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Why MSPs Should be Selective with the Tools they Provide – TubbTalk #38

Richard talks to Leigh Wood, Director of Node IT Solutions, about why he recommends Microsoft products and limits the software he uses with his clients, why he thinks MSPs should attend the Microsoft Inspire conference, and his experiences in the IT industry over the last decade.

An Interview with Leigh Wood
Who is Leigh Wood?

Leigh Wood is the owner of Bedfordshire-based MSP Node IT Solutions. Node were founded in 2008 and they specialise in improving the productivity of businesses with 100 to a thousand employees, specifically by using Microsoft 365.

The Biggest Change in the MSP Industry

Leigh says the biggest change has been the term MSP (managed service provider). When Node started 10 years ago, most of the work was fixing kit, and that’s the last thing most MSPs want to do. Now, they (and their peers) have moved away from simply being an IT support company, and focus on bringing value to a business, and help a business develop and use IT.

Being able to work remotely and automate tasks have made a difference. In the last few years, many software programmes and online tools have been introduced to the UK market, many from the US, which integrate with existing platforms and make businesses run more smoothly.

Leigh says the foundations of a company are good computers, good IT processes and methods and it’s important to empower people within the company to use the tools, and to help them communicate their messages.

Leigh’s Definition of an MSP

“An MSP to me is a partner, who looks after the IT and all the foundational services.” He believes it’s important for the MSP to know what the business is doing, their goal and vision, and to help them achieve that through the systems they have.

Node do that through fixing problems, but also putting in systems that work, delivering new solutions to their clients to help them, and making sure that the business has got what it needs to deliver to its customers to deliver to each other.

The Tools used by Node IT

Node have a few core products that they use for the everyday running of the business. They use ConnectWise, as their PSA (professional services automation), and everything runs through that. They use it for billing, the service desk, all the projects and sales, and Leigh describes it as the heart of the business for data and information. They know where everything is within it and all the staff use it.

They also have satellite tools to go alongside ConnectWise. They use the documentation service from IT Glue, which they’ve been using since it arrived in the UK. They also use Continuum to take advantage of the NOC (network operations centre). It supports them with the 24/7 maintenance and management of the servers they have.

Finally, they use Auvik for RMM (remote monitoring and management). Leigh says that he likes ‘the fact that we can really drill and see the systems and what replacements might be needed.’ It fits in with whatever the client is using seamlessly.

Why Leigh Recommends Microsoft Products

Early on with Node, Leigh and his business partners looked at Google Apps and Microsoft’s suite, and decided that they couldn’t do both. They use Teams to track all the important information for business development projects and are able to pull everything from Office 365 into one place.

Node also use Microsoft tools for day to day communications, for video conferencing and for meetings. They ask all their customers to use it too, because it’s a system they know inside and out, and can support their customers to maximise it’s potential.

Why MSPs Should Attend the Inspire Conference

Inspire is Microsoft’s annual conference held in Las Vegas. It brings together users and partners from all over the world for several days, allowing them to network, learn more about Microsoft and gives them the opportunity to talk to senior executives they wouldn’t normally meet.

Mentioned in This Episode

SolarWinds
ConnectWise
IT Glue
Continuum
Helpdesk
Auvik
SkyKick
BitTitan
CloudMigrator
FortiGate
WatchGuard
SonicWall
PRTG
Cisco
Microsoft Teams
Slack
Google Apps
Nimble
Datto
Identity Experts
Azure
Sage
Xero
The Network Group
CompTIA
GFI
Book: Traction by Gino Wickman
Book: The Go Giver by Bob Burg

Interview Transcript
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Published on September 26, 2018 23:25

How Journaling and Trying New Things can Improve Your Business and Your Life – TubbTalk #37

Richard talks to Geoff Nicholson, a performance coach specialising in the field of high performance, about journaling, mindfulness and his own podcast show.

An Interview with Geoff Nicholson
Who is Geoff Nicholson?

Geoff is a performance coach specialising in the field of high performance, resilience and stress management for high-performing individuals and organisations, supporting them to get the maximum performance and productivity with the benefit of creating a better harmony between work and life.

