B2B vs B2C and What it Means for Your MSP

There is no shortage of articles explaining the differences between B2B (business-to-business) and B2C (business-to-consumer) business models. A simple online search will make this clear. Most of these articles highlight the same basic contrasts:

• The B2B sales cycle lasts longer/is costlier than that of B2C
• B2B relies on long-term client relationships; B2C tends to involve single ‘one-and-done’ transactions
• Compared to B2C businesses, B2B businesses target a smaller, niche prospective client base
• B2B sales and marketing should appeal to reason; B2C sales and marketing should play to emotion
• B2B involves engaging with multiple stakeholders and decision-makers within an organization; B2C involves selling to individuals

Instead of belaboring these points, we want to home in on one in particular, which is especially relevant to managed service providers (MSPs), namely, the idea that B2B sales and marketing tactics should appeal to clients’ reason instead of their emotions. There is some truth to this claim, but as we’ll see, it’s an oversimplification, which, taken the wrong way, could undermine or even derail your MSP’s efforts to attract, win, and hold onto clients.

Before we look at the idea that B2B sales and marketing should appeal to reason, let’s quickly review the basic definitions of B2B and B2C, and establish which type of model describes the commercial activities of MSPs.

B2B vs B2C: A Brief Overview

B2B is an acronym that wears its meaning on its sleeve: business-to-business is a type of sales process that involves businesses selling products/services to other businesses. B2C is equally straightforward: a business-to-consumer retail model is what it sounds like — businesses selling products/services directly to individual consumers.

An MSP is an example of a B2B business, as it offers outsourced IT support to businesses, not individual consumers. Thus, MSPs should implement sales and marketing strategies that align with the core principles of the B2B model. But what are these principles, and just how sound are they?

There isn’t space here to discuss the various aspects of B2B marketing. So, instead, we’ll be looking closely at one in particular: the idea that B2B sales and marketing should appeal to existing and prospective clients’ reason, in contrast to B2C sales and marketing efforts, which ought to play to emotion.

This is a common trope when it comes to discussions of B2B vs B2C best practices, but it’s not the golden nugget of truth it’s often held up to be. The following discussion aims to introduce some nuance into the idea that B2B marketing is all about reason, not emotion. The goal is to give your MSP a more balanced understanding of the topic at hand, so that you can sell and market your services more effectively than ‘the next MSP.’

The Standard View: B2B is ‘All Business’

The idea that B2B marketing should be ‘strictly business’ makes intuitive sense. After all, we are talking about business-to-business transactions here! But all kidding aside, the idea that B2B marketing should appeal to clients’ reason — i.e., their ability to think rationally and objectively — does mesh with certain realities. Let’s look at two such realities . . .

Higher Stakes

When you’re a business selling to another business, the stakes are usually higher than they would be if you were selling a product or service to an individual consumer. As an MSP, your primary objective is to demonstrate that your IT services will constitute a sound investment for your prospective client’s business. The organizations that you’re marketing and selling to want to know that hiring you will be a good business decision with a healthy ROI (return on investment).

This means you have to prop up your pitch with plenty of numbers and cold hard facts. Your pool of leads won’t choose your MSP because you have a nice smile or a firm handshake — though those things can help — but because you’re going to save them time, money, and resources.

So, when selling and marketing your MSP’s services and support model, you want to focus on establishing the strategic advantages that your potential clients can achieve by hiring you.

Longer and More Complex Sales Process

Another reason why B2B sales and marketing need to appeal to reason has to do with a key feature of the B2B sales process: as a business selling/marketing to other businesses, your path to converting a lead into a customer is longer, and requires engagement with multiple stakeholders and decision-makers within an organization.

Think about your MSP. Generally speaking, you’re not going to win a new client by convincing one person that your MSP is great; you’re going to have to win the respect and trust of various key decision-makers — executives, in-house IT staff, and so forth.

What does this have to do with the reason/emotion distinction?

A lot! Unlike B2C transactions, which can capitalize on individual consumers’ in-the-moment impulses and emotions, a successful B2B transaction usually requires that you secure a “yes” from multiple people, over an extended period of time. And such a thing is only possible if you convince your prospective clients that working with your MSP is actually a sensible idea — i.e., that it makes good business sense.

An Alternative Perspective: Emotions Matter Too!

Now that we’ve seen some reasons to think that your MSP, as a B2B operation, needs to appeal to potential clients’ “rational side” to win business, we can begin pushing back on this view with some considerations in favor of a more “emotional” approach.

Consideration #1: B2B and B2C are Both P2P!

With all of the business jargon, it’s easy to get lost in a sea of acronyms and forget one simple truth: whether you’re an MSP selling IT services to small-to-medium sized businesses (SMBs) or a scalper hawking tickets on the sidewalk, at the end of the day, it’s people selling to people. And people aren’t purely rational — no matter how hard we try! Our decisions are based largely on emotion.

So, if you’re an MSP, yes, you need to demonstrate your value to potential clients using facts and figures, but you can’t neglect the vital task of making the people you speak with feel comfortable, listened to, cared for, etc. The fact is, people will trust you more if you’re personable, friendly, and warm, and when a prospective client is on the fence about hiring your MSP, they are likely to fall back on instinct. You want that instinct to be that you’re a good person who genuinely cares about cultivating relationships with your clients.

Consideration #2: The Stakes are High!

Wait, didn’t we mention “higher stakes” as a reason your MSP needs to appeal to your potential clients’ rationality?

Yep! But the fact that stakes are typically higher in B2B transactions (compared to B2C transactions) is also a reason why you can’t neglect the emotional side of the equation. Choosing to work with an MSP is a big business decision that has the potential to go extremely well or extremely poorly for your prospective clients. The emotional intensity of such a decision is much, much greater than, say, that which accompanies purchasing a stick of gum.

For that reason, your MSP’s role — a role that you and your staff all have to take on — is to recognize your prospective clients’ anxieties, fears, and uncertainties, and then, do your best to alleviate those feelings. To do that, you have to connect on a human level. If you can truly listen to the business owners you engage with, instead of viewing them merely as a potential paycheck, it will help your MSP stand out in a crowded and competitive industry. In the same spirit, learn to accept a “no” without any resentment, because oftentimes a “no” is really a “not yet.” Never leave potential clients with a bad taste in their mouths after a pitch, because you want them to remember you fondly if their circumstances change and they decide that working with an MSP — or a different MSP — is a good idea after all.

Consideration #3: Not Everyone is Fluent in Techspeak

MSPs provide IT services to all manner of businesses, many of which aren’t a part of the IT world. Naturally, then, the decision-makers you or your sales team speak with won’t always be well-versed in the jargon that rolls so naturally of your tongue. It’s true that you want to establish technical expertise and an in-depth knowledge of your MSP’s offerings, as well as how those offerings tie into your prospective clients’ business objectives. But, at the same time, leaning too hard into “techspeak” can have the adverse effect of overwhelming, confusing, or even angering your leads. Be wary of falling into

the trap of trying to impress with fancy terminology, when a simple explanation would be more effective and powerful.

This consideration ties into the previous one. Many of the decision-makers you speak with are going to be feeling anxious about outsourcing their IT. Dumping a truckload of jargon on their heads is hardly going to help. You want to be professional and make it obvious that you know your stuff when it comes to IT, but your conversation with potential clients needs to be just that — a conversation! Don’t talk at leads; talk to them, and in terms they can easily understand.

This also applies to your marketing collateral. Make sure it’s not too heavy on jargon, and develop an overarching brand identity or story with universal, human appeal. If your only selling points are technical, you’re going to be in trouble. The MSP space is simply too crowded and competitive for your company to stand out without branding that resonates with fellow tech people and the technophobic alike.

