Unpopular opinion: Always sign month to month contracts with your software vendors.

If you're packaging different software products along with your labor services, then selling those in monthly or yearly agreements to your clients, trying to save money by going for one year or three year contracts with your vendors is going to become a bookkeeping nightmare.

Always sign month to month and make sure that you have the proper margins to cover that slight increase. the savings in terms of back office efficiency will more than pay for itself.

It also helps when clients add services in and don't have to set up complicated coterm stuff - Just makes it easier to work with you.

#WorkMoreDoLess

#msp #mssp #cybersecurity

Nobody likes a confused robot. ❓🤖❓

I don't know if you're like me, but when my "smart" vacuum keeps bumping into my leg while I'm on a video call, visions of the office space printer fill my head 😂

But if you're trying to push an automation initiative and haven't:

❌ Documented business process
❌ Fixed the underlying issues discovered
❌ Properly scoped out your automation efforts

Then you should expect as much success as the vacuum that's currently stuck under my bed right now.

Remember:

✅ Sort and solve the business issues first
✅ Scope the automation to holistically support the new process
✅ Prioritize your efforts; get quick wins and build off of the low hanging fruit.

Everyone loves a useful robot ❤🤖❤

#WorkMoreDoLess

Use this 1 Simple tactic to ensure people actually read your documentation.

Define and color code who the documentation is for.

Then, folks can scan it and locate/focus on where they need to pay attention. Makes larger processes with multiple teams/roles involved much easier to digest. It also assigns *who* should be owning/driving a certain task.

This has other implications for resource planning and automation as well, but that's a topic for another post (or two) 😉

Simple example in the screenshots below.

#WorkMoreDoLess

What's the biggest mistake I made when building my first MSSP?

Not telling everyone I was doing it.

You see, people in our current IT-focused MSP were vaguely familiar that we were going to be offering security services, but they had no idea what that really meant for them.

▶️ Sales didn't realize it would be an entirely different animal to sell. They didn't have advanced and detailed explanations of the ideal type of customer or value prop.

▶️ Engineering didn't realize they were going to have to be involved, and they most certainly didn't understand how the new technologies would fit into their client's environments.

▶️ The help desk didn't have clearly defined rules of engagement of how to escalate issues to security, or when to.

▶️ Customer success didn't understand the offerings and what types of issues clients might have with the new products, much less how to interact with clients regarding those.

We had a great team, and we iterated, learned and improved - even experienced success - but not without scars.

💡 Take it from me, think about, plan for, and educate your IT staff on these things well in advance of launch. Your people (and clients) will thank you for it.

#WorkMoreDoLess

#business #informationsecurity #cybersecurity #leadership

"Daring ideas are like chessmen moved forward. They may be beaten, but they may start a winning game." - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

If you're seeking to change any paradigm, you'll encounter resistance. A "no" to a good idea today, is a seed planted for tomorrow. Keep at it.

#WorkMoreDoLess