Podcasts about Vars

In Episode 162 of “The Trusted Advisor,” RSPA CEO Jim Roddy sits down with John Giles, President and Owner of software provider Round 2 POS, to talk retail IT tech trends – with a focus on AI's impact on VARs and ISVs. “The Trusted Advisor,” powered by the Retail Solutions Providers Association (RSPA), is an award-winning content series designed specifically for retail IT VARs and software providers. Our goal is to educate you on the topics of leadership, management, hiring, sales, and other small business best practices. For more insights, visit the RSPA blog at www.GoRSPA.org.  The RSPA is North America's largest community of VARs, software providers, vendors, and distributors in the retail, restaurant, and grocery verticals. The mission of the RSPA is to accelerate the success of its members in the retail technology ecosystem by providing knowledge and connections. The organization offers member-to-member warm introductions, education, legal advice, industry advocacy, and other services to assist members with becoming and remaining successful. RSPA is most well-known for its signature events, RetailNOW and Inspire, which provide face-to-face learning and networking opportunities. Learn more by visiting www.GoRSPA.org. 

By Doug Green “Sales comes down to two things: be first to the customer and follow up.” In this Technology Reseller News podcast recorded at MSP Summit, Avinash Gujje, CEO and founder of Zuuz, discusses how the company is using AI to uncover sales opportunities that may be sitting unnoticed in email, calls and other customer communications. Gujje came to the idea from his own experience running a value-added reseller, distribution and MSP business. He says sales teams routinely lose opportunities not because customers say no, but because follow-up gets delayed, renewal conversations are missed or leads never make it into the CRM. Zuuz is designed to address that problem. The platform connects with a salesperson's mailbox, identifies potential sales opportunities and compares them with what is already recorded in the CRM. It can also work with call recordings, LinkedIn, WhatsApp and other customer communication channels. The goal is to find conversations that should have turned into pipeline but did not. Gujje says Zuuz is launching what it calls the Zuuz Challenge, looking back across roughly 90 days of communications and comparing identified opportunities against the customer's existing CRM. “If Zuuz finds 60 opportunities and only 30 are in your CRM, those other 30 are what we've recovered,” Gujje says. The company is pre-launch and is using MSP Summit to introduce the platform to the channel. Gujje says early testing with approximately 30 customers has identified a significant amount of potential pipeline, particularly among IT services companies, VARs and distributors where individual opportunities can be substantial. For MSPs, Gujje sees two opportunities. They can use Zuuz internally to improve their own sales follow-up, while also offering the platform to customers as they evolve toward what he describes as managed intelligence providers. Deployment is designed to be straightforward. Zuuz is offered as SaaS, with an on-premises option for customers with stricter security or data governance requirements. Gujje's larger message is that AI should help salespeople perform better rather than simply replace them. “Use AI to improve your sales,” he says. “Use AI to become a better salesperson.” Visit Zuuz.ai to learn more.  

Send us Fan Mail2 Timoteus 2:13 as ons ontrou is – Hy bly getrou: Hy kan Homself nie verloën nie. Dis nie maklik om te erken dat ons al dikwels vir God en vir onsself teleurgestel gestel het nie; ek praat nou van 'n geheime gewoontetjie, 'n skelwoord, of 'n oomblik van swakheid. En dan op ‘n dag weet ons sommer dat ons hierdie keer te ver gegaan het.In die tagtigerjare het die Amerikaanse TV-evangelis Jimmy Swaggart se morele ineenstorting die wêreld geskok. Sy bediening het oornag verbrokkel. Baie mense het hom heeltemal afgeskryf. Maar in die jare wat gevolg het, het Swaggart deur trane, berou en nederigheid sy lewe stukkie vir stukkie voor God herbou. Die skares het nooit op dieselfde manier teruggekeer nie - maar genade het wel.As jy so daaroor dink, sien jy daar is ‘n stryd tussen ons mislukkings en God se getrouheid. Tot op watter punt het ons te ver gegaan? Tot op watter punt het ons so diep geval dat God nie meer die moeite sal doen om ons te kom soek, te red en weer op te tel nie?Die apostel Paulus het daardie spanning maar alte goed geken toe hy hierdie woorde aan Timoteus, sy dissipel, geskryf het:2 Timoteus 2:13 as ons ontrou is - Hy bly getrou: Hy kan Homself nie verloën nie.Kom ons maak dit duidelik: God se karakter verander nie na gelang van ons gedrag nie. Hy verskoon nooit sonde nie - maar Hy verlaat ook nooit die sondaar wat na Hom terugkeer nie. Sy getrouheid is gegrond op wie Hy is, nie op wat ons gedoen het nie. Dis die rede waarom Jesus vir jou gesterwe het! Hy het die prys betaal vir jou.As jy dus geval het - of as jy op een of ander manier persoonlik gefaal het - moenie van Hom af wegvlug nie. Vlug na Hom toe.Want dié God wat jou geroep het, is nog lief vir jou; Hy wag nog vir jou. Onthou dat sy krag gaan juis in jou swakheid na vore kom. Hy het nie weggeloop nie... en Hy sal jou nooit verlaat nie. Dis God se Woord. Vars... vir jou...vandag.Support the showEnjoying The Content?For the price of a cup of coffee each month, you can enable Christianityworks to reach 10,000+ people with a message about the love of Jesus!DONATE R50 MONTHLY

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Send us Fan Mail1 Tessalonisense 4:11-12 en laat dit vir julle 'n saak van eer wees om rustig te lewe, met julle eie sake besig te wees en met julle eie hande te werk. Hierdie riglyne het ons al vroeër aan julle gegee sodat die buitestanders agting vir julle leefstyl sal kry, en julle in geen opsig gebrek sal ly nie. Skakel jou foon aan, en dis asof die negatiwiteit jou sommer in die gesig klap. Oorloë, skandale, die nuutste skinderstorie, en dan die belaglike debatte ook nog. Elke keer wat jy blaai, trek dit jou emosies weer na 'n ander kant toe. Dis asof jy in 'n storm vasgevang is wat nooit ophou nie, en hoe erger dit raak, hoe swaarder word dit om selfs jou eie gedagtes te hoor, wat nog te sê van God se stem.'n Paar jaar gelede het 'n jong joernalis besluit om vir 'n hele jaar al haar sosiale media af te skakel. Haar vriende het agter haar rug voorspel sy gaan doodeenvoudig irrelevant raak. Maar toe kry sy iets terug wat sy lankal kwyt was, vrede. Sy't weer 'n manier van leef gekry wat persoonlik en gefokus is, met 'n doel wat regtig saak maak, iets wat geen app. of skerm ooit kan vervang nie.Kyk na die soort lewe waartoe Paulus die gelowiges in die woelige stad Tessalonika aangemoedig het:1 Tessalonisense 4:11-12 en laat dit vir julle 'n saak van eer wees om rustig te lewe, met julle eie sake besig te wees en met julle eie hande te werk. Hierdie riglyne het ons al vroeër aan julle gegee sodat die buitestanders agting vir julle leefstyl sal kry, en julle in geen opsig gebrek sal ly nie.Die vroeë Christene het ook in 'n wêreld vol politieke onrus, en geskarrel geleef - nou nie eintlik baie anders as ons s'n nie. Maar Paulus se raad was baie duidelik: moenie saam met die geroesemoes daarbuite raas nie. Bou liewer vir jou 'n bestendige, rustige lewe, een wat 'n baie kragtiger boodskap as enige plasing op jou skerm of enige betoging op straat uitstuur.Miskien is dit dan nou tyd om die nuus en sosiale media 'n bietjie stiller te maak, en te gaan luister na daardie stil, sagte stem van God. Want in 'n wêreld wat verslaaf is aan geraas, is dit juis die rustige mens wat 'n geseënde lewe lei, en wat die grootste verskil maak.Dis God se Woord. Vars … vir jou … vandag.Support the showEnjoying The Content?For the price of a cup of coffee each month, you can enable Christianityworks to reach 10,000+ people with a message about the love of Jesus!DONATE R50 MONTHLY

Send us Fan MailKolossense 3:3-4 ...want julle het gesterwe, en julle lewe is saam met Christus verborge in God. Wanneer Christus, wat julle lewe is, by sy wederkoms verskyn, sal julle ook saam met Hom verskyn en in sy heerlikheid deel. Het jy al ooit gedink daar moet tog meer aan die lewe wees as wat dit vandag vir jou voel? Jy hardloop saam met almal agter sukses, verhoudings en gemak aan, maar selfs wanneer jy dit reeds het, voel dit of iets nog steeds skort. Dis asof jy leef, maar nie eintlik regtig lééf nie. Dit was presies hoe my lewe gevoel het. Ek het hard geswot, hard gewerk, en teen my vroeë tot middel-dertigs het ek darem al party van die dinge wat ek destyds as die moeite werd beskou het, bereik. Maar elke keer as een van daardie dinge my kant toe kom, het ek al hoe leër begin voel.Lank gelede was daar 'n man met die naam Saulus wat ook so gevoel het. Hy het status gehad, opleiding, mag – totdat een ontmoeting alles kom verander het. Op 'n stowwerige pad na Damaskus toe het hy vir Jesus raakgeloop.Die óú Saulus het daardie dag gesterf, en 'n nuwe man, Paulus, is gebore. Nie fisies nie, maar geestelik. Sy lewe, sy waardes, sy hele lewensdoel het totaal verander.Later het hy self verduidelik wat presies met hom gebeur het. En dit is wat met enigiemand kan gebeur wat vir Jesus ontmoet:Kolossense 3:3-4 ...want julle het gesterwe, en julle lewe is saam met Christus verborge in God. Wanneer Christus, wat julle lewe is, by sy wederkoms verskyn, sal julle ook saam met Hom verskyn en in sy heerlikheid deel.Paulus het nie oor godsdiens gepraat nie, hy het oor wedergeboorte gepraat, dié soort wat jou van binne af verander. Want wanneer jy jou lewe in God se hande sit, verdwyn die óú jy sommer net. Dié een wat gebuk gaan onder skuld, vrees en die gejaag om iets te bereik, verdwyn. En in sy plek begin iets nuuts groei, iets sterker, iets vryer, iets met ewigheidswaarde.As jy dus al lankal 'n nuwe begin begeer, luister mooi hierna: die lewe waarvoor jy gemaak is, is verborge in Christus. En dit wag, reeds op hierdie oomblik, om te begin. Dis God se Woord. Vars … vir jou … vandag. Support the showEnjoying The Content?For the price of a cup of coffee each month, you can enable Christianityworks to reach 10,000+ people with a message about the love of Jesus!DONATE R50 MONTHLY

Send us Fan MailFilippense 1:29 God het julle die voorreg gegee om Christus te dien, nie alleen deur in Hom te glo nie, maar ook deur vir Hom te ly. Ons almal hou baie van die idee van seëninge – dinge soos goeie gesondheid, sukses, vrede, en miskien 'n bietjie geluk op ons pad. Maar wat sal gebeur as een van God se seëninge glad nie soos 'n seëning voel nie? Wat as dit jou baie kos?Toe die bekende burger-regte-leier Martin Luther King Jr. die pad van vrede gekies het, het hy goed geweet dat dit vir hom baie swaarkry sou bring. Daar was dreigemente, hy is tronk toe gestuur, mense het hom gehaat – en dit het uiteindelik selfs sy dood beteken. Tog het hy daarna verwys as 'n hoë eer om te ly ter wille van dit wat reg is. Sy lewe herinner ons baie duidelik daaraan dat sommige dinge so reg en so heilig is, dat die pyn naderhand deel van die voorreg word. Dit is presies wat die apostel Paulus destyds geskryf het aan die gelowiges in die ou stad Filippi:Filippense 1:29 God het julle die voorreg gegee om Christus te dien, nie alleen deur in Hom te glo nie, maar ook deur vir Hom te ly.Paulus het hierdie woorde geskryf terwyl hy self in die tronk gesit het. Hy het nie maar net mooi gedagtes probeer skryf nie – hy het dit self elke dag deurgemaak. Sy geloof in Christus het beteken dat hy in kettings gevange gehou is, maar hy het selfs dít as 'n groot eer beskou.Die absolute waarheid is dat om vir Jesus lief te hê, nie oor 'n gemaklike lewe gaan nie; dit vra baie moed. Om Hom te dien beteken dat jy soms heeltemal teen die stroom moet swem. Dit beteken dat jy moet opstaan vir wat reg is, selfs al kos dit jou baie.So, as dit vir jou baie moeilik voel om te volg wat waar en reg is – moenie weghardloop of bang wees nie. Jy is in baie goeie geselskap. Ware geloof vlug nie vir opofferings nie … dit vind juis groot vreugde daarin.God het julle die voorreg gegee om Christus te dien, nie alleenlik deur in Hom te glo nie, maar ook deur vir Hom te ly.Dis God se Woord. Vars … vir jou … vandag. Support the showEnjoying The Content?For the price of a cup of coffee each month, you can enable Christianityworks to reach 10,000+ people with a message about the love of Jesus!DONATE R50 MONTHLY

Send us Fan MailEfesiërs 5:14 En as iets bekend geword het, is dit in die lig. Daarom sê die lied:“Word wakker, jy wat slaap, en staan op uit die dood; en Christus sal jou lewe verlig.” Wat kruip in die skaduwees van jou lewe weg? Die dinge waaroor jy glad nie praat nie – die skuldgevoelens wat jy diep wegsteek, die bitterheid wat jy probeer regverdig, die geheime gewoontes wat jou stil-stil beheer. Miskien sien niemand anders hierdie dinge nie, maar jý weet van hulle. En hulle steel jou vrede.Het jy al ooit in 'n donker kamer ingestap nadat jy buite in die helder sonlig was? Vir 'n paar oomblikke kan jy absoluut niks sien nie. Jou oë sukkel om aan te pas, jy huiwer, en selfs bekende dinge lyk skielik vreemd. Maar die oomblik as jy die lig aanskakel, verander alles. Wat onsigbaar was, is dadelik weer sigbaar. Dit is presies hoe dit ook in ons binneste werk. Ons raak naderhand so gewoond daaraan om met klein stukkies duisternis saam te leef – soos die bitterheid wat ons nie wil laat gaan nie, die skaamte wat ons nie wil erken nie, of emosies wat ons diep wegbêre – totdat daardie skaduwees na 'n rukkie vir ons heeltemal normaal voel. Die apostel Paulus het destyds aan die Christene in Efese geskryf. Hulle was omring deur allerhande versoekings en dinge wat verkeerd was. Hy het hulle – en vir ons – uit daardie skaduwees uitgeroep om in die lig te gaan staan:Efesiërs 5:14 En as iets bekend geword het, is dit in die lig. Daarom sê die lied: “Word wakker, jy wat slaap, en staan op uit die dood; en Christus sal jou lewe verlig.” Hierdie boodskap is baie eenvoudig maar ook baie dringend: hou op om half aan die slaap deur die lewe te gaan. Hou op om te maak asof die duisternis nie skadelik is nie. Jesus het nie gesterf sodat jy lekker gemaklik in die skaduwees kan bly sit nie – Hy het opgestaan om jou heeltemal in sy helder lig in te bring.Daardie lig wys natuurlik dinge wat ons eintlik baie liewer sal wil wegsteek. Maar daardie selfde lig herstel dinge wat ons nooit op eie stoom sou kon regmaak nie. So, wat is daardie donker kamer in jou lewe – die ding wat jou tot nou toe gekeer het om vir God oop te maak? Skakel vandag die Lig aan. Laat Sy lig heeltemal inkom. Onthou ware vryheid kom nie as jy wegkruip nie … dit kom wanneer jy reguit in die lig instap.Dis God se Woord. Vars … vir jou … vandag.Support the showEnjoying The Content?For the price of a cup of coffee each month, you can enable Christianityworks to reach 10,000+ people with a message about the love of Jesus!DONATE R50 MONTHLY

Send us Fan Mail1 Johannes 4:7-8 Geliefdes, ons moet mekaar liefhê, want liefde kom van God, en elkeen wat liefhet, is 'n kind van God en ken God. 8Wie nie liefhet nie, het geen kennis van God nie, want God is liefde. Elke jaar tydens die Chinese Maan-fees kom families bymekaar onder die volmaan. Lanterns gloei, tafels loop oor met kos, en maan-koekies word gedeel as 'n simbool van eenheid, hereniging en liefde. Oor dorpe, stede, selfs kontinente, kyk Chinese mense op na dieselfde maan en onthou diegene vir wie hulle die liefste is.Daardie viering vang iets diep in die menslike hart vas – 'n verlange na verbintenis. Tog, ten spyte van al die tegnologie en nabyheid, voel ware liefde dikwels stukkend, voorwaardelik en broos. En daarom praat hierdie woorde van die apostel Johannes vandag nog só kragtig met ons:1 Johannes 4:7-8 Geliefdes, ons moet mekaar liefhê, want liefde kom van God, en elkeen wat liefhet, is 'n kind van God en ken God. Wie nie liefhet nie, het geen kennis van God nie, want God is liefde.Johannes het hierdie brief aan 'n gemeenskap wat verdeeld was deur konflik en valse leringe, geskryf. Sy boodskap was eenvoudig maar revolusionêr: ware liefde begin nie by ons nie – dit begin by God. Hy is nie bloot liefdevol nie; Hy is Liefde self.Net soos die maan die lig van die son weerkaats, word ons geroep om God se lig in 'n donker en verdeelde wêreld te weerkaats. Die warmte wat ons deel, die genade wat ons gee, die vergifnis wat ons bied – dis hoe mense die ware God ontmoet.So vanaand, as jy toevallig die maan sien, onthou: God lig vervaag nooit nie. Laat Sy liefde deur jou skyn – en kyk hoe die duisternis verdwyn.Geliefdes, ons moet mekaar liefhê, want liefde kom van God, en elkeen wat liefhet, is 'n kind van God en ken God. Wie nie liefhet nie, het geen kennis van God nie, want God is liefde.Dis God se Woord. Vars … vir jou … vandag.Support the showEnjoying The Content?For the price of a cup of coffee each month, you can enable Christianityworks to reach 10,000+ people with a message about the love of Jesus!DONATE R50 MONTHLY

