Absolute's application persistence and resilience tools, which help MSPs ensure critical software stays active — even after catastrophic failures. With 600M+ devices already embedded at the BIOS level, Gene explains how Absolute provides continuity at a scale few can match.In a powerful moment, Joey shares his 120-pound weight loss journey, prompting Gene to reflect on how discipline, metrics, and mindset shape both personal and business transformations. 

The Q4 2024 Killing IT Podcast features what may be our last discussion of robots for a long time! Topic One - Where Are My Robots??? We've been talking about this for five years - So where are the robots? We have a massive personnel shortage on many fronts. AI is creating jobs faster and faster. So why haven't robots evolved to serve us? We're on the verge. What's the holdup? If nothing else, we're tired of talking about it.   Topic Two - The Changing Economy of Our Industry In just the last five years, a layer of billion-dollar and near-billion-dollar companies are major players in our industry. This is literally a new layer of business and ownership. They are almost entirely focused on the top 3-5% of businesses in our space. In the meantime, 95% of SMB IT consists of and serves 1-4 person companies. The continued growth at the top seems unsustainable. So . . . where is all this going? Topic Three - A Practical Approach to AI  There's some (seemingly) conflicting research with AI adoption. Forrester highlighted the benefits of Copilot adoption for SMB. Lots of benefits, increased revenue, lower employee attrition, and more. At the same time, The Information reports that customers give Copilot mixsed reviews. Large corporations are increasing their usage, but tend not to use the paid version. Is this a conflict? How do we make sense? Obviously, we have three opinions. -- -- --  That's it for Q4 and for 2024. We'll be backin Q1 2025! :-)  

Cybersecurity, remote work, full stack observability, oh my! SMBs have got a lot on your mind. Worrying about securing their workforce wherever they work, shouldn't be one of them. In this episode, we sit down with Glenn Davis, COO, and Timothy Connley, Partner Manager at IT Savvy, a Cisco partner. Tune in as we explore the technologies and strategies that companies need to enable their workforce, enhance the remote and in-office work experience, and empower SMB IT infrastructures. Discover how to navigate the challenges of hybrid work environments, ensure robust security, and maintain productivity and connectivity seamlessly, no matter where your workforce is. Learn more about Cisco solutions for small and medium businesses here: www.cisco.com/c/en/us/solutions/…mall-business.html

Welcome to another exciting episode of the Evolved Radio Podcast! In today's episode I chat with industry veteran Rob Rae CVP @ Pax8. Together, we explore the dynamics of technology conferences, from choosing locations and handling logistics to balancing networking opportunities amidst distractions. Rob shares insights from his experience running the PAX8 Beyond event and delves into the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on transitioning from live to virtual events and back. The conversation also highlights the ever-changing landscape for managed service providers (MSPs), examining the shift from traditional distribution to a more marketplace-centered model and how this impacts the SMB IT sector. We delve into the evolving consumer behavior, the rise of antisocial selling, and the crucial role of MSPs in navigating cybersecurity and product choices for clients. We also take a deep dive into the potential and pitfalls of AI adoption, urging MSPs to stay proactive and adaptable. Rob offers a cautious yet optimistic take on monetizing AI and emphasizes the importance of consultation and co-managed IT opportunities. Join us as we uncover the future of technology events, the transformative role of AI, and the continuing evolution of the MSP and IT landscape! This episode is brought to you by Evolved Management Training Courses. Online courses specifically crafted for MSP needs. A Service Manager BootCamp course, a project manager for MSPs course, an MSP security fundamentals course, and an IT Documentation Done RIght course.

Topic 1: Massive Botnet Network Taken Down Police coordinated by the European Union's justice and police agencies have taken down computer networks responsible for spreading ransomware via infected emails, in what they called the biggest-ever international operation against the lucrative form of cybercrime. The European Union's judicial cooperation agency, Eurojust, said that police arrested four “high value” suspects, took down more than 100 servers and seized control of over 2,000 internet domains. Related Link: https://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/massive-international-police-operation-takes-ransomware-networks-arrests-110667670 -- -- -- Topic 2: AI Update, because We Have To Are strategies emerging?  Amazon is a brokerage for models Microsoft is doing CoPilot OpenAI is everywhere Apple just announced Apple Intelligence Cisco announces a pile of stuff Is there a “killer app” coming soon?  -- -- --  Topic 3: How is the M&A Frenzy affecting SMB IT? Google “m&a in it consulting” and you'll find articles, events, advice, and a whole lot people scrambling for the almighty dollar. Are the KPIs used in business acquisition really the KPIs you should be using to run a solid, long-term business? The most common way that small businesses “end” are 1) Walk away, and 2) Sell the client list. None of those people are getting 3x profit or even 3x EBITDA. Should they change their business or just keep doing what they're doing? -- -- -- Sponsor Memo: IT Service Provider University  This episode is Sponsored by Karl's next big class at IT Service Provider University. The five-week course, Core Standard Operating Procedures for Small IT Service Providers, starts July 2nd and costs only $399. This class walks through the most important processes and procedures you need to run a successful, profitable IT company. And best of all, you get massive handouts as a "first draft" for your own SOP library. More information at https://www.itspu.com/all-classes/classes/core-operating-procedures/ :-)