He explains that a performance coach supports an individual to work at their peak level and live at the highest level as well. By utilising their existing skills, they can output the maximum beneficial results for them.

How did Geoff Become a Coach?

Originally, Geoff expected to work in the family confectionary business. He had a spell as a printer before a life-changing experience – having meningitis twice within a 12-month period. He was off work for six years, on house rest for four years, bedbound for 12 months, sleeping 20 hours a day.

Suffering clinical depression, at his lowest point Geoff was prepared to do something drastic. He had a moment of clarity at the point where things had come to a head, and decided to do something about his life. He felt he needed to get his life on track, firstly to establish what he needed, and then to find a mission to help other people move from desperation to an inspired life.

Why we Need to Focus on Ourselves

Geoff thinks there’s too much emphasis on entrepreneurs having to hustle and to work 50 to 100 hours a week to be successful and achieve the results they want. He says: “In my personal experience, people actually need to do something else to reach their goals.”

Enjoying your work is fine but things need to be in harmony, and to have the happiness and fulfilment we’re all looking for, you need to be careful that you put as much of your energy into your personal life as you do into work, before it’s too late.

Why Business Owners Should try Journaling

Successful business owners and thought leaders such as Tony Robbins are committed to journaling, and they do it because they get results. There’s evidence of how it helps blood pressure, helps concentration, creativity, and generally how your body works.

Geoff says there are two kinds of journaling, and it’s up to the individual which one they do. Free writing means getting a notebook, putting a date at the top and dumping your thoughts.

Other people prefer more structure, and there are both apps and physical books, such as the Five Minute Journal. Journaling helps you to process things and encourages gratitude for even the smallest successes of your day. Your journal can be a positive reminder of good things when you’re giving yourself a hard time.

The Tools Geoff Uses in His Business

Geoff uses a number of tools in his business to make things run smoothly and efficiently. He uses Trello for his projects, as he finds the Kanban option for making lists helpful.

For day to day tasks, he prefers Asana, which he feels is less cluttered. He swears by Evernote, which he uses to record everything. He often adds photos of pages from his journal, as well as grouping important notes by category, such as family and business.

He’s also a fan of subscription service Briefcase from AppSumo. This gives you access to a huge range of apps and software, including SEO tracking and a calendar, for a small monthly fee.

The Success IQ Podcast

Geoff’s podcast, The Success IQ, is just about to hit its 100th episode. He interviews entrepreneurs, thought leaders and business owners, with the intention of helping his listeners to ‘create and live an exceptional life’. He chooses guests he thinks will provide value, offering advice and suggestions on all aspects of life and business and sharing the benefit of their experience.

From this, Geoff is growing a membership site, the Success Alliance, to give people ‘a cost-effective way to get the resources, strategies, tools and techniques to help them build a positive mindset.’

Mentioned in this Episode

Business and life stragist Tony Robbins
Trainer and speaker Jack Canfield
App Headspace
Journal Five Minute Journal or search the app store
App Day One
Online Journal Journey
Journal Best Self Journal
Note-taking tool Evernote
Collaboration tool Trello
Collaboration tool Asana
Subscription software Briefcase by AppSumo
SetApp (MAC only)
Audiobooks Audible
Audiobooks Scribd
Podcast The Success IQ
Coach Stu McLaren
Listmaking site WishList
Entrepreneur Chris Ducker
Geoff’s Website
Geoff’s page for TubbTalk listeners

Interview Transcipt
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Published on September 25, 2018 23:25

How Computing has Changed in the Last Two Decades – TubbTalk#36

Richard speaks to Jon Honeyball, CEO of IT consultancy Woodleyside, based in Cambridgeshire, and Contributing Editor to PC Pro magazine.

An Interview with Jon Honeyball
Who is Jon Honeyball?

Jon has been the contributing editor at PCPro Magazine since 1994. He writes a monthly, real world computing column, where he discusses what’s right and what’s wrong with the latest small business technology solutions and shares his views on all aspects of computing and tech.