Send us Fan Mail2 Korintiërs 4:7 Ons wat hierdie skat in ons het, is maar kleipotte wat maklik breek; die krag wat alles oortref, kom dus van God, nie van ons nie. Voel jy soms of jy glad nie meer kan nie? Jy probeer vreeslik hard om vir almal te wys dit gaan goed – maar binne-in is jy doodmoeg, gedaan, en dalk selfs skaam omdat jy nie dinge beter kan hanteer nie. Ons het iewers begin dink dat as jy swak is, jy misluk het. Maar God kyk glad nie so daarna nie.Toe die komponis Ludwig van Beethoven sy gehoor begin verloor het, was hy stukkend. Musiek was sy hele lewe, sy alles, sy hele wêreld. Vir 'n ruk het hy homself in groot hartseer afgesonder. Maar in plaas daarvan om tou op te gooi, het hy aangehou om musiek te skryf – nie ten spyte van sy swakheid nie, maar juis daardeur. Uit daardie moeilike tyd het sy heel mooiste en bekendste werk gekom: Beethoven se Negende Simfonie. Sy groot leemte het die pad geword na iets ongeloofliks.Dit is menslike kwesbaarheid waarvan die apostel Paulus gepraat het toe hy vir die mense van Korinte geskryf het in:2 Korintiërs 4:7 Ons wat hierdie skat in ons het, is maar kleipotte wat maklik breek; die krag wat alles oortref, kom dus van God, nie van ons nie.In Paulus se tyd was kleipotte goedkoop en broos – maklik gekraak, maklik vervang. En tog kies God ons – brose, gewone mense – om sy lewe en lig in die wêreld in te dra.So, wat van jou? Kom ons kyk na jou innerlike lewe; na jou mislukkings, jou swakhede, jou laste, jou verwarring, jou skaamte, jou wrok, jou vrees wat soms jou hart beetpak; al daardie goed wat jy liewer wil wegsteek. Maar, onthou broosheid is nie mislukking nie; dis bewys dat die krag God s'n is, nie joune nie. Ons is almal – elkeen van ons – net soos daardie gekraakte potte waarna Paulus verwys het. Hou dus op om jou krake te probeer wegsteek. Laat God se lig eerder in jou hart daardeur skyn. Want dis juis wanneer jy swak is dat sy krag op sy mooiste en kragtigste is.Dis God se Woord. Vars … vir jou … vandag.Support the showEnjoying The Content?For the price of a cup of coffee each month, you can enable Christianityworks to reach 10,000+ people with a message about the love of Jesus!DONATE R50 MONTHLY

Send us Fan Mail1 Korintiërs 4:20 Die koninkryk van God is immers nie 'n saak van praatjies nie, maar van krag.Oral waar jy kyk, praat mense. Op Facebook, op die nuus, op poduitsendings... dis 'n nimmereindigende stroom van opinies. Maar daar is 'n verskil tussen praat en doen. Om mooi dinge oor geloof te sê, is maklik. Maar om dit elke dag in die krag van God uit te leef? Dís wat tel.In die 18de eeu was John Wesley reeds 'n geordende predikant. Hy was welsprekend, gedissiplineerd en mense het hom opreg bewonder. Maar diep binne-in homself, het hy geweet daar ontbreek iets. Hy was geestelik heeltemal uitgebrand en vol twyfel.Dit het alles een aand in Aldersgatestraat in Londen verander. Terwyl hy na 'n voorlesing uit Romeine geluister het, het hy 'n ware, lewende ontmoeting met God self gehad. Wesley het gesê sy hart het skielik "vreemd warm" geword. Hy het besef dat verlossing 'n gratis geskenk van genade is, en nie iets wat deur godsdiens verdien kan word nie. Aldersgatestraat het die simbool geword vir die verskuiwing van kop-kennis na hart-kennis, en dit het die groot Metodiste-herlewing begin wat miljoene lewens wêreldwyd verander het.En weet jy, dit is presies waaroor die apostel Paulus gepraat het toe hy aan die gelowiges in Korinte geskryf het. Daardie kerk was baie trots op hulle leraars, hulle slim argumente en hulle mooi woorde. Maar intussen was hulle verdeeld, geestelik swak en losbandig. 1 Korintiërs 4: 20: Die koninkryk van God is immers nie 'n saak van praatjies nie, maar van krag.Die koninkryk van God gaan nie oor indrukwekkende woorde of 'n deftige voorkoms nie. Dit gaan oor die onmiskenbare krag van die Heilige Gees. Dit gaan oor die krag wat harte verander, wat verhoudings genees, wat die greep van sonde breek en wat lewe bring waar daar absoluut niks was nie.Vra jouself dus vandag af: is my geloof net mooi praatjies, of het God se krag my werklik verander?Want kyk, wanneer die Gees van Christus in jou woon, dan práát jy nie net van die evangelie nie – jy wýs dit. En dit is die soort krag wat hierdie wêreld eenvoudig nie kan ignoreer nie. Trouens, dit is presies die soort krag wat die wêreld nou nodig het.Dit is God se Woord. Vars … vir jou … vandag.Support the showEnjoying The Content?For the price of a cup of coffee each month, you can enable Christianityworks to reach 10,000+ people with a message about the love of Jesus!DONATE R50 MONTHLY

Send us Fan MailGoeiedag, 'n Heerlike, geseënde lentetyd vir jou!Ek is Jokkie Gauché en hier is VARSVANDAG se Tweede Nuusbrief vir September.Sjoe, kan jy glo dit is alweer lente? Ons hoop dit gaan sommer baie goed met jou en dat jy die warmer dae en vroeë oggendsonnetjie net soveel soos ons geniet. Die nuwe seisoen bring nuwe energie, en dit is die perfekte tyd om vir 'n oomblik asem te skep en te kyk na al die mooi dinge wat die Here vir ons gee. In hierdie nuusbrief wil ons sommer net 'n bietjie liefde en inspirasie met jou deel—en wys hoe ons intekenaars se terugvoer ons harte warm laat klop!Hier is ‘n getuienis wat ons ontvang het:Joan Kilian sê: Baie dankie vir die "VARS-"boodskappe wat elke oggend vir my soveel betekenis het. So baie daarvan is "spot on."Vanoggend se boodskap "Die vreugde om ja te sê" spreek weer eens tot my.  Ek is besig om Kolossense te lees en dit bevestig juis dat ons God se wil moet doen.   Baie dankie aan almal by Christianityworks wat hierdie boodskappe elke dag uitstuur en spesiaal aan Berni wat GOD gehoorsaam. Mag julle geseënd wees in alles wat julle doen. Jesus liefde.Hier is nog ‘n paar kortetjies: ·      Dankie julle! Ek is absoluut mal oor die praktiese boodskappe. Ek deel dit in my klaskamer, stuur dit vir my vriende aan, en gebruik dit natuurlik vir my eie stilte-tyd saam met die Here.·      Dankie dat julle hierdie daaglikse e-posse stuur, julle ouens is tops!"·      Sjoe! My voete is twee keer in die laaste paar dae sommer onder my uitgeslaan deur julle boodskappe! Ek wil sommer my arms in die lug gooi en jubel oor die Waarheid daarvan. Dit was net die regte vonk om my geloof in Jesus Christus weer nuwe lewe te gee. Baie dankie!·      Hierdie inspirerende boodskappe maak sommer my hele dag. Dit voel altyd of dit my situasie presies aanspreek, nog voor ek selfs weet ek het dit nodig! Julle is amazing!Dankie dat jy deel is van hierdie bediening — jou betrokkenheid en gebede beteken vir ons meer as wat woorde kan sê. Ons nooi jou hartlik uit om jou gebedsversoeke na afrikaans@christianityworks.com te stuur wanneer jy wil hê ons gebedspan moet saam met jou bid. Ons hoor altyd graag van jou; stuur ook gerus jou getuienis of terugvoer oor die materiaal vir ons aan. As die Here dit op jou hart lê om ons Suid-Afrikaanse bediening finansieel te ondersteun, kan jy eenvoudig die skakel hieronder gebruik. So kan jy op ‘n praktiese wyse ook meewerk om die boodskap van die Koninkryk van Jesus Christus tot in die verste uithoeke van die aarde uit te dra.Moenie vergeet om vir jou land te bid nie!Seënwense en mooi loop!Van Jokkie, Annelie en die VARS-span Support the showEnjoying The Content?For the price of a cup of coffee each month, you can enable Christianityworks to reach 10,000+ people with a message about the love of Jesus!DONATE R50 MONTHLY

Playlist: The Astral Prophets - Into NothingDempsey Bolton - GIANTSNyxenelle, Chloe Stankowski - Go HardJackie Art - camera phoneKTheChosen, Tommy, Vars, Arlo Maverick - Stephen Ave to Whyte AveHalfcut & Cole The God - A Man Named ColeGood Grief. - Waiting for the Day0Stella - Fighting to Get AlongMiesha & The Spanks - Good BoysSHY FRiEND - NEVER BEEN A SINNERBrayden Bell - Biggest FanThe Crickettes - Food, Stuff, and TrainsErika Mae - Nobody's FoolAlice Awake - Rabbit Hole

Send us Fan MailRomeine12:21 Moet jou nie deur die kwaad laat oorwin nie, maar oorwin die kwaad deur die goeie. Wat doen jy wanneer iemand jou te na kom? Ek bedoel... jou régtig te na kom? Instinktief wil ons hulle in gelyke munt terugbetaal. Ons wil wys ons is reg, ons wil ons trots beskerm, nè? Maar op daardie oomblik het jy 'n keuse: óf jy slaan terug... óf jy stop die kwaad.Dink aan Corrie ten Boom. Sy het die hel van 'n Nazi-konsentrasiekamp oorleef, maar haar suster het daar gesterf. Toe sy jare later 'n toespraak oor vergifnis hou, stap 'n man na haar toe en steek sy hand uit. Corrie se bloed het koud geword – sy het hom dadelik herken as een van die wreedste wagte uit háár kamp.Sy het alle reg gehad om wraak te neem en hom voor almal te ontmasker. Haar hele wese het geskree om om te draai.Maar sy het geweet sy het 'n keuse. Sy het gebid: Jesus, help my. Toe steek sy haar hand uit en kies vrede bo wraak. Sy het die kwaad gestop.Paulus het aan die Christene in Rome met 'n samelewing deurdrenk van geweld, trots en wraak geskryf. Hy gee vir hulle hierdie radikale opdrag:Romeine 12:21 : Moet jou nie deur die kwaad laat oorwin nie, maar oorwin die kwaad deur die goeie.Kyk, wraak gooi net olie op die vuur van die kwaad, maar genade blus dit uit.So, wanneer jy weer die versoeking voel om terug te kap, onthou: oorwinning kom nie van terugslaan nie. Dit kom wanneer jy liefhet... veral wanneer dit jou die meeste kos.Want dis hoe die kwaad verslaan word – een goeie daad op 'n slag.Moet jou nie deur die kwaad laat oorwin nie, maar oorwin die kwaad deur die goeie.Dis God se Woord. Vars … vir jou … vandag. Support the showEnjoying The Content?For the price of a cup of coffee each month, you can enable Christianityworks to reach 10,000+ people with a message about the love of Jesus!DONATE R50 MONTHLY

Send us Fan MailHaggai 1:4 Is dit nou die tyd vir julle om in pragtige huise te woon terwyl my huis in puin lê?Jy ken daardie gevoel wanneer die lewe regtig besig raak – sperdatums, rekeninge, familie, projekte, en voor jy jou kon kry, het God van jou lys afgegly. Nou-ja, jy sê vir jouself dit is net tydelik … dat jy na Hom sal terugkeer sodra dinge bedaar. Maar op een of ander manier gebeur dit nooit nie.Dis presies wat in Israel gebeur het. Hulle het uit ballingskap in Babilon teruggekeer om Jerusalem en natuurlik die Tempel te herbou. Maar soos die jare verbygegaan het, het hulle vasgevang geraak in die bou van hul eie huise; hulle eie sakke gevul en besig geword met hul eie dinge. God het deur sy profeet met sy volk gepraat:Haggai 1:4 Is dit nou die tyd vir julle om in pragtige huise te woon terwyl my huis in puin lê?God het nie die feit dat hulle hul eie huise gebou het veroordeel nie; Hy het gewys hulle harte is op die verkeerde plek. Hulle wou God se seëninge hê sonder om plek te maak vir sy teenwoordigheid. Die droogtes en die teleurstellings wat daarna gekom het, was God se manier om te sê: Haai, julle het My vergeet.Ons bou dalk nie vandag tempels nie, maar die reël ​​tel steeds. Wanneer ons gerief belangriker as ons ​​roeping word, en wanneer ons planne geen plek vir God se wil het nie, droog ons  geestelik op.So, neem vandag ‘n bietjie voorraad op. Waaraan bestee jy jou energie, jou passie en jou tyd? Wat trek jou - bietjie vir bietjie - weg van God af? Diep binne is daar daardie ongemaklike gevoel, nè? Daar is net nie ware vrede nie, daar is net nie ware vreugde nie.Maar glo my, wanneer jy God eerste stel, val alles in plek. Soek Hom nóg voor jou volgende sperdatum, voor jou volgende afleiding. Kyk hoe herbou Hy dít wat werklik saak maak.Dis God se Woord. Vars ... vir jou ... vandag.Support the showEnjoying The Content?For the price of a cup of coffee each month, you can enable Christianityworks to reach 10,000+ people with a message about the love of Jesus!DONATE R50 MONTHLY

Repetition är kunskapens moder sägs det och när det kommer till att skaffa sig en bra struktur för livet & vardagen så kan nog många av oss behöva en eller tre friendly reminders. Så här är hon igen, med fortsättningskursen i struktur, vår raka men väldigt friendly strukturcoach Linn Edlund. Hon är tillbaks för att bland annat reda ut varför vi fortsätter tro att vi kommer ihåg allt i huvudet om och om igen, trots att vi vet att det kostar oss tid, energi och pengar. Några godisar i veckans poddpåse: - Varför skäms så många för att be om hjälp med sin röra och vad har egentligen skuld och skam med to-do-listor att göra? - Linn ger sin bästa strategi för att hitta EN plats för dina att-göra-listor (oavsett om du är team papper & penna eller superdigital), - Hur du och din partner kan sluta gruffas om hushållssysslorna utan att skriva listor åt varandra - Vad en Admin night är och varför den egentligen kom till - Och så får vi höra om hur Lasse blev av med några av sina kära brandskyddspärmar (och ingenting brann upp). Varsågoda - ett avsnitt som kan ge dig en himla massa trevliga to-do's, så häng med och anteckna, för tipsen haglar när Linn strukturerar upp världen! ------------------------------------- Köp vår guide Skapa din bästa vardag till sommarpris - sista chansen! > tinyurl.nu/Cr8Op1 ------------------------------------- Häng med Bortom ekorrhjulet på Substack - som Internet var förr! > substack.com/@bortomekorrhjuletpodcast - här kan alla hänga! > Stöd podden som betalande prenumerant på nyhetsbrevet "Skapa din bästa vardag" - tips, expertintervjuer, lives & annat: bortomekorrhjulet.substack.com/ PODDENS EVIGA TACKLISTA ------------------------------------- Tack Ida Kabel på Dagny Records för eminent klippning! >> studiodagny.com/ Tack Sven Karlsson

