SMB Community Podcast by James Kernan

Karl Palachuk

Podcasts for IT consultants and managed service providers in the SMB Community. Brought to you by the Small Biz Thoughts Technology Community - with hosts Amy Babinchak, James Kernan, and Karl W. Palachuk. read less
BusinessBusiness

Episodes

Stephen Thomas of Asigra
5d ago
Stephen Thomas of Asigra
Karl interviewed Stephen Thomas from Asigra. Thomas oversees global revenue and shapes the sales and customer success strategy. He is an accomplished executive With over 25 years of experience in building and guiding sales and customer success teams within the rapidly expanding sectors of Enterprise SaaS. With over 25 years of experience in building and guiding sales and customer success teams within the rapidly expanding sectors of Enterprise SaaS (Cybersecurity and Data Protection), Stephen Thomas is an accomplished executive. Prior to taking on his current role at Asigra, where he oversees global revenue and shapes the sales and customer success strategy, he was the Chief Revenue Officer at RiskOptics (formerly Reciprocity). Stephen's leadership experience extends to companies like Arcserve, Armor, Cyberbit, and Symantec.  A graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, he has further honed his skills as a Certified LEANSTACK Coach, CIPP, and CISSP. Asigra is launching a new SaaS management tool in April, but partners can join their beta program now and receive a $2,500 service credit to work with. The product site is https://saasassured.com. Look for the Insider Circle link to join their Beta program. You can join now, so you'll be set for the April 1st launch. Many partners are missing out on revenue by not offering their clients the ability to back up all their SAAS applications (Hubspot, QuickBooks, etc.). Clients know they need to do this. they might even assume you're doing it. And if you're not, someone else might be. That means another vendor is already approved to be paid by them for IT services. That mean's there's another IT consultant in your client's office! Transparency note: Asigra was a sponsor for the 2023 SMB Online Conference. — Our upcoming events: AUSTIN TX – MASTERMIND LIVE (March 28-29th) http://bit.ly/kernanmastermind https://kernanconsulting-mastermind.mykajabi.com/mastermind-event Our Social Links: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-kernan-varcoach/ https://www.facebook.com/james.kernan https://www.facebook.com/karlpalachuk/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/karlpalachuk/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/amybabinchak/ https://www.facebook.com/amy.babinchak/
Val King of Whitehat Technologies
Feb 15 2024
Val King of Whitehat Technologies
Host James sits down with Val King. Val is the CEO of Whitehat Virtual Technologies and responsible for day-to-day-operations, as well as leading the company’s product development and technology strategy. Val has 20 years of experience in technology, compliance, and security in regulated industries, particularly in financial services and healthcare. Currently Val serves in a dual role as CIO for a regional healthcare system. “The last 18 inches between the screen and the end-user is the Point of Execution, where end user experience matters, where technology either improves productivity, and thus the business, or hinders it. “Every business needs IT. Every business buys IT, but not every business is able to confidently cross that divide from IT being just a cost of doing business to a tool delivering outcomes that makes business measurably better.” Val is focused on making this a core competency of Whitehat Virtual Technologies, benefiting every customer we serve. https://www.whitehatvirtual.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/valking/ — Our upcoming events: AUSTIN TX – MASTERMIND LIVE (March 28-29th) http://bit.ly/kernanmastermind https://kernanconsulting-mastermind.mykajabi.com/mastermind-event Our Social Links: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-kernan-varcoach/ https://www.facebook.com/james.kernan https://www.facebook.com/karlpalachuk/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/karlpalachuk/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/amybabinchak/ https://www.facebook.com/amy.babinchak/
Work Culture and Business Acquisition
Feb 8 2024
Work Culture and Business Acquisition
1.) MSP Question of The Week How important is work culture as it relates to acquisition or merger? and Why everything boils down to customer experience... See:  https://www.channele2e.com/native/customer-experience-is-everything 2.) Five minutes with a Smart Person -  Val King of Whitehat Technologies Val is the CEO of Whitehat Virtual Technologies and responsible for day-to-day-operations, as well as leading the company’s product development and technology strategy. Val has 20 years of experience in technology, compliance, and security in regulated industries, particularly in financial services and healthcare. Currently Val serves in a dual role as CIO for a regional healthcare system. “The last 18 inches between the screen and the end-user is the Point of Execution, where end user experience matters, where technology either improves productivity, and thus the business, or hinders it. "Every business needs IT. Every business buys IT, but not every business is able to confidently cross that divide from IT being just a cost of doing business to a tool delivering outcomes that makes business measurably better." Val is focused on making this a core competency of Whitehat Virtual Technologies, benefiting every customer we serve. https://www.whitehatvirtual.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/valking/   --- Our upcoming events: AUSTIN TX – MASTERMIND LIVE (March 28-29th) http://bit.ly/kernanmastermind https://kernanconsulting-mastermind.mykajabi.com/mastermind-event Use “EARLYBIRD” as the coupon code to save $200! Irvine CA – SMB Techfest (Feb 8th-9th) Make sure you catch Amy at SMB Techfest! https://www.smbtechfest.com/events.asp   Our Social Links: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-kernan-varcoach/ https://www.facebook.com/james.kernan https://www.facebook.com/karlpalachuk/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/karlpalachuk/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/amybabinchak/ https://www.facebook.com/amy.babinchak/
How Do MSPs Deal with Stress?
