There’s no greater transformative force in the world’s businesses than technology’s ability to connect people, increase competitiveness, and ultimately help organizations grow. But as the business technology market nears $4 trillion in annual spend, two significant challenges have emerged for both the businesses who buy technology and the vendors who sell it.
The unemployment rate for IT talent is 1.3%, according to CompTIA research. Let that soak into your prefrontal cortex for a minute.
The last day of the GlueX conference was overflowing with amazing content. I’ll try and give you a recap that captures everything, but to really understand what a success GlueX was, you just had to be there.
The most important part of any business relationship is trust. For many of your customers, their size often means they lack substantial internal resources, requiring them to trust key advisors to help them run their business. This includes lawyers, accountants, or an IT team. For Managed Service Providers (MSP), the ability to build trust is critical to keeping current customers and attracting new ones. Their business is practically in your hands; whether you’re helping with their productivity, transforming their business processes, keeping them compliant, or getting them back online after a security breach. If you can’t build trust, you can’t build a business.
That piqued your interest, right? I’m not just saying that as a way to get you to click, and I’m most certainly not trying to offend you. I’m saying this because I’ve seen it time and time again. But mostly, I’m saying this because it happens for the wrong reasons.
There was a time when companies would put out advertising and reward their customers for referrals and that was enough to bring in new leads. This is no longer the case. In today’s online world, the business landscape is highly competitive. To stay ahead of the game, businesses, including Managed Service Providers (MSPs), are required to continuously generate new leads in order to grow and stay ahead of the competition.
The act of prediction, itself, is the application of probability to determine what might happen. For example, if a person takes an action once, you might expect them to do it again. However, if that action caused a poor or negative result, you’d most likely expect the person not to do it again. Now, let’s make it more complex. Say that the person has taken the action in some situations, but not in others. By analyzing the details of each situation, determining the differences and factors in each one, you could begin to predict the likelihood of the person’s actions in a given context. Thus, to make a reasonable prediction for the future, you must have clear insight into past events, complete with context.
When we talk about phishing, it might conjure up memories of scam emails from foreign princes, chock-full of terrible typos, grammar mistakes, and other easy-to-spot signs that the message might not be legitimate. If you’re thinking in those terms, it might shock you to find out how many people actually fall for such attacks.
Threats are everywhere, and endpoint security simply isn’t enough to keep your clients safe. Pairing domain name system (DNS) protection with endpoint security is a proactive way to prevent costly network attacks. Most clients, however, don’t understand the need for this added layer of security.
BlueStar is the leading global distributor of solutions-based Digital Identification, Mobility, Point-of-Sale, RFID, Digital Signage, Network Infrastructure, and Security technology. BlueStar works exclusively with value-added resellers, providing them with complete solutions, business development and marketing support. The company brings unequaled expertise to the market, offers award-winning technical support and is an authorized service center for a growing number of manufacturers. BlueStar is the exclusive distributor for the In-a-Box Solutions Series, delivering hardware, software and critical accessories in one bundle with technology solutions across all verticals.
Shif4 Payments is a leading national provider of touch-screen point of sale (POS) systems and payment processing services. As pioneers of the "as a service" model, Shif4 Payments offers an unprecedented "free" POS program that allows the company's sales partners to offer a full-featured POS system with no up-front costs.
Taylor Business Group is an executive coaching and peer group firm that focuses on IT Solution Providers and Copier Dealers. Founded in 2001, Taylor has brought efficiencies and higher profits to IT Solution Providers through a focused effort in delivering best practices to the Service Provider and Copier Dealer's service, sales and administrative functions.
CompTIA is the voice of the world's information technology (IT) industry.
SherWeb has been helping businesses around the world work smarter in the cloud since 1998. Our cloud solutions help companies be more agile in today’s competitive market and trim IT costs.
Webroot delivers intelligent cybersecurity for endpoint, mobile and web to channel partners, consumers, businesses, and enterprises worldwide. Powered by its BrightCloud® collective threat intelligence network, Webroot protects the internet of everything. Our cloud-based threat detection, high performance, lightweight agents, and single, web-based point of control have changed the way businesses think about protecting mobile devices, PCs and servers. Named a ‘Visionary’ in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Endpoint Protection Platforms, Webroot’s smarter approach to security is why companies including Cisco, F5 Networks, GateProtect, HP, Microsoft, Palo Alto Networks, Proofpoint, RSA and others choose our solutions for advanced threat protection for their security products and services.
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So, you want to start an MSP? Learn about the dying case for hourly billing, technological considerations when transitioning from VAR to MSP, and how to play the long game in this free collection of articles.
When you consider modern attacks, it’s pretty obvious that all businesses—managed service providers (MSPs), small- to medium- sized businesses (SMBs), etc.—need a strong lineup of cyber-defense tools, not just a barebones firewall and old-fashioned antivirus. You need to protect your business first, and to do that, you have to build out a strong cybersecurity stack that can actually withstand the onslaught of modern malware.
Every managed service provider seems to be focusing on security these days. For an MSP adding security services, or an MSSP looking to target a new market segment, here are the common questions I frequently get when I meet with service providers.
Today’s businesses succeed by selling a handful of bundled items to a large number of customers. Think about restaurants, where the trend has been away from a’ la carte menus to limited menus, because it’s easier, more efficient, and requires less skill to produce a few entrée/side dish combinations than to try to fulfill each diner’s specific requests.
Not everyone has the time or inclination to handle laundry on their own. This can present a tremendous business opportunity for laundromats. According to a market research report by IBISWorld, “The laundromat industry had a total revenue of $5 billion in 2018.” With a wash and fold service, your merchants can help their customers to enjoy more of their free time while taking advantage of a lucrative business opportunity.
Thanks to new technology, both business owners and customers can benefit from the ability to place online takeout orders. This can help to speed along the process for your merchants’ business while providing a streamlined and easy way for customers to order their favorites from their menu. According to GloriaFood.com, “Since 2014, digital ordering and delivery has grown 300% faster than dine-in-traffic.
With payment experiences changing in the United States, a growing number of restaurants across the country are starting to grab hold of the latest tableside ordering technology called Pay-at-the-Table (PATT). These options allow them to better meet customer demand for ease of payments while also streamlining their processes and making their operations run more efficiently.
Sounds authentic – feels natural
We have three things in mind when we develop new devices: The user, the user and the user.
How MSPs Can Build A Formidable and Scalable Sales Engine.
Advanced Detection and Protection Against Malware, Ransomware, Phishing, and More.
The Caddy™ SP Organizer is a slim profile POS integration tray that brings easy cable routing and organization to APG heavy duty cash drawers.
