VISION isn’t ‘just another IT conference,’ because you’re not trying to grow ‘just another MSP.’
VISION ’22 is only three months away! The 20 warmly invite MSPs of all sizes to join us in Dallas, TX for the premier MSP event of the year. Learn results-driven growth strategies from industry experts, get inspired by an out-of-this-world speaker lineup, and connect with the most welcoming, dynamic, and fun community in the managed services world.
This sh*t is awesome! But don’t take our word for it. Check out this testimonial.
If you’re in the MSP game and are determined to not be ‘just another MSP’, don’t go to ‘just another IT conference’ — come to VISION and learn to be GREAT.
And if you’re still on the fence about attending VISION this year, The 20’s Crystal McFerran and Alexis Williams are here to give you a nudge with the Top 10 Reasons You Don’t Wanna Miss VISION ’22 …
Reason #1 – The Main Stage Speakers
What do an Emmy Award winning reporter, a retired Navy SEAL Lieutenant, and the author of the best-selling The Pursuit of Happyness have in common?
They’re all going to bring down the house on the main stage at VISION ’22!
Reason #2 — The Venue
This year’s conference takes place at the beautiful Omni Frisco Hotel at The Star, a huge entertainment district surrounding the Dallas Cowboys World headquarters and 12,000 seat Ford Center.
Reason #3 — Community
Connecting with other MSP owners who face similar struggles and challenges is what VISION is all about. So don’t go it alone — come to VISION instead!
Reason #4 — Our Sponsors
We have a full slate of industry-leading vendors, including Gradient, MSP360, Huntress, and more! Come to VISION and connect with the companies driving change in the MSP space.
Reason #5 — Exclusive Content
MSPs that want to thrive over the next several years need to be ready for what’s coming. At VISION, we’re going to talk about practical steps your MSP can take right now to position itself for success.
Reason #6 — VISION Party!
Is it really as fun as people say?
Join us at Concrete Cowboy on the night of October 6th and find out for yourself!
Reason #7 — The 20
We approach MSP growth a little differently here at The 20. Spending 2 days with us at VISION is a great way to see what we’re all about, and how we’re changing the MSP game.
Reason #8 — Breakout Sessions
We have a bevy of breakout sessions planned for VISION ’22, covering technical training, sales, and everything in between. Come make a business breakthrough with the right breakout.
Reason #9 — GROWTH!
It’s an exciting time to be an MSP. Demand for managed services is at an all-time high, and at VISION ’22, you’ll learn how to make sure your MSP captures its fair share of the expanding market.
Reason #10 — The Dallas Cowboys
You don’t have to be a fan of ‘America’s Team’ to hang out with the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders at this year’s welcome reception.
The core tenet of zero trust architecture can be summed up as: never trust, always verify. Traditional security approaches treat a site as a fortress against the outside versus one which accepts it may be breached from inside. Your security plan should treat breaches as an inevitability rather than a possibility, and focus on the response rather than only prevention. Zero trust architecture grants better security, bottlenecks (or even stops) successful attacks, and can improve overall business functionality.
It works so well because it’s not a specific technology, it’s a strategy. Zero trust is technology agnostic (past a certain requisite level of minimum functionality). The hard part is building the policy and then maintaining it. To do so, you need to understand what you’re doing and why at every level.
Never Trust, Always Verify
Security has changed (see here on how to future-proof your MSP). We live in a post-security landscape where you have to accept security incidences as a cost of doing business rather than something you can always prevent. Total security is impossible, but you can mitigate its damage. Never trust a source even if it should be legitimate.
Many modern security problems come from an overabundance of trust inside one’s own network. What makes your job easy can make a threat actor’s job easier too.
Flat networks allow anything to talk to anything else on a given network. The flatter your network, the less work it takes to maintain but the more easily a security incident could spread. A ransomware event on the secretary’s computer probably doesn’t matter, but what about when it spreads across the network? A flat network is a plain of dry grass for the coming wildfire.
The topography of your network can matter as much as which EDR (or XDR) you use, what firewall you have, or even what email provider you use depending on the industry and required compliance. Things have just gotten more complex with the uptick in cloud services and work from home.
The situation is just going to continue getting more complicated. Each new exploit raises the bar in the arms race for security. The era of BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) and now WFH (Work From Home) have just made the need all the more obvious for zero trust architecture. Any device could be legitimate, but it can also become a threat with the right threat actors. Never trust, always verify.
BYOD and WFH
From a security standpoint, the worst thing your company can do is allow people to bring their own devices. From a social or morale perspective, the worst thing your company can do is forbid those devices (without a good reason). The cat’s out of the bag for employee devices in the workplace. You can try to implement restrictions, but it’s easier to just embrace the security implications of BYOD (and WFH).
The problem with BYOD isn’t the fact people bring their devices – it’s the lack of control over them. BYOD isn’t (typically) dangerous because of internal hackers (they may exist, but they’re rare for most businesses), it’s dangerous because the devices themselves may be compromised by the time they connect to the company WiFi or network.
