Let’s keep is simple. Our popular one-day workshop, MSP Rescue, is coming to the Microsoft office/event center in Irvine just in time for back to school. This is a professional one-day “continuing education” gathering for MSPs, channel partners, resellers and VARs etc. Our popular format is all panels (no PowerPoint slides).

Harry Brelsford and Caroline Goles discussed their plans for beyond 2024, focusing on growth strategies and marketplace expansion. Caroline highlighted the addition of 20 plus new vendors, expanded categories, and marketplace enhancements to help partners grow. Harry inquired about entering the crowded hardware distribution field, while Caroline emphasized Europe expansion and marketplace mode for 2024. Both stressed the importance of AI capabilities, lifecycle management, and connecting vendors with MSPs to grow their SMB footprint.

No longer does our industry take summers off! Post-pandemic, events are back and have multiplied. In this piece, I share a few nuggets but more importantly I point you to two industry calendars so you can conduct your own research! The two events I’m highlighting below are multi-day events. Use the two calendars below to search for one-day events such as ChannelPro and ASCII events.

My two shout outs are:

We’ve quickly turned the corner on 2024 and are sprinting towards 2025. What better time to reflect on what remains for the next several months. I’ll take a stab at it!

1. Industry Consolidations – Both on the vendor and MSP sides, I’m seeing continued consolidations.

That’s not a surprise with the number of cybersecurity vendors entering the SMB MSP space has accelerated. Need proof? Just survey the aisles at large MSP events you like to attend. Admittedly, many of those cybersecurity vendors are “one and done” logos but you’d be surprised with the M&A activity occurring in the background. Heck some times I wonder if folks created ISVs just to be acquired.

On the MSP front, as many in our space are aging out and private equity is circling the wagons to prey upon MSPs, you are seeing folks thinking getting acquired is looking pretty darn tootin good. Just had a cup of coffee with an MSP

Harry Brelsford and Rob Rae discussed the three pillars of MSP success: community, education, and innovation. They emphasized the importance of these pillars in helping MSPs grow their businesses, with a focus on Pax8's investment in the Pax8 Academy and their use of AI and industry best practices. Later, Harry Brelsford and Rob Rae discussed the significance of community in the MSP space, with Rob Rae high lighting the growth of the MSP community and the number of attendees at the conference.

At the recent IT Nation 2023 event in Orlando, both William Toll and Amy Luby took a few minutes away on a busy expo floor to answer my one question. What is Seceon? With two powerhouses like Toll and Luby joining the team, somethings up and I wanted to get to the bottom of it! Please watch this interesting pod cast! And be sure to give a little love with a  like and a comment. ;) 

For giggles, go to the LinkedinRoastMe site HERE – drop in your LinkedIn profile URL and get ready to laugh. Basically we’re talking about high jinks to take your mind off matters. Here is an example of roast (LOL): “Oh, Juliette, a Business Analyste Métier at Vaudoise Assurances? You must be the life of the party—if the party is filled with spreadsheets and SQL queries! I mean, nothing screams excitement like analyzing insurance claims all day. Your skills in crime analysis must be quite handy when you're trying to figure out who stole the office coffee. And Tableau software?

We caught up with Carlson Choi - the charasmatic CEO of up-and-coming Cork at the Pax8 Beyond 2024 event in Denver during June 2024, Cork is in the small and medium business (SMB) space. This is a solution for Managed Services Providers (MSP) to add to their portfolios. 

At the recent IT Nation 2023 event, we pulled Kyle Hanslovan away from his busy booth to get an insightful update on Huntress. This firm provided technical solutions to the Managed Services Provider (MSP) community and has high favorble ratings. And for good reason - they've earned that right. I've tracked them over the years and impressed with this update showing continued growth. Hoefully you'll be impressed as well! Listen the podcast in the link below.