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Welcome to the MSP Radio newsletter, catching you up on some stories you might have missed!
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The Secret Service weighs in on MSPs
From Tuesday, July 7th's episode: The US Secret Service sent out a security alert last month to the US private sector and government organization warning about an increase in attacks on managed service providers, per reporting in ZDNet.
The alert indicated that the Global Investigations Operation Center has been seeing increase in incidents breaching MSP solutions and then using those to attack internal networks of customers. The alert also includes best practices to be used by MSPs and customers.
The article additionally highlights ConnectWise’s alerts and the June 2020 vulnerability.
Just to put a cherry on this, Xchanging, an MSP focused on insurance and financial services, was breached by a ransomware attack and alerted authorities on Sunday, July 5.
Why do we care?
There are number of obvious reasons to care – the surge in attacks themselves, the number of breaches, and the public attention this article alone has being in much more mainstream media. That last one was almost the subject of this…
… but instead I’m going to talk about the regulation angle. Think about the analogy of what is happening with ransomware. Gangs of armed criminals are entering businesses and holding those businesses hostage. If this was happening in the physical world at the pace we see, there would be cries for government intervention and funding for more police action.
We’re not seeing it at that level because it’s virtual. Don’t be fooled to think that means the action isn’t coming. It’s just moving so much slower. One of the reasons I think government regulation is coming for technology is because of the massive impact on society and business in a battle that is being lost. This isn’t getting better, it’s getting worse, and to think that will go unanswered is naïve.
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Do providers really get the Cloud?
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Most providers think they are in the cloud already.. which isn't true.
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Tracking public sentiment
From Wednesday, July 8th's episode: As a data driven guy, let’s dig into some recently released data from Pulsar, an audience intelligence company, who have developed a Public Emotions Framework designed to track fluctuations in public sentiment in the UK and US. Combining that with emerging behaviors and trends provides insight into ranges of emotions.
The released data reveals distinct rises in fear and caution on March 11th, after the WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic, as well as spikes in fear related to the death of George Floyd and the related protests.
Why do we care?
This timing is really good as I had a Patreon ask me to look into investment in a cloud journey for small customers – and what the results were.
Found it!
Useful data for discussing with your customers – specific results for investing in technologies to transform your business. I hate the digital transformation banner, but this data is speaking to that – a technology investment in your own company results in these results.
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Leadership lessons in ConnectWise layoffs
From Thursday July 9th's episode: Story facts first.
Reported by multiple outlets, ConnectWise carried out “large scale” layoffs on Tuesday, and Connectwise indicates the cuts equate to 4 percent of its global workforce.
In a statement, CEO Jason Magee said “We had a plan in place for 2020 for our business, that allowed us to align and invest for the future. Like many others, as a result of COVID-19 and the continued global economic uncertainty, we experienced a disruption in our ability to execute on those plans and needed to make the tough decision to pivot on our approach“
Story speculation second.
An anonymous poster on Reddit claiming to have an inside view of the situation offered additional color, indicating that in April 401K matches had been paused and bonuses suspended, and that in a company meeting July 8, it was made clear that the intention had always been to optimize the business and reduce the workforce via natural attrition. 401K matching was to come back this year but 2020 merit rises were still cancelled with a hope to reinstate in 2021.
Why do we care?
I’m shocked, shocked I say, that ConnectWise has laid off people. Who would have possibly seen this coming? Trimming expenses after a merger?
Oh, right. I said this was coming. I believe COVID is a good cover, and this would have happened regardless.
Let’s acknowledge something – it’s important to manage a business responsibly, and words to live by are make business decisions ruthlessly, and you need to execute humanely.
My takeaway is that it’s not clean execution — you can’t take away benefits then let people go people and have it hang out there you might do more — if you take away benefits, it should be a “we are in this together”. If you take away benefits, but then still lay off people, and then have it hanging out there you might lay off more, but claim to be profitable… well… I wouldn’t call this a leadership example.
If it was me, I’d be more aggressive about taking care of my people, letting people go earlier with better packages, and trying to avoid death by a thousand cuts. I’d also be open with my staff about the situation – it’s hard to swallow being profitable for investors if you’re taking away incentives.
You know what runs out at the end of July? The PPP funding. So if you’re making cuts… now’s the time I would expect to see that happen. Put that data point in there as well.
This shouldn’t be surprising. Let’s also put aside a myth – monthly recurring revenue is not a solution to everything. You are still subject to market forces, they simply may be less painful. Less doesn’t mean none.
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