WFH has the same problems, but exacerbated by the fact that you can’t control the network their device (which may not be in your purview) is on, you need a way in for their connection, and multiple services are stitched together to make this all transparent for the employee. You have the worst from BYOD, but all the way up to their connection.
How much can you trust a remote user (outside of what they need)? How much can you trust that same user knowing they might be on an unencrypted, public network? They aren’t malicious, but their network or environment is questionable at best (for most positions).
How do you strike a balance without making the security requirements onerous? You have to assume that something attached to your network is as much a way in as it is a way out for data and/or threats. Zero trust architecture changes this from a matter of who to trust to acknowledging that trust (from a security standpoint) is purely condition.
What It Means for Security
Zero trust architecture is a philosophy for security rather than a specific set of techniques. The implementation is generic at best, but follows an abstract, iterative process. You aren’t following a guide for how to do something – you’re looking at what general goals each security change should have.
Zero trust architecture distills the concept of not trusting everything (or anything) on your network to something memorable and applicable. You need to understand what attack surfaces exist which you can turn into protect surfaces. Each asset on your network performs a specific function – if it doesn’t, why is it there? The next step is to divide a network into spaces where there needs to be some form of trust, and a way to connect each microperimeter. From there, you establish an actual implementation enforcing what needs to happen as a zero trust policy (that is, put the previous findings into a sane policy) and maintain it.
There’s a lot of auditing and understanding the network setup involved for implementing zero trust architecture. You need to understand more than just what comes in and goes out of the network – you need to understand what goes on inside your network to make the business work. What ports need to be available to what networks? How do you isolate devices without choking the business?
Implementing zero trust architecture is an iterative process. Identify, survey, delineate, and then codify and maintain. These steps are effective in almost any process, but they have specific meaning for zero trust architecture. You need to establish your boundaries, then you need to figure out what happens in your purview, then you need to split up regions for sane security. Done right, this is the basis of a policy you can implement and maintain.
Identify the Protect Surface
Your protect surface is the opposite of your attack surface. Any way into your network is also a way in for potential threat actors.
Every unprotected device is a ticking time bomb if not managed properly. Every unknown device is an unknown threat. What do you need to protect overall and what do you need to protect for the business to function? It’s one thing to lose a couple rarely used PCs, it’s another when your core application server or production database gets hit. There are levels in between as well where sometimes the trade-off in security impact is worth the loss in flexibility or convenience to keep a business running.
You need to see what is an attack surface from the outside, but also, what can be used as such internally? A file share which your business depends on is essential, but it also needs some level of trust between multiple types of access. Done right, a compromised machine can only ruin data for a single department or in limited areas. Done (more) right, you have a backup to restore from because this is essential to your business.
Map the Traffic Flow
Every asset you have can create a hole in your security setup. A device needs to have a purpose where it is or else it can become a liability. A dumb, networked printer may make sense in one area, but should it have access to internal networks? It probably won’t matter (hacking is a numbers game for most basic intrusions), but it doesn’t add value at the expense of a potential risk. Each way in can be a liability, so make sure you know what has access to where and why.
This is basically creating a network map with dependencies. If a user needs access to a specific application, and a specific file share, how do they get there on the network? If it’s necessary, you probably can’t wall them off from both, but you can wall them off from other assets, ports, applications, etc. that may exist in the same microperimeter (see below) they need access to.
Define the Zero Trust Microperimeters
Divide the networks into regions which can have a sane policy. A microperimeter is effectively a subsection of your network which is secured as if each other portion is potentially hostile. This means that you are creating the equivalent of smaller LANs (like old school subnetting) but for smaller units using smarter technology for network flow (i.e. not going crazy from maintaining a traditional, paranoid subnet).
If an RDS requires a file share, they’ll probably end up in the same microperimeter, or at least have some path between them. You want assets which depend on each other to have some level of trust between them to prevent security from overwhelming functionality. Unless you’re in a high security environment, it isn’t typically acceptable to make a user jump between jump boxes to do basic computing tasks. You need to define the perimeters in the network based on both security and functionality.
Create a Zero Trust Policy
Once you know what goes together, why it goes together, and how it all goes together, you can begin creating an actual zero trust policy. Does your secretary’s machine need access to the DC? Almost definitely, but does it need access to a privileged engineering share? Probably not. Define your policy on real usage from what you measured before. We define our microperimeters based on our network mapping and what our protect surface is. A good zero trust policy is just enforcing what a network needs to function without allowing arbitrary access.
Zero trust architecture is a process and not a specific technique. How you implement depends on what you have available. A layer 7 firewall might be more efficient for making the separations less painful, but a standard layer 3 setup is good enough for most policies. The point is to separate out assets and prevent implied trust between each computing unit or microperimeter. We can always go back and change out the technology as things improve, but the general process behind creating a zero trust policy is always virtually the same, never trust, always verify.
It’s one thing to let an application server inherently trust its own database server, and another to let a random cloud service have wholesale access to your network. Base your policy on use and the minimum of what is needed to function combined with what the risk is for a given compromise. A minor compromise at a Department of Defense contractor is more impactful than the same level compromise at a franchised fast food restaurant.