Concluding Remarks

As a B2B enterprise, your MSP will win new clients by taking them through a long-term sales cycle, in which you answer their questions, provide them with plenty of information, and demonstrate your value in clear, quantitative terms. In short, you have to earn prospective clients’ trust by speaking to their rational side, because no one’s going to hire an MSP just because it ‘feels right’ or ‘seems like a good idea in the moment.’

That said, you have to do all of that with a human touch, making sure to cultivate a personal connection. If you try to ‘argue’ your way to new clients by presenting your MSP’s value in purely technical terms, you can easily lose precious leads by failing to tap into the most powerful motivator of all: emotion.

If you’re an MSP that struggles with sales and marketing, we encourage you to reach out to us. Here at The 20, we help MSPs conquer sales, marketing, and a host of other challenges that commonly hold MSPs back. Learn more about what we do, and how our revolutionary business model can take your business to the next level.

Four Cybersecurity Tips for a Safe and Secure 2022

We are in the last week of Cybersecurity Awareness Month, an observance started in 2004 by the National Cyber Security Alliance and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Now in its 18th year, the annual awareness effort has grown into a powerful campaign that serves to energize and educate the general public, while giving institutions and enterprises the guidance and tools they need to keep their data safe, and their people protected. The theme for Cybersecurity Awareness Month 2021 is “Do Your Part. #BeCyberSmart.”

This is a powerful message, and one that is crucial at this juncture in history. The past decade — and the past several years especially — has seen an explosion in the prevalence, sophistication, and destructiveness of cyberattacks, with the Covid pandemic only exacerbating what was already a serious problem.

Things aren’t going to get any easier, either. In fact, experts predict that cybercrime costs will steadily rise over the next several years and exceed $10 billion by 2025. Fueled by success, emboldened by new technologies, and in some cases, backed by nation-states, cybercriminals are certainly gearing up for a busy year. Cybercrime isn’t going anywhere. But here’s the thing . . .

Neither are we. MSPs aren’t going anywhere, nor is their commitment to keeping their clients and their data safe. The IT industry as a whole isn’t going anywhere, and there are a lot of us, willing to fight the good fight and keep threat actors at bay. The United States isn’t going anywhere, nor is the global community in which America plays a vital role. This brings us back to the theme of Cybersecurity Awareness Month 2021, and why it’s so apt and timely.

We — individuals, institutions, businesses, communities, countries — can’t afford to treat cybercrime as a purely technological issue with no direct connection to daily life, or more simply, ‘not my problem.’ It is all of our jobs to keep cyberspace from being overrun with nefarious activity. If we all do our part and stay smart, we can win this fight. But we can’t hesitate or hedge our bets — it’s time to go all in!

The Role of MSPs

Managed service providers (MSPs) are in a unique position to lead the fight against cybercrime. By making cybersecurity a priority and an integral part of operations and internal culture, MSPs can inspire their client businesses to do the same. This will have ripple effects that strengthen our entire country’s security posture.

So, let’s get smart and do our part. Here are four cybersecurity tips for MSP Owners going into 2022.

Tip #1 – Adopt a Culture-First Mentality

When it comes to cybersecurity, there’s a temptation to immediately think about technical solutions: the right tools and software with which to protect your MSP business, and by extension, your clients’ businesses. But given that the overwhelming majority of data breaches involve a human element (i.e., human error), it makes sense to think about cybercrime as a human/social problem, calling for a cultural solution (i.e., a shift in thinking).

Establishing a culture of cybersecurity awareness might sound like a vague undertaking — something you agree with in theory, but which seems like it wouldn’t amount to much in practice. But this couldn’t be farther from the truth.

Building a robust cybersecurity culture at your MSP means taking very concrete measures: building employee cybersecurity training into your onboarding process, emphasizing cybersecurity in your marketing collateral, making sure your clients’ software and applications are being regularly updated, encouraging your technicians to report any potential security issues — even if the issue might be a false alarm. In short, adopting a culture-first mentality about cybersecurity means taking action on all fronts, so that your staff and your clients’ businesses can all get on the same page. A unified front is the end goal, because all it takes is one weak link for something bad to happen.

Tip #2 – Get Smart about P#ssw0rds!

Let’s talk about passwords. We all use them for both personal and professional platforms. They’re central to our lives. Our crucial data rests on their strength. And yet, bad passwords remain a rampant issue and an easy point of ingress for threat actors.

You might know good password hygiene, but do your clients? What about their end-users? A survey from 2019 found that nearly a quarter of Americans have used “Password,” “Qwerty,” “123456,” or something similarly obvious for a password. The bottom line is that people systematically underestimate how easy it is for hackers to guess weak passwords.

Your MSP can help clients shed this attitude for good, by not only conveying the dangers of weak passwords, but also, by offering solutions such as Password Managers, training, and educational content. One good idea is to provide a sequence of onboarding emails and include one devoted to password hygiene. After all, strengthening your clients’ cybersecurity posture is something to do immediately and proactively, not after disaster has already struck.

Tip #3 – Implement Multi-Factor Authentication

Multi-factor authentication (MFA) is a shining example of layered security in action. Instead of following the old cybersecurity methodology, and treating “the network” as a trusted space enclosed by a fixed perimeter, MFA employs a “zero trust” approach to cybersecurity by requiring that all users provide, in addition to their log-in credentials, a second piece of identity-verifying evidence before gaining access to an application or service.

When your organization is equipped with MFA, threat actors can’t infiltrate your systems simply by illicitly obtaining log-in credentials through phishing and other means. This raises the difficulty level for hackers exponentially, and although MFA doesn’t offer 100% protection for your MSP and its clients (no cybersecurity tool does!), it does greatly mitigate the risks of a social engineering attack.

Here at The 20, we believe strongly in MFA, because we understand that employee training can only go so far. At the end of the day, you want an additional layer of security to keep threat actors out. Our tool of choice for MFA is ID 20/20, an authentication solution that makes identity verification fast, easy, and secure. Learn how it works here!

Tip #4 – Come Together as a Community

This last one is less a tip and more a rallying cry. The cybercriminal of today is not an isolated actor, cooped up in a basement and carrying out attacks for personal reasons. On the contrary, today’s threat actors operate within highly sophisticated and politically motivated organizational structures. Hackers work in groups (e.g., DarkSide and REvil), and their coordinated attacks are strategic components of broader campaigns to undermine national infrastructure and social wellbeing.

Standing up to these opportunistic and highly organized criminals requires that we adopt an equally — no, a more robust and coordinated cyberdefense strategy. There is indeed strength in numbers, and if the last few years have taught us what hackers are capable of when they have institutional resources at their disposal, let the next few years be a lesson on how strong America’s businesses and people are — especially when we put our differences aside and commit to taking down a common foe.

Right now, we don’t need heroes to fend off cybercriminals; we need each other. Your MSP can set a tone of cooperation and collaboration by working closely with clients to enhance their security posture, and by providing the IT community at large with thought leadership and actionable content.

Working together to kick a** and help businesses sustain growth and profitability . . . Now that is an idea The 20 can get behind!

Meet Wynn of In-Touch Computer Services!

Tell us a little about your MSP…

50% of our business is in Georgia and 50% is in Florida.  I started In-Touch Computer Services in 1992 in Rome,Georgia. I’m now based out of Atlanta,  just inside the perimeter and my team is scattered mostly across North Georgia and North Florida.  We serve clients as far north as Manhattan in New York and as far south as Pompano Beach in Florida (nearly Miami).  Over the years we’ve done 3 acquisitions to grow our business.

How long have you been a member of The 20?

Early 2021

Why did your MSP originally look to partner with The 20?

We wanted to standardize our offering a little more and focus our technical team on the Tier 3-4 work.  

Tell us about the biggest change in your business since joining The 20.