Send us Fan MailNahum 1:3 "Die Here is lankmoedig, maar Sy krag is groot, en Hy laat geen skuldige ongestraf nie. Hy kom in rukwind en storm, wolke is die stof onder sy voete. Dit is snaaks hoe graag ons reg en geregtigheid wil sien - maar net nie wanneer ons fouteer nie. Wanneer mense óns te na kom, wil ons hê God moet dadelik ingryp. Maar wanneer óns droogmaak, wil ons hê Hy moet wag. Hy moet verstaan. Hy moet ons 'n bietjie kans gee. Dit is nogal selfsugtig, nè?Hierdie spanning - genade vir my, maar straf vir hulle - is so oud soos die mensdom self. Dit is presies waaroor dit hier gaan in:Nahum 1:3: Die Here is lankmoedig, maar Sy krag is groot, en Hy laat geen skuldige ongestraf nie. Hy kom in rukwind en storm, wolke is die stof onder sy voete.Die profeet Nahum het hier gepraat oor die magtige Assiriese Ryk. Hulle was bekend vir hul verskriklike wreedheid en onderdrukking. God het hulle op vorige geleenthede gebruik om sy eie volk te dissiplineer, maar nou was dit tyd vir geregtigheid. God was nie van plan om hulle geweld vir altyd te ignoreer nie.En tog herinner Nahum ons daaraan dat God lankmoedig is. Hy hou geregtigheid en barmhartigheid in perfekte balans. Dit is iets waarmee óns sukkel. Kom ons wees eerlik: Ons veroordeel ander vinnig, maar verskoon onsself maklik. God werk nie so nie. Sy geregtigheid is heilig en sy barmhartigheid is geduldig.So, voor jy vandag geregtigheid van God eis vir dit wat aan jou gedoen is, stop net vir 'n oomblik. Dank Hom eerder vir sy barmhartigheid teenoor jóú. Want dieselfde Hand wat die kwaad oordeel, reik ook vandag uit om te vergewe.Dit is God se Woord. Vars… vir jou… vandag.Support the showEnjoying The Content?For the price of a cup of coffee each month, you can enable Christianityworks to reach 10,000+ people with a message about the love of Jesus!DONATE R50 MONTHLY

Send us Fan MailJona 2:8 Dié wat op nuttelose afgode vertrou, verlaat Hom wat liefde aan hulle betoon.Ons het almal drome. ‘n Huis, ‘n goeie loopbaan - die suksesverhaal wat ons stilletjies in ons gedagtes bou. En niks daarvan is verkeerd nie … totdat die droom ons begin besit. Totdat jou eie strewe na geluk stil-stil God se plek in jou lewe inneem.Lank, lank gelede het Jona ook sy eie planne gehad. Maar toe vra God hom om iets moeiliks te doen. Hy moes die mense van Nineve -'n rowwe vyandige stad - gaan waarsku dat God hulle gaan vernietig indien hulle nie hul lewens verander nie. Jona wou niks weet nie. Hy hardloop toe in die teenoorgestelde rigting, klim op ‘n skip, en probeer sy eie storie skryf. Maar toe bars 'n geweldige storm los, en Jona word oorboord gegooi. Ons ken die storie: 'n groot vis sluk hom in. En in daardie drie dae se stikdonkerte het hy uiteindelik tot sy sinne gekom. Uit diep wanhoop, het hy die volgende woorde gebid:Jona 2:8 Wie vals gode aanbid, minag God se goedheid. Jona het besef dat sy eie plannetjies vir hom belangriker as God was. Die oomblik wanneer ons ons sukses, plesier, beheer of selfs ons mooiste drome aanbid, gooi ons ons enigste anker weg.Ons almal het drome vir die toekoms, wat om onsself draai. Maar die moeilike vraag is: het my drome my afgod geword? Stel ek my begeertes bo God se wil?Miskien vra God jou om op te hou om weg te hardloop. Om daardie droom wat sý plek ingeneem het, neer te lê. Want die oomblik wanneer jy omdraai, gaan jy tot dieselfde wonderlike besef as Jona kom: die God vir wie jy gevlug het, is die Een wat jou liefhet, jou red en jou vervul.Dis God se Woord. Vars … vir jou … vandag. Support the showEnjoying The Content?For the price of a cup of coffee each month, you can enable Christianityworks to reach 10,000+ people with a message about the love of Jesus!DONATE R50 MONTHLY

Send us Fan MailMaleagi 3:10 Bring die volle tiende na die voorraadkamer toe sodat daar iets te ete in my huis kan wees, en toets My hierin, sê die Here die  Almagtige.Toets My of Ek nie die vensters van die hemel vir julle sal oopmaak en vir julle reën sal uitgiet, meer as wat julle kan gebruik nie. Het jy al ooit op ‘n punt gekom waar dit net nie vir jou moontlik gevoel het om die regte ding te doen nie? Jy weet presies wat God vra—om te gee, te vergewe, of te laat gaan—maar dit maak net nie sin nie. Die risiko voel te groot, en jou hart fluister: Ek kan dit nie bekostig nie.Dit is presies hoe Israel gevoel het in die tyd van die profeet Maleagi. Die mense het opgehou gee, opgehou vertrou, en net begin opgaar. Dit was moeilike tye, en hulle geloof was op ‘n absolute laagtepunt; hulle het net aan hulself gedink. Maar toe die volk so moedeloos was, sê God iets ongeloofliks. Dit is die teenoorgestelde van al die ander wette wat sê dat jy Hom nié mag toets nie:Maleagi 3:10: Bring die volle tiende na die voorraadkamer toe sodat daar iets te ete in my huis kan wees, en toets My hierin, sê die Here die Almagtige. Toets My of Ek nie die vensters van die hemel vir julle sal oopmaak en vir julle reën sal uitgiet, meer as wat julle kan gebruik nie. Kom ons wees eerlik: God het nie gestres oor hulle geld nie. Die Psalmis vertel immers Hy besit die beeste op 'n duisend heuwels. Ja-nee, Hy is nie verleë oor ons ou bydraetjie nie; Hy besit die hele spul!  God wou beslis nie hulle geld hê nie; Hy wou hulle vertroue hê.Wanneer mense Hom uit opstandigheid getoets het, was dit 'n sonde. Maar hier? Hier nooi Hy sy volk om Hom te toets. Wanneer jy met 'n oop hand gee, wys jy dat jou hart glo dat God sal voorsien—ten spyte van hoe desperaat dinge lyk.So, wat is daardie ding wat God vandag van jou vra wat vir jou te ‘duur' voel? Doen dit in elk geval. Want wanneer jy God met oop hande vertrou, sal jy vinnig agterkom: God gee altyd meer as wat jy gee.Dit is God se Woord. Vars … vir jou … vandag.Support the showEnjoying The Content?For the price of a cup of coffee each month, you can enable Christianityworks to reach 10,000+ people with a message about the love of Jesus!DONATE R50 MONTHLY

Send us Fan MailJob 23:10 Hy ken my pad; as Hy my toets, is ek suiwer soos goud. Daar is seisoene in elkeen se lewe wanneer dit voel asof God ver weg is - nou praat ek nie van in teorie nie... maar van die wrede realiteit van die lewe. Jy hou aan om die regte dinge te doen. Jy bid, jy dien, jy druk deur - en tog val alles uitmekaar. Jy kan nie sy hand raaksien nie, jy kan nie sy teenwoordigheid voel nie. En die stilte ...voel soos verlatenheid.Die sendeling, Amy Carmichael, was die laaste twintig jaar van haar lewe bedlêend ná 'n ernstige val. Haar bediening was verby, haar krag was weg. Maar uit daardie siekbed skryf sy: God het my nog nooit in die steek gelaat nie, en Hy sal jou ook nie in die steek laat nie.Ten spyte van haar omstandighede het Amy aangehou skryf, bid en vertrou. Sy het bo haar pyn uitgestyg, en haar boeke het miljoene mense geïnspireer. Toe sy later teruggekyk het, het sy besef: God het nie net haar werk gesuiwer nie, Hy het diep binne-in haar hart gewerk.Job 23:10 Hy ken my pad; as Hy my toets, is ek suiwer soos goud.Job het nie uit 'n leunstoel gepraat nie… hy het letterlik in die as gesit. Hy het sy kinders, sy rykdom, sy gesondheid en sy reputasie verloor. Alles wat sy lewe veilig gemaak het, was weg. En boonop kon hy nie God se stem hoor nie. Tog het hy vertrou dat God steeds besig was met 'n plan wat hy nie kon sien nie.Dit is die groot raaisel van geloof: God doen dikwels sy diepste werk wanneer Hy die stilste is. 'n Toets is nie daar om jou swakheid te wys nie - dit is daar sodat sý krag in jou gesien kan word. Almal van ons leef met hierdie letsels. Jy weet presies waarvan ek praat. Miskien sit jy selfs nóú in so 'n donker tyd. As jy vandag deur die donker stap... hou op om God te “probeer voel”. Begin bloot vertrou dat Hy dáár is. Want selfs in die stilte is God besig om goud te louter.Dit is God se Woord. Vars … vir jou … vandag. Support the showEnjoying The Content?For the price of a cup of coffee each month, you can enable Christianityworks to reach 10,000+ people with a message about the love of Jesus!DONATE R50 MONTHLY

Send us Fan MailNahum 1:7-8 Die Here is goed, Hy is 'n toevlug in tyd van nood, Hy sorg vir dié wat by Hom skuil. Maar met 'n vloed wat alles meesleur, vee Hy die plek weg waar Nineve lê, jaag Hy sy vyande die duisternis in. Chaos, oorloë, korrupsie en onreg. Dis die wêreld waarin ons leef. Hoeveel glo jy vandag nog in God se goedheid op 'n skaal van nul tot tien?In die laat 1940's, ná die gruwels van die Tweede Wêreldoorlog, het stede in puin gelê. Miljoene mense was sonder heenkome, en die wêreld se morele kompas was stukkend. Tog het daar uit daardie verwoesting iets buitengewoons gekom: die Marshall-plan.In plaas daarvan om hulle vyande te verpletter, het die VSA enorme hulpbronne ingepomp om Europa en Japan te herbou. Daardie besluit het vernietiging in herstel verander; barmhartigheid in plaas van wraak.En hier staan dit in:Nahum 1:7-8 Die Here is goed, Hy is 'n toevlug in tyd van nood, Hy sorg vir dié wat by Hom skuil. Maar met 'n vloed wat alles meesleur, vee Hy die plek weg waar Nineve lê, jaag Hy sy vyande die duisternis in.Die profeet Nahum het dít geskryf toe die wrede Assiriërs sy land verwoes het. Vir God se mense was daar 'n dubbele belofte: beskerming vir almal wat Hom vertrou, maar vernietiging vir diegene wat teen Hom veg.Dit is vandag nog waar. As jy na God toe hardloop, is Hy jou veilige vesting. Maar as jy kies om jou eie pad te loop—vol gierigheid, geweld en trots—sal sy oordeel soos 'n vloedgolf kom.So, op jou eie skaal vandag... hoe goed is jou God? Jou antwoord gaan wys waar jy staan wanneer die storms losbars.Dit is God se Woord. Vars … vir jou … vandag. Support the showEnjoying The Content?For the price of a cup of coffee each month, you can enable Christianityworks to reach 10,000+ people with a message about the love of Jesus!DONATE R50 MONTHLY

Send us Fan Mail1 Samuel 12:24 Wees net gehoorsaam aan die Here en dien Hom opreg en met julle hele hart. Let op die groot dinge wat Hy vir julle gedoen het.Voel jy soms asof dinge net nie wil uitwerk nie? Daardie tye toe jy gebid het, gehoorsaam was… en niks verander het nie. Wanneer 'n kompromie makliker lyk, stilte veiliger voel, en om moed op te gee aanloklik klink. Jou hart fluister: Waarom moet ek nog aanhou?In 1555 is Hugh Latimer, die voormalige biskop van Worcester in Engeland, in die tronk gegooi omdat hy tydens Engeland se vervolging van die Protestante die Evangelie verkondig het.Terwyl hy saam met sy medegelowige, Nicholas Ridley, op die brandstapel gestaan het, kon hy sy geloof versaak en so sy lewe behou het.Maar, in plaas daarvan het hy terwyl hy besig is om te sterf, uitgeroep: Wees vol moed, meneer Ridley, en staan jou man; ons sal vandag, deur God se genade, 'n kers in Engeland aansteek wat nooit uitgedoof sal word nie. Hulle standvastige geloof het 'n nuwe vlaag van hoop geïnspireer onder Engelse gelowiges wat geweier het om bes te gee. Hierdie vasberadenheid het 'n vuur aangesteek wat vandag nog brand.1 Samuel 12:24: Wees net gehoorsaam aan die Here en dien Hom opreg en met julle hele hart. Let op die groot dinge wat Hy vir julle gedoen het.Dit is die woorde van die profeet Samuel aan Israel toe hulle weggedraai het van God om op 'n koning te vertrou. Samuel het vir hulle gesê: die krag om aan te hou, kom nie uit vrees of uit ‘n mens se eie wilskrag nie. Dit word gebore wanneer jy onthou hoe getrou God nog altyd was.Dit is die kern van die saak — dink aan die groot dinge wat Hy vir jou gedoen het. Wanneer gehoorsaamheid te swaar voel, kyk terug. Onthou sy barmhartigheid, sy geduld, sy kruis. Dankbaarheid laat die moed weer opvlam.So, as dit vandag onmoontlik voel om God te eer, as dit vandag voel asof jy nie kan asem kry nie, hou op spartel en begin onthou. Want dieselfde God wat jou tot hier gedra het … sal jou die res van die pad dra.Onthou die wonderlike dinge wat Hy vir jou gedoen het.Dit is God se Woord. Vars … vir jou … vandag. Support the showEnjoying The Content?For the price of a cup of coffee each month, you can enable Christianityworks to reach 10,000+ people with a message about the love of Jesus!DONATE R50 MONTHLY

Johan, C-G och Göran tampas med filmfolk, brandmän och strippor i kulörta inredningar – naturligtvis, det är Almodóvars nya, Autofiktion. Sedan går färden till Manchester och manusfantomen Russell T Davies' upprivande dramaserie på HBO Max, Tip toe. Puh! Tack och lov att vi kan slappna av med några westernrullar och Damon ”Lost och Leftovers” Lindelofs nya SF-drapa! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Send us Fan MailHosea 10:12 Ek het gesê: “Saai volgens my wil, en julle sal my liefde oes. Ploeg vir julle 'n nuwe land! Dit is nou die tyd om na my wil te vra sodat Ek kan kom en weldade oor julle uitgiet.” Wat doen jy wanneer jy agterkom dat jou hart begin hard word? Dit gebeur nie sommer oornag nie, maar so bietjie vir bietjie. Wat doen jy wanneer bitterheid jou hoop steel; wanneer gebed heeltemal nutteloos voel, en wanneer jy wéét iets is fout, maar jy kan nie presies jou vinger daarop lê nie? Jy kan aanhou maak asof alles reg is … óf jy kan begin grawe.Boere weet wat gebeur as jy 'n landery te lank onbewerk laat lê; die boonste laag word kliphard en die water hardloop net weg. Goeie saad kan dan glad nie wortel skiet nie. Gedurende die groot droogte van die 1930's in Amerika – die bekende "Dust Bowl" – het duisende boere hierdie les op die moeilike manier geleer. Omdat die grond oorbewerk en afgeskeep was, kon dit glad nie meer die reën absorbeer nie. Maar die paar boere wat diep geploeg het om die grond weer te herstel, het gesien hoe die groen lote teruggekom het toe die reën uiteindelik geval het.Dit is presies die prentjie wat die profeet Hosea skilder wanneer hy God se volk terugroep na die Here toe:Hosea 10:12: Ek het gesê: “Saai volgens my wil, en julle sal my liefde oes. Ploeg vir julle 'n nuwe land! Dit is nou die tyd om na my wil te vra sodat Ek kan kom en weldade oor julle uitgiet.”Israel se gerieflike lewe het hulle harte soos daardie harde braakgrond gemaak – droog, hardkoppig, selftevrede. Wat was God se boodskap aan hulle? Moenie vir die reën wag voor julle begin ploeg nie. Breek eers die harde grond oop.Miskien is dit presies waar jy jouself vandag bevind. Miskien het die lewe se druk, teleurstellings en afleidings jou hart kliphard gemaak. Doen jouself 'n groot guns. Tel die ploeg van bekering op. Ploeg die grond van jou siel om. Want wanneer jy Hom regtig eerlik soek, stuur God altyd die reën.Dit is God se Woord. Vars … vir jou … vandag. Support the showEnjoying The Content?For the price of a cup of coffee each month, you can enable Christianityworks to reach 10,000+ people with a message about the love of Jesus!DONATE R50 MONTHLY