He is also the CEO of Woodleyside IT, a privately-held consulting company based in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, in England. Woodleyside specialise in IT consultancy, future-proofing, strategic direction, product evaluation and hiring and firing. They help developers to appraise their projects and find ways to improve them.

How Jon got into Computer Journalism

Jon was an avid reader of a magazine called ‘PC User’ in 1990, and would write regular letters to the editor. These were often voted ‘Letter of the Fortnight’, which led to the editor offering him a three-page column in the magazine.

From there he moved to ‘Computer Buyer’, before being involved in the creation of ‘Windows Magazine’, where he was the first ever Windows NT columnist in the world. After two years, he and the editorial team decided to relaunch it as a new magazine, ‘PCPro’.

From there, they took the opinion columns and turned them into the real world columns that have been part of PCPro ever since. Jon identified some of his friends who he thought would also be good columnists, and signed them up.

Despite heavy competition, particularly from US companies launching their own publications, PCPro are now the last magazine of the era still standing. Jon has now written more than 280 monthly columns for PCPro.

Jon’s Early Career

Originally trained as a classical pianist, Jon studied broadcast engineering, sound recording and music at the University of Guilford. As part of his studies, he worked with Angus McKenzie, an amateur radio expert, and helped him create a write a technical book on the subject.

This led to his interest in computer control of technical instrumentation, and he then went to work for consumer association Which?, first to set up their audio-video telecoms lab and then to do international computer testing.

At the same time, he was dabbling with new Windows computing software. He joined the family consulting firm and launched himself as a Windows expert, installing soft fonts and connecting these to laser printers, moving from that to network consulting.

He set up the Back Office User Group, which was independent from Microsoft but supported by their Reading office. They had whole-day events every six to eight weeks for people to learn more about Microsoft technology and developments.

What Jon does at Woodleyside Consultancy

Jon supports companies to think through technical problems in their software ideas, pointing out areas for improvement that the developers haven’t spotted. He says himself: “I’m very good at challenging these preconceptions that people have in their assumptions they’ve made in their design.”

Visualisation, deconstruction analysis and reconstruction is what he’s always done, and uses that experience to deconstruct something right down to the component pieces before building up a model of what would make a perfect example and assessing whether this product is any good. His lab looks at between 400 and 500 items per year.

The Bad Side of Tech

Jon says technology such as Amazon’s Alexa is interesting but horribly underdeveloped. There needs to be more work to fix problems such as Alexa emailing personal information to people. Similarly, Jon is concerned about Facebook and Google holding so much information on us all as individuals, and how this could be leaked and misused.

He says that Facebook have: “Still got so much data. It’s going to take two generations, even if we cut them off at the knees today, before that data is actually flushed out”.

He gives an example from his own life of an under-skin monitor to track his blood sugar to help him manage his diabetes which syncs with this iPhone. While it’s very useful, he says he’s cautious about how much information he provides to the app, because nobody wants their health records leaked.

Mentioned in This Episode

PCPro Magazine
Woodleyside IT
SolarWinds
Kaseya
Microsoft
Google
Amazon
Cisco Meraki
Man Food

Interview Transcript
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The opportunities for IT companies in Cloud Computing – Tubb Talk13

pCLoud – all your files with you, anywhere you go

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Published on September 24, 2018 23:45

How Small Business Owners can Increase Productivity and Get Stuff Done – TubbTalk #35

Richard talks to Tiana Wilson-Buys, author, business coach and owner of Talking Business, about time management, productivity and Getting Stuff Done.

An Interview with Tiana Wilson-Buys
Who is Tiana Wilson-Buys?

Tiana moved to the UK from South Africa, and says she left her home country for political and safety reasons, having reached a point in her mid-30s where she was ready to build a business and a good life. She spent some time in London before moving to the north east, wanting to add value to a community. She says she likes the weather, because it’s cooler than Africa, and chose Newcastle because it’s a beautiful city.

She’s a business consultant and works with creative industries to help them build and expand their businesses. She’s also a speaker, author and expert on networking, time management and productivity.

Who She Works With

Tiana works with a lot of creatives (although not exclusively), including video or film producers, graphic designers, writers and consultants – sales, HR and so on. Many work nationally or internationally, because for creative industries they’re not bound geographically.