We just finished moving all of our agents to The 20 at the end of September, so we haven’t really gotten settled in yet.  The biggest change has been learning all the new tools, BMS, VSA, etc.  We had been on Connectwise since 2005 and Continuum (Zenith) since 2006.

What do you like most about being a member of The 20?

We like the people the most, which is #1 in business.

What do you think is the most important quality necessary for success?

Find something you love to do that serves others, and do it.  If your goal is only to finish work and retire, your work will not amount to much.

What are your biggest business challenges?

As CEO, my biggest job is BALANCE.  It’s my job to make sure my team is happy and challenged, make sure my clients are happy and taken care of, and the investment in the business continues to make sense from a financial standpoint.  When that balance is off ,  I can feel it.

What are your areas of focus for 2022?

For 2021, it has been to get settled into The 20, learn the tools and streamline the operations.  So, for 2022 the focus will be to grow with a new level of efficiency and service.

What advice would you share with an MSP looking to scale their business?

Number 1: Learn to DELEGATE to others.  Others have strengths and preferences that you don’t have.  Allow them to use those strengths.  I’ve been very fortunate to have great people that have been with me for many years.  Early on, I realized that Marsha loves the tedious tasks that drive me crazy – for 26 years she’s been happy and I’ve been happy.  As we’ve grown, we’ve continued to find others whose strengths and preferences make us a better team.  Also, find ways to delegate to other businesses – like The 20.

Number 2: Have FAITH in your people.  If you feel you can’t trust someone, let them go.  You must be able to share a mutual trust so the BS of life doesn’t interfere with your ability to take care of each other and the customer.

What book are you currently reading?

Along with my Vistage business group, I’m reading Brene Brown’s book: Dare to Lead.  (I also read the Wall Street Journal every day to keep my perspective global and not just local).

Favorite blogs/podcasts

Interested in becoming a member like In-Touch Computers? Click here for more information!

What is PSA?

Introduction: Defining PSA

Professional Services Automation (PSA) refers to the use of IT by businesses in the professional services industry to automate routine processes and perform data-driven workflow management. The purpose of PSA is to allow service-oriented businesses to operate more efficiently and profitably. PSA helps businesses achieve these aims in a variety of ways, including:

• Service Delivery Optimization
• Intelligent Resource Allocation
• Automation of Administrative Tasks
• Task Tracking for Improved Contract Management and Customer Experience (CX)
• Data-Driven Business Insights

This article provides an overview of PSA’s core features as well as some of the more advanced facilities that modern PSA software boasts. We will be focusing on PSA’s utility for Managed Service Provider (MSP) businesses.

Why PSA is Important for Your MSP

An important tool for any kind of IT provider, PSA is especially crucial for MSPs. The modern MSP has many moving parts, and in today’s competitive IT industry, to be successful as an MSP you must develop systematic and scalable approaches to service delivery. Without such approaches, a growing MSP will have trouble staying organized and, in turn, making customers happy.

PSA is a pivotal component of a mature MSP’s operations as it furnishes MSPs with a single data set, or single source of truth (SSOT), which offers a “bird’s-eye view” of operations, and in turn, allows for holistic optimization of key business processes. If you want your business to be efficient and scalable, the place to start is with your PSA.

A good PSA will connect your front and back office, and refine workflows so that your entire MSP functions as a cohesive unit. If your employees are the “backbone” of your business, your PSA is the “nervous system,” responsible for maintaining the flow of business-critical information throughout your entire company.

The question is not whether MSPs need a robust PSA system, but what kind. The right PSA solution can elevate your MSP by bringing increased efficiency and business intelligence (BI) to practically every area of your operations.

Let’s take a closer look at the key features of good PSA software and how these features contribute to an MSP’s overall health as a business.

Key Features of PSA Software

Modern PSA software has evolved far beyond the management of help desk functions. The right PSA solution doesn’t just improve the way your technicians carry out projects and handle tickets, it also enhances the strategic side of your organization by yielding insights into what is — and isn’t — maximizing overall profitability. Adding an effective PSA tool to your MSP is almost like hiring another member of management, in that it bolsters your company’s capacity to plan for the future and adapt to changing circumstances in real-time.

PSA benefits service businesses in many ways. It can be helpful and clarifying to sort these benefits into three categories:

1. Client-Facing
2. Internal Operations
3. Business Strategy

Let’s go over each of these categories in turn.

Client-Facing

An MSP is a service business first, and an IT business second. What does this mean? It means that successful, industry-leading MSPs got to where they are by thinking about the customer. It is through the lens of customer satisfaction that you need to analyze your delivery service. PSA gives you that lens.

PSA impacts client-facing activities most directly through the help desk, where automation can enhance the service delivery capacities of your team of technicians by taking routine tasks off of their plate.

PSA optimizes your MSP’s service delivery at four levels: basic automation, resource allocation, information management, and strategic oversight.

Basic Automation

Basic automation refers to PSA’s capacity to take care of simple business tasks without manual intervention. It represents one of the core purposes of PSA, and it is arguably PSA’s single-most important feature.

With PSA software, your MSP can draw on automation to clear space in your technicians’ schedules for higher-priority, higher-value projects. This alone can lift the quality of your service delivery by significant and quantifiable amounts.

Resource Allocation

The second way PSA improves your MSP’s service delivery is by allocating resources in accordance with real-time demands. In plain English, the right software enables your MSP to put the right techs on the right jobs at the right time.

Certain software allows managers to split, combine, and elevate tickets based on performance metrics that provide real-time access to technicians’ progress. Too many techs on a ticket? Not enough? The wrong techs? Let PSA answer these questions for you, so you can focus on building your business.

Information Management

A third way that PSA enhances customer-facing operations is by giving MSPs a centralized location for customer data. PSA solutions with a built-in Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool allow you to maintain account profiles on all of your clients as well as detailed records of customer interactions. This repository of information, organized by your PSA tool, allows you and your managers to monitor the health of your client relationships.

PSA’s usefulness as an information management tool extends to customer experience (CX); in addition to providing your team with customer information, PSA gives your customers real-time access to the status of their service requests. Customers who know what’s going on are happier — as well as less likely to call into the help desk and tie up technicians with questions and concerns.

Strategic Oversight

An MSP’s customer-facing activities reflect its internal relationships — the health of its teams. Excellent service delivery begins with transparency; managers need to have a clear view of ticketing progress — or lack thereof! Ensuring that customers’ expectations are being met and contracts honored requires good data.

This brings us to the fourth way in which PSA optimizes service delivery: good PSA software scrapes together all the data you and your project managers need to make informed decisions and puts it all in one convenient dashboard. Managers who know what their teams are doing — and teams that know they are being held accountable — will do their jobs better. It’s that simple.

To summarize, a good PSA tool allows you to inject efficiency into practically every facet of your support desk. With the right PSA solution, your MSP can allocate resources more intelligently to meet real-time capacity limitations and customer demands, view customer information through a single pane of glass to maintain healthy client relationships, and achieve better service delivery through automation and a culture of transparency and accountability.

Internal Operations

Administrative tasks can eat up a lot of time and resources when they’re not performed efficiently. PSA allows growing businesses to automate large portions of admin work, and in turn, achieve much greater operational efficiency. Billing and financial activities in particular become much easier with the right software solutions.

Timesheets might be mundane, but they’re important. You want to be paid for the work you do in a timely fashion, with minimal disputes and hassles. With PSA, you can streamline the entire process of time tracking. Instead of wasting hours each week puzzling out billable activities, you can let PSA capture all of your billable items and feed them into a centralized location — a dashboard that provides you with a snapshot of your organization’s financial activities. Contracts, client revenue, invoicing deadlines — when everything is in one place, you can spend less time figuring out what you need to do, and more time doing it.

Certain PSA tools also offer integration with popular accounting software. When your PSA and accounting software are linked by automation, financial records are far less likely to be lost and your business is far less likely to overlook billable activities.