Send us Fan MailJesaja 30:15 So het die Here my God, die Heilige van Israel, gesê: As julle julle bekeer en tot rus kom, sal julle gered word. Julle krag lê in stil wees en vertroue hê.” Ons leef in 'n wêreld wat heeltyd skree dat ons meer moet doen, harder moet probeer en dinge nóú moet uitsorteer. En ons val elke keer in daardie strik! Wanneer dinge skeefloop, wil ons dadelik oorgaan tot aksie. Ons begin e-posse stuur, oproepe maak en planne beraam. Maar het jy al agtergekom dat hoe meer jy rondskarrel, hoe vinniger waai jou vrede by die venster uit. Dink net aan jou selfoon wat vries. Wat doen jy? Jy begin wild op die skerm tik, swiep en uit frustrasie knoppies druk. Maar dit maak die ding net erger! Totdat jy onthou: wag so bietjie, los hom uit, en gee hom kans om self reg te kom.Soms maak stilte dinge reg wat harde werk nie kan nie. Dit is presies wat God vir sy mense deur die profeet Jesaja wou leer.Jesaja 30:15: So het die Here my God, die Heilige van Israel, gesê: As julle julle bekeer en tot rus kom, sal julle gered word. Julle krag lê in stil wees en vertroue hê.”Die mense van Juda was destyds in groot gevaar. Maar in plaas daarvan dat hulle na God toe hardloop, het hulle vinnig met die leër van Egipte probeer vriende maak. Hulle het hul eie slim planne meer vertrou as vir God. Hulle wou eerder besig lyk as om stil te raak.Maar God se aanbod was baie duidelik: Kom terug na My toe. Rus. Vertrou. Dít is waar ware krag lê. Nie in paniek en beheer nie, maar in die rustige wete dat God reeds besig is om agter die skerms te werk.So, in watter situasie probeer jy vandag woes planne maak en dinge forseer? Miskien is dit tyd om op te hou veg en net bietjie te rus. Want soms is die kragtigste ding wat jy kan doen... om stil te wees voor God wat reeds vir jóú veg.Onthou hierdie woorde van die Here vandag: Julle krag lê in stil wees en vertroue hê.”Dis God se Woord. Vars ... vir jou ... vandag.Support the showEnjoying The Content?For the price of a cup of coffee each month, you can enable Christianityworks to reach 10,000+ people with a message about the love of Jesus!DONATE R50 MONTHLY

Send us Fan MailPrediker 3:1-4 Elke ding het sy vaste tyd, elke ding in hierdie wêreld het sy tyd: daar is 'n tyd om gebore te word, 'n tyd om te sterwe, 'n tyd om te plant, 'n tyd om plante uit te trek, 'n tyd om 'n lewe te neem, 'n tyd om 'n lewe te red, 'n tyd om af te breek, 'n tyd om te bou, 'n tyd om te huil, 'n tyd om te lag, 'n tyd om te treur, 'n tyd om van blydskap te dans, ...daar is 'n tyd om gebore te word, 'n tyd om te sterwe,… 'n tyd om 'n lewe te neem, 'n tyd om 'n lewe te red,”  Dis genoeg om jou kop te laat draai. Dis direk uit God se Woord. Regtig? Hoe is ek en jy veronderstel om vrede te vind as daar soveel verskillende dinge teenoor mekaar gestel word?Dink so daaraan: Dit is soos om iemand in die gimnasium dop te hou. Hy vertrek sy gesig al te aaklig terwyl hy swaar gewigte optel en baie sweet. Maar aan die einde glimlag hy vol vreugde omdat hy dit reggekry het. In die gimnasium is pyn en krag nie vyande nie; hulle werk saam. Dit is juis daardie verskriklike struikelblok wat jou sterk maak.Prediker 3:1-4 Elke ding het sy vaste tyd, elke ding in hierdie wêreld het sy tyd: daar is 'n tyd om gebore te word, 'n tyd om te sterwe, 'n tyd om te plant, 'n tyd om plante uit te trek, 'n tyd om 'n lewe te neem, 'n tyd om 'n lewe te red, 'n tyd om af te breek, 'n tyd om te bou, 'n tyd om te huil, 'n tyd om te lag, 'n tyd om te treur, 'n tyd om van blydskap te dans,Salomo, die wyse koning van Israel, het daardie woorde laat in sy lewe geskryf, toe hy teruggekyk het oor alles wat hy deurgemaak het en besef het dat die lewe se seisoene nie lukraak is nie. Elkeen is deel van God se plan.In 'n kultuur wat obsessief is oor gemak en plesier, wil ons werklik die moeilike seisoene ten alle koste vermy. Tog is dit juis dié tye wanneer God ons die diepste vorm.So, as jy in 'n seisoen van hartseer of stryd is, moenie dit wegwens nie. Laat God dit gebruik. Want binne sy tydsberekening is elke seisoen 'n geskenk. Elke traan word die grond waaruit vreugde groei.Dis God se Woord. Vars ... vir jou ... vandag.Support the showEnjoying The Content?For the price of a cup of coffee each month, you can enable Christianityworks to reach 10,000+ people with a message about the love of Jesus!DONATE R50 MONTHLY

Send us Fan MailPsalm 37:4 Vind jou vreugde in die Here, en Hy sal jou gee wat jou hart begeer. Was jy al ooit in die versoeking om God soos 'n koeldrankoutomaat te behandel? Jy gooi 'n gebed in, druk die regte knoppie – gesondheid, sukses of geluk – en wag dat jou seën uitval. Maar wanneer dit nie gebeur nie, raak jy sommer gefrustreerd. Is dit regtig waaroor geloof gaan?Charles Colson, destyds een van die magtigste manne in die Nixon-Withuis, was bekend as die president se "laksman" – die meedoënlose politieke handlanger wat die president se vuilwerk moes doen en teenstanders sonder enige gewetenswroeging moes uitskakel. Hy was ambisieus en het homself as onaantasbaar beskou. Maar toe die Watergate-skandaal die leegheid van sy sukses blootgelê het, het hy voor Christus op sy knieë geval en sy lewe aan Hom oorgegee.In die tronk het hy 'n vreugde ontdek wat hy nog nooit vantevore geken het nie. Hy het 'n bediening dwarsdeur die wêreld begin wat hoop sou bring aan talle gevangenes. Dít wat in skande begin het, het verander in 'n getuienis van God se transformerende genade.Psalm 37:4 Vind jou vreugde in die Here, en Hy sal jou gee wat jou hart begeer.Dawid het hierdie psalm geskryf wat wys dat die sukses van goddelose mense vinnig verdwyn, maar dat mense wat op God  vertrou, blywende vrede kry. Dit is nie 'n belofte dat God vir ons alles sal gee wat ons wil hê nie. Dit is eerder 'n uitnodiging om Hom toe te laat om ons begeertes te verander.Wanneer ons regtig ons vreugde in die Here vind – wanneer Hy ons middelpunt en ons geluk is – dan gee Hy nie net wat ons vra nie. Hy verander ons wense en gee vir ons selfs beter uitkomste as wat ons kon dink.So, as jou gebede en behoeftes vandag onbeantwoord voel, is dit miskien omdat God jou hart wil verander, en nie sý plan nie.Fokus eers op Hom … en jy sal agterkom dat dít wat jy die hele tyd wou gehad het, net hier is: dis Jesus self.Dis God se Woord. Vars … vir jou … vandag. Support the showEnjoying The Content?For the price of a cup of coffee each month, you can enable Christianityworks to reach 10,000+ people with a message about the love of Jesus!DONATE R50 MONTHLY

Send us Fan MailPsalm 50:21 “Moet Ek stilbly as jy sulke dinge doen? Dan sal jy dink Ek het soos jy geword! Nee, Ek eis rekenskap van jou, Ek kla jou aan! Waarom is ons sulke ‘experts' as dit kom by verskonings om ons eie slegte gedrag te regverdig? Ons verloor ons humeur – wel, ‘dis hulle skuld.' Ons skinder – wel, net omdat ons ‘besorg' is. Ons ignoreer iemand se hulpkreet – net omdat ons ‘te besig' is. Dis verstommend hoe maklik ons dinge, wat ons in ons harte weet verkeerd is, kan probeer regverdig.Dis 'n bietjie soos in 'n huwelik, wanneer een maat aanhou verskonings maak. “Ek wou nie my humeur verloor nie.” “Jy is te sensitief.” Met verloop van tyd bou daardie klein verskilletjies en irritasies op. En dit veroorsaak bitterheid. Uiteindelik breek die waarheid deur – en dit maak seer. Want verskonings genees nie verhoudings nie. Eerlikheid wel.Dis presies wat gebeur het toe God sy volk gekonfronteer het. Uiterlik was hulle godsdienstig – hulle het offerandes gebring, samekomste bygewoon – maar hulle lewens het 'n ander storie vertel. En op ‘n dag sê Hy die volgende vir hulle: Psalm 50:21 “Moet Ek stilbly as jy sulke dinge doen? Dan sal jy dink Ek het soos jy geword! Nee, Ek eis rekenskap van jou, Ek kla jou aan!Hulle het gedink God se geduld beteken dat Hy tevrede is met hulle gedrag. Hulle het gedink sy stilte beteken dat Hy saamstem met hulle lewenswyse. Maar Hy was gereed om rekenskap van hulle te vra. Ja, God het baie geduld. Ja, Hy gee vir ons tyd en kans om self na Hom toe terug te draai. Maar op die ou end, juis as gevolg van sy groot liefde, kom daar 'n einde aan sy geduld. Hierdie genadetyd is nie onbeperk nie.En God gee ons altyd eers die kans om dít wat ons in ons hart ronddra, self te erken en reg te maak.So, is daar dalk iets wat jy altyd as verskoning gebruik? 'n Gesindheid, gewoonte of reaksie wat jy vir jouself wil regverdig? Doen jouself 'n guns. Moenie wag totdat God rekenskap vra nie. Neem dit nóú na Hom toe. Want sy goedheid en liefde sal altyd daar wees wanneer jy eerlik is.Dis God se Woord. Vars ... vir jou ... vandag.Support the showEnjoying The Content?For the price of a cup of coffee each month, you can enable Christianityworks to reach 10,000+ people with a message about the love of Jesus!DONATE R50 MONTHLY

In Episode 161 of “The Trusted Advisor,” RSPA CEO Jim Roddy talks with Ashton Radican, VP of Sales in the Western Region for LANDI Global and 2026 RSPA W2W (Women 2 Women) Community Leader of the Year, about relationships and leadership. “The Trusted Advisor,” powered by the Retail Solutions Providers Association (RSPA), is an award-winning content series designed specifically for retail IT VARs and software providers. Our goal is to educate you on the topics of leadership, management, hiring, sales, and other small business best practices. For more insights, visit the RSPA blog at www.GoRSPA.org.  The RSPA is North America's largest community of VARs, software providers, vendors, and distributors in the retail, restaurant, and grocery verticals. The mission of the RSPA is to accelerate the success of its members in the retail technology ecosystem by providing knowledge and connections. The organization offers member-to-member warm introductions, education, legal advice, industry advocacy, and other services to assist members with becoming and remaining successful. RSPA is most well-known for its signature events, RetailNOW and Inspire, which provide face-to-face learning and networking opportunities. Learn more by visiting www.GoRSPA.org. 

Send us Fan MailPsalm 40:8 Om u wil te doen, my God, is my een begeerte, u woord is my hele lewe Wat gebeur wanneer jy uiteindelik ophou om teë te stribbel? Ja, dis reg - dit is asof daar sommer ‘n nuwe vrede oor jou kom. Of dit nou is om iemand, wat jy gesweer het jy nóóit sou vergewe nie, te vergewe, en of dit nou is om uiteindelik daardie stap te neem wat jy so lank al uitstel. Gehoorsaamheid is moeilik, totdat dit die einste ding word wat jou vrymaak.In die vroeë 1900's het die Amerikaner William Borden - erfgenaam van die multimiljoen-dollar Borden-suiwelfortuin - sy welgestelde familie geskok. Hy het alles prysgegee om God se roeping na die sendingveld te volg. Borden is aan Yale en Princeton opgelei, maar hy het sy hele erfenis vir Christelike bediening weggegee en na China geseil om die Moslemwêreld te bereik.Op pad na die Ooste, het hy in Egipte gestop om Arabies te studeer, maar hy het siek geword en is op die vroeë ouderdom van vyf-en-twintig oorlede. Hy het nooit die sendingveld bereik nie. Maar in sy Bybel het hulle ses woorde gevind wat hy geskryf het: Geen voorbehoud. Geen omdraai. Geen spyt. Gehoorsaamheid, selfs al is dit kortgeknip; het sy grootste vreugde geword.Koning Dawid het dit verstaan. Psalm 40 was sy lied van dankbaarheid, wat hy geskryf het nadat God hom uit sy wanhoop verlos het. Psalm 40:8 Om u wil te doen, my God, is my een begeerte, u woord is my hele lewe.Dawid het nie uit vrees gehoorsaam nie, maar uit liefde vir alles wat God vir hom gedoen het. Toe God se Woord in sy hart wortel geskiet het, het gehoorsaamheid nie 'n las geword nie; dit het ‘n vreugde geword.So, as God jou vandag in ‘n rigting stuur - miskien om daardie een ding prys te gee wat jy wéét verkeerd is, maar sukkel om dit te doen – moet jy nie weerstand bied nie. Los dit. Gee dit aan Hom oor. Want vreugde begin waar weerstand eindig. Mag jy vandag ook kan sê:Om u wil te doen, my God, is my een begeerte, u woord is my hele lewe.Dis God se Woord. Vars … vir jou … vandag. Support the showEnjoying The Content?For the price of a cup of coffee each month, you can enable Christianityworks to reach 10,000+ people with a message about the love of Jesus!DONATE R50 MONTHLY

Send us Fan MailSpreuke 15:23 Daar is vreugde daarin om die regte antwoord te hê. Wat is beter as die regte woord op die regte tyd? (NLV) Het jy al opgemerk hoe maklik dit is om stil te bly wanneer jy sien iets loop verkeerd? Jy sien die fout raak; voel die gevaar; jy ervaar daardie drang om iets te sê – maar die makliker uitweg is om stil te bly. Kyk maar anderkant toe, sê jy vir jouself. Maar diep binne weet jy dit is nie reg nie.Toe president Abraham Lincoln die eerste weergawe van ‘n wet voorgestel het, het baie van sy kabinetslede sonder om te murmureer, saamgestem. Dit was 'n gewaagde stap – te gewaagd, het sommige van hulle gedink – maar hulle het nie die moed gehad om te praat nie.Een van sy ministers het egter die moed bymekaar geskraap om vir Lincoln te sê dat die tydsberekening vir die proklamering van die wet verkeerd was. Lincoln het na hom geluister, en die aankondiging uitgestel. Toe hy dit uiteindelik bekend gemaak het – nadat die lug gesuiwer en sy kabinet weer positief was – het hy die nasie oortuig en die verloop van die geskiedenis verander.Die minister se moed om die moeilike raad te gee, het nie net sy president gehelp nie, maar ook sy eie invloed en vriendskap met hom versterk.Spreuke 15:23 Daar is vreugde daarin om die regte antwoord te hê. Wat is beter as die regte woord op die regte tyd? (NLV)Ware vreugde kom nie daarvan om ongemaklike dinge te vermy nie. Dit kom wanneer jy die moed het om die waarheid in liefde te praat – op die regte tyd en op die regte manier.Daardie soort direkte raad kan iemand vir wie jy omgee, genees. Dit kan hulle help om 'n koersaanpassing te maak, of hulle bloot te beskerm. So, as God jou vandag aanspoor om jou stem te laat hoor – moet asseblief nie terugdeins nie. Die maklike roete mag jou ongemak spaar, maar 'n moedige woord wat in liefde gesê word, kan alles verander.Wie in jou lewe het daardie tydige woord van jou nou nodig?Daar is vreugde daarin om die regte antwoord te hê. Wat is beter as die regte woord op die regte tyd? (NLV)Dis God se Woord. Vars … vir jou … vandag..Support the showEnjoying The Content?For the price of a cup of coffee each month, you can enable Christianityworks to reach 10,000+ people with a message about the love of Jesus!DONATE R50 MONTHLY

Send us Fan MailGalasiërs 6:2 Dra mekaar se laste, en vervul so die wet van Christus. (20) Wat is jou instinktiewe reaksie wanneer jy gekonfronteer word met die rou, morsige realiteite van iemand anders se lewe? Die vriend wie se huwelik besig is om uitmekaar te val. Die ouer wat in verslawing verval. Die kollega wie se bitterheid elke kamer waarin hy loop, vergiftig. Wanneer sy pyn joune begin raak – leun jy nader … of staan ​​jy terug?Tydens die Amerikaanse Burgeroorlog het Clara Barton, 'n jong meisie, gewonde soldate verpleeg. Aanvanklik het sy teruggedeins vir die bloed en pyn – sy wou net omdraai en weghardloop. Maar iets diep binne-in haar het vir haar gesê om te bly.Dag ná dag het sy wonde verbind, die hande van sterwendes vasgehou en verligting vir duisende mense georganiseer. Haar volharding het uiteindelik gelei tot die stigting van die Amerikaanse Rooi Kruis – 'n simbool van medelye wat 'n hele nasie verander het.Galasiërs 6:2 Dra mekaar se laste, en vervul so die wet van Christus. (‘20)Die apostel Paulus het dit geskryf aan gelowiges wat gesukkel het om ware gemeenskap te ervaar. Sy oproep was eenvoudig maar veeleisend: dra mekaar se laste. Moenie die sorge van ander vermy nie – deel dit, want dit is presies wat Jesus vir ons gedoen het.Miskien het iemand ná aan jou vandag seer, en alles in jou wil jou laat omdraai en vlug; elke instink sê vir jou: Dit is net te veel. Maar liefde hardloop nie weg nie. Liefde bly. Liefde dra.Wie in jou wêreld het jou nou nodig om hulle by te staan? In wie se gebroke lewe roep God jou om te help, sodat jy hul sorge kan help dra? Want onthou, jou liefde kan hulle hele lewe verander.Dra mekaar se laste, en vervul so die wet van Christus.Dis God se Woord. Vars … vir jou … vandag. Support the showEnjoying The Content?For the price of a cup of coffee each month, you can enable Christianityworks to reach 10,000+ people with a message about the love of Jesus!DONATE R50 MONTHLY