Tiana says that with advances in technology it’s the age of the global small business, so she works with her clients on global expansion. Tiana has several clients outside the north east, and believes it makes things more interesting – although conflicting time zones can be challenging sometimes.

Why Time Management is a Problem for all Business Owners

Time management is possibly the biggest problem of every business owner out there, not only creatives. Tiana says one of the biggest problems people have is that they’ve never been taught how to prioritise, meaning they have too many things to deal with and don’t know how to manage them.

Another issue is that people don’t plan properly and tend to just knee-jerk all the time – they react to things happening rather than planning. It’s very much life happening to them instead of them making life happen on their terms.

It’s important to decide how you’ll work and then stick to it. Many business people, particularly creatives, are good at what they do so that’s where their mind energy goes. However, this means that the day to day tasks slip down the priority list, because they don’t really want to do them.

Practical Advice for Getting Everything Done

You have to set the boundaries, because if you don’t no one else will. It’s up to you to run your life. Tiana recommends time chunking, and chunks her own week into 10 blocks – the am and pm of each working day. Certain blocks are allocated to certain things.

Doing this allows her to have focused time for business development and client work. She adds that we don’t need to be available to our clients constantly, and setting those boundaries helps to establish when you’re free to support them.

Tips for Networking

People find networking nerve-wracking, so Tiana’s top tip is to look for one friendly face when you walk into a room, and strike up a conversation with that person. They’ll probably be able to introduce you to new people.

If you can’t do that, head to the refreshment table and take your time making your drink – someone will come over eventually and start chatting to you. It’s important to go to networking not to sell, but to meet people, build relationships and make connections. If you do that, sales will come naturally.

The Referral Harvester Method

Tiana’s book, “The Referral Harvester”, is based on her own experiences of networking, finding clients and growing and maintaining relationships with them. She says that too often people give or receive random referrals, which makes them reactionary.

By contrast, the Referral Harvester is a proactive system you can implement to get referrals and help you build relationships with key people to create ‘A-listers.’ This will lead to referrals, so long as you’re proactive.

Mentioned in this Episode

Book: The Referral Harvester
Book: Eat That Frog
Book: Do it Tomorrow
Book: The Winner’s Bible
Tool: Evernote
Tiana’s Business Website: Talking Business

