Chat Log
00:02:26 Derek Gabriel: I think there's a big flock of black sheep
00:05:29 Jorge: drop it in the chat
00:05:31 Joe Giltner: Should we get the flock outta here?
00:07:10 Bob Tukin: You don’t charge for that?
00:07:47 Craig Anderson, PCM: you have separate sales teamrole for selling the project even though there a vcio assigned?
00:08:17 J.Mac Brown: If you want to start on Business acumen then you could role play this decision to move from G-Workplace to O365. Why is the client making this move? What business problem are they solving?
00:09:40 Chuck: lol
00:09:47 Charles Urban: Nice
00:10:17 Jared Belcher: Our sales team does design desk and external sales. So I kick everything over to them and they either send a quote or work with the Project Team to create a quote to present to the client.
00:10:44 Derek Gabriel: we do the quote to order process - because we need document auth from clients, even for small things. As vCIO I can draft a quote myself, the process is relatively automated. I think as we get bigger it would be handled by design desk.
00:10:48 Erin O'Donnell: I'm proud of you @craig!
00:11:03 Rob Danser: Man is living that laid back island life
00:11:10 Jorge: lolol
00:11:53 Jared Belcher: Small items like keyboards/adapters etc we get a verbal and just flip the quote as approved and bill them.
00:14:09 Jared Belcher: @Craig How do you track the pre-spend amounts client to client? ConnectWise?
00:14:48 Craig Anderson, PCM: they don't come up that often and most of them are the same ($1500/$100)
00:15:01 Craig Anderson, PCM: @christian are we talking like commissioned sales reps?
00:15:02 Bob Tukin: Sales shouldn’t do anything with current clients. Only new clients.
00:15:26 Derek Gabriel: is Rob sneaking us into business acumen via a conversation on structure?
00:15:31 Erin O'Donnell: we don't have sales anymore at all. we have vCIOs.
00:16:38 Joe Foos, ZAG Technical Services: sounds like the "sales" team you are describing is just an "order processing" group, or else you are wasting a real MSP sales team's time with quoting tasks for existing clients. instead, the vCIO should handle all quotes and project proposals on their own so the MSP sales team can focus on getting new MSP deals. if the vCIO needs admin help to process small orders or writing up task lists and project proposals, then a procurement person or team that does everything except an engineering design should help. they are the ones that deal with all vendors, and nobody else has to learn their portals or processes.
00:16:45 Derek Gabriel: sales for us is the folks who go after new MRR... ORR goes through design desk process (if necessary) and procurement, service delivery (as necessary) and then billing.
00:17:27 Craig Anderson, PCM: "Sales" sounds like a commission driven selling role to me as compared to more internal operational roles like "procuredment" or "design desk" (which I have seen sometimes called "inside sales" even though that doesn't match the TM role definition for "nside sales")
00:18:14 Derek Gabriel: well stop using the word sales then … use procure when they NEED something
00:18:56 Bob Tukin: Black hole of IT spending shouldn’t exist. Everything should be planned out way ahead of schedule and client should always know what needs to be addressed in the next few quarters.
00:19:08 Erin O'Donnell: This ^^^^^
00:19:26 Derek Gabriel: well devils advocate, it's impossible to roadmap a pc failure or a broken mouse.. lol
00:19:37 Brooke Smith: that's the difference between OUTSIDE sales and INSIDE sales for us... I am the salesperson yes, BUT it starts at strategy and budgeting not actual today dollar costs
00:19:38 Jorge: true, but it's easy to keep spares on hand
00:19:48 Odin Fuhrman: yes it is. have them purchase a hot spare!
00:19:48 Bob Tukin: Pc failure isn’t a large expense. I’m thinking more company wide projects/upgrades.
00:19:50 Derek Gabriel: not for every business, that can be expensive
00:19:59 Brian Dappolone: To Derek's point, does anyone keep hot spares on hand for these sorts of failures?
00:20:07 Brian Dappolone: Ah @Jorge, there you go.
00:20:19 Bob Tukin: Yes. Especially with chip shortages, I have been recommending a spare workstation be available.
00:20:46 Brian Dappolone: @Bob a good recommendation.
00:20:50 Odin Fuhrman: we do that for most of our customers. the ones that don't value technology (cheap-o's) don't have the hot spares
00:21:08 Thomas Paine: Two of my larger clients have a spare workstation ready to go for the engineering team. Regular office users do not, but there are loaner laptops left over from covid that can be used.
00:21:19 Craig Anderson, PCM: we have a standard advising clients to have a spare pc that actually stays pluged in and patched. for network/firewall/similar we have some untits at our office we will use as loaner spares in an emergency but don't guarantee it
00:21:55 Brooke Smith: All. The. Time. Jorge!
00:22:24 Brian Dappolone: It's a shame when a PC fails and the client doesn't have a hot spare available, and they refuse to buy one after learning from that incident.