Don’t miss this massive ecosystem shift! Subscribe to our Newsletter: https://theultimatepartner.com/ebook-subscribe/ Check Out UPX: https://theultimatepartner.com/experience/ Host Vince Menzione sits down with industry leaders Nicole Dziedzic, Erwin Visser, and Mira Ayad to uncover the critical transformations happening across the technology ecosystem and marketplace. The panel explores the impact of Reseller Enabled Offers (REO), the changing role of distribution into aggregation, and the immense opportunities surrounding agentic AI. They also dive into why MSPs need to ruthlessly simplify their technology stacks to make room for business value selling, and how data tools like ASPX are changing the game for proactive channel strategies. https://youtu.be/4Ox507-0l_8 Key Takeaways The marketplace has completely transformed software procurement and is now rapidly expanding into the SMB sector. Reseller Enabled Offers (REO) allow partners to own private offers on behalf of ISVs while maintaining their trusted advisor status. Ingram has introduced the MCP server to help partners automate and pull necessary distribution data seamlessly. The next few years represent a “golden age” for MSPs if they can successfully adopt, build, and operationalize AI agents. Microsoft’s ASPX platform gives partners critical usage and marketing signals to proactively target customer opportunities. MSPs must simplify their bloated technology stacks to create space for selling true business value with agentic AI. If you're ready to lead through change, elevate your business, and achieve extraordinary outcomes through the power of partnership—this is your community. At Ultimate Partner® we want leaders like you to join us in the Ultimate Partner Experience – where transformation begins. Key Tags agentic AI, Reseller Enabled Offers, MCP server, marketplace syndication, ASPX data, Agent 365, precision velocity, managed service providers, hyperscaler enablement, technology stack simplification, Ultimate Partner Experience, cloud solutions strategy, customer zero, ISV go-to-market. Transcript Nicole – Erwin – Mira Podcast [00:00:00] Mira Ayad: I think it’s a very simple formula. Start where your customer is at, like meet the customer. Where they act is not just a generic cliche state statement. [00:00:10] Vince Menzione: You can feel it happening. The ecosystem is shifting beneath us, the way hyperscalers are partnering, how AI is remaking the channel. And what it means to win in 2026. [00:00:21] Vince Menzione: Welcome to the Ultimate Partner Podcast. I’m Vince Menzi, own your host. And each week I sit down with leaders at the intersection of technology, partnerships and outcomes, the voices shaping how ecosystems actually work. We talk about what’s real, what’s changing, and what it takes to lead in this era where the partner channel isn’t just part of the strategy. [00:00:43] Vince Menzione: It is the strategy because being in the room changes everything. Let’s start. [00:00:53] Vince Menzione: We’ve got some word friends of ultimate partner coming up now, and then I’m gonna have them come up and introduce themselves. Uh, most of these people I’ve had the opportunity to meet Nicole, come on up. Come on. Good to meet you. I’m gonna have everyone introduce themselves. This guy, I never know. I’ve never met this guy before. [00:01:12] Vince Menzione: Mira, great to see you again. We gotta be on stage about a month ago. Yes. And we get to do this again while a different panel conversation. So, terrific. [00:01:22] Vince Menzione: Nicole, we’re gonna start with you on from the far end and come this way. So I’ll have you introduce yourself to, to our audience. [00:01:27] Nicole Dziedzic: Yeah. So, uh, so I lead our, uh, US business for Ingram, uh, really focused on our customer success and renewals across our vendor stack. [00:01:36] Vince Menzione: Thank you for being here. [00:01:37] Nicole Dziedzic: Okay, [00:01:37] Nicole Dziedzic: thank you. I’m excited. Awesome. [00:01:39] Erwin Visser: Yeah. Uh, great to be here again. Thanks, uh, fin for, for having us and a lot of familiar faces. So, uh, Erman, Viser, uh, I recently changed roles, so four weeks ago, uh, in Microsoft. I’m, uh, I just, uh, started to, uh, to lead the, uh, the Cloud Solutions Strategy team, uh, still in GCPS, so our global channel organization. [00:02:01] Vince Menzione: And Mira, great to see you again. [00:02:03] Mira Ayad: Same here. Yes. I’m looking forward for this conversation. We had so much fun last time. [00:02:07] Vince Menzione: Yes, [00:02:08] Vince Menzione: so [00:02:08] Vince Menzione: good. [00:02:09] Mira Ayad: My name is Mira Ayad . I’m the GM for a global Microsoft marketplace. My team leads the strategy and operations. I’ve been with Microsoft for seven months, I think, but this is not my first rodeo. [00:02:21] Mira Ayad: This is my fourth time boomeranging to Microsoft. Yeah. [00:02:26] Vince Menzione: And for context for people, we have talked about marketplace quite a bit, but the conversation has expanded at Microsoft in, in bigger ways. Uh, before, was it November that. REO was announced. [00:02:39] Nicole Dziedzic: Yes. [00:02:40] Vince Menzione: Yes. We’ll talk about that. But maybe you, you talk a little bit about the reseller enabled, uh, offers and, uh, and maybe we’ll take, we’ll take us through that and then how Ingram has been a great partner, and of course, Erwin’s organization has been really front and center with some of this. [00:02:55] Vince Menzione: So let’s go there for, let’s go first tell us, tell us about, about REO. Sure. For those and, and your, your role is, um, we had Cy on stage yesterday. But your role is front and center with the channel, with the with the reseller community. Right. Taking marketplace into the resellers. [00:03:12] Mira Ayad: Sure. So, uh, Cyril is my partner in crime. [00:03:16] Mira Ayad: He leads the marketing for marketplace. Um, my team focus across all personas that hits marketplace from an ISV to channel partners, buyers, and even the Microsoft sellers themselves. Like how can we bring that vibe and that energy? To bring marketplace, to be front and center. Um, REO is, um, a feature that we’ve launched back in November and it’s, it was a very strong statement from Microsoft of how we’re bringing the channel partners into that marketplace journey. [00:03:45] Mira Ayad: With RE Reseller enabled offers, we allow partners to own the private offer that they can extend to their customers on behalf of the SDCs. So kind of bring that scale mechanism for SDCs to access that channel community and for the channel partner to remain the trusted advisor and provide not only marketplace, um, products, but Microsoft services their own professional services. [00:04:12] Mira Ayad: And wrap that and provide a one-stop shop for customers. [00:04:17] Vince Menzione: And it’s really lit up organizations like Ingram. Nicole, I like, it’s been a maybe a minute here, like talking about the evolution of Ingram. ’cause I think back at the old role of the DTI credit, availability of product and delivery, right? Yeah. The kind of the three things. [00:04:34] Nicole Dziedzic: Yeah, and those are still really, really important to the core of how we go to market. ’cause I think we heard yesterday, every dollar of software, uh, requires a dollar of hardware. So it’s not anything that we’re getting away from. But I think, you know, the marketplaces and the automation, and really where we’ve been transforming our business over the last six to 10 years is how do we take some of that transactional work away from our partners? [00:04:57] Nicole Dziedzic: Make it simpler so that you can really focus on more strategic areas. Marketplace has been a, a heavy part of our go-to-market and something that we’ve been embracing for many years now, um, and seen a lot of success in helping the partners on that journey and helping the vendors really accelerate that with the partner community and the end customers. [00:05:15] Nicole Dziedzic: But it’s also really enabled us to look at how do we wanna show up into our partners differently, right? So as we automate our business. Help our partners automate their business. We have the opportunity to upskill our own resources. And so some of the key areas that we’ve really been focused on is our post-sales motions, and how do we really ensure that the partners customers are leveraging the technology, optimizing it, and adopting it in a much faster pace. [00:05:45] Nicole Dziedzic: So that the investments that they’re making are netting an ROIA lot quicker. Those, uh, those have been things that we have accelerated across our vendor stack. Um, and I think it’s gonna become much more important as we continue to see technology evolve, especially around AI and co-pilot’s. A huge part of what we’ve been really focused on for the last year. [00:06:05] Nicole Dziedzic: Um, the biggest thing that we’re really seeing in the market today. Not just within the MSPs, but within our end customers is that they struggle in terms of how they really get the ROI out of it quickly. Um, and so our team is very human first. Uh, we do have digital motions, but really human first to really dive into the different personas. [00:06:25] Nicole Dziedzic: How do we help them attack that from an end customer perspective? How do we really help them drive value out of those solutions? [00:06:32] Vince Menzione: So what does enablement look like for them? [00:06:34] Nicole Dziedzic: Yeah, so, um, I loved the quote, uh, from some of the folks in the last session because it’s really about meeting our customers where they are. [00:06:42] Nicole Dziedzic: And so it is a, I always call it we play in the gray and we love to play in the gray all day. Um, because our partners and our our partners customers wanna interact differently. And so we wanna make sure that we have, um, ways to interact with them across. Stack both from a digital standpoint where you can really drive efficiency through digital messaging and marketing, um, all the way up to high touch. [00:07:03] Nicole Dziedzic: So those larger customers can get, uh, hands-on training and enablement. We can do it on behalf of our partners or with our partners to really drive that into the end customer, and then that enables us to really customize it. So what personas are we going to engage with? What are the key features we’re looking to get out of it? [00:07:20] Nicole Dziedzic: Um, and largely what are the outcomes that that company is driving towards over the next 1, 2, 3 years, so we can always stay ahead of what their needs are. [00:07:29] Vince Menzione: Nice. So Erwin, what is Microsoft doing to enable this distribution channel to be more effective with partners? [00:07:36] Erwin Visser: Yeah. Uh, it’s a great question. And, and Nicole, I I love how you, uh, and, and Ingram is, is kind of really leaning in mm-hmm. [00:07:43] Erwin Visser: In driving these customer outcomes and, and helping your partners that even if needed, kind of working with your partners or stepping in front of your partners to help drive these outcomes. ’cause I, I think that’s, uh, we’re. Uh, it clearly ev you, you need to meet the customer where they is. But, uh, having helping customers adopt ai, adopt these new AI solutions agents, I think that is going to be super important for partners to drive, uh, incremental value and also the ROI for themselves as well as for the, for the customers. [00:08:14] Erwin Visser: But Microsoft is, have we, um, one of the things that we are heavily investing in at this moment is our skills platform, our scaling platform. So we, we, if, if people have followed us, we kind of revamped it in the last three, four months. Uh, and we are really not just investing now heavily in technical skills, but also project readiness skills for partners as well as sales skills. [00:08:37] Erwin Visser: Uh, like how do you sell in this new world of, uh, of ai. So where you can see, uh, uh, incremental, uh, ongoing investment in our scaling platform. Um, the other thing that we’re, we’re really working on at this moment, uh, with our. Tech team is, is building more helping partners to build like standardized service offerings and also understand this what’s, what is the capability they need to be successful in and, and become ed themself. [00:09:05] Erwin Visser: And, and we’re doing that also in partnership with the, with income. So income can use kind of some of these, these frameworks than to, to leverage them for their partners and then help with, uh, with that enablement. [00:09:18] Vince Menzione: So Mira when we think, so we think about it from a couple different lenses here, right? [00:09:22] Vince Menzione: Because we’ve got the Microsoft first party products that are, that are being offered through distribution channel to customers, and then we have what I call third party, right? Mm-hmm. Which is a lot of what the marketplace does. It does both. But I think about the marketplace, I think about ISVs, I think about agentic ai. [00:09:40] Vince Menzione: How do we, how do you bring it all together? [00:09:43] Mira Ayad: Um, the way I think of marketplace, and you and I talked about this before, yes, it’s that intersection where SDCs ISVs services and solutions meet. First party solutions meet professional services provided by system integrator and all wrapped up to provide that complete solution for customers. [00:10:04] Mira Ayad: So marketplace, kind of that perfect intersection for all of those parties to meet, um, from a customer perspective depends on the segment. We all know that marketplace is born and raised to be an enterprise tool. Now we’re seeing more and more s and b customers coming trying to leverage marketplace. [00:10:20] Mira Ayad: Yeah, [00:10:20] Vince Menzione: very much so. [00:10:21] Mira Ayad: So the role of enablement and how we activate the channel to really be front and center, more proactive as they go and talk to their SMB customers. Find the ways to monetize their solutions and their services for the SMB customers so they can adopt that marketplace. Because with everything that’s happening in the industry, one thing we know for sure that marketplace transformed how procurement of software happens. [00:10:46] Mira Ayad: Yes. And it’s here to stay. [00:10:48] Vince Menzione: Very much so. Very much so. And Nicole, I’m interested too on, on this side because we, we have, this is the first year that we’ve invited quite a few MSPs into the room as well. Right. We were very much ISV and reseller and, and SI focused. Uh, this time has changed like no other. [00:11:05] Vince Menzione: Right. We’ve been talking all morning about all this agentic ai. As an as an MSPI, my my sense is like I need to have my hands on the steering wheel for my customer at all times. And how are you thinking through it? How are you working with those organizations on driving some of that? [00:11:22] Nicole Dziedzic: Yeah, so again, it’s about meeting even our partners where they are. [00:11:26] Nicole Dziedzic: And so one of the things that we’ve recently released at Ingram is our MCP server. And so how do we enable our partners to then connect their agent capabilities that they’ve built internally to grab the data from Ingram so that they can interact with us how they want to, you know, we have our platform and, and. [00:11:43] Nicole Dziedzic: We don’t wanna force everybody to go into a platform. And so that server is gonna enable you to build capabilities internally in the tools that you’ve already invested in so that you can, again, refocus your energies and your teams, um, on selling on these new go-to markets that enables you to grab the data that you need and. [00:12:03] Nicole Dziedzic: Essentially a snapshot of your account when you’re buying through distribution, all with a really simple click of a button. I know I, I oversimplify it, but I’m not that technical. Um, but it is really a click of a button. And so as we continue to release capabilities, API feeds, if you’re connected via that server and you have those agent capabilities already internally, then it’s as simple as us just continuing to release and you’ll continue to be able to grab that information. [00:12:28] Vince Menzione: Mira’s gram’s approach, what you’re starting to see across most of the distribution channel. Yeah, [00:12:34] Mira Ayad: more or less, yes. Like we, we’ve seen, we’ve partnering with Ingram on, on multiple fronts. Uh, there’s another feature that we bring and Ingram has been our, uh, partner in crime, which is syndication, which we push the marketplace listings into the Ingram portal to support what Nicole just said. [00:12:52] Mira Ayad: So partners get to use the tools that they are using today. We’re meeting them where they are. We’re not forcing them into one platform over the other. Um, I think enablement. The role of enablement and the distributor as an enabler is going to grow even more. Uh, switching that message of how can you sell a task oriented agent versus a solution [00:13:17] Mira Ayad: Yes. [00:13:17] Mira Ayad: Um, is a, is a game changer. And we also see, I I like to say this, like distribution are now becoming an aggregation and a distributor. Yes. So they get to aggregate all that solution between all hyperscalers marketplaces. And find that core enablement so partners can be a plug and play and use their core competency to sell and be that trusted advisor for their customer instead of wasting time trying to figure out where to get enabled or how to get enabled. [00:13:44] Mira Ayad: Mm-hmm. So absolutely a hundred percent the aligned. [00:13:46] Vince Menzione: Yeah. Enablement seems to be a big theme here, right, Nicole? And, and, and you’ve got some new products is MCP server and. Some of the things you’re doing there as well. [00:13:55] Nicole Dziedzic: Yeah, I would say even above and beyond the, the MCP server for the automation, you know, enablement enable is kind of our core function of our enablement strategy and enable ai, enable MSP are two of the most recent ones that we’ve released to market. [00:14:10] Nicole Dziedzic: Um, one of the things that we’ve really identified. Especially within the M-S-P-S-M-B and mid-market partner community is that there’s still a struggle in what does AI actually mean for my strategy and out to my end customers. And so we’ve created paths to enable our partners, MSPs, their end customers on how do you build that strategy for AI that’s both going to create outcomes for your end customers, um, but also be safe and secure as you kind of bring it to market. [00:14:39] Vince Menzione: Erwin on your side, on the marketing side, and you just shifted roles. You were [00:14:43] Erwin Visser: Yeah. Know. Yeah. Piece. Well, I didn’t forget everything that I did. Okay, good. No, I, it was only last week. Right. I’m, I’m getting older, but I still have a little bit of memory. Last year, uh, the, the, um, yeah, I wanted, uh, react quickly on the, on MSPs, especially think it’s incredible time. [00:14:59] Erwin Visser: And, and, uh, and, and so you, I think most people probably know that Microsoft, this, uh, our fiscal year start on July 1st. So May, uh, uh, April, may up to June is like really our crunch time for planning. So we’re in the middle of it. But, and, and without seeing, like giving you too much like insights or details, but. [00:15:18] Erwin Visser: We, we believe there, uh, is an in significant opportunity, almost like the golden age for MSPs in the next years. [00:15:25] Vince Menzione: Yes. [00:15:26] Erwin Visser: Uh, if they are able, the, the partners that are able to embrace ai, and we, we kind of think about it in, in maybe in three different like steps or, or framework of clearly, uh, being a customer, zero. [00:15:41] Erwin Visser: And I assume a lot of people, or a lot of people talked about it in the last day and a half, so I don’t have to go in deep here, but hey, you have to adopt the technology itself to be able to deliver and sell it to customers. But then the, the other two steps that we believe one is, uh, uh, built an an agents or an agent accelerator and, uh, that can mean that. [00:16:02] Erwin Visser: Uh, leverage, uh, marketplaces for finding and customizing agents or having competency in-house to build agents for your customers. And then the third step is, is operationalize agents. And I think pe the partners that have experience at this moment with managed services probably have a step ahead. ’cause we had the in. [00:16:24] Erwin Visser: For more and more customers in the future, we’ll rely on a partner to manage and to help support their, their, uh, agent infrastructure. And so, uh, MSPs that can really, uh, jump into that and can help customers to manage, protect, secure, uh, uh, uh, their, uh, their agent in, uh, infrastructure, uh, that will be an an significant opportunity. [00:16:49] Erwin Visser: Um, one of the products that, you know, I’m, I’m not gonna do a product pitch yet, but still, I’m gonna mention you can, [00:16:55] Vince Menzione: and you can also share things that are gonna be announced with us as well. [00:16:58] Erwin Visser: Well, this is, uh, this is, this is announced already, but hey, we, uh, one of the technologies we are very excited about that’s, uh, hopefully can also support MSPs is, uh, agent 365. [00:17:10] Vince Menzione: Yes. [00:17:10] Erwin Visser: Which, uh, which really can help partners to, to kind of like secure and manage and, and drive governance around [00:17:17] Vince Menzione: agents. Still, still very new product by the way. [00:17:19] Erwin Visser: Yeah, it’s, uh, uh, [00:17:20] Vince Menzione: makes a big difference. [00:17:21] Erwin Visser: Awesome. [00:17:23] Vince Menzione: So, Mira, this is very, you know, it’s funny because initially when you would think about what you, what you’re doing with REO as being like big ISVs, selling big solutions through marketplaces, we, we now brought the channel in. [00:17:38] Vince Menzione: But now the ag agentic has really changed the things dramatically. Right, right. Let’s talk about that. How does it, how does it fit into your strategy as you go into the SMB market as well? Right. [00:17:48] Mira Ayad: Great question. And um, I’d like to tell a story in a little [00:17:52] Vince Menzione: bit. Please, please. [00:17:53] Mira Ayad: So, one of my greatest mentors, um, I was just having a chat with him a couple of days ago, and I’m just like, the market is changing faster than anyone can catch up. [00:18:02] Mira Ayad: And he told me, Mira. It’s not a chess game anymore, it’s a squash game. So it’s all about being agile, beating the ball with it, what it is, uh, and moving fast. And I think the strategy for marketplace and for the channel, Microsoft has always been a channel first company, so this is not a news for anyone. [00:18:20] Mira Ayad: Next year we’re focusing more into bringing the channel into marketplace. We are having, and I’m sure Sarah talked about it, uh, yesterday a little bit. We’re having very targeted approach to bring. Agents that customer actually wants into marketplace. So not just a, a traffic jam of agents. Uh, we’re being very precise about it from a channel perspective. [00:18:44] Mira Ayad: Alex? Agree. My colleague, she has a, an a a session later. She [00:18:48] Vince Menzione: does for having Alex on stage here. [00:18:50] Mira Ayad: Yes. And she’s gonna talk more about this channel strategy overall, but being customer zero. Is big for us and precision velocity is something else. Like how can we help the partners [00:19:00] Vince Menzione: precision velocity. I like That’s [00:19:02] Mira Ayad: right. [00:19:02] Mira Ayad: And she’s gonna talk a lot about it. I’m [00:19:04] Vince Menzione: not gonna say [00:19:04] Mira Ayad: her thunder. [00:19:05] Vince Menzione: I wanted to hear, I wanna hear more about it. So it’s, it’s compelling. [00:19:08] Mira Ayad: I know. Just, uh, a under session today, [00:19:11] Vince Menzione: well, I think I’m gonna be leading it, but come in this afternoon. Absolutely. [00:19:16] Mira Ayad: Absolutely. Yes. So moving from being a scale player to actually know what you’re really good at and have that precision. [00:19:23] Mira Ayad: To sell and get your customer where they want to be. I think it’s, it’s all how the strategy is aligned, yet shifting a little bit to reflect what’s happening in the industry. [00:19:33] Vince Menzione: And you’re no stranger to marketplace. Right. Um, we talked about your career journey, but you start off in Microsoft. We sort of knew each other back in the day, right? [00:19:43] Vince Menzione: Yes. Public sector. [00:19:44] Mira Ayad: Yes. [00:19:44] Vince Menzione: And then you left and you went across the river or across, across the lake. It was a lake or river? The lake. Lake. Yeah. You can tell I don’t live here, but [00:19:53] Mira Ayad: it’s a pond. [00:19:53] Vince Menzione: It’s a pond, yeah. [00:19:55] Mira Ayad: Um, so yes, I did start in, uh, Microsoft as a PDM for public sector focusing on education partners. [00:20:00] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:20:01] Mira Ayad: Um, [00:20:01] Vince Menzione: Anthony Salcito. [00:20:02] Mira Ayad: Anthony STO was the GM back then. And then I spent some time in an ISV. Um, it was a startup. I think I’ve, I had like my MBA on how to start businesses there. Which I boomerang to Microsoft to be part of the architecture team of a tiny program. I’m not sure if you guys are familiar with it. [00:20:23] Mira Ayad: It’s called CSP. So I launched CSP for the channel partners hosting telco’s, distribution. And then, um, our neighbors across the pond called the pond, me to come and help them build a channel program. Um, and then for, for three years, and then I spend the next seven. On AWS marketplace, uh, helping with, uh, channel adoption and strategy and enablement. [00:20:50] Vince Menzione: Nice. Very nice. Okay. And, um, the perspective on that as well. Bringing you, you talking about being precise. I think I heard what I, what I gleaned from your last set of comments is it can be so overwhelming to have all these agents, thousands and thousands of agents out there, how do, how do I decide, what do I go do and do the agents conflict with one another in terms of how they, how they react, and how they maybe start procuring on my behalf. [00:21:18] Mira Ayad: Um, I think it’s a very simple formula. Start where your customer is at, like meet the customer where they at is not just a generic cliche state statement. Customers are gonna lead our MSPs, our channel, our distribution, and our hyperscalers with their marketplaces or what needs to be built and how fast they want it. [00:21:37] Mira Ayad: And we should not lose sight of that. Um, just. Customer win is a win for everyone. That’s the, that’s, I think that’s the simple formula. And across all, uh, hyperscaler marketplaces, I think everyone is trying to win the heart and the mind of the customer first. [00:21:52] Nicole Dziedzic: Yes. [00:21:53] Mira Ayad: And then we, as the platforms and the channel community, we need to work very closely, um, with precision, with high level of, um, depth of knowledge to bring customers faster and make that customer zero. [00:22:10] Mira Ayad: From our perspective as an internal customer first and our first customer that we’re gonna build the case studies around to build that flywheel so we can accelerate that. So the first five offer becomes, the second, becomes the hundreds. Um, and this is how we bring it on. But always start from the customer. [00:22:26] Vince Menzione: I’m thinking about Jay’s slide yesterday, Jim McBain slide about the 28 moments [00:22:31] Mira Ayad: Yes. [00:22:32] Vince Menzione: And all the, all the partner types that are involved in that process. Right. The ISVs. Uh, CSPs, I mean actually lay out more partner types, ISPs, CSPs, distributor, uh, reseller, all all aligned in that customer journey and all. [00:22:49] Vince Menzione: And so just that coordination and that effort. I just wanna get everybody’s point of view on that maybe. [00:22:53] Erwin Visser: Yeah. [00:22:54] Vince Menzione: Or [00:22:54] Erwin Visser: you want start, Nicole? [00:22:55] Nicole Dziedzic: Yeah. I mean, I think it takes an army, right? And I think it’s about how does each. Each kind of persona simplify the process for the next person. And I think that’s probably the key piece of it. [00:23:06] Nicole Dziedzic: And I’ll, I’ll talk from a distribution lens, is that our goal is that we wanna make sure it’s simpler for our vendors, for our partners to be able to transact in the marketplaces. Um, and also be that conduit, right? To provide that feedback back to vendors around what’s working, what’s not working, so we can go faster, right? [00:23:23] Nicole Dziedzic: And so the partners can go faster, um, but also be super sound in how they bring it to market. [00:23:30] Vince Menzione: And I, and I think what I also got outta that conversation, I want to get your point of view on this, is because again, I go back to ISV thinking, direct selling model. [00:23:39] Mira Ayad: Yeah. [00:23:40] Vince Menzione: And oh, there’s this thing called the channel and oh, we have to go do this. [00:23:42] Vince Menzione: But I think what that illustrated, that slide illustrated to me yesterday. Was how important to have all the multiple touch points involved because the deal is happening before you were entering the room. Right. So how, how are you, how and again, why, why do ISVs? I think, I think the answer is right there. [00:24:00] Nicole Dziedzic: Yeah. I, it’s about how do we scale you and how do we simplify. For the partners. Um, I think the biggest challenge that young ISVs really run into is that they do forget about the channel. And the channel is massive. Um, and the channel gives you reach and it gives you scale by leveraging MSPs and better communities. [00:24:24] Nicole Dziedzic: Distribution comes into the fold because we are that scale for the partners themselves. We are that scale for the MSPs, right? And so there has to be a connection between the two to really enable the ISVs that are direct today, um, to scale to probably the levels that they wanna scale, and a trusted partnership where we can bring in. [00:24:46] Nicole Dziedzic: What works, what doesn’t work? Best practices. ’cause we have worked with a lot of vendors and we continue to work with a lot of vendors, um, on how to continue to scale their business. [00:24:55] Vince Menzione: What’s it, what do they get wrong? You mentioned the younger ISVs. Mm-hmm. The newer is more startup ISVs and the startup doesn’t take long. [00:25:02] Vince Menzione: You can get to a billion dollars. Yeah. Pretty quickly these days. What do they get wrong? And then how do you solve for that for them? [00:25:08] Nicole Dziedzic: I, I think what they get wrong at times, um, is building out a true partner program that makes sense for the MSPs, for traditional VARs, um, for sis to actually wanna participate, right? [00:25:24] Nicole Dziedzic: Because there’s a lot of competition out there, and you have to differentiate yourself. And part of that is making sure you’re not forgetting about what you’re. Partner program is gonna be to bring to market. I think that’s probably the biggest thing. The, the other piece is that, you know, there is a lot of solutions out there and so what’s your compelling event, compelling reason, right, for a partner to wanna bring you into their stock, into their end customers. [00:25:47] Nicole Dziedzic: And that is something that we, at times are missing as well, is, is what’s differentiating you from the person next to you. [00:25:55] Vince Menzione: Mira, anything to add to that? [00:25:57] Mira Ayad: Um, I think working with ISBs for the past, I don’t know how many years in my career, um, I always get asked the same question, how can I utilize marketplace? [00:26:06] Mira Ayad: How can I do the pricing? And I listed on marketplace, how come the deals are not falling from the sky? Yes, exactly. And um, my answer has always been. Listing a marketplace is the first step, not the last, right? What is your go-to-market strategy? How are you going to go to market? What’s the role of the channel that they want them to play? [00:26:28] Mira Ayad: Do you want them to become just a reseller and an extended Salesforce arm? Do you want them to take that to implementation and take your support? I think Microsoft kind of between all of the partner types that we have and the great distributors that we partner with, we kind of unlock that for guys because we can have that conversation and help them with their go-to market strategy. [00:26:49] Mira Ayad: But I think first is marketplace need to be in the beginning of the deals, not at the end. So they can always be like, okay, I’m going to be listed to the marketplace when they pitch that to the customer. Bring the marketplace philosophy and the channel into the deal making. Not on the 11th hour. Yeah. [00:27:06] Vince Menzione: Yeah. I liked what an ISV said earlier about actually unlocking their sales organization by putting incentives out there. Yes. To be marketplace first. Erwin, you, you’re the accelerant. Yeah. Go to markets. You’re the marketing guy in the, in this conversation. [00:27:21] Erwin Visser: Yeah. So I, I’m, I’m maybe, uh, I was thinking on the other side, it’s like, and there’s a clearly a role for the ISV. [00:27:26] Erwin Visser: Yeah. And opportunity through marketplace. I also think there’s an opportunity on the MSP side to really, uh, be proactive around, uh, the ISV solutions that you can deliver to your customers. And, and one of the things that, uh, I, I still see is that, uh, some of our partners are not using just the data that is available and that we also have, uh, as Microsoft and with Ingram give to our partners to really see what the opportunities are out there. [00:27:52] Erwin Visser: And, uh, a new, uh, platform that we released, uh, a few months ago. A SPX. Uh, I would kind of be curious to see, uh, hands up like, uh, of the MSPs in the room. Have you heard of a SPX? A few. Okay. So we still have a little bit more eventually to do here, but, uh, yeah. So we we’re, uh, bringing, uh, data sources to our partners, uh, that combine like usage data and marketing signals, other information that we have, licensing data that that really helps our partners also because. [00:28:24] Erwin Visser: To be, to understand where your customer is. Yeah. You first have to understand also the data of your customer and, and the signals that they are giving in the marketplace so you can help understand where the, the next opportunity is. And so we’re, uh, we have another great partnership with, uh, with Ingram around this data sources and in income enriches them and brings them to their resellers. [00:28:45] Erwin Visser: But I think that’s still, uh, uh, clearly if I saw the hands, an opportunity for us to, uh, to bring that more to the market. Yeah. [00:28:53] Vince Menzione: And let’s not forget the MSPs in this conversation, right? Because they are like at, at all, at all levels, whether it be first party, third party, cross marketplace. They are the instrumentation in front of the customer. [00:29:05] Vince Menzione: And I think there’s a great opportunity and know you talk about how you and enabling them. Um, maybe some last comments about how MSPs in this room could be more successful in the coming year, working with your organizations. Yeah. [00:29:18] Nicole Dziedzic: Yeah. I mean, I think for us it’s challenge us, um, bring forward things that you want and need, even if they seem outlandish from a distribution standpoint, right? [00:29:28] Nicole Dziedzic: We wanna continue to make sure we’re meeting you guys where you are with what you need and how you wanna be interacted with. Um, so I think that would probably be my biggest thing. I do. Before we, I just wanna go back to the as PX data real quick. I do wanna give a plug on the as PX data, because I do work with all of our vendors within Ingram and, and I will say the data. [00:29:46] Nicole Dziedzic: Availability that you guys have released has been above and beyond what we’ve seen from most of our vendors. We hear a lot of can’t share that it’s legal, can’t share that it’s legal. Um, this really enables us and the MSPs to, to see not just where their customer needs to go, but where they’ve been. [00:30:04] Nicole Dziedzic: Right. And so how do you really frame a conversation that’s really strategic by leveraging data and data that will intake and be made available for everybody that, um, purchases through distribution so that you can have that ready at your hand. So I just wanna reverse back to that ’cause it is a really great data set, um, and something we don’t see a lot of vendors actually released to the masses within the partner community within distribution to leverage. [00:30:29] Erwin Visser: Yeah. I, I love that quote, by the way, but it’s, thank you, Nicole. Uh, so the, but, uh, uh, your question is around how we are enabling MSPs, correct? Yes. Yeah. Right. So I had the, um, there, there’s a, there’s a few things here. Uh, I think that, am I, if I’m being honest, there’s still some points that we need to improve on our technology and our roadmap Yeah. [00:30:53] Erwin Visser: Of our technology. So this is clearly well understood within Microsoft and there’s areas that we are, uh, that we’re working on and, uh, we’re taking very serious, uh, at this moment. Good. Uh, to help you like, manage, uh, uh, our technology across, uh, uh, significant numbers of, uh, of, of tenants. Um, the, the second thing I would say is that clearly we talked about scaling. [00:31:16] Erwin Visser: We talked about enabling, uh, added technology to help you build out your managed services from, I would say from the, the, or the, the infrastructure to security to also agents. Now with some of the new technology that we, uh, that we have released. The, the third thing, and this is maybe more of an ask to the MSPs, is that, uh, when I talk to MSPs, when I see the research, uh, I believe that still at this stage, uh, you mo uh, the average Ms. [00:31:44] Erwin Visser: P has like 30 different products in the technology stack. That’s crazy. And, uh, and so I, I simplify. Simplify. Yes, I understand how you got here. Uh, it’s a lot of like, uh, best of breed, maybe selection through, through history. But I think, uh, my advice to MSPs is like, if, if, if you wanna create space for selling business value and for building out like an an AI accelerator for your customers, you need to find a also space to simplify your technology stack. [00:32:15] Erwin Visser: ’cause that’s what we believe. That’s not where the, the opportunity sits in the future. Uh, and that’s also not where I think the, uh, the, the margin sits for, for our partners in the future. So simplify your technology stack. We have ideas about that simplification clearly, but, uh, happy to talk to you about it. [00:32:33] Erwin Visser: But, uh, yeah, simplify and then create space for, uh, for really selling business value with, uh, with agenda ai. I think that’s a, a huge opportunity. [00:32:42] Vince Menzione: There any last comments before we start? [00:32:44] Mira Ayad: Um, a very short comment. So from an enablement perspective, we have a very intentional, proactive focus on enabling the MSP and FY 27 and the remaining of FY 26. [00:32:55] Mira Ayad: Um, yes, last year was the year of the channel. I think next year is going to be the year of, uh, marketplace Channel and MSPs. Um, but I do have an ask. We build marketplace. For you and with you, and you are the closest to the customer. So please be the voice of the customer. Bring us that feedback. Let us know how we can build a marketplace that meets your customer needs so it makes your life easier instead of having to spend time figuring out how to incorporate marketplace in your strategy. [00:33:24] Vince Menzione: I love that we had Jose Gomez. K. Uh, with us yesterday and he spent a lot of time with the partners to getting that feedback, so it was wonderful. [00:33:32] Mira Ayad: Another big guy. [00:33:32] Vince Menzione: Thank you so much. [00:33:34] Vince Menzione: Thanks for listening to The Ultimate Partner Podcast. If today’s [00:33:38] Vince Menzione: conversation resonated, share it with a partner leader in your network. [00:33:42] Vince Menzione: Subscribe where you listen, and head over to the ultimate partner.com. For show notes related content and the resources for this episode. And if you haven’t already, now’s the time to register for the Ultimate Partner Live Event in Reston, Virginia, October 26th through October 28th. Until next time, keep showing up in the rooms that matter because being in the room changes everything.