Interview Transcript
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First Name Email Address We use this field to detect spam bots. If you fill this in, you will be marked as a spammer. Send me the transcript We don't spam! Unsubscribe at any time. Powered by ConvertKit /* Layout */ .ck_form { /* divider image */ background: #fff url(data:image/gif;base64,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) repeat-y center top; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; overflow: hidden; color: #666; font-size: 16px; border-top: solid 20px #3071b0; border-top-color: #3071b0; border-bottom: solid 10px #3d3d3d; border-bottom-color: #1d446a; -webkit-box-shadow: 0px 0px 5px rgba(0,0,0,.3); -moz-box-shadow: 0px 0px 5px rgba(0,0,0,.3); box-shadow: 0px 0px 5px rgba(0,0,0,.3); clear: both; margin: 20px 0px; } .ck_form, .ck_form * { -webkit-box-sizing: border-box; -moz-box-sizing: border-box; box-sizing: border-box; } #ck_subscribe_form { clear: both; } /* Element Queries — uses JS */ .ck_form_content, .ck_form_fields { width: 50%; float: left; padding: 5%; } .ck_form.ck_horizontal { } .ck_form_content { border-bottom: none; } .ck_form.ck_vertical { background: #fff; } .ck_vertical .ck_form_content, .ck_vertical .ck_form_fields { padding: 10%; width: 100%; float: none; } .ck_vertical .ck_form_content { border-bottom: 1px dotted #aaa; overflow: hidden; } /* Trigger the vertical layout with media queries as well */ @media all and (max-width: 499px) { .ck_form { background: #fff; } .ck_form_content, .ck_form_fields { padding: 10%; width: 100%; float: none; } .ck_form_content { border-bottom: 1px dotted #aaa; } } /* Content */ .ck_form_content h3 { margin: 0px 0px 15px; font-size: 24px; padding: 0px; } .ck_form_content p { font-size: 14px; } .ck_image { float: left; margin-right: 5px; } /* Form fields */ .ck_errorArea { display: none; } #ck_success_msg { padding: 10px 10px 0px; border: solid 1px #ddd; background: #eee; } .ck_label { font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; } .ck_form input[type="text"], .ck_form input[type="email"] { font-size: 14px; padding: 10px 8px; width: 100%; border: 1px solid #d6d6d6; /* stroke */ -moz-border-radius: 4px; -webkit-border-radius: 4px; border-radius: 4px; /* border radius */ background-color: #f8f7f7; /* layer fill content */ margin-bottom: 5px; height: auto; } .ck_form input[type="text"]:focus, .ck_form input[type="email"]:focus { outline: none; border-color: #aaa; } .ck_checkbox { padding: 10px 0px 10px 20px; display: block; clear: both; } .ck_checkbox input.optIn { margin-left: -20px; margin-top: 0; } .ck_form .ck_opt_in_prompt { margin-left: 4px; } .ck_form .ck_opt_in_prompt p { display: inline; } .ck_form .ck_subscribe_button { width: 100%; color: #fff; margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 10px 0px; font-size: 18px; background: #0d6db8; -moz-border-radius: 4px; -webkit-border-radius: 4px; border-radius: 4px; /* border radius */ cursor: pointer; border: none; text-shadow: none; } .ck_form .ck_guarantee { color: #626262; font-size: 12px; text-align: center; padding: 5px 0px; display: block; } .ck_form .ck_powered_by { display: block; color: #aaa; } .ck_form .ck_powered_by:hover { display: block; color: #444; } .ck_converted_content { display: none; padding: 5%; background: #fff; }
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Webinar – Time Management for IT Business Owners
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Published on September 23, 2018 23:25

Woebot – An AI-based Therapy Chatbot to help with Depression and Anxiety

Every Friday I share one of my favourite finds of the week — a website, tool or an app that has impressed me.

My Friday Favourite this week is Woebot – A Therapy Chatbot to help with Depression and Anxiety.

What is it?

Woebot is an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based Chatbot that uses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy techniques.

How can it help me?

We are all affected by depression, anxiety and other mental health issues in our lives — either personally, or we know a close friend or family member who is affected.

This is especially challenging for men, as my friend Dave Algeo writes about in The Man Sprouts Man-ifesto – Let’s Talk About Male Mental-Health.

Talking — both in general, but especially when you’re on the cusp of, or during a mental-health issue — does seem to help.

But often it’s difficult to summon the courage or energy to have a conversation with a fellow human being when you’re in this place.

Woebot is an AI-driven chatbot and app that is available 24/7/365 and uses Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) techniques to listen to you and offer insight and techniques to help you.

WoeBot - A Therapy Chatbot[1]

The idea of chatting about your state of mind with a computer seems odd, but I have tried Woebot over the past month and can honestly say it’s helped.

I used Woebot via the Facebook Messenger app, and every day Woebot pops up to ask me how I’m feeling.

During the conversation, Woebot listens to how you’re feeling and offers insights into techniques for dealing with a range of issues.

As somebody who has personally struggled with mental-health issues all of his life, I have learned what I should be doing to stave off depression and other negative feelings. However, should and doing are two different things. This is where Woebot shines, for me. Our conversations reminded me of the reality of emotions and steps I could take to keep myself on the straight and narrow.

There were days when I was doing a-ok, and I got irritated when Woebot jumped in to ask me how I was. However, unlike a human-being who you worry may take offence at being shooed away, if I was busy, I can tell Woebot to leave me alone or remind him/her of a better time to ask me without any guilt.

Woebot certainly isn’t a replacement for traditional therapy, or indeed a cure for depression, but I’ve certainly found it to be a useful tool in the arsenal of keeping the black-dog at bay.

How much does it cost?

Woebot is free to use.

How can I get it?

You can download Woebot for Android or download Woebot for iOS.

You can also follow the WoeBot page on Facebook and use Woebot via Facebook Messenger.