00:22:37 Craig Anderson, PCM: no kidding
00:22:49 Jorge: Craig's hand is getting tired from being raised
00:22:56 Joe Foos, ZAG Technical Services: Jorge's "account managers" should be "re-assigned" to not get paid on existing client revenues, and just focus on new MSP sales
00:23:01 Craig Anderson, PCM: i'm ever so polite now jorge
00:24:06 Derek Gabriel: Look, it doesn't matter if there is a hot spare or not, spending is still involved.. if you have a situation and need the hot spare, a new hot spare needs to be replaced, right... we're conflating being prepared with how do you manage the conversations about ongoing spending which isn't on a roadmap.
00:24:14 Bob Tukin: Everything client related besides break/fix I feel should come from the vCIO. Otherwise these issues arrise.
00:24:16 J.Mac Brown: We have std. like Mr. Polite and move our client to having hot spare patched and ready.
00:26:43 Derek Gabriel: be maverick and work with your account managers that shouldn't exist to tag team the client relationship, and groom them to be new vcios as the company grows.
00:26:55 Craig Anderson, PCM: I think semantics was the word I was looking for
00:26:57 Brooke Smith: Same thought I had Derek
00:27:07 Jared Belcher: Agreed Derek
00:27:07 Craig Anderson, PCM: @derek I think that's a good strategy
00:27:56 Charles Urban: Brooke - you mentioned you don't provide specific costs, but I assume you provide budgets.
00:28:02 Brooke Smith: Assuminnng inventory is available.... LOL
00:28:14 Nadeem Azhar: I just don't worry about small stuff, if there is a need I'm going to order bunch of mice/keyboards to keep on hand but frankly hasn't been an issue, get petty cash and buy a mouse locally...
00:28:56 Brooke Smith: Yes and those budgets are reviewed by my BOSS so he is aware of what we are projecting
00:28:57 Chuck: The conversation could be had pick a dollar amount with the client
00:29:03 Chuck: rob snatched it away from me
00:30:50 Michael Britton: so true
00:32:08 Chuck: "it's been 7 minutes since a ticket was put in"
00:32:24 Brooke Smith: I avoid the word sorry at alllll cost -- I say thank you for reaching out let me find out more....
00:32:40 Chuck: +1 saying sorry admits fault
00:32:49 Brian Dappolone: @Brooke yes! hospitality treatment: thank them for their patience rather than apologizing.
00:33:05 Craig Anderson, PCM: not "sorry this took so long" but instead "I appreciate your patience"
00:33:17 Brian Dappolone: +1 Craig.
00:33:43 Jared Belcher: "I understand your frustrations - let's look how to fix the issue or understand why things went the way they did"
00:33:59 Craig Anderson, PCM: i learned that in drivers ed.. if you get in a fender bender, don't get out of the car and say sorry :)
00:36:34 Charles Urban: https://compliancy-group.com/
00:38:16 Jorge: HIPAA compliance is not an IT initiative
00:38:24 Charles Urban: Yep
00:38:34 Jorge: it's an organizational initiative that has an IT component
00:38:35 Brooke Smith: I USE it for me... but not formally with a TAM/NA review
00:39:28 Jared Belcher: HIPPA, PCI, CMMC - While not strictly IT owned items, they need to be driven somewhere and usually aren't well understood in less mature SMB's
00:39:43 Brooke Smith: 100000% Jaren
00:39:45 Brooke Smith: Jared*
00:40:05 Jared Belcher: YES GET PAID
00:40:14 Craig Anderson, PCM: also, i mean, i just cant get enough of reviewing policies, i mean if i had my druthers, i'd just review policies all day ::shudder::
00:40:50 Odin Fuhrman: there must be a someone named jared and karen that are married and their friends nicknamed them "Jaren" 😂
00:41:03 Charles Urban: LOL
00:41:11 Jared Belcher: Ouch
00:42:46 Brooke Smith: NOT always -- depends on the clients complexity
00:42:49 Ray Chamberland: A lot of HIPAA is policy and following what you say you do. Which is on the client.
00:42:50 Craig Anderson, PCM: ive always told client in past life and present, that our process won't "make you compliant or assure your compliance" but that if you follow our standards and advice, then if or when you do go after those compliance certifications, you are going to be a lot closer to achieving it than if you hadn't
00:43:05 Brian Dappolone: HIPAA is about reducing risk, not eliminating it.
00:43:18 Charles Urban: We say something similar Craig
00:43:19 Jared Belcher: @Craig - that's a perfect message - I like that
00:43:26 Brooke Smith: and a lot can me MUST comply vs DEMONSTRATE compliance....
00:44:34 Craig Anderson, PCM: Jorge - can i agree AND you are crazy?
