Nothing Happens
by Itself
Copyright © 2023 Karl W. Palachuk
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Hello Karl, -
Happy Martin Luther King Day. Our office is closed today.
And that's a good reminder. This is the second federal holiday of the year. There are lots of holidays to choose from, and you probably can't afford to take them all off.
If you haven't already done so, tomorrow's a great day to print your official list of company holidays and distribute this to your clients and employees.
For a discussion of company holidays and pay schedules, see Chapter 41 of The Managed Services Operations Manual, volume two. Members of the Small Biz Thoughts Technology Community can download it here: https://www.smallbizthoughts.org/member_content/managed-services-operations-manual-vol-2-employees.
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Thank You to everyone who attended the State of the nation Address, shared with colleagues, and watch the recording. The YouTube replay has over 3,400 views so far.
You can view it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kf7LTdUEvLU
I've had some questions, so I'd like to address three "finer" points very quickly. If you haven't see the webinar, this might not make a lot of sense.
First: Timing. I can't guarantee that private equity will have a massive meltdown and destroy the global economy. Most western governments are thinking about regulations to prevent this. But the race is on. History tells us that actual controls will come after a global economic meltdown, not before.
But forget the world economy. Private equity will cause a collapse of the ecosystem within the IT industry before 2030.
Second: Transparency of vendor agreements. One way that PE companies obscure responsibility is to create layers of ownership and layers upon layers of legal agreements. This obscurity is one of their most powerful means of isolating themselves from the downside of their actions.
All you can do, in your business, is to insist on transparency. You should be able to click on a link on a web site and get a copy of every legal agreement you have with every single vendor. Don't take your sales rep's opinion or promises as fact. They won't hold up in a dispute. Document your agreements with vendors. And remember, they cannot unilaterally change the terms of an agreement without a process defined somewhere in an agreement.
Third: Portability of Data. Assuming the "impossible" happens and your most important vendor disappears, is swallowed up, or forced into bankruptcy: Do you have a copy of all of your data? No. How do I know that? Well, for 99.99% of you, it's not available to you. You don't have a copy in an SQL database. You don't have a copy of a backup. You don't have an export of the data. And if you do, it cannot be imported into any other vendor's system.
You should be empowered to take you business to another vendor if you choose to. This means that you need access to your data. And, to be honest, you need to be clear about the fact that your data belong to your company, not to the vendor. This is an asset. But if you cannot gain control of it, it's not much of an asset at all. In fact, it makes the long-term strength of your vendor into a critical component of your company's value.
And if your vendor has no long-term plan, then their control of your data is a liability.
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I'm not a negative person at all. In fact, I am often told that I'm too optimistic. But I believe you need to be realistic. When we face huge challenges, we can either ignore them or deal with them. This is one we need to deal with.
Way back at the turn of the century, I worked with companies of all sizes regarding preparation for Y2K. Many people (outside technology) say that the big run-up to Y2K was overblown and amounted to nothing. But here's the truth: It turned out to be minor because millions of people and companies spent years (and billions of dollars) preparing for it.
We can turn the big Private Equity scare into "nothing" as well - but only if we take it seriously and face it straight on.
And don't forget my concluding advice: The best thing you can do for your business is to focus you attention on your business. Love and care for your clients. Love and care for your employees. Tend to you company. And then, no matter what the rest of the world does, your company will be fine.
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Misc. Notes
We added LOTS of events to the calendar this week. One ASCII event date change.
Try to attend at least one regional and national event in 2024. And if you hear about updates, please send them to me. Shout out to Denis Wilson for giving me the most corrections and updates for the last few months!
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Note on contacting me. Email is best. By far. I try hard to answer all email, but I get a lot. (Same as you, I'm sure.) If you are not just selling something and have a legit request, here's what you do:
If you send me an email and do not get a response in a reasonable amount of time, please resend with a note that you are moving the request to the top of my inbox.
If you ARE just selling stuff, it's easier for me if you delete it before you send so I don't have to. Thanks.
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Have a great week.
:-)
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Join me live at . . .
- ASCII Edge - Feb. 28-29, 2024 in Costa Mesa, CA
- Channel Partners Conference - March 10-13 in Las Vegas, NV
- ChannelPro SMB Forum - Nov. 12-13, 2024 in Los Angeles, CA
Links below in the events calendar - or at WhereInTheWorldIsKarl.com.
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Great New Class to Kick Off 2024 !!! | |
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You only missed one class.
Sign up today.
Catch up and join us live tomorrow!