You can also follow @HiWoeBot on Twitter.

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Published on September 20, 2018 23:47

What is your MSP’s Digital Transformation Strategy?

Does your Managed Service Provider (MSP) business have a digital transformation strategy?

Most MSPs I’ve spoken with, unfortunately, don’t have a strategy in place for digital transformation.

I’ve written before about the importance of operational efficiency and those MSPs who aren’t embracing digital transformation run the risk of cutting themselves off from opportunities to improve efficiency and lower costs.

Even more importantly, the MSPs who aren’t embracing digital transformation are missing a huge opportunity to help their clients with their own strategy — a significant revenue booster for any IT business.

Digital Transformation for MSPs is very important

In an attempt to raise awareness that digital transformation isn’t just another buzzword, and is actually really important to future MSPs growth, I’ve recorded a webinar with Alex Ford of IT Glue.

This webinar, entitled “Digital Transformation in Your MSP” is free for IT businesses to view on-demand.

During the webinar, we discuss:-

What exactly is digital transformation and how is it relevant to MSPs?
What should an MSP’s digital transformation strategy involve?
How can you incorporate digital transformation into your portfolio of client services?

Alex and I also take the time to answer some audience-submitted questions around digital transformation.

How to watch “Digital Transformation in Your MSP”

Visit “Digital Transformation in Your MSP” to register and watch the webinar on-demand.

What does digital transformation mean to your business? After watching the webinar, do you have any questions?

Leave a comment below or get in touch — I’m interested to explore the topic of digital transformation with you!

pCloud – All your files with you, anywhere you go

Every Friday I share one of my favourite finds of the week — a website, tool or an app that has impressed me.

My Friday Favourite this week is pCloud – All your files with you, anywhere you go.

What is it?

pCloud is an encrypted cloud storage platform.

How can it help me?

pCloud allows you to store your documents — such as files, photos and music — in a secure environment in the Cloud.

You can then easily access these files from any device, wherever you are in the world.

If you’re familiar with services such as Dropbox and Google Drive, then you’ll be familiar with the idea behind pCloud.

I’ve written before on How to Protect the Data on your Laptop or Mobile Device and one of the best ways to do this is to make sure your files are backed up to the Cloud using a tool such as pCloud.

The pCloud app can automatically back up any photos from your Smartphone, tablet or computer.

Once a file is saved to pCloud, it can be accessed via a web browser on any device, or by apps for Windows, Mac, Android or iOS.

pCloud allows users to store up to 20gb of data for free (which compares very favourably with Dropbox and other similar tools) and offers some incredibly competitive pricing for larger storage needs, including a 2TB lifetime plan.

pCloud also offers some advanced features that other platforms don’t, including Crypto folders (end-to-end encrypted folders) and high-quality video storage.

I’ve set myself up with 500GB of pCloud storage, and for its ease of use and reliability, I’m using pCloud as my main choice of personal cloud data storage.

How much does it cost?

pCloud Cloud Storage

pCloud offers 20GB storage for free.

A 500GB account will cost £4.49/month.

How can I get it?

Open a 500GB 30-day trial account at pCloud to get started.

You can also visit the pCloud Facebook page, follow pCloud on Google+, or follow @pCloudApp on Twitter.

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How Cloud Backup Software Helps MSPs and Their Customers
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Published on September 14, 2018 03:50

CyberGhost – The All-in-one online privacy app

Every Friday I share one of my favourite finds of the week — a website, tool or an app that has impressed me.

My Friday Favourite this week is CyberGhost – The All-in-one online privacy app.

What is it?

CyberGhost is a Virtual Private Network (VPN) app that helps you stay safe online and retain your personal privacy.

How can it help me?

I’ve written before about the importance of taking cyber-security seriously. If you’re in any doubt of the severity of the problem, have a look at the Norse Attack Map – a real-time cyber attack map that makes sobering viewing!

Cyber-Security affects everyone, from businesses to individuals. For instance, most people are not aware that…

When you browse websites, you leave a trail of your activity that can be followed.
When you use the Internet over public Wi-Fi, you’re exposing yourself to having personal data taken.
Many content providers block content based-on your country, preventing you from accessing it.