Feb 1 2024
How Do MSPs Deal with Stress?
1.) MSP Question of The Week   How do busy MSP business owners deal with stress?   Host Amy and Host James discuss their strategies.    ---   2.) Five Minutes with A Smart Person -  Eric Anthony    Host James sits down with Channel Vet, podcaster, and Director of Community at EGNYTE Eric Anthony.   Learn more about Eric:   https://www.linkedin.com/in/esanthony/   Eric's Customer Experience video: https://youtube.com/live/WHQWGhrg7FY   Eric's Book "CX That Sings": https://www.amazon.com/CX-That-Sings-introduction-Customer/dp/B085RTL8NT/ref=sr_1_2?   ---   3.) Notes on The News     "Microsoft set for AI-powered revenue surge as stock pulls ahead...   Microsoft is expected to report a 15.8% jump in quarterly revenue, its best growth in nearly two years, as rising adoption of its products infused with generative AI fuels demand for its cloud services."   https://www.reuters.com/technology/microsoft-teams-down-thousands-users-downdetector-2024-01-26/   Microsoft's (MSFT.O), opens new tab Teams services were restored on Saturday after a disruption blocked access to the messaging platform.   Several users had flagged issues with the messaging platform on Friday. Complaints peaked in the afternoon with more than 14,000 incidents, according to outage tracking website Downdetector.com. All incidents appeared to be resolved on Saturday.   --- Our upcoming events: AUSTIN TX – MASTERMIND LIVE (March 28-29th) http://bit.ly/kernanmastermind https://kernanconsulting-mastermind.mykajabi.com/mastermind-event Use “EARLYBIRD” as the coupon code to save $200! Irvine CA – SMB Techfest (Feb 8th-9th) Make sure you catch Amy at SMB Techfest! https://www.smbtechfest.com/events.asp   Our Social Links: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-kernan-varcoach/ https://www.facebook.com/james.kernan https://www.facebook.com/karlpalachuk/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/karlpalachuk/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/amybabinchak/ https://www.facebook.com/amy.babinchak/
What is The Best Business Structure For MSPs?
Jan 25 2024
What is The Best Business Structure For MSPs?
Host Amy and Host James catch up and catch a tan.    1.) MSP Question of The Week   What is the best business structure for new MSPs?   See: https://www.toptal.com/finance/interim-cfos/c-corp-vs-s-corp#:~:text=Compared%20to%20traditional%20S%20or,it's%20taxed%20as%20a%20corporation   ---   2.) More Tech Layoffs?   EY Announces Layoffs in Response to Economic Struggles   See: https://www.channele2e.com/news/ey-announces-layoffs-in-response-to-economic-struggles   "Less than a week after Broadcom finalized its $61 billion acquisition of VMware, layoffs began. This is a familiar pattern for the company, which followed a similar playbook with its acquisition of CA Technologies in 2018. Overall, it's estimated Broadcom will cut about 2,000 employees post-acquisition.   Google, Amazon, Snap, Splunk, LinkedIn, Cisco, MariaDB and SecureWorks all recently announced layoffs. Other mass layoffs recently included Intel, Wish and LinkedIn in the San Francisco Bay area. At the beginning of September, Rapid7 announced a restructuring plan following disappointing second-quarter results, resulting in the layoffs of about 18% of the company’s workforce. Similarly, AppSec firm Snyk laid off 128 people in April. Cloud security vendor Zscaler announced layoffs after what it called a rough fiscal second quarter. Software tools giant Atlassian laid off 5% of its workforce as it “shifted priorities.”    ----   Our upcoming events: AUSTIN TX – MASTERMIND LIVE (March 28-29th) http://bit.ly/kernanmastermind https://kernanconsulting-mastermind.mykajabi.com/mastermind-event Use “EARLYBIRD” as the coupon code to save $200! Irvine CA – SMB Techfest (Feb 8th-9th) Make sure you catch Amy at SMB Techfest! https://www.smbtechfest.com/events.asp   Our Social Links: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-kernan-varcoach/ https://www.facebook.com/james.kernan https://www.facebook.com/karlpalachuk/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/karlpalachuk/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/amybabinchak/ https://www.facebook.com/amy.babinchak/
Yearly Business Goals and Objectives
Jan 25 2024
Yearly Business Goals and Objectives