SMBs are set to spend USD179 billion on devices and peripherals in 2023 and we expect the market to fully rebound in 2024. SMB IT spending experts, Karthik Pannala and Li Lin, look ahead at the opportunities that this presents for IT vendors that prioritise the right segments of the market and position their go-to-market strategy correctly.  Learn more in the associated article and download our most-recent IT spending forecast report.

Bob Takacs (Research Director) and Tom Rebbeck (Partner) discuss our latest insights into SMB IT spending.  Download the full report here.  Vendors and operators can use this report to assess and respond to changing demands in the SMB market. For more information about our SMB IT research and the Analysys Mason Technology Forecaster, click here.

Typetec, one of Ireland's leading managed IT and cyber security solutions providers, has announced the results of its survey of SMB owners in Ireland which show that IT cybersecurity budgets are set to halve in 2023. The average SMB IT cybersecurity budget for this year is €57,500 – compared to €117,209 last year. While IT cybersecurity budgets are down more than 50%, over three quarters (79%) of SMBs in Ireland have experienced a cyberattack in the past 12 months. The survey of 200 small and medium-sized business owners – commissioned by Typetec and conducted by Censuswide – also revealed the most common form of cybersecurity attacks over the past year. Those were password hacking (32%), phishing (31%), malware (27%), and insider attacks/employee negligence (23%). SMB owners are also concerned about the impact of cyberattacks on their business, with the biggest fear cited as going out of business (40%). Considerably more respondents are worried about this in 2023 compared to 2022 (27%). The other biggest concerns regarding the potential effects of cyberattacks were found to be significant business downtime (39%), sensitive data being made public or traded on the dark web (38%), reputational damage (37%), and the loss of customers (32%). Despite these fears, almost a third (32%) of SMBs do not have an effective disaster recovery plan in place. However, some 64% of respondents think they are fully prepared for evolving cybersecurity threats in 2023, and 29% feel somewhat prepared for same. Among those that feel somewhat or fully prepared, the most popular step taken against evolving threats is increased cybersecurity awareness training for staff (37%). Other key measures undertaken by this cohort were increasing the support they get from external managed service providers (34%), moving more systems and applications to the cloud (34%), investing in more sophisticated threat protection systems (31%), and investing in an always-on business continuity service (30%). The research also found that a large majority (80%) of SMB owners believe that the Government/state should provide more funding/support to help protect small businesses against the rising cybercrime threat. Trevor Coyle, Chief Technology Officer, Typetec, said: “While it might be tempting for SMB owners to reduce cybersecurity budgets at this time, our survey shows that threats are still widespread and the potential impact on businesses is greater than ever. “We understand that many smaller businesses are dealing with inflationary pressures at this time and have to make difficult investment decisions. However, it's important that they make smart choices and don't leave their data and systems more vulnerable and easier to attack, which will ultimately be so much more costly if it happens. “Being smart means not only identifying measures for protection and prevention, such as staff awareness, but also having a strategy in place to support disaster recovery and business continuity should the worst-case scenario arise. “Only through implementing the right technologies and processes can SMBs be reassured that they are lowering risk and upholding productivity – thus protecting both their own business and that of their customers.” See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.

Karl Palachuk has a major announcement . . . followed by a discussion of The Five Employee Rules You Can't Forget - No matter how difficult the job market is right now. Karl has been procuding materials for IT consultants who are tackling the challenges of hiring in as we roll the calendar over to 2023. He recently posted a recorded webinar at https://www.mspwebinar.com on Hiring and Keeping Great Employees in 2023 - https://mspwebinar.com/finding-and-keeping-great-employees/. In this podcast, Karl outlines five extremely important things you need to remember, even in a difficult job market.  Karl is one of the SMB Community Podcast hosts. He has written more than twenty books, and runs the Small Biz Thoughts Technology Community as well as IT Service Provider University. Karl has built and sold two managed service businesses. He has been a professional consultant for more than three decades, and he has been an active community builder in the SMB IT market for more than fifteen year. He's also the founder of the National Society of IT Service Providers and is currently their Executive Director. --- Sponsor Memo: 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 Acronis.com.   