00:44:37 Brooke Smith: CISA is paramount inside
00:45:14 Derek Gabriel: many many people misunderstand HIPAA
00:45:30 Craig Anderson, PCM: my healthcare clients who actually have somebody tapped to handle hipaa are so much better to deal with
00:46:09 Brooke Smith: Same with is Craig
00:46:26 Craig Anderson, PCM: "if you aren't aligned with our standards... then you definitely aren't going to meet their standards"
00:46:32 Brooke Smith: Breaches only
00:46:37 Jorge: @Craig 100% agree
00:46:52 Brian Dappolone: Breaches of 500 records or more.
00:46:56 Charles Urban: Craig is on point today
00:47:04 Brooke Smith: and there is a min amount....
00:47:06 Jorge: It's that politeness paying off
00:47:21 Brooke Smith: Yeah Brian that sounds right
00:47:43 Derek Gabriel: hipaa itself has no reporting requirements, but many jurisdictions layer requirements on top.
00:48:05 Derek Gabriel: just remember it was written in the fricken 90s lol …
00:48:46 Craig Anderson, PCM: i have a lot of great lines: i play a better vcio in TruMethods webinars than in real life ;)
00:49:21 Brian Dappolone: @Derek yes, exactly, State requirements are often more up to date and/or more strict.
00:49:36 Derek Gabriel: lol @ Craig
00:50:34 Bob Tukin: I feel like an engineer should do that. Not sure vCIO would have time to do that for most/all clients. Definitely not a point I focus on.
00:50:37 Brooke Smith: My TAM/NA's will make a recc in real time for change if they see it and its "easy" to do -- if it's a workflow they will email me their ideas and then I can work through what they need and make a recommendation from there
00:50:42 Derek Gabriel: I call it the digital feedback loop
00:50:57 Craig Anderson, PCM: if i have the time/bandwidth i like to go through that process helping clients that way.. but i'm not too in the weeds with Flow and automation - usually the stuff i'm doing is more basic for example: lets talk about all these licensed 365 mailboxes.. could we rebild these as disty's or shared mailboxes and save licenses? lets walk through how you use them in your business and who accesses them"
00:51:21 Brooke Smith: This is where the "what is the one thing you do everyday that you wish was easier/faster/more efficient"
00:51:22 Derek Gabriel: this is a new revenue stream, certainly... we're moving to knowledge as a service
00:51:46 Craig Anderson, PCM: i don't like programming, scripting or customizing thengs - because i dnt want to get stuck maintaining it when it breaks later :)...
00:52:00 Bob Tukin: ^^ what he said...
00:52:28 Derek Gabriel: therein lies the rub, it's not a project.
00:52:36 Derek Gabriel: dammit, now I'm triggerd
00:52:52 Craig Anderson, PCM: maybe if i knew i had a team who did ity.. if we staffed the right people to do that sort of customizing and maintaining it.. but i have been in involved in several items over the years where we made some cool custom solutions but the nobody was here to keep it running
00:54:09 Craig Anderson, PCM: don't get me wrong, i think the automation and flow and stuff IS a good idea.. just telling why i'm afraid of it and don't go that far with it :) i think there is a ton of business value and differentiation potential
00:54:52 Craig Anderson, PCM: why click 10 times when you can click twice while holding shift
00:56:02 Bill Taylor: Simplifying workflows gives their people time back to do more activities that can impact the clients business. Huge value add! Inefficiencies should be found in alignment and the solutions should be presented in the vCIO meeting
00:56:04 Craig Anderson, PCM: i think i would love getting a saavy client aware of and then they se flow themselves.. i just don't want build something for them that cant be maintained
00:56:30 Craig Anderson, PCM: like can i teach them to fish instead of giving them fish?
00:56:37 Bill Taylor: Then, reuse work and template the initiatives/recommendations for other clients
00:56:54 Bob Tukin: This sound like it should be internal to the client. I don’t think this is a vCIO/TAM function. Could be wrong though.
00:56:59 Brooke Smith: Yes Bill -- we do that then we send out videos to everyone in our newsletters ….
00:58:02 Odin Fuhrman: do you guys have any flow templates for your vCIO tasks?
00:58:15 Derek Gabriel: I'm writing a book, but for sure this is part of the legitimate digital transformation, and there is huge value here to be captured
00:58:37 Brooke Smith: @Derek I'll write your forward!!! LOL
00:58:41 Bill Taylor: Congrats!!
00:58:54 Chuck: that is one expensive network switch
00:59:02 Derek Gabriel: as our customers operational maturity increases, the opportunity comes out
00:59:04 Odin Fuhrman: 🤑
00:59:05 Julian: Congrats Craig!!!
00:59:29 Craig Anderson, PCM: all just one meraki switch ;)
00:59:34 Chuck: lolol
00:59:42 Derek Gabriel: is that 100k profit or revenue?
00:59:48 Chuck: ha
00:59:51 Odin Fuhrman: 🤪
00:59:57 Erin O'Donnell: Meraki is wild
01:00:05 Craig Anderson, PCM: revenue, parts and labor
01:00:35 Derek Gabriel: still deserves a congrats, but we really need to celebrate profit not revenue ;) … tell me it's 70% and I'll mail you a bottle of champagne