Like many improvements that PSA brings, the benefits of enlisting automation for billing show up most clearly at the level of customer support. When your financial processes are smooth and transparent, backed up by clear resource logging and time tracking, you will experience fewer disputes with clients over billing. This is of course good for its own sake, but also, it means more time to grow your business; the less time you’re arguing with clients, the more time you can devote to attracting new ones.

Business Strategy

PSA has evolved from an automation tool into a sophisticated engine for analytics and business strategy. Modern PSA software not only streamlines the operations of service-oriented businesses, but assists with strategic activities such as forecasting, bidding, and profitability analysis.

PSA can’t make big business decisions for you, but it can focus your priorities, narrow down your options, and give you the data you need to make rational choices about the direction you take your company.

We have already discussed how PSA optimizes help desk activities by allocating resources in real time — by putting the right techs on the right jobs. This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the BI that gets built into modern PSA software.

The right PSA tool can allow your MSP to engage in more data-driven, intelligent bidding, and some PSA software can help client managers identify potential business opportunities or upsells with existing clients.

PSA can also give you a precise idea of what your company’s capacity will be multiple months into the future, which allows for more strategic planning. Human beings are highly fallible when it comes to estimating how much can be accomplished in a given timeframe. PSA allows MSPs and other service businesses to take on the right amount of work — neither too much, nor too little — which translates to superior service delivery and greater customer satisfaction.

This is just an introduction to some of the ways in which PSA can yield global insights into your company’s operations, but it should be clear that PSA is more than automation; it’s a suite of tools and features that collectively allow for greater strategic insights and business agility.

How to Choose the Right PSA Tool for Your Business

MSPs need a PSA solution to compete in today’s market, but not all solutions are created equal. Picking the right tool for your MSP is critical, and it’s important that you do your research. Whether you’re adding PSA for the first time, or considering a transition from one tool to another, asking these three questions can help you make the right choice for your business.

Does the PSA tool you’re considering offer useful integrations?

As important as your PSA tool is to your business, it’s one of many tools, and it’s vital to your MSP’s success that your various technology solutions are all knitted together tightly.

At the absolute least, you want a PSA solution that integrates with your Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) tool. When PSA and RMM are able to “talk to” each other, your MSP will function much more smoothly.

Before selecting a PSA tool, consider the integrations it offers. Modern PSA software can integrate with accounting and billing tools, CRM software, documentation platforms, and more. And, when assessing the integrative capacities of a particular tool, keep your business’s specific needs firmly in mind; instead of buying more for a flashy tool with integrations you don’t need, opt for a simpler tool that will easily harmonize with your MSP’s IT environment.

Does the PSA tool you’re considering serve your MSP’s specific needs?

Your MSP is unique, and it’s important to remember that the PSA that’s best for your MSP is the one that best helps you run your business the way you want.

Instead of getting distracted by the ‘bells and whistles’ that a particular PSA solution comes with, start with the question: What do I want most out of a PSA tool? When your own priorities are clear, it’s much easier to assess the relative merits of different solutions.

Is it easy to use?

When shopping around for a new PSA tool for your business, don’t lose sight of one simple truth: A PSA tool is only as useful as it is easy-to-use. It doesn’t matter how great a solution sounds ‘in theory’ if your employees don’t end up embracing it and using it consistently.

This means it’s important, when comparing different PSA tools, to take different solutions for ‘test drives.’ You can’t get a feel for a particular tool’s interface — how easy it is to use — until you actually use it. A lot of PSA tools on today’s market offer free trials, so take advantage!

Kaseya BMS: A PSA Tool Built for MSPs

MSPs that struggle with growth are often bogged down by operational inefficiencies. These inefficiencies generally stem from inadequate integrations between departments, functions, and people. Information gets lost and workflows interrupted when your MSP doesn’t function smoothly as a whole.

Kaseya Business Management Solution (BMS) is a PSA platform specifically designed to help MSPs achieve operational harmony without a large front-end investment. Its scalable, cloud-based architecture allows growing MSPs to implement cost-effective solutions for all of their core functions. BMS includes everything you want from modern PSA software, at about one third the price of competing solutions. Learn more!

Choosing the right PSA tool for your MSP is a big decision. The 20 is a group of MSPs who work together to conquer the ‘business side’ of IT. With The 20 at your back, you can implement big changes at your MSP with a community of experts to guide you through the transition. Get in touch with us today to learn how we can help.

Meet Andrew Sellers, Senior Tier 2 Support Desk Technician!

Andrew Sellers quickly became a tremendous asset to the entire team at The 20. Read below to find out more about Andrew.

What do you do here at The 20?

Senior Tier 2 Support Desk Technician

Describe The 20 in three words…

Accountable. Driven. Excellence.

As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up? 

A doctor.

What’s the most challenging thing about your job? 

Communications that are inclusive for everyone and easy for everyone to understand

What do you consider your greatest achievement? 

Paying off my house and being debt free and not needing to work

What do you think is the most important quality necessary for success? 

Winning Together. It starts with the tickets having all the needed questions answered (Who, What, When, Why, How, and Where). Then putting that information together to formulate a hypothesis that testing will lead to a solution. Success in this requires the entire team.

What do you like most about The 20? 

My fellow coworkers bring everything to the table and we really come together as a team.

What do you like to do in your spare time? / What are your hobbies? 

Rock Climbing, Hiking, Disc Golf, Board Games, Magic The Gathering, and woodworking.

Where are you going on your next vacation?

 Not sure. Scotland, or a beach. Not sure which is coming first.

What’s your top life hack?

Interested in working with Andrew at The 20? We’re hiring! Check out our Careers page for more info.

VISION ’21 Keynote Speaker Spotlight

Nick Vujicic and the Unbelievable Power of Choice

Life is unpredictable and full of curve balls. We booked Maye Musk as our keynote speaker for VISION ’21, but due to unforeseen circumstances, she was unable to make it to the event. We needed a replacement, and we needed one FAST …

So we put our heads together, and landed a remarkable man by the name of Nick Vujicic. And ‘remarkable’ is an understatement; since Nick delivered his powerful keynote on Thursday of last week, we’ve been flooded with positive feedback — people can’t stop talking about the profound impact Nick had on them. There’s no doubt in our minds that lives were changed.

We want to highlight Nick’s message and share his story with our community of MSPs, business owners, IT pros, and everyone else who reads our blog. The more people that hear about Nick’s approach to living a happy, successful, and fulfilling life, the better!

Who is Nick Vujicic?

Nick Vujicic was born in Melbourne, Australia in 1982. His parents were shocked to discover that their newborn son lacked both arms and legs. Nick was born with an extremely rare disorder called tetra-amelia syndrome, which is characterized by the absence of limbs. His mom and dad knew life wouldn’t be easy for their son, and this scared them, as it would any parents.

And life wasn’t easy for young Nick. Kids can be cruel, and at school, Nick got called “freak” and “alien.” He did his best to fit in, refusing to let his condition keep him on the sidelines. He swam, he skateboarded, he made friends. But growing up is hard for anyone, and with the unique challenges that Nick faced, he eventually “hit a wall.” As he shares in his book, Life Without Limits: Inspiration for a Ridiculously Good Life, “I was depressed, overwhelmed with negative thoughts, and didn’t see any point in my life.” Things got so bad he thought about suicide.

How did he get from there to where he is now? How did the depressed adolescent become the loving husband and father of four, the successful entrepreneur, the life-changing motivational speaker?

He discovered the power of choice. Our lives are our own to shape. As Nick himself puts it, “We can choose to dwell on disappointments and shortcomings … Or when faced with hard times and hurtful people, we can choose to learn from the experience and move forward, taking responsibility for our own happiness.”