Iteratively Maintain the Zero Trust Policy
Once a policy is set, it needs to be maintained. Zero trust is an iterative process. You assess the network and the resources available and you define policy based on what needs access to what and why. Business needs or technical changes can impact the previous policy and make it inefficient. You establish zero trust architecture once, but you never stop iterating over it.
Make auditing and refining your policy something which is ongoing. Small changes are easier than massive overhauls. Quarterly (or ideally more frequently) audit your resources and your network. What talks to what and why? This question is something you need to be able to answer about every line of communication internally, if not, things are falling through the cracks.
You need to keep looking for new holes and new weaknesses. What constitutes a “response” will vary depending on what you need to respond to. All that matters is that you make your policy congruent with the reality of security.
Going Forward
Zero trust architecture isn’t anything new, but the term does nicely package up concepts which have existed in security for ages. Research facilities and more secure government entities have used similar techniques, going so far as air-gapping and similar to achieve much higher stake “microperimeters”. Modern technology has made the principle easier to perform without having to make as large scale infrastructure changes and without the same headache of managing it. A modern firewall can split a network on par with air-gapping or separate networks (for most civilian purposes).
Flat networks are easy to maintain, but risky, while heavily subnetted and otherwise schismed networks are much more secure at the cost of functionality. You need to create the right balance so that your users get the best of both (where possible). Even if you can’t implement a full zero trust policy, preparing one can have its own benefits to shoring up security or even performance issues.
The very process of building a zero trust policy involves auditing the network, understanding what goes where and why, and trying to do something about the flow to prevent potentials roads of ingress and egress. Breaching a computer can breach your whole network and bring down your business, or it can inconvenience a user for an afternoon. It all boils down to how much trust each asset requires at a bare minimum to function at a business and reducing your attack surface around these requirements. Never trust, always verify.
Meet Zane Vakser, Member Success Manager!
Zane Vakser quickly became a tremendous asset to the entire team at The 20. Read below to find out more about Zane.
What do you do here at The 20?
I recently transitioned from a Support Desk Technician to a Member Success Manager.
Describe The 20 in three words…
Ambitious, Accommodating, Adept
As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
A race car driver, which is ironic because I am a terrible “regular car” driver.
What’s the most challenging thing about your job?
Anything with printers – I hate printers.
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Any of the times I have actually fixed a broken printer.
What do you think is the most important quality necessary for success?
Be willing to adapt, and approach every change with an open mind.
What do you like most about The 20?
The people I work with and the welcoming work culture they facilitate.
What do you like to do in your spare time? / What are your hobbies?
I’m really into music, whether that’s listening, writing or playing. I spend most of my time playing drums.
Where are you going on your next vacation?
No vacation spot can beat the comfort of my bed, so either that or NYC.
What is your top life hack?
Microsoft will pay you to use Bing instead of Google. It’s not my favorite but free money is free money!
Last week at Channel All-Stars, The 20’s CEO Tim Conkle participated in a panel discussion on ‘Strategies to Power MSP Growth.’ Here’s a recap of the stimulating conversation, just in case you missed the event!
It’s been one week since Channel All-Stars, a large virtual MSP event hosted by Channel Program. Our own Tim Conkle (CEO at The 20) spoke at the event, participating in a panel discussion on “Strategies to Power MSP Growth.”
Channel veteran, Kris Blackmon (Chief Channel Officer at JS Group), served as moderator, and joining Tim on the panel were Joe Alapat (Founder & CEO at Liongard) and Steve Petryschuk (Product Strategy Director at Auvik).
When you get such prominent and insightful industry voices in one room, the ensuing conversation is bound to be illuminating — and a lot of fun! Needless to say, this panel didn’t disappoint.
In fact, it was packed with so many actionable insights for growth-minded MSPs, we’d be remiss not to share some of the discussion highlights with our MSP community and blog readership. So just in case you missed the All-Stars event — or if you simply want to revisit some of the awesome content — here’s a recap of the discussion between Kris, Joe, Steve and Tim …
Cha-Change = $Cha-Ching!
It’s no secret that the managed IT services industry is growing and maturing — but not all MSPs are developing at an equal rate. In broad strokes, there are those MSPs capitalizing on market trends and fresh opportunities — the “leaders” — and then there are the MSPs eking out what little growth they do manage to achieve, and struggling to remain competitive — the “laggers.”
So, what separates the leaders from the laggers in the MSP space?
This question kicked off Wednesday’s panel discussion, and a consensus quickly arose among the three panel members: being successful as an MSPs means learning to embrace change.
The MSP world is constantly changing, and lately, at breakneck speed. As technology evolves, so too do customer expectations. Keeping pace with all of this change — and staying competitive — means stepping outside of your comfort zone. It means trying new things, discarding old methods, and innovating and automating at every turn.
As CEO at The 20, Tim has had the opportunity to guide hundreds of MSPs on their respective growth journeys. What has all of that experience taught him? Without hesitation, Tim shared that the “number one difference between MSPs in The 20 that actually knock it out of the park and those that don’t” is that the former are willing to change.