Topic 1: Good News on the EV Front: Lithium Ion Batteries can be Recycled! https://www.axios.com/2022/11/10/audi-redwood-ev-battery-recycling Yes … we are headed for an EV world. No … there are not nearly enough batteries or charging stations or grid capacity to handle an EV world. But in a positive sign, it turns out that the rare Earth minerals used in LIon batteries do not degrade and can be recycled into new batteries. Increase supply. Reduce pollution. Recycle all those old battery items lying around your house. Win! https://www.imeche.org/news/news-article/the-big-battery-challenge-3-potential-alternatives-to-lithium-ion Topic 2: Nine in Ten SMBs Fear a Ransomware Attack    https://www.msspalert.com/cybersecurity-research/most-smbs-fear-ransomware-attack-amid-heightened-geopolitical-tensions/   A new study from OpenText reveals that nearly 9 in 10 SMB IT security professionals fear a ransomware attack on their organization … yet most do not plan to increase cybersecurity spending. Is this a failure to communicate … or a case of intentional ignorance? --- Topic 3: Is Rude Behavior Contagious Rude behavior on the rise: https://www.axios.com/2022/11/10/rude-behavior-frontline-workers “Employees who experience rudeness at work are less satisfied with their jobs, less engaged with their work, less productive, less helpful, and less creative,” Taylor said. https://www.uschamber.com/co/start/strategy/how-rudeness-can-ruin-your-workplace Sponsor Memo: Gozynta  Do you like getting paid? Then make it easy for your customers with Gozynta Payments. Do you teach your customers not to click on links from strange domain names like mymsp.monkeypayments.com or slowbooks.com? Gozynta Payments uses your branding and domain name. No redirects. No confusion. Gozynta Mobius is trusted by over a thousand MSPs to sync financial data. Their new product Gozynta Payments is built with the same care and empathy to make the payment process easy for your customers. Gozynta is a family-owned business dedicated to making software suck less every day. Go to https://gozynta.com/payments to learn more or get started.          

In its latest SMB technology forecast, Analysys Mason predicted that IT spending by SMBs will grow at a growth rate of 7.5% between 2022 and 2027. In addition, cloud-based categories are expected to grow from USD $600 billion in 2022 to USD $1.0 trillion in 2027. Bob Takacs, Research Director and SMB IT practice leader at Analysys Mason, commented on the forecast, “Our latest forecast reveals the shift in SMBs' behavior and priorities since the pandemic. We see increased investments in categories driving resiliency and efficiency. This is an important release because we accounted for the impact of three critical drivers, including SMB's changing behaviors post-pandemic, macroeconomic headwinds, and the global political unrest.” Bob joins me on Tech Talks Daily to discuss how the report suggests that SMB's spending priorities include IT solutions that support efficiency, resiliency, and business continuity. We also discuss how three categories will account for almost half of all spending; managed services, infrastructure, and cybersecurity. Finally, we talk about how a distributed workforce and hybrid working practices will continue to influence IT spending.

Host Karl chats with Chase of JumpCloud. Chase Doelling is the Principal Strategist at cloud directory platform provider JumpCloud, where he leads the team in creating partnerships that enhance and secure digital identities. He has been working in venture-backed startups across security, integration, and DevOps for the last decade. JumpCloud offers a directory platform, specifically for SMBs and MSPs, that consolidates IT management and secures employees' access to IT resources (devices, applications, servers, networks, and more). Chase can discuss how SMBs and MSPs can leverage JumpCloud to simplify their IT environment, cut IT costs without sacrificing security, and centralize user identity so it's easy both for the admin to manage, and for the end user to navigate. The full-featured JumpCloud Directory Platform is available, for free, for any organization for up to ten users. One partner found that JumpCloud's cost saved them 80% on IT management.  Also, twice a year, JumpCloud surveys IT teams from SMBs to find out their concerns and challenges, their budgets, what trends they're seeing, and more. On June 15, 2022, JumpCloud will be releasing the newest report, and Chase could also discuss how SMBs are increasingly leaning on MSPs, their top security concerns, and how they're addressing rising threats. Chase can share how JumpCloud can help SMBs offer enterprise-grade security without adding enterprise-level complexity - and without paying enterprise-level cost or hiring enterprise-level support teams.   Resources and Links:  https://www.linkedin.com/company/jumpcloud https://twitter.com/JumpCloud A weekly gathering for SMB IT admins to discuss challenges: https://jumpcloud.com/the-it-hour Case study that shows JumpCloud is 1/5 cost: https://jumpcloud.com/resources/case-study-altitude-integrations-reduce-costs JumpCloud sign-up - fully free for up to 10 users: https://console.jumpcloud.com/signup --- Sponsor Memo: 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 singlesolution 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 Acronis.com. 

