Managed IT services have undergone significant change and evolution in a very short time. As an IT service provider, remote monitoring and management (RMM) is at the core of your business, allowing you to manage a large number and variety of endpoints. At the same time, your clients have grown to expect 24×7 uptime with outstanding customer service, potentially leading to some growing pains on your end.

When it’s time to add or rework a wireless network for a client, a lot of little things need to line up for the venture to be successful. It’s not enough to simply have an SSID in the air, and if you’re not careful, you risk disrupting your client’s business and damaging your reputation. Though not every business has the same focus, when it comes to Wi-Fi there are a common set of concerns. Make sure these bases are covered.

In a crowded MSP market, you need ways to differentiate yourself from the competition. As former MSP Charles Loves points out, “When you compare MSPs, the look and feel of the offering is often the same. So when the customer tries to compare MSP A, B, and C, what are the real differentiators they can leverage?” You don’t want to end up in a situation where dropping prices is the only way to edge out firms with similar offerings.

Managed service providers (MSPs) are feeling the impact of AI use, mostly when it comes to the power of chatbots. Chatbots are an incredible way for MSPs to save time and money when it comes to the lower levels of their customer support. Well-programmed bots can take the burden off techs and your support staff when it comes to answering simple questions and troubleshooting common issues.

In this edition of News That Makes the Channel Cringe, a new Sophos report reveals IT pros can’t identify almost half (45%) of the traffic flowing through their networks. The Dirty Secrets of Network Firewalls study, which included the responses of 2,700 mid-size business IT leaders, goes on to say 25% can’t identify over 70% of total network traffic. That’s a massive blind spot, especially with mounting concerns over cybersecurity. The network is what keeps your clients connected.

The news is filled with stories about horrible attacks against corporate and government networks. It’s almost enough to make administrators for small and mid-sized networks give up. But it’s important to note not all of these attacks are the same. There’s a vast difference, for example, between the incredibly sophisticated long-term attacks against high-profile companies and government agencies, and the mere smash-and-grab attacks.

Too often, small business equals small budget when it comes to doing wireless, but sometimes just knowing what can be done goes further than more money. There are many ways to approach wireless security, and businesses of any size have options. Let’s talk about how I approach my own small- and mid-sized business (SMB) settings when it comes to security and Wi-Fi.

WATERLOO, ON / November 8, 2017 — Auvik Networks, a provider of network monitoring and management software for managed service providers (MSPs), has announced a new integration with IT documentation platform IT Glue. The integration will give MSPs the ability to sync details that Auvik automatically discovers about a network—such as device IP addresses, serial numbers, and software versions—into IT Glue, instead of entering the data manually.