Neither rain nor darkness or sniffles/colds (going around here) kept the loyal and dedicated group of geeks from our 2nd Annual Geek Holiday Party on December 4th!

So just a short shoutout via the pic below recognize the geeks on the loose at the gathering...a few hours of chatting and good food.

So why bother? For a couple reasons.

 At IT Connect 2024 in Orlando, AUVIK, a network and SaaS management company founded in 2011, discussed their focus on "frictionless IT." AUVIK's president oversees customer acquisition, onboarding, and success, while Joe Barnes, based in Scottsdale, focuses on growing indirect partnerships and expanding resale business. AUVIK plans to launch endpoint network monitoring and enhance SaaS management automation in 2025. They emphasize their strong partnership with ConnectWise and the integration of their tools into ConnectWise's ASIO platform. AUVIK sees a resurgence in MSP growth post-COVID and is exploring additional events and lunch-and-learns to engage their community.

Action Items

• [ ] Explore doing additional lunch and learn events.
• [ ] Continue developing partnerships and exploring new channel opportunities.
• [ ] Enhance Auvik's SaaS management platform with more automation for customer onboarding and offboarding.
• [ ] Expand Auvik's network monitoring capabilities to include endpoint monitoring.

At the recent IT Nation Connect 2024 event – I spotted a rarity – a young MSP. Tye Fowler is a real go-getter from Tampa, FL and he proactively walked up to me after a keynote as he saw my legacy Windows Small Business Server (SBS) 2003 golf shirt and thought I worked for Microsoft LOL. We bumped into each other a few times and I invited him to the ProofPoint reception that early evening before he hopped on a flight to Atlanta.

Let’s GOOOO!

Harry Brelsford, wrapping up his podcast cycle from the IT Nation 2024 event in Orlando, interviews Tye Fowler, an MSP partner from Tampa, Florida. Tye's company, SGD Communications, started in 2003 and specializes in low-voltage services and network infrastructure. This is Tye's first IT Nation Connect conference, having previously attended IT Nation Secure. He appreciated the creativity and the opportunity to meet people from around the globe. Harry plans to feature Tye in his podcast and emphasizes the importance of young talent like Tye in the aging IT industry. They discuss future ConnectWise events, and Harry wishes Tye safe travels to Atlanta.

Harry Brelsford and Paralee Walls discuss the Connect 2024 event, highlighting Paralee's company's success in the previous year's startup pitch competition. Paralee emphasizes the importance of integrating chat solutions for better customer service experiences, contrasting traditional ticketing systems. She shares her background in public school education and how transitioning to tech marketing is similar to teaching. They discuss the cognitive benefits of learning a foreign language, with Paralee noting that she dreams in Spanish. Paralee describes her company's marketing strategies at the event, including a "rage room" for venting business frustrations and a solutions booth. They also talk about the benefits of providing exceptional service experiences, exemplified by their party bus service for attendees.

Long-time readers will recall that we have always support Small Business Saturday that falls after the US Thanksgiving (started 2010). This year it’s November 30th. Here are a few ways you can participate.

Go Buy Something (Anything) from a Small Business! 

I love shopping on Small Business Saturday. Last year I picked up some sauces from a small business in the cute tourist town of Wimberley, TX in the hill country outside Austin. And I’ll hit the elephant in the room head on folks. Yes - buying a drink (wine, beer even Vodka count when you visit a local diner. Snap a pic and post it in our SBS group on FB (join HERE) 

Host a Reception at Your Business Location

Harry Brelsford and Dux Raymond Sy discussed the IT Nation Connect 2024 event, noting 4,500 on-site attendees and 205,000 online. Dux, Chief Brand Officer at AvePoint, highlighted AvePoint's role in data security, governance, and resiliency, emphasizing their 21-year history and 4,000 global partners. They discussed the importance of preparing for AI tools like Copilot by ensuring data hygiene and security. Dux noted that AvePoint's FedRAMP and GCC high certifications are crucial for federal market MSPs. They also touched on the challenges and opportunities in the SMB space, stressing the need for early adoption and recurring services.

A common refrain in technology (heck any area) is the need to both stay current and lean forward to remain relevant. Like you, I can remember pivoting from the sad demise of Novell NetWare to Window Server (remember NT?) leading up to the granddaddy of all migrations: the end-of-life (EOL) *and* and of service of Windows Small Business Server (SBS) to whatever (cloud et. al.). Do you realize that all happened in 2014 - ten years ago. This was the same timeframe as the Windows XP (EOL). Another example of voluntary (for some of you it was involuntary) professional evolution from break-fix to the Managed Service Provider (MSP) business model based on monthly recurring revenue (MRR) (invented by the telcos IMHO)

Here We Grow Again - Looking Around the Corner into 2025

I recently attended a keynote at the Mindset Reset conference

Calling the NERD HERD!

Be There - the Holiday Party for the Rest of Us! 

Our most popular mantra and message to IT Pros, Managed Services Providers (MSP), Geeks and Nerds is that you are NOT ALONE! 

I’m not claiming to be Nostrdammus with his legendary forecasting capabilities in the 1500s. But the data doesn’t lie and I saw it with my own eyes. Let’s geek out on this. 

Dropping Prices

Let’s start with the end-in-mind as author Stephen Covey said in his book “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.”  So the end of the story is about the housing market: buy, sell or short.