Navigating Emerging Technologies for MSPs
Taught by Dave Sobel
Technology Analyst and Podcaster
- Five Tuesdays
- Jan 9 - Feb 6
Register Now - Only $399*
In this five-week course, you will delve deep into the strategic facets of leveraging emerging technologies and trends for Managed Services Providers (MSPs). As the technology landscape continually evolves, the ability to identify and integrate new technologies into your MSP service offerings can be a significant differentiator. This course is designed to equip you with the tools, frameworks, and practical skills necessary to not only adapt but also thrive in this fast-paced environment.
Week 1 sets the stage by helping you understand the analysis process of current technology trends and how they can impact your MSP business. You’ll learn forecasting techniques that empower you to anticipate technological shifts, giving you a competitive edge.
Week 2 focuses on equipping you with decision-making skills tailored to technology adoption. By understanding how to evaluate and prioritize technologies based on various criteria, you’ll be well-placed to make choices that align with both market demand and your company’s capabilities.
In Week 3, you’ll gain financial literacy specific to technology investments. Whether you are a business owner, a manager, or a technical lead, understanding the financial implications of your choices is crucial. You’ll learn about building financial models to calculate ROI, TCO, and payback periods, enabling you to make fiscally responsible decisions.
Risk and compliance are the central themes of Week 4. In today’s complex regulatory environment, integrating new technology into your offerings isn’t just a matter of technical compatibility; it also involves meeting compliance standards and managing risks. You’ll acquire skills to navigate this intricate landscape effectively.
Finally, Week 5 enables you to put all the pieces together. You’ll engage in practical exercises that teach you how to create pilot programs, adjust your existing service offerings, and develop strategic roadmaps for incorporating new technologies into your business.
Through a blend of lectures, examples, exercises, and group discussions, you will emerge from this course with a robust understanding of how to strategically leverage technology trends. Whether you’re a seasoned MSP professional or aspiring to become one, this course will provide you with valuable insights and skills to elevate your career and business.
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Only $399
Top Take-aways:
- Technology Opportunity Identification: Gain the ability to identify and assess emerging technologies and trends relevant to Managed Services Providers.
- Decision-making Skills for Technology Adoption: Gain understanding in using frameworks and criteria to make informed decisions about integrating new technologies into service offerings.
- Financial Literacy for Technology Investments: Acquire skills in building and interpreting financial models to evaluate the ROI, TCO, and payback periods of technology investments.
- Risk and Compliance Management: Learn about risk assessment frameworks and compliance requirements for adopting and implementing new technologies in services.
- Practical Implementation Skills: Develop skills for creating pilot programs, adapting existing services, and formulating strategic roadmaps for technology adoption.
PLUS lots more.
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Here are the specifics of what you'll learn, week by week:
Unit 1 Scanning the Technology Horizon for Opportunities
Unit 2 Evaluating and Prioritizing Emerging Technologies
Unit 3 Financial Modeling and ROI for Technology-Driven Services
Unit 4 Risk Management and Compliance in Technology-Driven Services
Unit 5 Incorporating Emerging Technologies into Service Offerings
Delivered by Dave Sobel, Technology Analyst and Podcaster.
As always, this course includes instructor office hours, lots of handouts, and homework intended to help you actually make change in your business.
ITSP University Certification:
Meets Certification Requirements for:
- Management
- Service Manager
This class will be recorded. Each unit is generally posted within 24 hours of the live class. These recorded units will become the On-Demand class and you’ll have lifetime access to it.
Register Now - Only $399*
Note: * Members of the Small Biz Thoughts Technology Community attend at no additional charge. See details in the Community
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All the Resources That Are Fit to Print | |
Recent Blog Posts, Podcasts, and Videos | |
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Small Biz Thoughts Blog:
SMB Community Podcast - New episodes drop every Thursday
National Society of IT Service Providers News Blog
Relax Focus Succeed:
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Community News
SmallBizThoughts.org
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Join us every Thursday
9 AM Pacific / Noon Eastern
All members welcome.
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All members should have received a special email over the weekend. Our first Community Breakout starts this week - Thursday.
Our breakouts are a special hybrid of
- Content
- Member engagement, and
- Peer group.
Our first Breakout is: The 2024 Year of Intention. We held classes in November and December based on the new book. Class participants agreed to start the first Breakout meetings on January 18th.
ALL Small Biz Thoughts Technology Community members are welcome to attend for free. The earlier classes are not required.
See details and member access here.
Join us:
Thursday
January 18th
10:00 AM Pacific
We are meeting immediately after the regular Thursday Community Zoom meeting. You don't have to attend the regular community meeting, but your are certainly welcome there as well.
See details inside the community:
https://www.smallbizthoughts.org/first-breakout-of-2024-year-of-intention/
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Here's the last Community News video: | |
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Most of what you see here is reflection. What you don't see is the menu.
Process question: Who should be responsible for contacting IT?
:-)
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What's Here?