Join founder Chris Taylor and Director of Sales Ann Mauer as they sit down to discuss the question "How Do I Budget for IT?". They dive into the why what, and how of SMB IT budgeting. Have questions you'd like to hear discussed? Send an email to info@cit-net.com or head over to www.cit-net.com/podcast.

Ingram Micro Cloud's John Dusett joins Changing Channels host Larry Walsh to discuss new cloud research — conducted by Channelnomics and supported by Ingram Micro Cloud, Microsoft, and Google Workspace — and how the customer experience is crucial when it comes to service renewals and expansions. The cloud computing market continues to grow at double-digit rates. Over the next decade, businesses will continue to migrate systems and mission-critical workloads into cloud environments. They'll adopt cloud-based applications to replace legacy client-side licenses, and they'll subscribe to managed services to support their cloud resources. To say that it's a good time for reselling and supporting cloud computing services is an understatement. According to our recent report — “Buying the Cloud: The As-a-Service Experience From the Customer Perspective” — 47% of SMB IT buyers, the prime target for the channel, plan to buy more cloud computing products in the next 12 to 18 months. End users are adopting infrastructure services, productivity software, business applications, and backup services. Moreover, they're expanding their cloud utilization to include customer support applications and Internet of Things infrastructure. Cloud computing provides solution providers with recurring revenue. Customers pay for services on monthly or annual schedules, providing resellers with predictable income. The recurring-revenue model works well as long as the customer keeps paying, renewing contracts, and expanding service utilization. As solution providers have learned through managed services, customers are more apt to expand their cloud capacity when they have positive experiences and recognize the value of their spending. Customer experience is becoming a significant factor in solution providers' cloud value proposition. While vendors are the source of cloud services, solution providers are the managers of cloud resources and customer experiences. If solution providers can facilitate a positive, seamless experience, customers are more apt to renew and expand their cloud contracts. According to the research conducted by Channelnomics and Ingram Micro Cloud, 38% of cloud buyers base their decision to renew contracts on their experience with a solution provider. In this episode of Changing Channels, John Dusett, Ingram Micro Cloud's executive director of cloud services for the United States, joins us to discuss the increasing importance of customer experience in cloud computing engagements and what solution providers need to do to impress and satisfy their clients. Follow us, Like us, and Subscribe! Channelnomics: https://channelnomics.com LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/2NC6Vli Twitter: https://twitter.com/Channelnomics Changing Channels Is a Channelnomics Production Follow @Channelnomics to stay current on the latest #research, #bestpractices, and #resources. At @Channelnomics — the voice of thought leadership — we define #channel trends, chart new #GTM strategies, and #partner with industry leaders to champion #diversity in the channel.     Episode Resources Host Larry Walsh: https://bit.ly/3beZfOa Guest John Dusett: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johndusett/

In this podcast, Research Director, Bob Takacs and Senior Analyst, Karthik Pannala discuss the latest insights into SMB IT spending from the Analysys Mason SMB Technology Forecaster.  Download the associated report here.  Learn more about the Analysys Mason SMB Technology Forecaster here.

Today we continue our series we started recently (part 1 is here about finding a super SIEM for SMBs. Specifically I have some updates on (and frustrations with) Arctic Wolf, Elastic, Milton Security and Perch Security. Here's the TLDL version: Arctic Wolf They remain a strong contender in my bake-offs. They also could tick several boxes for an org as they offer continuous internal/external vulnerability scanning as well as a managed SOC. (And yes, I'm probably a tiny bit biased because I know a bunch of AWN's engineers and like the product) Elastic I've loved my interactions with the sales folks and engineers at Elastic. My initial trial had some technical speed bumps (which Elastic helped me remedy). I eventually did get some Elastic agents enrolled on endpoints in my lab. However, now that I'm up and running (and admittedly I should go through the Webinars and online training), I'm feeling overwhelmed. There's a jillion menus and submenus to explore. I feel like I've been given a high-performance sports car but completely lack the knowledge on how to make the most of it. I'll keep Elastic in my back pocket, but I don't think I can feel comfortable handing this dashboard over to a SMB IT/security staff and have them run with it. Milton Security A few weeks ago I had my first ever sales call with this group, and liked a lot of what I heard. They're up front about being a threat-hunt-as-a-service organization and they're not looking to partner with just any customer. The way they bundle sources of data (for the sake of pricing) makes sense to me, and although I haven't seen a formal quote from them yet, I think they will be reasonably priced when compared to some of the "big box" solutions. Perch Security After part 1 of this series, several of you pinged me and said to check out Perch Security. I'm very excited to connect with them but had a tough time getting someone to respond to my inquires (two weeks to be exact). Good news is I've got a call scheduled with them this week and am anxious to share what I learn about Perch on our next episode in this series.