*Due to a small error, we are re-releasing this episode that was originally set for January 19th, 2024. Thanks for understanding. :-) 1.)  Should you update your GOALS and OBJECTIVES every year?  The short answer? Yes.  Email James (james@kernanconsulting.com) for his one page business plan exercise. ---  3.) Notes on The News  Is Connectwise a sinking ship? https://www.msptechnews.com/business-news/is-connectwise-a-sinking-ship/ The best click-bait of the year....so far! And MAJOR CONSUMERS SEVER RELATIONS WITH HACKED BRANDS? Ransomware attacks in 2023 surged by 95% year-over-year, with 1,278 victims identified on leak sites - already surpassing both 2021 and 2022 totals... https://www.msptoday.com/topics/msp-today/articles/458119-majority-consumers-sever-ties-with-hacked-brands.htm 2.) Five Minutes with a Smart Person: Erick Simpson  Erick Simpson is an MSP Business and Channel Growth Expert, MSP Influencer and MSP Thought Leader A pioneer and leader in the managed services industry, Erick Simpson built and sold one of the very first MSPs in the industry and grew and coached a channel of 30,000 IT Solution Providers through their MSP transformation with his MSP Mastered® Methodology for managed services business performance improvement. Erick is an MSP business & channel growth expert, influencer, thought leader, speaker and author with 4 best-selling books and 50 white papers to his credit, and his strategies and programs help MSPs overcome business challenges to realize consistent, profitable managed services recurring revenue growth. His M&A expertise has helped dozens of MSPs sell their businesses at the highest valuation or expand through acquisition. He delivers strategic MSP market analysis services and builds and improves channel programs for IT vendors and distributors, and helps recruit and enable their channel partners through his thought leadership podcasts, webinars, workshops and event keynotes and breakouts. Erick’s industry recognition includes Channel Futures’ 7 Thought Leaders Defining the MSP Market, Jay McBain’s 100 Most Visible Channel Leaders, 2 Time ChannelPro 20/20 Visionaries, 2 Time MSP Mentor 250 and SMB Nation’s SMB 150 award recipient. Check out Erick's new community:  https://mspmastered.com/ https://ericksimpson.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericksimpson/   — Check out Amy's Intune class: https://www.thirdtier.net/2023/11/29/learning-intune-a-six-month-course/   Our upcoming events: AUSTIN TX – MASTERMIND LIVE (March 28-29th) http://bit.ly/kernanmastermind https://kernanconsulting-mastermind.mykajabi.com/mastermind-event Use “EARLYBIRD” as the coupon code to save $200! Irvine CA - SMB Techfest (Feb 8th-9th) Make sure you catch Amy at SMB Techfest! https://www.smbtechfest.com/events.asp   Our Social Links: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-kernan-varcoach/ https://www.facebook.com/james.kernan https://www.facebook.com/karlpalachuk/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/karlpalachuk/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/amybabinchak/ https://www.facebook.com/amy.babinchak/
The Best Commission Plan for Salespeople
Dec 14 2023
The Best Commission Plan for Salespeople
Today the SMBCP is whole again: Karl is back!      1.) MSP Question of The Week   What is the best commission plan for salespeople?    ---   2.) What's New in the News    OPEN AI – blew up!   And ransomware attacks are on the RISE!    Ransomware attacks have surged in recent years; this has led to significant financial losses, data breaches and operational disruptions across various sectors. As of 2023, over 72% of organizations worldwide were affected by ransomware attacks, according to Statista.   That raises a question as to how malicious actors are able to successfully carry out these attacks on the majority of organizations. And one industry that is struggling to handle ransomware attacks is...healthcare.   In fact, Sophos revealed in its “The State of Ransomware in Healthcare 2023”  report that cybercriminals successfully encrypted data in nearly 75% of ransomware attacks. This is the highest rate of encryption in the past three years and a significant increase from the 61% of healthcare organizations that reported having their data encrypted last year.     ---   Our upcoming events: Jan 16-18th in Honolulu HI – MSSP Sales/Marketing workshop https://conference.fornixmarketing.com/hawaii-conference-3364   Contact James for a $500 discount code!    Our Social Links: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-kernan-varcoach/ https://www.facebook.com/james.kernan https://www.facebook.com/karlpalachuk/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/karlpalachuk/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/amybabinchak/ https://www.facebook.com/amy.babinchak/