Send us Fan MailRomeine 1:20 Van die skepping van die wêreld af kan 'n mens uit die werke van God duidelik aflei dat sy krag ewigdurend is en dat Hy waarlik God is, hoewel dit dinge is wat 'n mens nie met die oog kan sien nie. Vir hierdie mense is daar dus geen verontskuldiging nie. Ons bekommer ons so baie oor ons werk en die dinge wat nou vir ons swaar is. Al voel hierdie dinge op die oomblik groot, is dit klein binne die groter prentjie van God se verhaal.In 1903 het Eugene Aldrin gekyk hoe die Wright-broers die eerste aangedrewe vlug voltooi. Hy was toe nog 'n jong man. Dekades later het sy eie seun, Buzz Aldrin, op die maan geloop. Eugene het albei beleef. Ongelooflik!Een leeftyd het die mensdom se grootste lugvaart-spronge gedek. Dit strek van brose vlerke oor sandduine tot voetspore op die oppervlakte van die maan. Tog is hierdie groot prestasies bitter klein. Dit sal skaars twee druppels in die emmer van die heelal se skepping wees.Romeine 1:20 Van die skepping van die wêreld af kan 'n mens uit die werke van God duidelik aflei dat sy krag ewigdurend is en dat Hy waarlik God is, hoewel dit dinge is wat 'n mens nie met die oog kan sien nie. Vir hierdie mense is daar dus geen verontskuldiging nie.Die heelal strek verder as wat ons kan dink - sterrestelsels, sterre en ligjare wat ons nie eers kan meet nie. En elke deel daarvan verkondig sý majesteit.So, hoekom is ons so dikwels behep met die hier en die nou? Hoekom kyk ons net vas teen die dinge wat dringend is, terwyl die ewige dinge bokant ons skyn? Selfs die maanlanding is niks in vergelyking met die glorie van die Een wat die maan op sy plek opgehang het nie. En hier is die uitdaging. Kyk op. Kyk verby die alledaagse dinge. Moenie net vaskyk teen aardse dinge nie, maar fokus op Christus wat oor alles regeer. Want wanneer jy dit doen, word jou probleme minder, jou hoop groei, en jou hart aanbid. Die hemele verkondig die mag van God. Gaan jy ook oor Hom getuig?Dit is God se Woord. Vars … vir jou … vandag.Support the showEnjoying The Content?For the price of a cup of coffee each month, you can enable Christianityworks to reach 10,000+ people with a message about the love of Jesus!DONATE R50 MONTHLY