Host James interviews Karl Palachuk from the National Society of IT Service Providers on their new initiatives and what they're up to. What is the National Society of IT Service Providers? A new IT-central professional association dedicated to education, professionalism, and advocacy on behalf of the SMB IT industry. For more information on NSITSP, visit https://www.nsitsp.org   Karl Palachuk is one of the long-term leaders in the SMB IT community worldwide. He is the author of more than twenty books, and the founder of the Small Biz Thoughts Technology Community. For more information, visit: - https://www.smallbizthoughts.org - https://www.karlpalachuk.com :-)  

Host Karl interviewed Ryan Denehy, Founder and CEO of Electric (www.electric.ai). Electric manages pretty much any cloud-based services for end users. Interestingly, they provide support via Slack, Teams, and Email - not through a client-facing ticketing system. Ryan explains that they primarily focus on SaaS management, device management, and network management. In growing their MSP business, Ryan challenged the assumption that you have to be local and small in order to thrive in the SMB IT market. In particular, they challenged the belief that you have to look people in the eye and ask for their business. About Ryan: Ryan Denehy is a 3x entrepreneur and the Founder and CEO of Electric. Having experienced the pain and frustrations that many business owners encounter in managing their IT infrastructure and support needs, Ryan's light bulb idea to create a cloud-based, real-time, 24-7 IT Support ecosystem laid the foundation for Electric's vision to redefine IT Support for a new generation. Throughout the pandemic, Electric sought out to be the antithesis of all things “Silicon Valley bro culture”. The company has seen demand skyrocket during the pandemic and actually reopened its Series B round in March and April for added funds from Dick Costolo and Adam Bain at 01 Ventures. Links: https://www.electric.ai/ https://twitter.com/DenehyXXL https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryandenehy Sponsor Note: Gatekeeper from Calyptix Security Introducing Gatekeeper from Calyptix Security: zero trust access securing RDP and SSH connections with two factor authentication without open ports to the internet, client installs or VPN. Two years of partner driven development brings audit friendly access across all types of devices. Reduce stress and implement proper safeguards as advised by the FBI, NSA and DHS, all in a purpose-built solution for small businesses. Interested? Learn even more by visiting calyptix.com/gatekeeper, and when you do, tell them Karl sent you. :-)  

Amy Babinchak, Owner of three IT-related businesses, is a technical professional with advanced skills in networking design, management, and implementation, and has been working in the SMB IT community for more than 20 years.

Karl caught up with Chris Timm from Sondela Consulting. Chris has a long history in the SMB IT community. He is a former MSP owner and spent a few years at Autotask. Today Chris is a coach and thought leader around making the most of your PSA. He runs a podcast with Rayanne Buchianico at http://psaimpact.net/. Check it out! But our focus here is Chris's new book! PSA Profitability is available on Amazon and Kindle. The Amazon.com link is https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1838111301/. Here Tim gives us some great advice about picking the right PSA for your business. Like many software packages, the right tool for one company is not the right tool for all companies. A good PSA with be customizable for your procedures and processes. Chris is a huge advocate of tracking all time in the PSA. But, at the same time, he says that you shouldn't buy a PSA if all you need is a ticketing system. If you need a ticketing system, go buy one. A PSA is a much bigger-picture tool. Yes, it includes a ticketing module. But it's a lot more than that. Overall, a great conversation. Related Links: - Web: www.sondelaconsulting.com - Podcast: psaimpact.net - Book: www.psaprofitability.com :-)  