Getting Specific: How & What to Change
What should MSPs be looking to change exactly? The panel turned its attention next to specific areas that MSPs should be looking to evolve to win new business and sustain growth in the coming years.
Make Marketing Matter
The panel agreed that one area MSPs continue to overlook — although many are coming around, and doing so quickly — is marketing. It’s been said many times, but it bears repeating: MSPs need to take marketing seriously.
We’re talking about a fundamental shift in mindset here. Getting serious about marketing doesn’t mean doing one or two things and then sitting back, expecting the leads to come rolling in. It means committing to marketing as a core engine for growth, and sticking with it.
Preferring Recurring
The panelists also discussed the importance of recurring revenue. Long-term, steady growth comes from recurring revenue, not projects. A lot of MSP owners don’t fully embrace this truth — or they do, but don’t always make decisions from an ‘MRR-first’ perspective.
As an MSP owner, you should be looking to boost recurring revenue and wean off project work, but don’t expect to make this transition overnight. It takes time, effort, and a sound strategy.
It also takes saying ‘no.’ In the early days of growth, MSPs can easily fall into the “all revenue is good revenue” mindset — and with good reason. But as Joe reminded us on Wednesday, “never saying ‘no’ to a customer can get you in trouble.”
Saying ‘yes’ to every MRR opportunity can also get you in trouble. Just as not all revenue is good revenue, not all MRR is good MRR. A lot of MSP owners chase MRR at all costs, which ends up diluting their focus and spreading resources too thin. Look to boost MRR, but do so with an overarching gameplan. To quote Joe, you have to be intentional.
Learn to Let Go!
A lot of MSP owners start out filling every role at their business. And when you’re just starting out, you can be a one-person band; it will work … until it doesn’t. At a certain point, you have to give up some control, and let other people manage parts of your growing business.
Some MSP owners are slow to accept this. They get stuck in the mode of trying to do everything themselves — sales, employee training, engineering, marketing — even when it becomes stressful or downright unmanageable.
But it’s like Steve said during Wednesday’s panel, “taking your business to the next level rakes a different skill set.” In other words, you need the right people. This holds true whether you’re trying to make the jump to $500k, $1M, or $10M ARR. Surrounding yourself with the right team is paramount to sustained entrepreneurial success.
Steve encourages MSP owners to figure out their own roles first. Pick a hat, and wear it. Once you know what your role is, you can start building an elite team of people with skills that complement your own.
Keep Your Eyes on KPIs
The panel turned to an important topic next: metrics. Your MSP should be using a variety of metrics to keep track of performance levels, instill a culture of continuous improvement, and identify problem areas. And most likely you already are. But Kris posed an important question to panelists that really got the conversation going: which critical metrics do MSPs commonly miss?
Tim responded with a hard truth: MSPs miss a lot of them. He elaborated that MSPs tend to be great at tracking day-to-day service, but when it comes to the financial side of things, they’re often “missing the whole box.”
You want to get granular with your metrics. What are your most profitable contracts? Which clients are actually costing you money? If you look at elite MSPs, they track profitability at the level of individual contracts/clients. Do the same.
And when a client is costing you money, you have to decide: can this be fixed? If the answer’s ‘no,’ you’ve got to let them go. KPIs and other metrics need to give you data to make hard decisions, or else it will be left to emotion, a point Tim emphasized to the panel.
Not all KPIs are created equal, and it’s important to choose the right KPIs for your MSP. Steve shared an important point with the panel on the topic of selecting metrics: you want to strike a balance between leading and lagging indicators. Lagging indicators shine a light on past performance, and are certainly important — you want to know how your MSP has been doing, and where it’s at.
But you also want data that is forward-looking: leading indicators that give you some insight into the future, and the direction your MSP is heading. Metrics such as Net Promoter Score and CSAT Score are examples of leading indicators that can help you predict churn and retention, and even avoid negative outcomes — when you know a client relationship is suffering, you can take action to improve the situation.
Summing up the panel’s rich discussion of KPIs: get granular, focus on profitability, and look to the future as well as the past.
Nail Scale
A panel on MSP growth strategies wouldn’t be complete without some talk of scalability. If you’re serious about growing your MSP, you have to make scalability a priority. What works with just a handful of clients won’t work with a large client base. At a certain point, your processes — if they’re not streamlined, efficient, and replicable — will break down.
Joe shared a great way to think about scalability: think about turning as many of your MSP’s processes as possible into “managed workflows,” which Joe defined as something that “just runs.” He compared managed workflows to cattle, as opposed to pets, in that they can be easily managed en masse — a terrific metaphor that really captures the essence of scalability!
Final Thoughts
Channel All-Stars was an incredible event with an electrifying special guest in Gary Vaynerchuk, and a stellar lineup of keynotes and panelists. The event truly was a “celebration of the energy that powers growth,” and a reminder that a big source of that energy is community. When we get together and lift each other up, not only do our individual businesses benefit, but also, the IT industry as a whole.