Playlist: DJ Dahi, featuring Kendrick Lamar & Amber Mark - How To PrayBusta Rhymes, featuring D'Angelo - This WomanCJ Fly - Head Above WaterGritfall, featuring Raz Fresco - Time TravelMutant Academy - Carl SammasMick Jenkins - Brown ReclusePEP57, featuring Sayzee - In The Belly Of Beauty!Denzel Curry and Kenneth Blume - BenjaminEYEDA SOPHIA & GHOSTBOYRJ - Roundabout DrCK The Spitta - Unapologettically MeFresh Kils, Myer Clarity, OCDC - End of DaysFat Joe - Set Of KeysK The Chosen, featuring Tommy, VARS, Arlo Maverick - Stephen Ave To Whyte AveRas Kass, featuring Treach & Wais P - Scar TissueTierra Whack - GODDAPudgee Tha Phat Bastard x Parental, featuring Joy Wilson - CurveDrama B - Shaolin StyleNolan the Ninja, featuring Lojii - BonetailLord Sko - How It IsRJ Payne - 100 Percent PayneTona - BrahmsKooley High, featuring Fly Anakin - The GlowRapsody - Black Is BeautifulTona x Sayzee - Harpo NightsMecco x DJ Access, featuring Raekwon & Termanology - Rixk It AllDaniel Son x Futurewave, featuring Sayzee - Ocean SmockBoldy James x Nicholas Craven, featuring Chip$ & Dave Hill - Beautiful Snow

Playlist: DJ Dahi, featuring Kendrick Lamar & Amber Mark - How To PrayBusta Rhymes, featuring D'Angelo - This WomanCJ Fly - Head Above WaterGritfall, featuring Raz Fresco - Time TravelMutant Academy - Carl SammasMick Jenkins - Brown ReclusePEP57, featuring Sayzee - In The Belly Of Beauty!Denzel Curry and Kenneth Blume - BenjaminEYEDA SOPHIA & GHOSTBOYRJ - Roundabout DrCK The Spitta - Unapologettically MeFresh Kils, Myer Clarity, OCDC - End of DaysFat Joe - Set Of KeysK The Chosen, featuring Tommy, VARS, Arlo Maverick - Stephen Ave To Whyte AveRas Kass, featuring Treach & Wais P - Scar TissueTierra Whack - GODDAPudgee Tha Phat Bastard x Parental, featuring Joy Wilson - CurveDrama B - Shaolin StyleNolan the Ninja, featuring Lojii - BonetailLord Sko - How It IsRJ Payne - 100 Percent PayneTona - BrahmsKooley High, featuring Fly Anakin - The GlowRapsody - Black Is BeautifulTona x Sayzee - Harpo NightsMecco x DJ Access, featuring Raekwon & Termanology - Rixk It AllDaniel Son x Futurewave, featuring Sayzee - Ocean SmockBoldy James x Nicholas Craven, featuring Chip$ & Dave Hill - Beautiful Snow

Buyers treat your month-end close as a maturity test. Closing inside two weeks reads as a well-run business. Taking two months invites questions, no matter how good the underlying numbers turn out to be. In part 4 of the CEO Optional series, Mike Harvath, Ryan Barnett, and Matt Lockhart look at what happens when the real financial picture of an IT services firm lives only in the owner's head or their inbox, and what it takes to get it out into a system the whole team can see. They cover the accounting foundations buyers actually check, which operating numbers belong in front of the sales and delivery teams, and the review cadence that makes it stick. This is a conversation about IT services M&A readiness rather than day to day bookkeeping. Financial visibility is one of the things that separates a business a buyer can underwrite from one that carries an obvious founder dependency discount. CHAPTERS 0:00 Show open 0:23 Where this sits in the CEO Optional series 0:59 Why founder-led firms end up CEO dependent 3:12 The cost of keeping the numbers in the owner's head 4:29 Month-end close speed as a maturity test 5:51 The opposite failure: outsourcing too far 7:24 Push the KPIs out to the organization 8:40 What good enough looks like: cash to accrual 11:24 Documented policies and review by outsiders 12:54 Which numbers to put in front of the team 16:50 Teaching the team how the levers add up 21:09 Transparency as a lubricant for the business 23:53 Building a cadence around the numbers 27:23 Forecasting rigor and why it adds value 28:46 Sign-off KEY TAKEAWAYS 1. A month-end close inside two weeks reads as mature to a buyer. A close that takes two months raises questions before the diligence conversation even starts. 2. The CEO should know revenue and profitability off the top of their head. The bookkeeping and the financial strategy grind belong to a CFO, a fractional CFO, or a strong outsourced partner. 3. Outsourcing too far is its own failure. A founder who cannot demonstrate command of their own numbers in front of a buyer looks just as bad as one who never delegated. 4. Moving from cash to accrual accounting is the key first step toward a GAAP standard, and it usually starts to matter in the three to five million dollar revenue band. 5. Push the operating levers, utilization, realization, and gross margin, out to the sales and delivery teams who can actually move them. LINKS Read the companion article: https://www.revenuerocket.com/it-services-ma-financial-transparency-ceo-optional/ What is your IT services business worth: https://www.revenuerocket.com/ev-2-0-2/ Schedule a confidential conversation: https://www.revenuerocket.com/contact-us/ All Shoot the Moon episodes: https://www.revenuerocket.com/series/shoot-the-moon/ Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/shoot-the-moon-with-revenue-rocket/id1478519505 Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6y7u9KuOjaplhScHtINGZU Questions on measuring utilization versus realization: info@revenuerocket.com ABOUT REVENUE ROCKET Revenue Rocket is a sell-side and buy-side M&A advisory firm focused exclusively on IT services companies, including MSPs, cybersecurity, cloud, custom application development, and VARs. Based in Bloomington, Minnesota, we have spent 25+ years helping technology services founders buy, sell, and grow. If you are weighing an exit, an acquisition, or simply what your company is actually worth, schedule a confidential conversation: https://www.revenuerocket.com/contact-us/ #ITServicesMA #MergersAndAcquisitions #MSP #ExitStrategy #ShootTheMoon #RevenueRocket #CEOOptional Listen to Shoot the Moon on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.Buy, sell, or grow your tech-enabled services firm with Revenue Rocket.

In Episode 160 of “The Trusted Advisor,” RSPA CEO Jim Roddy sits down with Easton Bazzoli, head men's basketball coach at Gannon (PA) University, the 2026 Division II national champion, to talk next-gen leadership. Among the topics discussed are building the foundation for a successful organization, actions veteran leaders should take to build up their next generation of leaders, and how establishing clear principles and outcomes free up leaders from the burden of dictating tactics. “The Trusted Advisor,” powered by the Retail Solutions Providers Association (RSPA), is an award-winning content series designed specifically for retail IT VARs and software providers. Our goal is to educate you on the topics of leadership, management, hiring, sales, and other small business best practices. For more insights, visit the RSPA blog at www.GoRSPA.org.  The RSPA is North America's largest community of VARs, software providers, vendors, and distributors in the retail, restaurant, and grocery verticals. The mission of the RSPA is to accelerate the success of its members in the retail technology ecosystem by providing knowledge and connections. The organization offers member-to-member warm introductions, education, legal advice, industry advocacy, and other services to assist members with becoming and remaining successful. RSPA is most well-known for its signature events, RetailNOW and Inspire, which provide face-to-face learning and networking opportunities. Learn more by visiting www.GoRSPA.org.

There is a point in every growing firm where the founder stops being the engine and starts being the bottleneck. In Episode 259 of Shoot the Moon, Mike Harvath, Ryan Barnett, and Matt Lockhart continue the Owner Optional masterclass with the person who fixes that: a real second in command. They cover how to know when the business has outgrown your capacity, what separates a number two from a strong functional leader, whether to promote from within or hire externally, and how to hand over authority so the change actually holds. CHAPTERS 0:00 – Intro and what we are covering 0:30 – Part 3: the strong number two 2:15 – How you know it is time: the founder as pinch point 4:55 – Senior hire versus a real number two 8:50 – The Star Trek test for a second in command 10:10 – Promote from within or hire externally? 13:40 – Why internal is usually preferred, and what PE does differently 15:30 – The senior technician becoming CEO trap 16:50 – Clear mandates, and letting people make mistakes 18:55 – How to transfer authority gracefully 19:40 – Communication as the first handover lever 24:35 – The founder journey is a lonely one 27:00 – What a real number two does to valuation 28:55 – Wrap-up KEY TAKEAWAYS A senior hire runs a function, a second in command owns an outcome. They carry a number for the whole firm, build the plans that get there, and can hold a room the founder is not in. You know it is time when the business outgrows your capacity, not when you feel ready. The founder becomes a pinch point at every inflection, and growth slows to the pace of one person's attention. Promoting from within is usually preferred. Trust, cultural continuity, and institutional knowledge are the hardest things to hire for and the most expensive to get wrong. Avoid promoting your best technician by default. Doing excellent work is not the same capability as running a business, and the wrong promotion costs you a great engineer and gains you a struggling executive. A clear mandate and room to make mistakes decide whether it works. If the founder keeps reaching back over the authority, the role becomes impossible to perform. Buyers price continuity. A credible successor removes the single largest source of perceived risk in a founder-led firm, and it shows up in the valuation. LINKS & RESOURCES Episode archive: Shoot the Moon series Valuation calculator: See what your firm could be worth Talk to us: Schedule a confidential conversation Listen on: Apple Podcasts or Spotify ABOUT REVENUE ROCKET Revenue Rocket is a sell-side and buy-side M&A advisory firm focused exclusively on IT services companies, including MSPs, cybersecurity, cloud, custom application development, and VARs. Whether you are looking to buy, sell, or grow, Revenue Rocket can help you make your next move the right one. Listen to Shoot the Moon on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.Buy, sell, or grow your tech-enabled services firm with Revenue Rocket.

Owner dependency is the quiet risk that caps valuations in IT services M&A. If every decision, client relationship, and process runs through the founder, buyers see a single point of failure and pay less for it. In this episode of Shoot the Moon, we break down how to get the business out of your head before you sell. We cover why buyers discount founder-run companies, what to document first, how AI has made process documentation far easier, and how a documented, transferable business can earn a higher multiple. This is core IT services M&A preparation, and it makes your company more valuable whether or not you ever go to market. CHAPTERS 0:00 Intro: Getting the business out of your head0:53 A job with employees, not a company2:36 Why buyers discount owner dependency6:29 Why IT services founders get stuck11:41 What to document first16:36 AI, repeatability, and productized services20:43 How documentation lifts enterprise value24:08 Building a culture of documentation27:45 The one thing to start this month KEY TAKEAWAYS • Owner dependency is concentration risk. When decisions bottleneck through the founder, buyers see a single point of failure and discount the price. • If the answer to everything is “ask the owner,” you own a job not a company. Continuity is what buyers pay for. • Start documenting where the customer sits: the sales motion first, then service delivery, followed by how you hire and develop people. Bring the team into the process. • AI has collapsed the cost of documentation. Capture the real process, optimize it, and build agents around it. • Documented, transferable businesses can earn higher multiples because buyers underwriting scale need a company they can integrate without depending on the founder. RESOURCES AND LINKS • Read more from Revenue Rocket: https://www.revenuerocket.com/blog/ • Value your business: https://www.revenuerocket.com/valuation-calculator/ • Schedule a confidential conversation: https://www.revenuerocket.com/contact-us/ • Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/shoot-the-moon-with-revenue-rocket/id1478519505 • Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6y7u9KuOjaplhScHtINGZU • Explore more Shoot the Moon episodes: https://www.revenuerocket.com/series/shoot-the-moon/ • Visit Revenue Rocket: https://www.revenuerocket.com/ ABOUT REVENUE ROCKET Revenue Rocket is a sell-side and buy side M&A advisory firm focused exclusively on IT services companies, including MSPs, cybersecurity firms, cloud service providers, custom application development companies, and VARs. For more than 25 years, Revenue Rocket has helped founders grow, position, buy, and sell tech-enabled services firms. Thinking about your own exit? Schedule a confidential conversation with our team:https://www.revenuerocket.com/contact-us/ #MergersAndAcquisitions #ITServices #MSP #ShootTheMoon #RevenueRocket #ExitStrategy #FounderDependency #EnterpriseValue Listen to Shoot the Moon on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.Buy, sell, or grow your tech-enabled services firm with Revenue Rocket.