I sat down (virtually) with Harry Brelsford, the true found of the SMB IT consulting community worldwide. For more than twenty years, Harry has been the prime mover and shaker at SMB Nation, and is the author of more than twenty books, primarily focused on technology and consulting in the SMB space. Many years ago, Harry wrote one of my favorite books on how to be a technology consultant - SMB Consulting Best Practices. For years I had hoped that Harry would update that book for the twenty-first century. Now he has! Today Harry is releasing The Pocket MBA - Instant Entrepreneur. This is a great new book. It is good for any audience - IT or not -  and is a great resource for anyone who is looking to start their own consulting business, for any industry. In this interview, Harry explains the "Finder Minder Grinder" model he uses to organize the book. You can check it own now at www.pocket.mba/ (check out that URL). Chapters include: So You Want to Be an Entrepreneur?!?!? Entrepreneur Business Plan Foundation for Entrepreneurial Success Discovering Opportunity Planting Seeds and Growing an Entrepreneur Practice Entrepreneur Marketing PIVOT Marketing and Analytics System Entrepreneurial Sales Be the Rainmaker Client Relationship Management Business Management Financial Management Use Case: Consulting Methodologies New Ideas! This interview has some very interesting observations about entrepreneurs, starting a business, and consulting in general. Check it out. :-)  

Today  New market data on SMB IT spending https://www.channelfutures.com/channel-research/smbs-saas-cloud-collaboration-spending-to-fall-in-2020 https://www.ninjarmm.com/blog/covid-statistics-msp-impact-july-2020/ AND More information on that Solarwinds and Microsoft Intune integration

Most IT Support pros at small/medium-size businesses are overworked, underpaid, and as a result, often overwhelmed. We are given projects and tasks constantly, which have to somehow balance on top of the regular everyday onslaught of our ticketing systems. Putting proper project management in place will not only help you keep track of everything you need to do, but will give you a way to measure your success to your bosses. Rose has had an amazing career that started by studying to be an elementary school teacher and pivoting into tech. Gotta love how most people have a crazy story getting into IT! Now she works running project management, #SaasOps, and more. Join us to learn how to run a project taking into account the different steps needed for a smooth rollout, and keep your users happy. Enjoy and Subscribe! Learn more about tabGeeks: The IT Support Conference at www.tabgeeks.com/tg20Our conference is coming up in April with a focus on all the things you need to know in SMB IT. Join us! Continue the conversation by Joining the tabGeeks slack community: No sponsors and No assholery allowed at tabGeeks.com/Slack or on twitter by following me @MrJNowlin and tabGeeks @tabgeeks

Bad managers are the #1 reason people leave companies. I am sure you have heard this before and usually, it's true. If you're a manager, and even if you're not, you are going to want to pay attention to this episode. Tami shares her secrets to developing and maintaining Happy Teams, and what you can do if you are not a manager but still want a Happy Team. Happier teams lead to more successful teams, and therefore spending time on your team is valuable for your company. Building legos to develop your team's vision, team trivia nights, and regular meetings all contribute to collaboration and a better work environment for your team. Enjoy and Subscribe! Continue the conversation by Joining the tabGeeks slack community: no sponsors and no assholery allowed at tabGeeks.com/Slack or on twitter by following me @MrJNowlin and Tami @TamiReiss Learn more about tabGeeks: The IT Support Conference at www.tabgeeks.com/tg20 Our conference is coming up in April with a focus on all the things you need to know in SMB IT. Join us!

Ok, this week's topic is a bit of a doozy. Our guest this week is Kathy Winger, a lawyer who specializes in Cybersecurity Law. We discuss how she got into focusing on tech in her legal career, and got down in the weeds of the coming privacy laws, specifically CCPA which goes into effect January 1, 2020, and has many of us trembling in our gaming chairs. Many US States have already put consumer privacy laws in place, and many more are being formulated now, so if you have not been affected by this, stay tuned as it's likely coming soon to a state near you. Here are links to Kathy's guide to the California Consumer Privacy Act: Part One and Part Two Click Here for the full text of the CCPA Attorney General Proposed Regulations (it's only 24 pages) Enjoy and Subscribe! Continue the conversation by Joining the tabGeeks slack community: no sponsors and no assholery allowed at tabGeeks.com/Slack or on twitter by following me @MrJNowlin and Kathy @KathyDWinger Learn more about tabGeeks: The IT Support Conference at www.tabgeeks.com Our conference is coming up in April with a focus on all the things you need to know in SMB IT. Join us!