Speaking of getting together — have you registered for The 20’s annual VISION conference yet? VISION ’22 is going to be a blast, with exclusive content for growth-minded MSPs, a fantastic speaker lineup including an incredible keynote (soon to be announced), networking opportunities galore, and the MSP party of the year. It all takes place at the beautiful Omni Frisco Hotel at The Star, home of the Dallas Cowboys World Headquarters.
Follow this link to register for VISION ’22 today!
Meet Shannon Willett, Front Desk Receptionist!
Shannon Willett quickly became a tremendous asset to the entire team at The 20. Read below to find out more about Shannon.
What do you do here at The 20?
My title is Receptionist, but I don’t think that really encompasses all that I do.
Describe The 20 in three words…
Collaborative, innovative, and fun.
As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
As a kid I hadn’t nailed down what I wanted to be, too many choices.
What’s the most challenging thing about your job?
The most challenging part of my job is snack fulfillment. No, remembering that we’re all wired differently and recognizing the best way to help everyone.
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
My greatest achievement to date is truly understanding the fact that you only have one life, so you better go live it!
What do you think is the most important quality necessary for success?
I believe the most important quality for success is perseverance with a heaping dose of positivity.
What do you like most about The 20?
What I like most about The 20 is the diversity of personalities and skills collaborating to make our company successful.
What do you like to do in your spare time? / What are your hobbies?
When she’s up for it, I love to laugh with my daughter, other than that cooking, listening to podcasts, and being outdoors.
Where are you going on your next vacation?
For my next vacation, I’ll be headed to Amelia Island, FL for the 14th annual family vacay with my folks and brother’s family.
The 20 is proud to announce that it’s one of thirteen companies sponsoring Channel All-Stars, a huge virtual event for MSPs that are hungry to not only survive, but THRIVE, during these uncertain times. The event is taking place on June 8th, at 11:30 am EDT. Mark your calendars, because this is not one to miss!
It’s no secret that we live in turbulent times. International conflict, cybercrime, a pandemic — challenges press in on us from all sides. But challenges are opportunities — well, they can be, if you see them from the right angle. Being a successful entrepreneur requires not only taking advantage of opportunities, but seeing them where others see only difficulty.
At Channel All-Stars, you can join thousands of other MSPs from all over the world in a celebration of the power that drives us to grow, even in — especially in — difficult times. The 20 is thrilled to be involved in such a collaborative effort, as it speaks to our core values as a company. There’s nothing — and we do mean nothing — more powerful than a group of determined individuals getting together with a common purpose!
The event is hosted by Channel Program, a company dedicated to enabling communication, collaboration, and community-building in the Channel. Channel Program’s open and democratized platform seeks to foster unity across our $2.2 trillion industry, while embracing a diversity of voices and viewpoints.
Channel Program’s co-founders, Kevin Lancaster and Matt Solomon, are excited to interview the event’s headline guest, Gary Vaynerchuk (aka “Gary Vee”). Serial entrepreneur, best-selling author, prolific venture capitalist, NFT pioneer — you’d be hard-pressed to find someone more qualified than Gary to speak on the event’s central theme: turning business challenges into opportunities for growth.
Matt Solomon shared his excitement about getting to interview such a legend in the business world: “I’ve had the good fortune to interview Wayne Gretzky and Magic Johnson in past virtual events that attracted thousands of viewers. I am just as excited to have the opportunity to speak with Gary Vee about the obstacles he has overcome in his life, the keys to his success, and his thoughts on how to turn business challenges into growth.”
We’re excited, too! This is a golden opportunity for MSP owners to learn from one of the greats.
And, joining Gary is a truly “All-Star” lineup of speakers, including The 20’s CEO, Tim Conkle, who will participate in a panel discussion alongside Joe Alapat, founder and CEO of Liongard. Your MSP can, by attending this free virtual event, glean wisdom from some of the best and brightest minds in the MSP space. Expect actionable insights and practical steps you can take RIGHT NOW to achieve new growth.
If you’re struggling with sales at your MSP, or wondering how to capitalize on emerging opportunities, Channel All-Stars is sure to breathe new life into your business. Attendees will benefit immensely from a bevy of brilliant keynote speakers and panelists …
3 Panels moderated by Jay McBain, Kris Blackman, and Paul Green
Celebrating the power that drives growth is what Channel All-Stars is all about, and we cannot wait to see our awesome community come together on June 8th for an unforgettable event! The MSP industry is up against a lot, but together, we can figure out how to thrive in a volatile and unpredictable economic landscape. And we will.
You can register for this FREE virtual event . See you on June 8th!
Meet Sunny Golani, IT Support Desk Specialist!
Sunny Golani quickly became a tremendous asset to the entire team at The 20. Read below to find out more about Sunny.
What do you do here at The 20?
Try to be better than yesterday!
Describe The 20 in three words…
Teamwork, Learning and Fun!
As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I wanted to be an airline pilot.
What’s the most challenging thing about your job?
I would say trying to change the landscape of IT and process, but while being hard it is still fun to learn new things as it changes.
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
If I have to name one, it would have to be, obtaining my Private Pilot License.
What do you think is the most important quality necessary for success?