This calendar lists two kinds of things: LIVE in-person events from any organization that focuses on the SMB consulting community; and MY events, whether live, webinar, etc.
If you have live events on your calendar that may be useful to others in the SMB Community, please let us know. We'd be happy to list them.
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February 2024
ConnectWise Automation Nation
Feb. 5-8
Tampa, FL
More Info: https://info.connectwise.com/events/automation-nation-2024-announcement
Cisco Live
Feb. 5-9
Amsterdam, Netherlands
More Info: https://www.ciscolive.com/emea.html
Microsoft Envision AI Tour
Feb. 7
Sydney, Australia
More Info: https://envision.microsoft.com/en-US/sydney
SMB TechFest
February 8-9
Irvine, CA
More Info: https://www.smbtechfest.com/showdates.asp
World AI Cannes Festival
Feb. 8-10
Cannes, France
More Info: https://www.amd.com/en/corporate/events/advancing-ai.html
MSP Expo
February 13-15, 2024
Fort Lauderdale, FL
More Info: http://www.mspexpo.com/
NerdioCon
Feb. 12-16
Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
More Info: https://nerdiocon.com/
MSP Expo
Feb. 13-15
Fort Lauderdale, FL
More Info: https://www.mspexpo.com/east/
TDWI Transform
Feb. 19-23
Las Vegas, NV
More Info: https://tdwi.org/events/conferences/las-vegas/home.aspx
Gartner CIO Leadership Forum
Feb. 26-27
Phoenix, AR
More Info: https://www.gartner.com/en/conferences/na/cio-us-west
Mobile World Congress
Feb. 26-29
Barcelona, Spain
More Info: https://www.mwcbarcelona.com/
ChannelPro LIVE
Feb. 28-29
Chicago, IL
More info: https://events.channelpronetwork.com/
ASCII Edge 2024
February 28 & 29
Costa Mesa, CA
More Info: https://events.ascii.com/
Join me Live!
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March
XChange Orlando
March 3-5
Orlando, FL
More Info: https://www.thechannelco.com/xchange
VSLive!
March 3-8
Las Vegas, NV
More Info: https://vslive.com/events/las-vegas-2024/home.aspx
Cloud Expo Europe
March 6-7
London, England
More Info: https://www.cloudexpoeurope.com/
Right of Boom
March 6-8
Las Vegas, NV
More Info: https://www.rightofboom.com/event/22f53824-56a7-4e87-9dc4-c25d1d93baf7/summary
MSP Summit
March 11-12
Las Vegas, NV
More Info: https://channelpartnersconference.com/msp-summit
XChange UK
March 6-7
UK
More Info: https://www.thechannelco.com/xchange
Channel Partners Conference & MSP Summit
March 11-14
Las Vegas, NV
More Info: https://www.channelfutures.com/channel-events
Join me live!
Gartner Data & Analytics Summit
March 11-13
Orlando, FL
More Info: https://www.gartner.com/en/conferences/na/data-analytics-us
Microsoft Envision AI Tour
March 12
Paris, France
More Info: https://envision.microsoft.com/en-US/paris
NVIDIA GTC
March 17-21
San Jose, CA
More Info: https://www.nvidia.com/gtc/
Datacenter Dynamics Converged
March 18-19
New York City, NY
More Info: https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/dcd-connect-live/connect-nyc/2024/
CloudFest
March 18-21
Rust, Germany
More Info: https://www.cloudfest.com/
Midsize Enterprise Summit IT Security 2024
March 18-19, 2024
Indianapolis, IN
More Info: https://www.thechannelco.com/events
KubeCon + CloudNativeCon
March 19-23
Paris, France
More Info: https://events.linuxfoundation.org/kubecon-cloudnativecon-europe/
ASCII Edge 2024
March 20 & 21
Houston, TX
More Info: https://events.ascii.com/
Days of Knowledge
March 21-22
Birmingham, England
More Info: https://www.directionsforpartners.com/conferences-and-events/days-of-knowledge/uk-2024
Gartner CIO Leadership Forum
March 25-26
Hollywood, FL
More Info: https://www.gartner.com/en/conferences/na/cio-us-east
Microsoft Fabric Community Conference
March 26-28
Las Vegas, NV
More Info: https://fabricconf.com/#!/
MSP Rescue from SMB Nation
Date TBD
Los Alamitos, CA
More Info: https://msprescue.pro/
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April 2024
Fortinet Accelerate
April 1-5
Las Vegas, NV
More Info: https://www.fortinetaccelerate.com/home/3861565
Intel Vision
April 8-9
Phoenix, AZ
More Info: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/events/on-event-series/vision.html
Google Cloud Next
April 9-11
Las Vegas, NV
More Info: https://cloud.withgoogle.com/next
North American Cloud & Collaboration Summit
April 9-11
Dallas, TX
More Info: https://www.collabsummit.org/
ChannelPro LIVE
Apr. 10-11, 2024
Orlando, FL
More info: https://events.channelpronetwork.com/
Days of Knowledge
April 12-13
Odense, Denmark
More Info: https://www.directionsforpartners.com/conferences-and-events/days-of-knowledge/nordic-2024
Directions
April 14-17
San Diego, CA
More Info: https://directionsna.com/
Black Hat Asia
April 16-19
Singapore
More Info: https://www.blackhat.com/asia-24/
ASCII Edge 2024
April 17 & 18
Newark, NJ
More Info: https://events.ascii.com/
eMerge Americas
April 18-19
Miami Beach, FL
More Info: https://emergeamericas.com/
TDWI Transform
April 28-May 3
Chicago, IL
More Info: https://na.eventscloud.com/ereg/newreg.php?eventid=777592&_gl=1*x88u25*_gcl_au*NjI4NDAyOTQxLjE3MDE3Mjk1NjI.