At VISION ’21, we were lucky enough to hear Nick unpack his worldview in detail. He gave us six points to live by — six principles we can all follow to take control of our lives and make the world a better place …

Six Points to Live By: Nick Vujicic’s Secrets for Success and Fulfillment

Point #1: Process Your Emotions

At VISION ’21, Nick reminded all of us that it’s OK to feel bad sometimes. In fact, feeling bad can be a good thing, as there are insights, power, and wisdom that can be ‘extracted’ from our darker moods. Take anger, for instance. If we’re not careful, anger can make us yell at people, act aggressively, etc. But if we are mindful, we can choose to leverage our anger for good. Anger can make us braver and more honest in the workplace, for instance. So don’t feel bad about feeling bad, but commit to using your negative emotions to bring about positive changes.

Point#2: Have an “Attitude of Gratitude”

Gratitude is one of the most powerful emotions there is, because it not only lets us appreciate what’s good in our lives, it also prevents us from sinking too low during difficult times. If you can embrace the following idea, you’ll experience immeasurably more joy in your life: Gratitude is not a reaction, but an action. Grateful people aren’t those who have more good things happen to them; grateful people are those who’ve made a choice — or many choices — to focus on what’s good, even in situations where the ‘good’ is a needle in a haystack of bad. You can start cultivating your own gratitude today — this very moment! If the ‘big things’ in your life aren’t going well, start with the small things. You can breathe. You’re alive. You have the ability to make choices. That right there is enough to build the foundation for your attitude of gratitude.

Point #3: Reset Your Goals

Resetting goals can mean adopting new ones. But ‘resetting goals’ has a deeper, subtler meaning that Nick Vujicic clarified at VISION ’21: Resetting your goals can mean reassessing how you’re going about pursuing what you want to achieve. Think about whether your current habits are conducive to getting where you want to go in business and in life. If they’re not, it’s time to build some new habits!

During his keynote, Nick described a habit as a “forceful decision that doesn’t feel good at the beginning.” This reminds us of something vitally important about chasing goals: sometimes you need to change yourself before you can accomplish what you most desire, and doing that requires that you go through some discomfort. Change is hard, but stay strong, because it’s like Nick said at VISION: “You never just go through things. You grow through things.”

Point #4: Dream BIG!

Don’t let “dreaming” be something you only do at night when you’re fast asleep in your bed. Nick recommends setting aside at least half an hour each week for dreaming. Step away from your day-to-day responsibilities and let your biggest, boldest hopes come to the surface. Take your own dreams seriously. This means making concrete plans. Break your dream(s) down into smaller tasks, and get STARTED. If you want to write a book, commit to writing a page a week. If you don’t prioritize your dreams and manage your time accordingly, you’ll spend your whole life wondering what you could’ve done.

Point #5: Obstacles = Opportunities

In Life Without Limits, Nick writes, “I’m officially disabled, but I’m truly enabled because of my lack of limbs.” He means it, too. It was his condition that drove him to become a motivational speaker and coach, and those decisions have allowed him to touch the hearts and minds of millions.

Nick’s success didn’t come overnight, and as he reminded us at VISION ’21, he failed many, many times. In fact, when he first started out and was making cold calls to book speaking gigs, he was told “No” so many times, when he finally did get a “Yes,” he almost didn’t register the response! Bottom line, failing doesn’t make you a failure; in fact, winners fail more than anyone else because winners get out there and TRY. Business owners take heed! You will fail, and it probably won’t feel good, but remember — there is value to be found in negative emotions. So let “failure be your classroom”!

Point #6: When You Don’t Get a Miracle, BE a Miracle!

Nick shared a moving story at VISION ’21 about meeting a boy who was also born without limbs. As luck would have it, Nick’s own mom and dad were there, too. The two families had lots to discuss! Now, although Nick and his parents never had the good fortune to meet with a family in their circumstances during Nick’s upbringing, they were more than happy to be that family for this young boy and his parents.

The lesson is simple: instead of always focusing on what the world is giving (or not giving) you, turn your attention and energy to what you can give the world. And yes, this applies to entrepreneurs, too. It applies especially well, in fact! Successful businesses identify customer needs and problems and offer solutions that make people’s lives easier, better, etc. Stop thinking about your profits all the time, and start thinking about your service. If you can do that — if you can truly inhabit the mindset of a giver — you’ll be amazed by how everything else falls into place.

A Final Thought

Curve balls happen. But sometimes, it’s for the best. Sometimes, the person you found in a time crunch — the person no one in the audience was expecting to see up on stage — faces the curve ball, takes a swing, and knocks it out the park.

Do you know what will happen in the coming year? Do you know how much your business will grow? How many new clients you’ll take on? You don’t. But you do know this much: you have the power to choose action over fear, hope over despair, and compassion over resentment. If you embrace that power, there’s no limit to what you can achieve.

VISION ’21 Recap — The Year of the Return

Each year, The 20 puts on an IT conference to help growth-minded Managed Service Providers (MSPs) achieve business breakthroughs, key into industry trends, and get ahead of the competition. After hosting a virtual conference in 2020, The 20 returned this year with a live event, VISION ’21.

The theme of VISION ’21, which took place last week in Arlington, TX, was “The Year of the Return.” After a turbulent 2020, we here at The 20 were determined to give IT business owners an opportunity to reignite their passion, renew their optimism, and reconnect with our awesome community. The result was an incredible conference that still has us feeling fired up!

Here’s a recap of what went down at VISION ’21. If you were in attendance, we hope the following brings back good memories and helps you consolidate some of the information you absorbed at the event. And if you weren’t in attendance, all we can say is …

There’s always next year!

Venue — Live! by Loews

We would be remiss to do a recap of VISION ’21 without talking about the venue, because Live! by Loews offered a spectacular setting for this year’s event. The stylish resort destination is right next to the Cowboys and Rangers stadiums. And we do mean right next to. At the cocktail welcome reception, attendees enjoyed a clear view of AT&T Stadium out on the hotel’s gorgeous event lawn, and were treated to the country-fried rock of The Buffalo Ruckus (shout out to The 20’s very own Jerrod Ford on the drums!). We couldn’t have scripted a more perfect evening or a better way to kick off the event.

Throughout the entire conference, the Live! by Loews team made us feel welcome with their consummate professionalism and warm, Texas hospitality. Delicious food, stunning views, top-notch event spaces — Live! by Loews came through on all fronts. We’re lucky to have such a terrific venue in our own backyard!

Main Stage Sessions

MSPs come to VISION because they want to get better: operate more efficiently, profitably, and in ways that are scalable. You can’t do any of those things without knowledge, and the main stage sessions at VISION ’21 provided attendees with more knowledge than can possibly be summarized in a couple paragraphs. The best we can do is give a few highlights …

Tim Conkle, CEO of The 20, gave multiple sessions that were chock-full of wisdom for growing MSPs. The 20’s dynamic approach to MSP growth, founded on the idea that a successful company is always thinking about ‘what’s next,’ starts with Conkle, whose decades of experience in the IT industry and entrepreneurial brilliance give him unique insights into our industry — where it’s at, and more importantly, where it’s going to be. At VISION ’21, Conkle’s focus was squarely on the future — automation, standardization, sales cadence, and of course, how our MSP members can continue to leverage The 20’s revolutionary model to make huge gains in the next few years.

Another member of The 20 team, recent COO hire, Ken Pecot, spoke on how MSPs can utilize KPIs to inject efficiency into their operations and foster a culture of accountability among their employees. Pecot’s perspective has the potential to help The 20 reach new heights in the coming year, and hearing him lay out his ideas was an exciting preview of what’s in store for The 20 and its community of MSP members. Change is coming, and with it, the chance for further growth!