The ability to learn and being able to accept and learn from failures.
What do you like most about The 20?
The teamwork!
What do you like to do in your spare time? / What are your hobbies?
The 20 is excited to introduce Taking Over in 2022: Tips and Trends for Managed Service Providers, a free guide for growth-minded MSPs with big plans for the future.
Over the past few years, a host of businesses turned to MSPs for help with rapid digital transformations. This sudden demand for managed IT services allowed MSPs of all sizes to maintain or even increase revenue in 2021.
But what can MSPs expect in 2022 and beyond?
Introducing Taking Over in 2022
MSPs are at a critical juncture. Although the MSP market is predicted to continue growing over the next several years, competition is also on the rise, and a widespread consolidation and culling of MSPs is imminent.
Is your MSP ready for what’s coming? Having the right gameplan can help your MSP — whatever its size — ride the wave of growth to the very top of the industry.
Here at The 20, we’re all about giving MSPs the tools and resources they need to succeed. That’s why we created Taking Over in 2022 — to help your MSP put together a powerful growth plan and take on the future with confidence.
This FREE GUIDE gives you answers to vital questions such as …
What trends are currently shaping the MSP space?
What does ‘prioritizing cybersecurity’ actually look like in 2022?
Remote work is here to stay. How should your MSP be approaching the task of helping companies manage their remote workforce?
What do most smaller MSPs lack when it comes to capitalizing on cloud migrations?
Competition is stiffer than ever before in the MSP space — what should smaller MSPs be focusing on to avoid getting left behind in the next several years?
Taking Over in 2022 is the definitive guide for ‘future-proofing’ your MSP business. Fill out one simple form and get your free download today!
Women in Technology
Looking Back, Looking Around, and Looking Ahead
Why This Isn’t Another Listicle
As March — and Women’s History Month — comes to a close, we want to look back at the history of women in tech. We’re not going to talk about individual women — the ‘Top Ten Women in IT History’ — so if you’re looking for a listicle, sorry to disappoint. It’s not that there aren’t plenty of brilliant and influential women in the history of IT, because there are! Here’s a good list of some. Here’s another.
No, the reason we’re not listing individual women is because we don’t want to reinforce a particular way of thinking about women in technology. The role that women have played in IT is much larger than people tend to imagine. These days, it’s easy to think that the history of women in technology is the history of the occasional genius or trailblazer who was able to overcome gender bias and make an impact in a male-dominated field.
But the truth is far more interesting and complicated.
So we’re not going to list individuals. We’re going to look at real history of women in tech, focusing on the emergence of the computing industry in the US. It might surprise you.
The Real History of Women in Tech: Where We’re Coming From
Let’s be honest — the IT world has not, traditionally, been considered a bastion of gender equality. In fact, gender bias has been so prevalent in tech, many people just assume that the computing industry has always been male-dominated, and that the significant contributions women are making in tech today are unprecedented — a testament to ‘how far we’ve come.’
But you know what they say about assumptions …
The truth is, women got the IT industry off the ground in the United States — and did so for the good of the nation. During World War II, with men off to war, it fell to women to learn how to operate the room-sized supercomputers that the U.S. used to crack codes, make ballistic calculations, and work out military logistics — important jobs, to say the least. What few people realize is that during the war and up through the mid-sixties, women made up the majority of the tech workforce.
Computing was, for multiple decades, work done by women. But that was the problem; in society’s eyes, it was women’s work in a derogatory sense of those words. The operation of computers was, prior to the 70s, viewed as unskilled labor, and the women who performed this work were not given adequate respect and recognition for their efforts. Case in point: six women programmed the first electronic computer — the ENIAC — in 1946, but they weren’t even invited to the dinner celebrating the machine’s unveiling and successful demonstration!
What happened next should hardly come as a surprise. To quote Faruk Ateş’ concise summary of the sea change that occurred in the computing industry, “Women invented the field. Then men pushed them out of it.”
By the 1970s, government and industry were starting to catch on to just how powerful the computing revolution was. In her illuminating book, Programmed Inequality, tech historian Mar Hicks discusses how men in power, once they realized that computers were the way of the future, “weren’t going to put women workers – seen as low level drones – in charge of computers.” Maria Aspan also writes about this shift in how computer work was conceptualized: “The advent of the personal computer, paired with the emergence of “geek” culture in the late 1970s, starts to shift perceptions, propagating prejudices that females aren’t good at math and science.”
In short, once the industry that women built became undeniably lucrative, men decided that computers weren’t ‘women’s work’ after all. What a convenient shift in thinking …
So, how should this history lesson inflect our perspective on the present day? Well, for one thing, we shouldn’t perpetuate the narrative that women’s current presence in tech is the start of something great. Because it’s not. It’s the continuation — after an unfortunate interruption — of a rich legacy.
But where do we find ourselves at this juncture in history? Are women truly being empowered to make a triumphant return to the IT world?
How We’re Doing
Like any project that seeks to erase prejudice and systemic discrimination, the pursuit of gender equality in IT is important from a purely ethical perspective: women deserve to be treated equally, and that means whichever field they wish to enter.
