This morning in Pittsburgh, Continuum CEO Michael George kicked off the east coast version of Navigate 2019 with a few high-level stark observations about the state of security and automation in the managed services provider (MSP) small and
medium business (SMB) community. Quickly – with more to follow – here are the highlights:
Figure 1: Michael George, CEO, Continuum kicks off Navigate.
Navigate History
- Michael George started by highlighting the history of Navigate. In 2014 the them was about the technology skills gap. In 2016 George sounded the alarm about cyber security.
- Michael George basically called this year the “Perfect Storm” in cyber security. SMBs spent 20-years getting hyper connected. Today the bad guys in cyber warfare understand that SMB are unsuspecting prey and MSP ill-equipped to address this attack vector. [We’ve covered the MSP one-to-many attack vector extensively at our sister site Microsoft 365 Nation].
- “IT’S A PANDEMIC CRISIS - embrace it…creates opportunity…” bellowed George who consistently hit on disruption themes.
Automation
Automation was described with a look back at the original automobile assembly line - Henry Ford - increased productivity and changed how we performed work. By analogy, the assembly line for the MSP using RMM tools is about bringing the work to the technician, and don't send the technician out to do the work at the client site
Continuum’s Secret Sauce
- Business Intelligence
- Artificial Intelligence - Machine Learning
- Automation Autonomic Computing “It is the new age of autonomic computing.” George shared.
Figure 2: Visualize the Continuum product and services portfolio.
Bottom line – the “What’s Next” theme is the kinda looking forward approach I embrace and have known Continuum to carry the water “on” over the years at Navigate.
Check back for more coverage over the next two days.