Ryan is wandering off with a client this week (or feeling sick or some such nonsense), so Dave and Karl conspired to riff on the IT industry without his perspective. Dave asks the question, "Did I become dumber when I went to work for a vendor?" Sometimes IT service providers assume that anyone who works for a vendor just doesn't understand the industry. (Hint: We think that's not true.) . . . Next topic . . . How much of the market has been penetrated? Sometimes we're amazed at how many people are not "inside" the "connected" SMB IT community. How do we determine the size of the IT Universe? Does it include Home Theater, cameras, secure door locks, IoT, signage, consumer electronics, etc.? [Insert long discussion about how you define who's in the IT business, who's not, and who decides.] Eventually we get around to why we care. We care because we need to justify our investment in this space. If you don't know the universe, you can't measure your penetration. Once again we loop back to the beginning. Karl ends with a rant on money and traveling. Dave offers an obvious tip Karl should have learned 100,000 miles ago. Please give it a listen. Share with your friends. Subscribe. And give us your feedback below. :-)

Debbie Leoni is my life coach. I thought it would be useful to introduce her to the SMB IT community. I get questions about why I have a life coach coach and how that’s different from a business coach. I hope this interview answers those questions. You can learn more about Debbie from her web site at www.debbieleoni.com. You can also connect with her on Facebook. She has some great Facebook “Live” videos. So keep an eye out for those. You can buy Debbie’s book – I Am Fearless – from her web site, on Amazon, or over at SMB Books.   Check out the interview here: This interview is about half an hour.   Audio Listen to the Podcast. Links mentioned in this podcast:   Debbie’s Fearless Web Site www.debbieleoni.com   Debbie’s Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/deborahannleoni    

I had a great talk with Rayanne Buchianico yesterday. We covered Sell My MSP, QuickBooks, important reports to run for your business, and the next course she’s teaching over at Great Little Seminar in October. Here’s the video:   Audio Listen to the Podcast. Links mentioned in this podcast:   Robert Crane’s Blog: http://blog.ciaops.com/2016/09/azure-site-recovery-is-cool.html   Andy Parkes’ Blog: http://andyparkes.co.uk/blog/index.php/2016/09/13/command-prompt-and-the-clipboard/   Rayanne on Robert Crane’s Podcast: http://ciaops.podbean.com/e/episode-112-rayanne-buchianico/   Sell My MSP: http://www.sellmymsp.com/ Rayanne Buchianico Accountant and MSP Business Consultant Rayanne has over 25 years of accounting, tax and business experience in the SMB sector. She specializes in working with IT Professionals and MSPs to improve profitability through accounting systems, financial reporting, and PSA integration. Rayanne was awarded the 2012 Jim Locke Memorial Community Award by SMB Nation and SMBTN and was named to the SMB 150 list by SMB Technology Network (SMBTN) and SMB PC magazine in 2011 and 2012. She partnered with Bigger Brains to provide the QuickBooks 2013 video training course. She is the founder and leader of the Tampa Bay IT Pro Group, and is the past Treasurer of the Global IT Community Association for both the North American Board and the Global Board. Rayanne is the owner of ABC Solutions, LLC in Clearwater, Florida. ABC Solutions provides accounting, tax, and accounting systems consulting services to SMB IT companies throughout the United States.   The course: Financial Processes that Make All The Difference   Xero https://www.xero.com/us/   PeachTree – MAS90 – Business Works http://www.sage.com/us/sage-50-accounting   Great Plains / Microsoft Dynamics https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics/small-midsize-business.aspx   Topics for this class include: Separation of duties – Handout includes a list of accounting/financial duties for students to complete What services are profitable Separating out information on the P&L for management decisions Entities and tax considerations – understanding how your entity is taxed. Handout is a tax projection worksheet for 2014 taxes Cash flow forecasting – Handout is a cash flow projection spreadsheet to forecast revenues and expenses Understanding margins and ratios – Deep dive into the P&L and Balance Sheet to understand how the numbers work together to make decisions. Handout is a worksheet on calculating and understanding the ratios & margins. Understanding the balance sheet Controlling inventory & Cost of Goods Sold Action plans for success . . . and More!    