But in addition to the glaring moral necessity of eradicating sexism from the tech world, there’s the fact that the entire industry benefits from greater inclusivity and diversity. Consider these research-backed findings:
Companies in the top quartile for gender or racial and ethnic diversity are more likely to achieve financial returns that exceed their industry’s median
Firms with at least 30% female leadership enjoy a 15% increase in profitability over similar firms with no female leaders
Women’s voices matter — along with minority voices, LGBTQ voices, and the numerous other voices that make up the human choir — and when they’re left out, we all suffer.
Tracey Welson-Rossman, founder of TechGirlz, sums things up nicely: “Bringing more women into the technology workforce produces a more competitive business environment that can fire on all cylinders and at full capacity.” We cannot emphasize this enough: businesses and industries that respect and welcome women — along with racial minorities and members of the LGBTQ community — benefit from the addition of different voices and perspectives. It’s not that including women won’t hurt technology; it will accelerate its evolution and take it to new heights.
So how are we doing on that front? Statistics paint a complicated picture:
The percentage of women in senior IT leadership positions increased from 21% in 2018 to 24% in 2019 (IDC)
Women make up 28.8% of the tech workforce, up from 25.9% in 2018 and 26.2% in 2019 (AnitaB.org)
74% of young girls express interest in a STEM field (Girls Who Code)
These numbers, though from reflecting gender equality in tech, are somewhat heartening. However, other statistics suggest that there’s work to be done — and lots of it:
In the mid-1980s, 37% of computer science majors were women, but now it’s only 18% (ComputerScience.org)
Women working in computer and mathematical occupations earn 82 cents for every dollar made by men (Narrow the Gap)
Code written by women was accepted 4% more often than code written by men, but only when the programmer’s gender wasn’t disclosed (GitHub)
Women-operated VC-backed tech startups generate annual revenues 12% higher than male-operated ones, yet women-led companies received only 2.8% of total capital invested in 2019
To be sure, women are making huge strides in tech, and we are seeing more and more women in prominent leadership roles. But these victories shouldn’t distract us from statistics such as the above, nor the reality to which they point. While certain societal obstacles to women’s involvement in IT have diminished, participation continues to lag and gender biases persist. Things are moving in the right direction, but too slowly, which is why we want to conclude this blog post with suggestions that we can all take to heart in our collective effort to break the bias!
How We Can Do Better
We are at a moment in history where social justice is on everyone’s mind. If we can harness the momentum that the past decade has generated, and keep pushing for change, we can, in this lifetime, see a truly equitable society start to emerge — one in which people are free to be who they are and pursue what they love. But what are some specific ways in which we can break the bias in the technology community?
Mentorship
The power of mentorship is hard to overestimate. Having even just one person in your professional life who has your best interests at heart, and who’s willing to invest time and resources in your growth, can make a tremendous difference to your future success. This holds true of all people, but research suggests that women pursuing careers in tech are in particular need of more mentorship; one survey found that 40% of women consider a “lack of mentorship” to be one of the biggest obstacles to their equal representation in the workplace.
If you’re a woman looking to break into tech or advance your existing IT career, seek mentorship. And if you’re in a position to mentor a female colleague or associate, reach out and see if your guidance would be welcome.
Break Bad Habits
Overt displays of workplace sexism have diminished considerably, largely due to movements such as #MeToo, but gender bias persists in myriad ways, many of which are subtle and fly under the radar. It falls on all of us — men and women alike — to be on the lookout for sexist behaviors at the office. This means not only monitoring others’ behaviors, but your own (yes, even if you are a woman; sexist attitudes and beliefs can be internalized by women as well as men).
If you notice that there’s an issue with women getting interrupted during meetings, say something (there likely is, as research shows that women are interrupted twice as often as men!). If there’s an issue with women not getting full credit for their ideas and contributions, say something. Speaking up isn’t easy, but it’s vital. And remember, calling out sexist behaviors isn’t about shaming or punishing people, but educating them to be better. Accountability is a powerful tool, when used with good intentions and a spirit of compassion.
Show Her the Money!
We mentioned earlier how women-led tech startups attract less investment from venture capitalists than do men-led startups. This is unacceptable, as there is no evidence to suggest that companies with women at the helm are less likely to succeed. So, if you’re in a position to invest in female entrepreneurs, make a conscious effort to do so. And if you aren’t able to invest serious capital, you can show your support by being more intentional in your personal spending; buy from women-led and minority-led companies, because moral support isn’t always enough. Put your money where your beliefs are!
Nurture Early Interest in IT
We learned that 74% of girls express interest in a STEM career, although a much smaller portion go on to achieve degrees in STEM fields. How can we sustain early interest, instead of letting it fade? By nurturing it! We must, as a society, start to actively foster young girls’ and young women’s interest in technology and computing. Research shows that women who took AP computer science in high school were 10x more likely to choose computer science as a major. So let’s make sure female youth feel encouraged and empowered to explore any interest they have in IT, because active involvement in childhood and adolescence translates to participation as an adult. Here’s a list of some great programs devoted to helping female coders develop their talents and break into the tech industry.