Two excellent panel discussions took place at VISION ’21: Cybersecurity Panel: The Optimal Stack, (moderated by Rob Boles; featuring Ken Nix, Mike Tarango, Chuck Everette, and Ed Murphy), and The MSP Marketing Equation (moderated by The 20’s CMO, Crystal McFerran; featuring Dana Liedholm, Andra Hedden, and Emalee Sugano). Cybersecurity and marketing are two of the hottest topics in the MSP world, and with good reason — MSPs that want to flourish over the next several years need to get serious about both. VISION ’21 brought together experts on these two crucial topics and the resulting conversations were truly edifying. A big thanks to all of the panel members for generously sharing their knowledge and insights with us.

The 20 MSP Members Only Day

The third day of VISION ’21 was for The 20’s MSP members only. These Friday sessions covered cybersecurity, service delivery, and “Where We’re Headed — Rocks for 2022.” Members also participated in a panel discussion led by The 20’s Platoon Leaders: Ciera Cole, Jeff Griffin, Crystal McFerran, and Ken Pecot. It was great to see our MSP family really hunker down and sort out the nuts and bolts of what we’re trying to do, which is of course — grow like crazy and dominate the industry! The free-flowing discussion and open exchange of ideas signal that all is well at The 20. A huge shout-out to our MSP members — your enthusiastic participation and commitment to getting better every single day are what motivate us to keep pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in the MSP space.

Breakout Sessions

VISION ’21 featured eight breakout sessions led by industry experts from Egnyte, Huntress, MSP360, BLOKWORX, Crayon, Marketopia, Privatise, and N-able. These sessions provided attendees with the opportunity to delve more deeply into key topics, and collaboratively tackle problems that MSPs are currently facing. When you think about it, breakout sessions embody an idea that lies at the very heart of The 20: Our industry moves quickly, and staying current means staying connected — to your business, to your employees, and to your community of peers. Thanks to our sponsors and participants for making the breakout meetings a big success!

Keynote Speaker — Nick Vujicic

Last week at VISION ’21, a man who was born without arms or legs, who endured constant bullying in his youth, who overcame extreme feelings of isolation and loneliness to become a world-renowned motivational speaker, bestselling author, and successful entrepreneur — that man took the main stage and BROUGHT DOWN THE HOUSE. His humor, earnestness, candor, and indomitable spirit filled the room. He made us laugh. He made us cry. He taught us about the power of the “attitude of gratitude,” and other tools for leading a successful and happy life. We are all better people for having heard this man speak. Thanks for inspiring all of us, Nick. Your keynote was truly life-changing.

VISION Party

There are parties, and then there are parties hosted by The 20. There are cover bands, and then there’s Emerald City Band. There’s having fun, and then there’s — you get the picture. The VISION Party was a night to remember, and we want to thank all of you for being so much fun — and for dispelling any doubts about the dancing skills of folks in the IT world. We’re already looking forward to next year!

Wrap-Up

We came. We learned. And we will conquer! The next year could be a big one for MSPs looking to grow and scale. VISION ’21 was for you, the IT business owner who isn’t happy settling for mediocrity. We hope the event equipped you with the knowledge and resources to make a big push in the coming year. Thank you to all who participated in VISION ’21 — attendees, speakers, sponsors, staff. VISION is VISION because of you.

Meet Robert Ryle, Core Services Technician!

Robert Ryle quickly became a tremendous asset to the entire team at The 20. Read below to find out more about Robert.

What do you do here at The 20?

I am the Ops Technician.

Describe The 20 in three words…

Fast-Paced, Collaborative, and Challenging.

As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up? 

The planet Pluto, but we all have to grow up.

What’s the most challenging thing about your job? 

Often times, customer needs require us to pivot quickly to address multiple concerns that may not have an immediate root cause. These are the times when collaboration within the company is most valuable.

What do you consider your greatest achievement? 

When I joined The 20, I had next to no experience in the field. Expanding my knowledge to include new methods, languages, and processes have been key parts in my growth both with the company and personally.

What do you think is the most important quality necessary for success? 

Accountability.

What do you like most about The 20? 

Definitely the people.

What do you like to do in your spare time? / What are your hobbies? 

Disc Golf, Basketball, Guitar

Where are you going on your next vacation?

Camping trip!

What’s your top life hack?

Interested in working with Robert at The 20? We’re hiring! Check out our Careers page for more info.

VISION ’21: What a Speaker Lineup!

This year’s VISION conference is packed with top-notch content to help your MSP grow and scale faster than the competition. The speaker lineup alone is worth attending for! The sessions will cover a variety of topics — from cybersecurity to sales to KPIs — but the unifying theme is something that The 20 takes very seriously: looking ahead to see what MSPs need to be doing now to ensure their success in the future.

As a business owner, being successful means outsmarting the competition, and a big part of ‘outsmarting the competition’ is seeing further than the next MSP — knowing what’s ‘around the corner’ so you can best position your business for success.

So, come to VISION ’21 and improve YOUR vision with thought leadership from the best in the business. Here’s a preview of the speaker lineup. Which session is going to have the biggest impact on your MSP?

Maye Musk: Keynote!

Session Title: Living Dangerously — Carefully

Maye Musk, a role model, trend-maker and rule-changer with a fascinating family is set to deliver a keynote address on September 30th at VISION ’21. Maye is a respected dietitian who gives talks all over the world about health, nutrition, business, and aging. But things were not always so easy or glamorous.

She became a single mom at thirty-one years old, struggling through poverty to provide for her three children. She also dealt with weight issues as a plus-size model and overcame ageism in the modeling industry (in 2017, Maye became CoverGirl’s oldest spokesmodel).

Undeterred by these difficulties, Maye still managed to earn two master’s degrees and establish a lifelong career as a dietitian, despite having to start over in eight different cities across three countries and two continents. She made her way through it all with an indomitable spirit and a no-nonsense attitude to become a global success at what she calls the prime of her life. Her book, A Woman Makes a Plan, has been published by Penguin Random House in the USA and Canada. It is an international best-seller in over 70 countries, with more to come!

At VISION ’21, Maye will share her story, giving us a glimpse into the mind of one of the most resilient people on the face of the planet.

Tim Conkle – The 20

Session Titles:

• The Year of the Return
• Marketing Automation: The Long Game for Sustained Growth
• MSP Growth is Easy as A-B-C (Always Be Changing)
• The Future-Proof MSP

Tim Conkle holds over 30 years of entrepreneurial success in the Information Technology and Services sector. As a leading voice in the Managed IT Service Provider space, Tim is dedicated to developing simple, solid IT solutions for SMB clients and MSPs (Managed Service Providers) across the nation. His notoriously energetic nature, along with his deep-rooted passion for technology, has helped him forge solid customer relationships built on trust, dependability, and service. Tim currently serves as President & CEO of Roland Technology, President of the Board of Directors for Cytracom, and is a member of the Forbes Technology Council and Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO).

At VISION ’21, Tim will speak on a variety of topics pertinent to your MSP’s growth, but you can always expect two things from a Tim Conkle talk: to learn a lot and to be wildly entertained in the process!

Alex Kloeti – HubSpot

Session Title: Driving Digital Growth Through Outstanding Customer Journeys

Alex Kloeti is a rising business and technology leader focused on impact through growth, and currently a key player in HubSpot’s business development organization. Since graduating from McGill University in Economics and Computer Science, Alex has facilitated growth operations across both the consulting and software industries, at companies ranging from three employees to 3,000. Alex is a Stowe, Vermont native currently living in Boston, Massachusetts.

At VISION ’21, Alex will dazzle us with his forward-thinking ideas about growing a business in the digital age. He will examine the topic through the lens of the “customer journey,” a concept that is deeply relevant and useful to MSPs.

Dan Wensley – ScalePad

Session Title: Asset Lifecycle Management for Fun & Profit

Dan Wensley is the CEO of ScalePad, global leader in Automated Asset Lifecycle Management. He is entrusted with leading a team of great minds to help IT Service Providers sell more and service less by automating time-consuming processes for hardware, software and warranty services.

