ARTICLES BY JOHN ONCEA

• The State Of VARs, 2019: Security And Education

  A coworker was telling me he hasn’t seen a Top Ten Films of 2018 list that doesn’t include Roma. That same concept can be applied to 2019 VAR predictions: try and find a list that doesn’t include security and education in some way, shape, or form at or near the top. Go ahead, I’ll wait.

• Membership Has Its Privileges

  Lynn Souza, President and CEO of Connect Computer, has been an ASCII member for six years. Ask her why and she’ll tell you it’s because ASCII is a caring group that wants to help the industry. Furthermore, ASCII members helping each other ultimately results in individuals learning to help themselves. How is this possible? Souza answered this question and more when she took time to speak with me at the ASCII Success Summit held in October in Providence, RI.

• Leadership Is Recognizing You Serve The People You Lead

  Alan Weinberger founded The ASCII Group, a community of technical companies that install IT networks and full IT solutions in the business, government, and educational verticals, in 1984. At the time, there were 40 members, but ASCII now claims members in every U.S. state and throughout Canada. You no doubt already know the story of ASCII’s rise to nearly 1,500 members over the past 32 years. What you may not know, as Paul Harvey would say, is the rest of the story.

• VARCOM 101 For ISVs

  The following is an edited transcript of Business Solutions’ Editor in Chief Mike Monocello’ s Q&A with Jason Firment, Director of Point of Sale and Director of VARCOM for BlueStar which took place at ISV IQ Live! held October 6 in Philadelphia.

• BlueStar Introduces ISV Connect

  The following is an edited transcript of Business Solutions’ Editor in Chief Mike Monocello’ s Q&A with Jason Firment, Director of Point of Sale and Director of VARCOM for BlueStar which took place at ISV IQ Live! held October 6 in Philadelphia.

• Recruit, Hire, And Compensate With The Best

  Established managed services providers walk you through the hiring process: from finding candidates, to selecting the right one, to properly compensating them.

• Feinberg Closes ASCII Success Summit With Thought-Provoking Talk

  Alan Weinberger, the founder, chairman, and CEO of The ASCII Group called on his friend Ken Feinberg to close The ASCII Success Summit – Rhode Island held October 13 — 14 at the Hyatt Regency Newport, and Feinberg didn’t disappoint.

• ASCII Success Summit — Rhode Island Day Two: Providing Data Protection For SMBs

  Even in today’s competitive market, cloud-based disaster recovery and backup — as well as recovery providers — have not been able to provide a complete, end-to-end solution for partners who service the SMB. How to do just that was the topic of Data Deposit Box President, COO & Director Troy Cheeseman’s talk, Simple, Smart Data Protection Built For SMBs given during the second day of The ASCII Success Summit – Rhode Island held October 13 — 14 at the Hyatt Regency Newport.

• ASCII Success Summit: Choosing The Right VoIP Provider

  Knowing what to look for when choosing a VoIP provider to bring to the table with your customers is something Roland Technology Group President and CEO Tim Conkle knows something about. So much so, it was the subject of Three Pitfalls Of Partnering With The Wrong VoIP Provider, his talk on the second day of The ASCII Success Summit — Rhode Island held October 13 — 14 at the Hyatt Regency Newport.

• Datto At The ASCII Success Summit: No More Back Up

  Datto’s VP of Business Development Rob Rae presented The Most Important Lessons We've Learned From Our Only Customer, The Channel during the second day of the ASCII Success Summit — Rhode Island held October 13-14 at the Hyatt Regency Newport.

• ASCII Success Summit — The Growth Potential Of MSP Security

  Jay Ferron, CIO of Interactive Security Training, LLC, started off the second day of the ASCII Success Summit — Rhode Island being held October 13 to 14 at the Hyatt Regency Newport. Ferron’s presentation, MSP Security Growth, From Start To Smart, focused on the security space — particularly delivering best practices and building constant service revenue.

• Essential MSP Tools, Cloud Highlight First Day Of ASCII Success Summit - Rhode Island

  The year’s final ASCII Success Summit kicked off October 13 at the Hyatt Regency Newport in Newport, RI with ASCII President Jerry Koutavas presenting Opportunity Hacking: Finding New Business Online Through Set Processes. Koutavas spoke about how most companies fail to discover opportunities beyond their normal sales activities and offered advice on how to increase the chance of finding and closing new business through a variety of creative, insightful methods and processes shared by fellow ASCII Group IT provider community members.

• Do You Know Your Customer’s Internal Trigger?

  Using the Hook Model, you can create customer habits which could lead to supercharged growth, higher customer lifetime value, and increased defensibility against competitors who prey on your customers.

• CompTIA’s Vision Of The Future

  What does CompTIA CEO and president Todd Thibodeaux think needs to happen to make sure the future of the industry remains bright? Hint —you may not be able to get a certain Whitney Houston song out of your head when you find out.

• Payment & Data Security: Lessons Learned From The Front Lines

  According to a Business Solutions’ EMV and payment security survey, VARs take a hands-off approach to security despite increasing threats. These solutions providers need to change their thinking or risk being the partner of a customer with a front-page breach.