A Rallying Call to IT Business Owners
Our readership for this blog consists largely of business owners and decision makers at IT companies. So we want to speak directly to you about the power that lies in your hands to effect social change. Your organization is like a miniature world that you’ve created. So let your ‘world’ be a microcosm of justice and equality — a place where people feel supported and lifted up, and never discriminated against or judged according to stale stereotypes that belong in the dustbin of history.
You might not be able to change society as a whole, but you can carve out your own space that exemplifies our better instincts, and prohibits our worst impulses. In the IT world, which is supposed to be all about forward thinking and reaching new heights, we can’t imagine a more fitting project.
Anyone in marketing or sales is familiar with the traditional funnel model. While who does what may have changed, the model has ultimately stayed conceptually the same. Marketing builds awareness and interest, and sales converts the leads into paying customers. The line demarcating the hand-off between marketing and sales is going to depend on the company and the clients. Your goal is to make this process as efficient as possible.
The marketing process feeds into the sales process, but the entire process can be described as creating awareness, developing interest, refining this interest into a desire and fulfilling the desire (with your product or brand). Different marketing and sales teams may further split these tasks into things like evaluation, consideration and so on.
Our principle model is built on teaching our partners to grow from break-fix into modern managed service providers. By shoring up the traditional sales funnel, we enable ourselves and our partners to let the chaff fall out early and let the grains settle where they’re easy to get at without wasting time or effort.
Once you, as a managed service provider, understand what the funnel is, you can begin to make it efficient. You’re going to lose a lot of your leads at each step, too, so don’t waste time or resources on a lead that is going nowhere. Build inertia with your prospective lead, and direct them toward your sales. Plug any leaks in your process. Your marketing team should act as a filter to prevent the whole system from getting clogged in addition to generating the initial leads.
Building Inertia
Once a lead makes it past the initial filter, build inertia with them. As Sir Isaac Newton noted, an object at rest stays at rest, and an object in motion stays in motion. Get your prospective client in motion. They know who you are, and they’re at least a little interested by the time they make it through the biggest filters, so how do you get them to sign?
Set expectations of what you’ll do and how. The more concrete, the easier the dream is to sell. Get them thinking about how you, as their service provider or vendor, will help them accomplish the goal they’re looking to reach. Don’t let them think of if you’re their vendor or provider. Instead, tell them what you’ll do for them when you are.
A little bit of inertia is going to discourage them from shopping around as seriously. They’ve already invested some hope into you being part of the process. If you set the expectations right and get them sold on your service, they’re going to get what they want, and you’ll get what you want. Push them forward, and keep them moving without pushing too hard.
Directing Movement
Getting them moving is just one part of the process. You need them to move in the right direction. If you find the client just won’t be a good fit (your service doesn’t fit them and the money isn’t there to make it fit), then let them go without burning the bridge. If a client is a good fit, push them to start making the right decisions to help both of you.
How you direct the client depends on what they want or what they’re trying to do. For example, if a company is selling luxury goods, it sells the idea of the brand rather than the item itself. The customer’s interest has already piqued, so how does it convert this interest into desire?
If another company is selling luxury watches and a client mentions camping, it sells them on that dream by directing their excitement toward that watch being a part of their life. The watch they’re looking at is both waterproof and stylish. It fits an active and sophisticated life. It sells the watch as being a reflection of them and their goals. Inertia got them in the door, and the company is now directing them to the register.
This same principle applies to services. If they’re hands-off, show them how you make it easy for them. If they want to steer, show them how you listen and let them stay involved. Your service is a reflection of their business and goals.
Preventing Leaks
Make your correspondences keep them in your space. Don’t link to a competitor’s website. Don’t use too many outbound links that don’t benefit you. These just lead to the direction getting muddled. This also factors into plugging earlier leaks in the funnel.
Make it easy for them to continue with the sales process. What happens when you go to a site and have to sign up for an account just to see a price? For most people, they just leave. All of the awareness, interest and desire get tossed out because the process wasn’t easy. It was a waste of your time and theirs.
For managed services, get them to sign something, whether it’s an NDA or a discovery agreement. This first contract solidifies the bond you’ve been building and prevents them from just grabbing the secret sauce and finding someone cheaper who can talk the talk. Very few clients shop for managed services simply because they can do them but don’t want to. They may not understand that going cheaper has its costs and risks even though the stereotypical used car salesman at your competitor promised them otherwise.
Fixing The Funnel And Moving Forward
Understand the funnel in general and how it works at your company. Get marketing to filter out the obvious bad fits to make it easier to prevent the filter from getting clogged. Build inertia, and don’t let the filter leak needlessly. You’re going to have leads miss, but when you optimize your sales process, you reduce the cost and the waste at each level.
Are there places you can build more inertia? Are there places where you’re having leads misdirected? Break down your process, and see what you can optimize. Use data and analytics to make metrics to further optimize your sales funnel. Once you get the more human side of the process down, you can focus on measuring it. There’s no point in doing analytics on something that doesn’t work.