CyberGhost is an all-in-one VPN app that helps you with these challenges.

For instance, when you use CyberGhost VPN, your website browsing activity is encrypted — meaning you leave no trail of your activity.

You can use CyberGhost when you’re connected to a public Wi-Fi hotspot, to make sure any data you send over the Wi-Fi is encrypted, preventing others from stealing it.

You can also use CyberGhost to fool content providers into thinking you’re accessing their content from another country, meaning content that might be blocked for you in your home country becomes available to you via CyberGhost.

CyberGhost is also one of the few VPN services that allow you to download Torrents anonymously.

In short, CyberGhost allows you to remain anonymous and safe online.

How much does it cost?

CyberGhost costs £10.99/month with discounts available for a long-term commitment.

I paid £90 for a 3-year contract, for instance.

How can I get it?

CyberGhost is available as an app for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android and other platforms.

You can download a free trial of CyberGhost.

You can also visit the CyberGhost Facebook page, follow @cyberghost_EN on Twitter, follow CyberGhost on Google+, or follow CyberGhost on LinkedIn.

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Published on September 07, 2018 01:05

The Pain of Acquiring Customer Feedback for MSPs

customer satisfaction

This is a guest post by my friend Derek Brown of Pronto Marketing. Derek provides website and digital marketing services for MSPs.

Derek featured on episode 8 of TubbTalk and gave some valuable advice on How to Build a Great MSP Website . I invited him back and this time he explains how MSPs can get ahead of their competitors with an effective process for measuring customer satisfaction.

With the standardization of technology and increase in the number of established competitors, it’s getting more difficult for MSPs to stand out from the competition. Improving customer satisfaction is one of the best ways to jump ahead in such a crowded field and stand out to prospective clients as well as retain existing clients.

Most MSPs have tried to collect customer feedback in some form in the past, but the process didn’t work. Maybe you’ve used native ConnectWise or Autotask surveys and found they aren’t that intuitive and don’t get good response rates. Maybe you’ve tried third party solutions that aren’t designed for MSPs and are therefore either too generic or too expensive for what you need.

Over the past 10 years at Pronto Marketing we’ve heard first-hand these challenges and understand why MSPs have fallen behind in collecting customer feedback, it’s just too difficult, for too little. We just felt there had to be a better way – one designed with the specific needs of the industry in mind.

Tellows – Block Nuisance Calls To Your Smartphone

Every Friday I share one of my favourite finds of the week — a website, tool or an app that has impressed me.

My Friday Favourite this week is Tellows – Block nuisance calls to your Smartphone.

What is it?

Tellows is a community to help stop unwanted and spam telephone calls.

How can it help me?

If you’ve ever experienced being the victim of nuisance calls — such as scammers, spammers or even unwanted sales calls — then you’ll know how irritating and, at times, upsetting, these calls can be.

I’ve written before about how to stop unwanted telesales calls and the good work the Telephone Preference Service is doing in the UK.

Tellows takes the idea of blocking nuisance calls to the next level, thanks to their community.

Tellows provides a vast online database of phone number profiles, generated by community members. This enables Tellows to flag up nuisance, spam and scam callers for people to block.

Tellows works in 47 countries and has almost 200,000 daily users.

You can visit the Tellows homepage and search for a telephone number to find out what other community members have reported on it. This enables you to find out exactly who was calling you from that number you didn’t recognise.

Tellows also offers a new Tellows app for Android and iPhone. This allows you to utilise the Tellows community reporting feature, and automatically avoid Spam and scam calls thanks to caller identification. You can flag up spam, scan or unwanted calls you receive — which helps other community members avoid those callers — and you can also flag legitimate callers as authentic, to the benefit of the community.

My wife and I have been testing the Tellows app for a few weeks now, and it certainly helps with easily identifying and blocking sales and spam calls — one of the scourges of our modern connected world!

How much does it cost?

The Tellows community is free to join and use.

The Tellows app costs from $2.99 for Android and iOS devices.

How can I get it?

Visit Tellows.com to search for a telephone number in the community database.