In IT services M&A, owner dependency is one of the biggest hidden discounts on your company's value. This episode shows how to build an owner optional firm that buyers pay a premium for without pretending leadership does not matter. Revenue Rocket kicks off a new Shoot the Moon masterclass on reducing founder dependency before a sale or recapitalization. We break down why buyers price owner dependency as concentration risk, what an owner-optional firm actually looks like, and the leadership layer, sales transfer, and key-employee retention strategies that protect your multiple. If you are thinking about an exit, this is the IT services M&A preparation that pays off long before you go to market. CHAPTERS 0:00 Introduction: The owner-optional firm3:44 What owner dependency costs you at exit5:26 Replaceable, not optional10:06 The one-percenter salesperson problem13:40 The minimum leadership layer buyers expect18:29 Keeping your key people through a sale21:11 One move to make this quarter25:30 What is next in this masterclass series IN THIS EPISODE • Buyers price owner dependency as concentration risk, much like they treat a client representing 50% to 70% of revenue. • Owner-optional does not mean owner absent. No CEO is optional; the goal is to make critical roles replaceable. • The founder's sales role is usually the highest-value dependency to transfer first. • Buyers expect a real leadership layer, including finance, delivery, and technical depth beyond the founder. • Plan key-employee retention before the deal not during it. RESOURCES AND LINKS • Read more from Revenue Rocket: https://www.revenuerocket.com/blog/ • What is your firm worth? https://www.revenuerocket.com/valuation-calculator/ • Schedule a confidential conversation: https://www.revenuerocket.com/contact-us/ • Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/shoot-the-moon-with-revenue-rocket/id1478519505 • Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6y7u9KuOjaplhScHtINGZU • Explore more Shoot the Moon episodes: https://www.revenuerocket.com/series/shoot-the-moon/ • Learn more about Revenue Rocket: https://www.revenuerocket.com/ ABOUT REVENUE ROCKET Revenue Rocket is a sell-side and buy-side M&A advisory firm focused exclusively on IT services companies, including MSPs, cybersecurity firms, cloud service providers, custom application development companies, and VARs. For more than 25 years, Revenue Rocket has helped founders grow, position, buy, and sell tech-enabled services firms. Thinking about your own exit? Schedule a confidential conversation with our team:https://www.revenuerocket.com/contact-us/ #MergersAndAcquisitions #ITServices #MSP #ShootTheMoon #RevenueRocket #ExitStrategy #OwnerOptional #FounderDependency Listen to Shoot the Moon on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.Buy, sell, or grow your tech-enabled services firm with Revenue Rocket.

IT services M&A is in one of its most active stretches in years. We explain how private equity defines the market, the platform and tuck-in roll-up strategy behind most deals, and how AI is separating premium platforms from commoditized providers. You will also hear which segments are hot, which are cooling, and the exact questions to ask when an investor calls. Timestamps & Chapters 0:00 – Why private equity keeps calling 1:13 – How we define the IT services market 4:11 – The long tail: ~50,000 firms and three channels 7:03 – Why PE targets IT services: growth and recurring revenue 12:31 – Predictability drives investment 13:48 – Platform and tuck-in roll-up strategy (the math) 16:32 – AI and the services-as-software shift 18:27 – Raising the bar: AI-enabled service delivery 24:06 – Go AI-first or fall behind 26:28 – Hot vs cooling segments (specialize, verticalize, productize) 29:13 – What to do when private equity calls 33:18 – Closing thoughts   Key Takeaways Predictable Cash Flows: Private equity favors IT services because recurring and repeat revenue make future cash flows highly predictable. The Roll-Up Strategy: The dominant model relies on buying a platform company around 5–7x EBITDA, scaling via tuck-ins, and exiting near 8–12x. The New Minimum: Recurring revenue above 50% used to impress investors—today, it is the bare minimum expectation. Market Temperature: Hot: Cybersecurity, AI & Machine Learning, regulated cloud, OT/industrial, and vertically focused MSPs. Cooling: Pure staffing and generalist break-fix providers. When PE Calls: Prepare beforehand: know your numbers inside out and engage a specialist M&A advisor.   Links & Resources Blog Post: Read the full article Valuation Tool: Free Valuation Calculator Schedule a Consultation: Book a confidential conversation Podcast: Listen on your favorite podcast platform Official Website: Revenue Rocket About Revenue Rocket Revenue Rocket is a sell-side and buy-side M&A advisory firm focused exclusively on IT services companies, including MSPs, cybersecurity, cloud, custom application development, and VARs. #MergersAndAcquisitions #ITServices #MSP #ShootTheMoon #RevenueRocket #ExitStrategy #PrivateEquity#AIinITService Getting calls from private equity? Do not wing it. Schedule a confidential conversation with Revenue Rocket to understand your options and your value. Listen to Shoot the Moon on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.Buy, sell, or grow your tech-enabled services firm with Revenue Rocket.

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Revenue Rocket's Mike Harvath, Ryan Barnett, and Matt Lockhart break down the real reasons founders delay an exit, and why the safest-feeling choice is often the most expensive. This episode of Shoot the Moon covers the “one more year” trap, founder dependency, succession planning, derisking customer concentration and contracts, and why knowing your valuation is the first move in IT services M&A. If you run an MSP, MSSP, cloud, dev, or VAR business, this is the timing conversation to have before the market decides for you. CHAPTERS 0:00 Cold open and welcome 1:56 Why founders delay a sale (the “one more year” trap) 5:46 Run it forever, but stay ready to sell 6:26 Owner dependency and building a machine 12:27 What succession planning really looks like 16:07 Enjoy what you have built vs. the window to sell 21:30 De-risking: customer concentration and contracts 22:23 Know your number: the case for annual valuations 24:40 One move to make this week 28:45 Closing thoughts: have a plan KEY TAKEAWAYS ● Waiting one more year can lower value, not just raise it. You carry 100% of the downside. ● Buyers pay for a business that runs without you. Build the bench and reduce founder dependency. ● Real succession planning is documented and executable, not a someday idea. ● De-risk before you go to market: diversify clients, fix contract assignability, deepen the team. ● Know your number. An annual valuation is good corporate hygiene and a stage gate for timing. LINKS ● Blog post: [BLOG LINK] ● Valuation calculator: revenuerocket.com/valuation-calculator ● Schedule a confidential conversation: [SCHEDULING LINK] ● Website: revenuerocket.com ABOUT REVENUE ROCKET Revenue Rocket is a sell-side and buy-side M&A advisory firm focused exclusively on IT services companies, including MSPs, cybersecurity, cloud, custom application development, and VARs. HASHTAGS #MergersAndAcquisitions #ITServices #MSP #ShootTheMoon #RevenueRocket #ExitStrategy #SuccessionPlanning #BusinessValuation Thinking about your own timing? Schedule a confidential conversation with Revenue Rocket at revenuerocket.com/contact-us. Listen to Shoot the Moon on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.Buy, sell, or grow your tech-enabled services firm with Revenue Rocket.

By Doug Green “Legacy out-of-band gets you in. Modern out-of-band should help you recover.” In this Technology Reseller News podcast, I speak with Todd Rychecky, President of Gearlinx, about how out-of-band management is evolving from a narrowly focused remote-access tool into a broader platform for network recovery, operational resilience and business continuity. Modern infrastructure is increasingly distributed across data centers, colocation facilities, branch offices, campus environments, edge locations and remote sites. When the primary network becomes unavailable, simply opening a console port may no longer be enough. Organizations need to know what equipment has been deployed, where it is located, whether it is reachable and what actions can be taken remotely to restore service. “The issue is not simply whether an engineer can reach a console,” Rychecky says. “It's more about whether they can reach the console and still manage their business.” Gearlinx combines secure out-of-band management, cellular connectivity, automation, centralized cloud visibility and lifecycle management into a unified network resilience platform. The goal is to help customers diagnose problems faster, reduce downtime and avoid costly truck rolls. The company's portfolio includes the NR4400 Network Resilience Platform for data center and high-density environments, along with Duckfone, a compact cellular connectivity device designed for edge and distributed locations. Both are brought together through ZERO, the Gearlinx centralized cloud-management platform. ZERO provides visibility into devices, locations, serial numbers, warranties, subscriptions and licensing information. That centralized approach addresses a common problem for enterprises and service providers: critical infrastructure information is often spread across spreadsheets, disconnected applications and separate vendor portals. Gearlinx is also approaching lifecycle management differently. Customers can select one-, three-, five- or seven-year licensing terms, allowing them to align technology investments with their own asset-depreciation and replacement schedules. Warranty coverage and subscriptions begin when equipment is activated through the cloud rather than when it is initially purchased. That can be particularly valuable for organizations that purchase equipment in volume and then deploy it gradually over several months. The platform also supports simplified co-terming, allowing customers and partners to bring licenses, warranties, support and software updates under a common renewal date. Rychecky says these capabilities represent the difference between basic network resilience and broader operational resilience. Operational resilience means giving IT teams the information and management tools they need before, during and after an outage—not simply providing an emergency connection to a console port. The solution is designed for organizations across manufacturing, healthcare, financial services, education, retail, AI infrastructure and other environments where downtime or dispatching a technician can be expensive. For resellers, VARs and MSPs, Gearlinx also creates an opportunity to move beyond a one-time hardware transaction. “Gearlinx enables partners to sell more than a console server,” Rychecky says. “It's an annualized recurring revenue business model for the reseller and decreases capital spending for the customer.” Partners can attach cloud-management licenses, cellular connectivity, managed services, lifecycle planning, support and legacy hardware-refresh programs. That creates ongoing customer engagement and recurring revenue instead of ending the relationship after the initial equipment sale. “It helps resellers lead the business continuity and operational resilience conversation—not just a networking hardware conversation,” Rychecky says. “Partners are not limited to selling a box. They can build an ongoing resilience practice around the customer.” One discovery question can help partners begin that conversation: When your production network is unavailable, how does your team access, diagnose and recover that location? Learn more at Gearlinx.com.

Vertical specialization is one of the most reliable ways to raise both growth and valuation in IT services M&A. In Episode 254 of Shoot the Moon, we break down how focusing on one or two industry verticals, and building the sales team to match, makes an IT services firm worth more to buyers. Most IT services firms start as generalists because it is the fastest path to revenue. But in a market where AI is commoditizing technical skill, domain expertise is what buyers and clients pay for. We cover why vertical focus shortens sales cycles and lifts valuation, how the hunter and farmer sales roles work, and how to compensate and hire for a vertical model. We close with three practical steps you can take this week to find and commit to the right vertical. CHAPTERS Timestamps are approximate and must be verified against the final edit. 0:00 Cold open and intro 4:05 Specialize, verticalize, productize: the framework 7:00 Why vertical expertise matters more in the age of AI 9:30 Why most IT services firms default to generalist 12:30 What verticalizing takes, and the payoff 16:50 The sales team: hunters, farmers, and support roles Revenue Rocket Consulting Group | Shoot the Moon Episode 254 20:40 Hiring for a vertical: fish where the fish are 24:10 Compensating hunters vs farmers 28:00 What buyers see: vertical focus and valuation 32:40 Where to start this week 35:30 Wrap-up KEY TAKEAWAYS  AI is commoditizing technical skill, so domain expertise is the differentiator buyers pay for.  A vertical focus shortens sales cycles, sharpens marketing, and tends to lift valuation.  Selling is a team sport: hunters win new logos, farmers grow accounts, with a handoff inside the first 12 months.  Concentrating in a vertical is a strength; depending on a few clients is a risk buyers discount.  Start by analyzing where your revenue already concentrates, then commit to a market you are passionate about. LINKS Blog: [BLOG LINK] Valuation calculator: revenuerocket.com/valuation-calculator Schedule a confidential conversation: [SCHEDULING LINK] Listen on your favorite platform: [LINK] Website: revenuerocket.com ABOUT REVENUE ROCKET Revenue Rocket is a sell-side and buy-side M&A advisory firm focused exclusively on IT services companies, including MSPs, cybersecurity, cloud, custom application development, and VARs. #MergersAndAcquisitions #ITServices #MSP #ShootTheMoon #RevenueRocket #ExitStrategy #VerticalSpecialization #HunterFarmer Thinking about your own growth or exit? Schedule a confidential conversation. Listen to Shoot the Moon on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.Buy, sell, or grow your tech-enabled services firm with Revenue Rocket.

Selling an IT services company is far more likely to close and typically sells for about 20% more when you use a specialist M&A advisor instead of going it alone. Here is what the data shows and what an advisor actually does to improve the outcome. In this episode of Shoot the Moon, the Revenue Rocket team breaks down the real economics of IT services M&A: why most owner-led sales never close, how an advisor adds roughly 20% to the sale price, and what makes selling an MSP, cybersecurity, cloud, or software firm different. We cover pre-market preparation, competitive tension, and today's market including the silver tsunami of boomer-owned businesses now heading to market. If you are weighing an exit in 2027 or beyond, this is where to start. CHAPTERS 0:00 Cold open and intro0:35 Do you really need an advisor to sell?3:00 What the data says: close rates and the ~20% premium6:15 Why deals die when founders go it alone10:45 The wrong-advisor trap12:00 How an advisor moves the numbers17:30 What makes IT services M&A different23:00 Market conditions and the silver tsunami27:00 The emotional side of selling29:00 What founders should do right now KEY TAKEAWAYS • Owner-led sales close under 10% of the time; top specialists close 80% to 95%. • An advisor adds roughly 20% to the sale price on average, with studies ranging from 6% to 25%. • In IT services, recurring revenue and a well-distributed client base drive value. • The silver tsunami of boomer-owned businesses—12 million firms representing $10 trillion in assets—is bringing a wave of supply to the market. • If you are considering an exit in 2027 or later, start a conversation now—not a commitment. LINKS • Value your firm: https://www.revenuerocket.com/valuation-calculator/ • Schedule a confidential conversation: https://www.revenuerocket.com/contact-us/ • Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/shoot-the-moon-with-revenue-rocket/id1478519505 • Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6y7u9KuOjaplhScHtINGZU • Explore more episodes: https://www.revenuerocket.com/series/shoot-the-moon/ • Website: https://www.revenuerocket.com/ ABOUT REVENUE ROCKET Revenue Rocket is a sell-side and buy-side M&A advisory firm focused exclusively on IT services companies, including MSPs, cybersecurity firms, cloud service providers, custom application development companies, and VARs. For more than 25 years, Revenue Rocket has helped founders grow, position, buy, and sell tech-enabled services firms. Thinking about an exit? Schedule a confidential conversation with our team:https://www.revenuerocket.com/contact-us/ #MergersAndAcquisitions #ITServices #MSP #ShootTheMoon #RevenueRocket #ExitStrategy #MandAAdvisor #SilverTsunami Listen to Shoot the Moon on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.Buy, sell, or grow your tech-enabled services firm with Revenue Rocket.

In Episode 159 of “The Trusted Advisor,” RSPA CEO Jim Roddy talks AI and payments with Travis Chrisman, President of Coastal Pay; Don Wilczynski, CEO of Merchant Rescue, powered by Tried & True Consulting; and Aidan Chau, Founder & CEO of Maple. “The Trusted Advisor,” powered by the Retail Solutions Providers Association (RSPA), is an award-winning content series designed specifically for retail IT VARs and software providers. Our goal is to educate you on the topics of leadership, management, hiring, sales, and other small business best practices. For more insights, visit the RSPA blog at www.GoRSPA.org.  The RSPA is North America's largest community of VARs, software providers, vendors, and distributors in the retail, restaurant, and grocery verticals. The mission of the RSPA is to accelerate the success of its members in the retail technology ecosystem by providing knowledge and connections. The organization offers member-to-member warm introductions, education, legal advice, industry advocacy, and other services to assist members with becoming and remaining successful. RSPA is most well-known for its signature events, RetailNOW and Inspire, which provide face-to-face learning and networking opportunities. Learn more by visiting www.GoRSPA.org.

Ett av våra mest uppskattade tränarsamtal nånsin kommer här som en liten sommarrepris! Det handlar såklart om Kim Hellberg. Idébäraren och förnyaren. Omtalad, omskriven och omtyckt. Varsågoda!

In Episode 158 of “The Trusted Advisor,” RSPA CEO Jim Roddy sits down with Andy Szanger, the Director of Strategic Industries at RSPA member CDW, to discuss his journey developing strategy, people, and leadership skills across an over three-decade retail technology career. “The Trusted Advisor,” powered by the Retail Solutions Providers Association (RSPA), is an award-winning content series designed specifically for retail IT VARs and software providers. Our goal is to educate you on the topics of leadership, management, hiring, sales, and other small business best practices. For more insights, visit the RSPA blog at www.GoRSPA.org.  The RSPA is North America's largest community of VARs, software providers, vendors, and distributors in the retail, restaurant, and grocery verticals. The mission of the RSPA is to accelerate the success of its members in the retail technology ecosystem by providing knowledge and connections. The organization offers member-to-member warm introductions, education, legal advice, industry advocacy, and other services to assist members with becoming and remaining successful. RSPA is most well-known for its signature events, RetailNOW and Inspire, which provide face-to-face learning and networking opportunities. Learn more by visiting www.GoRSPA.org.