Kaseya Connect Global
April 29-May 2
Las Vegas, NV
More Info: https://www.kaseyaconnect.com/
Microsoft 365 Conference
April 30-May 3
Orlando, FL
More Info: https://www.m365conf.com/#!/
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May
Red Hat Summit
May 6-9
Denver, CO
More Info: https://www.redhat.com/en/summit
RSA Conference
May 6-9
San Francisco, CA
More Info: https://www.rsaconference.com/usa
ServiceNow Knowledge
May 7-9
Las Vegas, NV
More Info: https://knowledge.servicenow.com/events/k23/getupdates
ChannelPro LIVE
May 8-9, 2024
Baltimore, MD
More info: https://events.channelpronetwork.com/
SMB TechFest
May 9-10
Irvine, CA
More Info: https://www.smbtechfest.com/showdates.asp
European Collaboration Summit
May 14-16
Wiesbaden, Germany
More Info: https://collabsummit.eu/
Gartner Application Innovation & Business Solutions Summit
May 14-16
Las Vegas, NV
More Info: https://www.gartner.com/en/conferences/na/applications-us
Dell Technologies World
May 20-23
Las Vegas, NV
More Info: https://www.dell.com/en-us/dt/events/delltechnologiesworld/2024/index.htm
IBM Think
May 20-23
Boston, MA
More Info: https://www.ibm.com/events/think
Microsoft Licensing Boot Camp
May 21-23
Atlanta, GA
More Info: https://www.directionsonmicrosoft.com/members/get-training
Nutanix .NEXT
May 21-23
Barcelona, Spain
More Info: https://next2024.nutanix.com/
MSP GeekCon
May 21-23
Orlando, FL
More Info: https://www.mspgeekcon.com
ASCII Edge 2024
May 22 & 23
Denver, CO
More Info: https://events.ascii.com/
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June 2024
Cisco Live
June 2-6
Las Vegas, NV
More Info: https://www.ciscolive.com/global.html
Gartner Security & Risk Management Summit
June 3-5
National Harbor, MD
More Info: https://www.gartner.com/en/conferences/na/security-risk-management-us
ConnectWise IT Nation Secure
June 3-5
Orlando, FL
More Info: https://www.connectwise.com/theitnation/secure/cybersecurity-conference
VeeamON
June 3-5
Fort Lauderdale, FL
More Info: https://www.veeam.com/veeamon
Microsoft 365 Educon & PWRCON
June 3-7
Seattle, WA
More Info: https://pwrcon.com/
Infosecurity Europe
June 4-6
London, England
More Info: https://www.infosecurityeurope.com/
ChannelPro LIVE
Jun. 5-6, 2024
Columbus, OH
More info: https://events.channelpronetwork.com/
Databricks Data + AI Summit
June 10-13
San Francisco, CA
More Info: https://www.databricks.com/dataaisummit/
European Power Platform Conference
June 11-13
Brussels, Belgium
More Info: https://www.sharepointeurope.com/european-power-platform-conference/
North American Information Security Summit
June 16-18
Denver, CO
More Info: https://infosecurity-summit.com/
Commsverse
June 26-27
Weybridge, England
More Info: https://www.commsverse.com/
ASCII Edge 2024
June 26 & 27
Chicago, IL
More Info: https://events.ascii.com/
XChange Best of Breed
June 2024
East Essex, England
More Info: https://www.thechannelco.com/xchange
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Note: If you know of any in-person event for SMB Consultants, please send info to karlp@greatlittlebook.com. | |
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AI Transparency Statement
We do not use artificial intelligence apps in the writing of any content for this newsletter. Some of our royalty-free paid graphics might use AI-generated images. But all of the writing is by Karl W. Palachuk, or others as noted.
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