MSP Bento is our weekly collection of practical, bite-sized tips, tools, and tutorials. Want to start getting it in your inbox? Sign up here.

On Tuesday, news broke that Microsoft included a fix for a critical remote code execution vulnerability that affects Windows DNS servers in its July 2020 updates. The vulnerability appears to be as bad as it gets, receiving a 10/10 severity score on the CVSS scale.

That means one thing you'll definitely want to do this week is patch as quickly as possible or apply a workaround mitigation described here.

You'll likely be hearing a lot about this one over the next few days, but don't panic or obsess. Patch when you can.

Ok, on to this week's tools and tips. Read more

MSP Bento is our weekly collection of practical, bite-sized tips, tools, and tutorials. Want to start getting it in your inbox? Sign up here.

It's another week with some encouraging signs of economic recovery on one hand, but troubling spikes of new COVID-19 cases on the other. We hope things are okay where you are, that business is good, but — more importantly — that you and your loved ones are safe and healthy.

Anecdotally, the sense we're getting from many of our MSP partners is that they're feeling much more optimistic than they were a couple of months ago. The situation has changed enough to where their primary focus is veering back to sales and growth, and that's extremely encouraging to see.

If you're in that boat, or hopefully steering in that direction, we've got two upcoming events for you to check out. Read more

MSP Bento is our weekly collection of practical, bite-sized tips, tools, and tutorials. Want to start getting it in your inbox? Sign up here.

Read more

MSP Bento is our weekly collection of practical, bite-sized tips, tools, and tutorials. Want to start getting it in your inbox? Sign up here.

Many of us may be finding it difficult to focus on work today. If you're like me, larger events may be putting the individual items on your to-do lists into perspective. But when you work in IT people rely on you, and that means your work matters.

You may not get to see the impact of that firsthand every day, but when you do, it makes it all worthwhile. This week, in addition to sharing tips and tools, I wanted to share an example that proves that point. It also shows how much people can need and appreciate having someone like you to support them right now.

Read more

MSP Bento is our weekly collection of practical, bite-sized tips, tools, and tutorials. Want to start getting it in your inbox? Sign up here.

More businesses are reopening or inching closer to it, but for the majority, the consensus seems to be that it's going to be a far cry from "business as usual" for quite some time. Many are still trying to determine what their "new normal" is going to look like, and maybe you've been playing an important role in that conversation for your clients.

Last week, I had a chance to participate in a great virtual conference for MSPs hosted by SmileBack called "Remote Connect." I moderated a fireside chat with former MSP and current MSP consultant Richard Tubb.

Richard always has smart things to say (check out his podcast for examples), and he made one particular point that really stuck with me.

He said that many MSPs are currently enjoying more client buy-in than ever thanks to the WFH preparedness they advocated and/or the quick transition they enabled. BUT, unfortunately, most client memories are short. It's imperative for MSPs to make use of that goodwill capital now. Because every day that passes it dissolves a little more. Read more

MSP Bento is our weekly collection of practical, bite-sized tips, tools, and tutorials. Want to start getting it in your inbox? Sign up here.

If you needed any additional proof that a real, live human is behind these emails this week I dropped the ball and am getting this out way later than usual. I'm sorry for the delay, but hope you'll still get use out of the resources below.

If you're curious what's been keeping me busy check out our upcoming MSP Security Summit scheduled for next Thursday, May 7. It's shaped up to be a great event and much bigger than we originally anticipated. Hope to see you there! Read more

MSP Bento is our weekly collection of practical, bite-sized tips, tools, and tutorials. Want to start getting it in your inbox? Sign up here.

Through the conversations we've been having, it's clear there's a lot of stress and pain out there, but also a lot of opportunities resulting in wins and goodwill.

We've heard stories of MSPs receiving tearful thank-you's from clients, of hold-outs finally seeing the light and converting to managed services contracts, of owners finding ways to show their techs how much they're appreciated.

In short, it's obviously a challenging time, but it's also inspiring knowing so many of you are playing such an integral role in keeping people going.

Scott Galloway recently said, "The terrible thing about crises is they always happen. The wonderful thing is they always end."

Here's to being one week closer, and to capturing the opportunities to do more than just struggle through. Read more

MSP Bento is our weekly collection of practical, bite-sized tips, tools, and tutorials. Want to get it in your inbox? Sign up here.

One thing we're hearing from MSPs is that many fortunately aren't dealing with a tsunami of clients canceling (yet).

Some (particularly those who specialize in hard-hit verticals like hospitality) unfortunately are seeing that, but for the majority, the toughest thing to manage with this crisis so far has been all the uncertainty. Read more

From remotely deploying software to securing endpoints, here's how MSPs can position themselves as invaluable resources as more and more workforces navigate the transition to working from home.

Think of the current state of things from an IT leader's perspective: Everyone at your company suddenly needs remote working capabilities, and it's your responsibility to make that happen. Your solution needs to be fast and convenient. But also secure. It can’t cost a boatload. And it needs to happen yesterday.

As an MSP, you're in a unique position to share some good news here — the situation isn't as impossible as it might seem. Read more