We’re kicking off a whole new podcast series here at SMB Community Podcast. So subscribe today so you don’t miss a thing. We’re going to be doing a series of “video call” podcasts of about 30 minutes each. These will be recorded as both a Video and as an Audio download. So you can decide whether you want to watch or just listen. To kick off the new series, I talked with Amy Babinchak from Third Tier and Sell My MSP. Amy is very well known in the SMB IT community. Recently, she’s noticed that there are a lot more buyers looking for MSPs than there are sellers listed to sell their business. One reason for this, she believes, is that there’s a myth in the community that a small MSP has no value. I’m not sure where that myth originated, but it’s one of the things people keep telling each other over and over again. Amy has a very different perspective: If you’ve been making money in your business for 10-20 years, it has value and it can be sold. You just need to find the people who are looking to buy. A lot of buyers want to be anonymous, though, so their competition doesn’t find out that they’re in expansion mode. That’s where Sell My MSP comes in. It’s like a dating service for your business . . . except you can’t use a ten year old picture. The site includes a tool you can use to get some idea of what your business is worth. Get all the details – and more – in the interview: Video     Audio Listen to the Podcast. Links mentioned in this podcast: – Lisa Hendricks’ Call That Girl Office 365 Podcast Blogs – The Three Biggest Mistakes Non-IT People Make When They Plug Things In – New Ransomware Kit Materials Released – Blog series on Documenting New Server Install Amy Links – Third Tier Consulting – Sell My MSP – Infographic Maker

The SMB industry is a constantly changing market, which provides a constant opportunity for MSPs. However, it’s important to understand these changes so that you can understand the opportunities at hand. And what better way to understand these opportunities than data? On this episode of MSPradio, we’re joined by an SMB expert, Anurag Agrawal, CEO of TechAisle. He talks about the state of small business, where SMB IT priorities are and how MSPs can take advantage. And of course, he backs it all up with cold-hard data! Tune in to this week’s episode of MSPradio!

Protecting computer data is an essential part of a business continuity plan.  Dennis Zink interviews David Spire, President and CEO of United Systems, Inc.  David has been named to the 2013 SMB 150, a listing of the top 150 worldwide SMB IT channel influencers, and United Systems was listed in the 2013 MSPmentor 100 Small Business Edition, the 2013 MSPmentor 501 Global Edition, the 2013 CRN Next-Gen 250 and the Tampa Bay Business Journal's List of the Top 25 Largest Managed IT Service Providers. David can be reached at 941-721-6423, via email at david@unitedsystemsinc.com, or you can find out about the services his company provides at www.unitedsystemsinc.com

Rayanne Buchianico Rayanne Buchianico is an Accountant and MSP Business Consultant. At the SMB Online Conference in June, she’ll be talking about Understanding Your Financials: Three Mandatory Monthly Reports and What They Are Telling You. We talked last week about how you can use QuickBooks and your financials. She gave some great information – which is why she has TWO presentations at the SMB Online Conference next month. Listen to the podcast … then check out the conference. Rayanne has over 25 years of accounting, tax and business experience in the SMB sector. She specializes in working with IT Professionals and MSPs to improve profitability through accounting systems, financial reporting, and PSA integration. She was awarded the 2012 Jim Locke Memorial Community Award (formerly “SBSer of the Year”) by SMB Nation and SMBTN and was named to the SMB 150 list by SMB Technology Network (SMBTN) and SMB PC magazine in 2011 and 2012. She partnered with Bigger Brains to provide the QuickBooks 2013 video training course. She is the founder and leader of the Tampa Bay IT Pro Group, and is the past Treasurer of the Global IT Community Association for both the North American Board and the Global Board. Rayanne is the owner of ABC Solutions, LLC in Clearwater, Florida. ABC Solutions provides accounting, tax, and accounting systems consulting services to SMB IT companies throughout the United States. Web Site: www.abcsolutionsfl.com Blog: http://abcsolutionsfl.wordpress.com   See the press release “Demystifying QuickBooks – What I.T. Professionals Need To Know” here: SMB Online Conference Press Room.     The theme of this year’s SMB Online Conference is IT Business Reboot – We’ll cover a variety of topics related to re-building your business as if you were starting over today. Here are the topics for Day One – June 25th: 9:00 AM Karl’s Keynote (Karl W. Palachuk) 10:00 AM Chip Reaves – Better Sales Through Better Education 11:00 AM Rayanne Buchianico – Understanding Your Financials: Three Mandatory Monthly Reports and What They Are Telling You 1:00 PM Manuel Palachuk – Five Tools That Could Transform Your Company Overnight (all times are Pacific)   For more information on the conference, visit www.SMBOnlineConference.com. – Download the Interview with Rayanne Buchianico here.

2008 was a roller coaster year to say the least. Starting off with a bang and ending with uncertainty of what the future has to offer the SMB IT consultant. With the economy failing and the threat of online services taking away from our sales, what does 2009 have to offer us?

Stuart Crawford welcomes the pioneer of SMB IT to Small Business IT Radio. Harry Brelsford is the guy that kicked off the entire focus on Small Business IT across the world and we have him on our show. Join us as we discuss the past, present and the future of the Small Business Specialist program and small business technology in general