Blog News

In this recent interview with Joel Maloff, Senior Vice President – Strategic Alliances/Chief Compliance Officer (CCO) at PHONE.COM, after proper introductions we give a tip of the hat to the good old days of being in IT service provider (organic customer referrals, could do it all yourself, etc.)  and then…and then…we look forward to the future.

Don’t look away for long or you might miss real news. Yesterday while running errands I peeked at my mobile phone to see the news from Joe (here) about Thoma Bravo acquiring ConnectWise for a reported $1.5B. Happy to share the basic details about employee shareholders will share in $270m of the proceeds resulting in 70 instant millionaires; 100 redundant layoffs; new strategic hires, etc.

I’ve always tried to lead by example as I encourage all of us to transform and improve our business models. So with great pleasure, I’m delighted to announce that I’ve become an accredited member of the U.S. press corps. The designation is significant for a few reasons.

I can now demonstrate my cred as a long-time writer and analyst.

It is a story of be there at the start. SMB Nation and StorageCraft were connected in our younger days. StorageCraft was just starting and SMB Nation was moving from the "crawal" to the "walk" stage. In a sense we grew up together. 

In this recent interview at an industry conference (NexGen), I check-in with Mark Baird,

Pinch me but it’s true. I’ve been covering IBM for over a decade at its annual partner events, the retired LotusSphere and now THINK. My job is to make sure two audiences keep IBM top-of-mind for what I feel it does best: Analytics,

Long-time technology channel executive Rob Spee reached out late last year while I was skiing on holiday break to connect on his new podcast series. Spee is a thinking man and this thoughtful interview draws out a few key themes that are central to my mission as a “guide-by-the-side” MSP motion.

I gave it a go but it’s now no no to GoGo.

I travel frequently and value my time. In 2018 I went all in for the monthly GoGo pass on my primary carrier, Alaska Airlines. I will not repeat.

This is a deep dive double-click into the recent acquisition of CMIT by Craftsman Capital (Dallas, TX) as part of a long-term franchise growth strategy. In this interview with Jeff Connally, CEO of CMIT, we discover a lot about the acquisition.

Part of my MSP mission is to put the “B” — as in “business” — back in SMB!  Woven into this blog is something that’s frequently overlooked in the real world of SMB consulting and completely absent in many courses taught at Microsoft Certified Technical Education Centers: business planning.

The technology conference space focused on small and medium business (SMB) managed services providers (MSP) remains crowded. As one or two shows disappear, a like amount emerges. Such is life

I'm updating my original SMB Consulting Best Practices thesis from the Windows Small Business Server (SBS) era with new deep insights into what it takes to be a professional information technology services provider.  I'll impart my thoughts over the next few weeks to help you start the year right as a managed services provider (MSP).

A real do’er in the channel community, Rob Spee shares updates and insights into the channel for 2019. Spee recently exited the Big Data stats firm SAS and is primarily focused on his Channel Journeys thought leadership podcasts and more.