No stranger to the ITSP/MSP ecosystem, Dan brings with him more than 25 years of experience propelling organizations to success by applying a high level of tact, ingenuity, and his innate understanding of the unique needs of the industry to develop high performing teams that know how to deliver.

Dan regularly speaks and moderates at industry events across the globe. At VISION ’21, you can expect Dan to share future-focused insights and expert analysis to give your MSP a competitive edge.

Luis Giraldo – ScalePad

Session Title: Asset Lifecycle Management for Fun & Profit

Prior to recently joining ScalePad as Chief Experience Officer, Luis found success in a variety of endeavors. As a professional musician, he traveled the world playing the keyboard with pop star, Shakira. Although he says those days are “firmly in the past,” Luis continues to play jazz piano and has multiple jazz albums to his name! His career as an entrepreneur and innovator is just as illustrious. He founded the MSP firm Ook, where he remains CEO, a second MSP that was acquired by Fully Managed in 2011, and he developed a documentation SaaS app called Monkey Box. Luis also served as Senior Director of Marketing at N-able, where he revamped the content for their MSP marketing platform and facilitated a major rebranding.

After 15 years owning and operating his own IT company, Luis still finds it “amazing to see what technology can do for the businesses” he works with. Luis believes strongly that tech can “help businesses succeed, grow, transform, and innovate.”

At VISION ’21, Luis will be joining Dan Wensley for an illuminating conversation about Asset Lifecycle Management. Two consummate IT pros and expert strategists, their insights can help take your MSP to the next level.

Howard Getson – Capitalogix

Session Title: How Thoughts Become Things

Howard Getson runs an algorithmic hedge fund — and the data science company that powers it. Capitalogix created a revolutionary financial technology platform that uses Adaptive AI to maximize performance with real-time insights. While most high-frequency trading focuses on using technology to make thousands of transactions in a short period of time, Capitalogix’s technology performs millions of observations and only acts on the opportunities determined most likely to have an edge. His prior company, IntellAgent Control, which he founded in 1991, was an Inc. 500 company and won an IBM-Lotus Beacon Award for best business application. Howard is currently on the Advisory Council of the Hastings Center — a Bioethics and AI research institute. Mr. Getson earned a B.A. in Psychology and Philosophy from Duke University in 1984, and in 1987, he received his M.B.A. in Finance from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and his J.D. from Northwestern University Law School.

At VISION ’21, Howard will share business insights rooted in his unique philosophical perspective. There’s a good chance the wisdom he shares will not only enhance your IT business, but give you a whole new lease on life!

Zane Conkle – Cytracom

Session Title: Beyond VoIP: The Next Billion Dollar Opportunity for MSPs

Zane Conkle is an accomplished SaaS leader with broad marketing and technical expertise for developing successful, service-oriented brands. He co-founded Cytracom in 2008 and is the visionary behind the original platform development. Zane led the company to develop one of the first channel-only VoIP models tailored exclusively for Managed Service Providers. He has combined his passion for technology with a laser focus on simplification to create a purpose-built company with the mission of “Connecting the Modern Workforce.”

At VISION ’21, you can expect Zane to open your MSP’s eyes to an exciting new opportunity for MSPs looking to boost their bottom line.

John Tippett – Cytracom

Session Title: Beyond VoIP: The Next Billion Dollar Opportunity for MSPs

John Tippett has more than 25 years in the technology industry, ranging from operating managed IT services firms to leading channel development of companies aspiring to grow in the IT industry. John is an active figure in the industry, regularly participating in industry events and leading community organizations, and offers a unique blend of sales, marketing, operations, and technology experience. As COO of Cytracom, he leads the executive management team to drive transformation and growth across the organization. John was named the inaugural CompTIA Member of the Year in 2016, an honor recognizing his commitment and dedication to advancing the IT industry.

John will be joining Zane Conkle at VISION ’21 for an unforgettable session about the next “billion dollar opportunity” for MSPs.

Ryan Bowman – ThreatLocker

Session Title: How Zero Trust is Shaping the Future of Cybersecurity & What This Means for Your MSP

Ryan Bowman brings 20+ years of IT experience to ThreatLocker as a Solutions Engineer. He works closely with partners to understand the threat landscape and assists in successfully deploying ThreatLocker’s zero trust approach to protecting their customers against the latest threats.

MSPs are facing a wave of cyberattacks that seems to only be growing stronger and more sophisticated. MSPs that survive — let alone thrive — over the next several years are the ones that prioritize cybersecurity right now. Ryan’s session at VISION ’21 will give your MSP a deep look at one of the hottest ideas in security: zero trust. Don’t miss it.

Ted Roller – Zomentum

Session Title: How MSPs Can Increase Close Ratios Using 3 Key Strategies

Ted Roller has over 25 years of experience in the SMB channel, first as a solution provider with Oxford Systems Integration, recognized as a “Fast 50” company by the Dayton Business Journal, then as Channel Chief of Intronis, a cloud-based BDR company, and as VP of Channel Development with LogMeIn, Inc. (LOGM, Nasdaq). Roller has been recognized by MSPmentor, The Channel Company, SMB Nation, and others for his contributions to the channel, and his channel programs have won a multitude of awards.

Elite MSPs have elite sales — it’s really that simple. Come to VISION ’21 and learn about three key strategies you can use to drive your MSP’s close ratio through the roof.

Mark Elliott – The 20

Session Title: Building a Revenue Engine with Sales Cadence

Mark Elliott has been helping businesses develop strategies to analyze, manage, and overcome the ever-changing technology challenges they face for over 25 years. A central focus has been security and HIPAA compliance. His experience includes preventing, detecting, and responding to hackers and threats, thus ensuring that your organization is safe from invasions while simultaneously meeting regulatory compliance.

During his career, Mark has advised clients on effective – and cost-effective – approaches to developing infrastructure that fosters productivity and profitability. His work has provided him with a broad-based knowledge of business from the inside, with an expertise in areas that go beyond IT alone, ranging from strategic planning to cloud computing to workflow automation solutions.

Expect a dynamic and inspiring presentation from Mark at VISION ’21, where he will be diving into the topic of sales cadence: what it is, and how your MSP can harness it to rise to the top of the industry.

Ken Pecot – The 20

Session Title: Good to Great with the Right KPIs

Ken Pecot serves as the Chief Operating Officer for The 20 MSP Group.

Ken is a highly experienced senior executive with a proven track record of helping companies grow their business. Ken has an extensive background in global P&L management, professional and managed services, manufacturing and SCO, enterprise IT operations, sales, R&D leadership, product management, corporate strategy and international business. Ken has run business units with global P&Ls in excess of $2B. He has held previous executive roles with NetScout Systems, Danaher Corporation, Real Networks and Nortel Networks. Ken excels in building winning teams, lean business methodologies, and helping his customers win in the marketplace.

Ken’s talk at VISION ’21 will shed light on how to best use KPIs to grow your managed IT services business. His deep understanding of the topic has the potential to transform the way your IT business looks at metrics.

It’s Time to Get Inspired!

2020 was a hard year, with business owners having to negotiate a variety of pandemic-related challenges. A lot of MSPs are still trying to get back into the regular swing of things. We decided early on to make VISION ’21 all about helping MSPs rediscover their passion, regain any lost momentum, and most of all, get excited about the future again.

As our MSP members know, here at The 20 we’re committed to looking ahead to what’s next, because we know that flourishing as an MSP depends largely on the ability to anticipate and adapt to a rapidly evolving IT industry. And when we look over the speaker lineup for this year’s VISION conference, we can’t help but smile thinking about how many business owners the sessions will inspire and reenergize.

Last year was hard, but 2021 is “The Year of the Return.” Are you ready to kickstart your comeback?

Registration for VISION is OPEN.

VISION ’21 Keynote Speaker Spotlight: Maye Musk and the Art of Winning

Maye Musk — international bestselling author, model, and dietician — raised three children as a single mother, all of whom have gone on to forge successful careers doing what they love. And ‘successful’ is an understatement.

Tosca is an award-winning filmmaker who founded her own production company that brings beloved romance novels to the silver screen. Kimbal is a forward-thinking restaurateur who runs a nonprofit dedicated to establishing “learning gardens” in underserved schools throughout the U.S. And then there’s Elon, one of the richest people on the planet, a man whose various entrepreneurial endeavors are pushing the very boundaries of what we think is possible.

So how did she do it? Maye Musk gets that question a lot. People want to know what her “secret” is for molding uber-successful human beings. To be fair, it would be nice to know something like that.

But when asked about her kids, Musk will just smile, maybe laugh — a big, genuine laugh full of joy and humor — and she’ll downplay her role, wave off the question, or tell you something along the lines of: “I let them go their own way.”

But that’s just Maye Musk for you. She’s not one to brag or draw attention to herself. She’d rather get things done than philosophize about how to get things done. But make no mistake, Musk is no ordinary human being. She’s extraordinary, and that’s what allowed her to raise three successful children as a single mother, who, at times, had to work five jobs just to make ends meet.

So what is her secret? How did she find the strength and resolve to raise her children with barely enough money to get by, earn two master’s degrees, forge a modeling career that has spanned more than five decades, all while running her own dietician practice?

At VISION ’21 later this month, you’ll have an opportunity to hear Maye Musk talk about her amazing life, a life filled with hardship but defined by triumph. It’s going to be an incredible conversation that we truly expect to touch the hearts and minds of many business owners who need a lift after a tough 2020.

Before the big event, we want to share some thoughts on why Maye Musk is an exemplary role model for entrepreneurs in the IT field — and anyone else looking for advice on how to tackle life with more courage, resilience, and enthusiasm.

She Knows Her Values

Maye Musk never pushed her children down any particular path. She let them pick their own interests. But she did make sure of one thing: that they developed certain strong core values. In her recent memoir and advice book, A Woman Makes a Plan: Advice for a Lifetime of Adventure, Beauty, and Success, Musk writes: “I brought my children up … to be independent, kind, honest, considerate, and polite, to work hard and do good things.” Musk says the same thing in interviews — that she focused on instilling her children with a moral compass, but let them use that compass to forge their own way ahead. Or, as Musk puts it, with her characteristic directness and lack of pretension, “Teach your children good manners. But let them decide what they want.”

Business owners need values — both for themselves and for the organizations they lead. Values aren’t just something you put on your company website. In fact, values are everything — the be-all-end-all of your business. They’re the reason your company exists in the first place. They’re what you care about most deeply.

Money isn’t a value, because we don’t want money for its own sake; its value is purely instrumental, in that we only desire money because we can trade it for other things (concrete goods like food and clothing, as well as more abstract good like ‘more time with our family’ and ‘freedom to travel’). So you don’t value money — not as much as what it can give you, at least — but what do you value?

If you don’t have a clear idea of what your values are, you’re going to have trouble finding the motivation and energy to work hard on your business — year after year after year. You run your business in order to make money, and you make money in order to … If you have trouble finishing this sentence, it means you’re not working toward a clear goal. You’re just … working. Treading water.

How effectively can you really expect to grow your business if you’re not working toward something bigger than yourself — something more meaningful than money that gets you out of bed each morning and lets you attack the day with purpose?

Be like Maye, and know your values, because at the end of the day, they’re all that matters.

She Knows How to Live with Uncertainty

What is it to be an entrepreneur?

To exist in a continuous state of uncertainty — and embrace it. This definition isn’t complete, but it captures what it arguably at the very core of business ownership. Well, successful business ownership. In other words, if you’re running your own organization, get used to uncertainty, because it comes with the territory. Since eliminating uncertainty isn’t on the table, your choice is simple: learn to tolerate — or even embrace — the feeling of uncertainty, or let it fill you with fear, doubt, and hesitation.

Maye Musk knows a thing or two about facing down uncertainty. She became a single mom at thirty-one years old, and has had to, over the course of her life, start over in eight different cities across three countries and two continents. There were points in her journey when she didn’t know how — or even whether — she would be able to make enough money to put a roof over her children’s heads and clothes on their backs. But she never let uncertainty paralyze her. When times were tough, she focused on what she needed to do to improve her situation and that of her three children. And then she did it.

This should resonate with a lot of business owners. Think about your IT business. Are there things you know need changing, which you haven’t changed because you’re paralyzed by uncertainty — intimidated by all the “what ifs” that come with any decision to try something new?

What would Musk tell you to do?

Take the first step, that’s what. Let’s say you’ve all but committed to doing a complete overhaul of your business’s documentation practices, but you just can’t seem to find the gumption to get started — to overcome your inertia and fear and dive into the unknown. What should you do?

Well, first of all, it’s good to have a plan. But as Musk points out in her book, “Your plan doesn’t need to be a five-year plan. If you’re always thinking too far ahead, it can become difficult to make that first step.” Starting is the most important part of making any kind of significant change. When doubt and anxiety press in on you from all sides, take a deep breath, and make the first move. Then, step back, and focus on your next move.

The advice is simple, yes, but then again, most good advice is. The difficulty doesn’t lie in understanding, but following it.

She Knows How to Push Through Pain

Maye Musk is one tough cookie. That is beyond dispute. As a single mother, she worked up to five jobs at a time to provide for her family and still had to follow a strict budget, for many years doing without luxuries of any kind. At one point, she and her three children shared a one-bedroom apartment; they slept in the bedroom, she took the living room couch.

If you’re a business owner, you should be taking notes. In today’s world, being tough is perhaps an underappreciated trait, but the truth remains: successful people have grit. In fact, there are multiple studies that suggest grit — which some psychologists define as a combination of passion and perseverance — is a better predictor of success than IQ, SAT scores, or where you went to school.

Why is grit so important to running a business? Because entrepreneurs have to fail. If you want to make it big, strike it rich, shake up the industry, etc. — you have to fail, fail, and fail some more. Winners don’t always win; winners fail and try again.

Interestingly, taking things too seriously can prevent you from embracing failure. If you’ve ever seen an interview with Maye Musk — or if you’ve been lucky enough to meet her in person — you’ll know that she loves to laugh and poke fun at herself. This lighthearted attitude has allowed her to be playful in life — to try new things because, well, why not?

So keep this somewhat counterintuitive advice in mind as you go forward with your business; if you want to be grittier as a business owner, learn to see your entrepreneurial endeavors as a game. When you trade in the ‘do-or-die’ nonsense for a playful willingness to try new things — and possibly fail — it’s a lot easier to roll with the punches and keep on trucking.

Find Your Inner Winner

So there you have it — three reasons why Maye Musk makes a kick-a** role model for IT business owners and anyone else who isn’t content to live a “small life.”

We hope this has given you some inspiration to keep pushing forward with your business. Remember, running a successful business is a mental game. If you can cultivate your own “winning mindset” and keep yourself grounded in your values, there’s no telling how much you can accomplish.

But what if you’re nowhere near having a “winning mindset”? What if you’re feeling unmotivated, tired, or even hopeless?

Well, when you’re faced with what seems like a herculean task, remember, the best thing you can do is take the first step. Pick something small — some minor improvement you can make to your attitude — and try it for just one day. And then, pick something else.

You got this.

Register for VISION ’21!

VISION ’21 is going to be out of this world this year. Register today and brace yourself for Maye Musk and a host of other inspiring speakers who can help you take your IT business to the next level.