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210: Managed Services - "A Look To The Future" with Jason Harrison of Harrison Technology Consulting

Jason Harrison, President of Harrison Technology Consulting of Nashville, NC

Jason Harrison, President of Harrison Technology Consulting of Nashville, NC
Think of HarrisonTech as your in-house IT department. Technology problems can have serious consequences for your company’s productivity, and we make it our goal to help you avoid that. We aim to foster long-term relationships with our clients, ensuring we understand the way you work and then equipping you with the tools you need to reach your goals. Our comprehensive, proactive and all-inclusive IT services will have you working more efficiently than ever, and driving greater return on investment than you imagined possible
jharrison@harrisontechconsulting.com
www.harrisontechconsulting.com

MSP 2.0? That's So 2007. Try MSP 4.0 On for Size
http://mspmentor.net/managed-services/msp-20-thats-so-2007-try-msp-40-size

Check out the book titled “Born To Stand Out”.  This was put together by the ICCA (Independent Computer Consultants Association)
-Born To Stand Out on Amazon

209: Nights of the Residential Roundtable - Part Two

Meet our guests for the Residential Roundtable discussion:

Adam Rice - With 18 years' experience in IT, web development, and project management, Adam solves technology problems and design technology solutions for home users and small businesses. He also coaches individuals in time & task management and organization.
http://adamrice.org
@adamriceorg

Andy Espo of Call Andy Macintosh Consulting - With small business and high-end residential as their market focus, Call Andy Macintosh Consulting provides strategic technology and process management consulting along with installation and support for Macintosh computers, iOS deployment and networks.
http://www.callandy.com
@andyespo

Remie Cremers of Super Remie - Remie has been using Apple products since 2008 and loved it so much that he decided to make a job out of it.  In 2013 he started Super Remie.  Whether you need advice, a workshop, or a complete installing of all of your hard- and software, he's your man.
https://superremie.nl
@RemieCremers

206: Eating the Residential Crow

This week, we are proud to be sponsored by Watchman Monitoring

Topics:

Jerry talks about eating "residential crow" to invite more work on the residential side

Some of the pitfalls and challenges of a residential client are discussed

Jerry provides details of the agreement he has his clients sign before beginning work

"Ever since you left..." is a phrase that is heard often in our world

Animals provide their own challenges but it doesn't just happen in the residential space

Thick skin is a necessity in this business

Alfred is Jerry's go to productivity app for macOS:
https://www.alfredapp.com

Joe provides some follow up about Promise Pegasus & OWC ThunderBay from last week's show with Kevin Ginger

Synology NAS & Seagate drives come up and specifically, Jerry gives us his thoughts on Seagate's IronWolf Health Management:
http://blog.seagate.com/business/how-to-boost-nas-health-ironwolf-health-management-and-synology-nas/

Come join us at ACES this year and attend our live show for a chance to win a 6 TB IronWolf drive from Seagate!

Listener Feedback:

Tim Hannon offers some advice on acquiring new clients.  Ask your vendors and other professionals for referrals to other clients and build a network.

Daniel Escobar gave us a funny anecdote about a certain keyboard shortcut

Jerry has the opportunity to use the QuickTime feature that allows you to see an iOS device remotely when plugged into a Mac.  Joe chimes in with a story of his own.

 It brings up the topic of built-in apps allowing to be removed from iOS

Yahoo offers an account key feature to increase security of their services

205: A Square With Rounded Corners

Topics:

Jerry picked up a USB-C to Ethernet adapter with "groovy" lights
-Anker USB-C Gigabit Ethernet Adapter

Some Apple Watch discussion with regards to unlocking your Mac and updating

Sam & Jerry get into some iCloud Family Sharing and Child Apple ID issues

Jerry recommends a couple of apps for extracting data from iOS devices:
-ecamm PhoneView: http://www.ecamm.com/mac/phoneview/
-iMazing: https://imazing.com

Jerry provides live tech support for iOS storage issues due to a large Photos library

Joe demos Circle with Disney and have a successful presentation at a local school
-https://meetcircle.com
-Now they offer Circle Go for outside of the home network: https://meetcircle.com/circle-go/

Jerry recounts a story of a client diagnosing a "rogue IP" on their network

Joe's client has QB issues and deals with phony tech support.  It brings up the common issue of fake sites in legitimate Google searches.

The guys talk about the level of FUD (Fear Uncertainty and Doubt) amongst people with regards to technology

Aw Snap! - Joe brings up his disdain for Google Chrome's error messages

Our call for feedback about joining the Apple Consultant Network (or not) was answered by our listeners and brings about some discussion

200: Not So - Off The Rails!

Topics:

-PsiMac is hiring! Judy offers up details about a full time consulting position at their Norwalk, CT office.

-Jerry, Joe & Sam get together for a rare in person show to celebrate 200 episodes and it goes...well it goes ok. We would like to thank our good friend Tom Bridge for putting us in touch with James Smith.  James was instrumental in making the show sound listenable after a very rough recording (it gets better about 20 minutes in).

-Jerry serenades the group and the audience at the opening of the show

-The team discusses a pre-show Google Hangout experience with some of our dedicated listeners

-A little reminiscing and trips down memory lane about the show's humble beginnings

-Down to business, Jerry goes in to a story about Gmail and Outlook 2011 security settings

-A dialogue opens up about cellular carriers and their plans.  And how to avoid higher chargers.

IMG_8947.jpg

-Sam's daughter helps the CCP crew ring in show 200 with a batch of cupcakes

-Don't forget to join us at Aces Conference this year, where we will hold a very special live show!
www.acesconf.com

-Sam got hot under the collar dealing with a client's poor planning and working with another vendor

-One of Joe's show ideas, "Residential Roundtable" gets a conversation going

-After Joe brings up another show idea, Sam's back on the couch to talk about the need for office space.  Joe offers up some of his experiences in his years in his own space.

-Admin or no admin? That topic comes up again as a point of focus for the next hire in a small business.

-Access to our back catalog will now only be available to our Patreon sponsors.  Please take a moment to visit our Patreon site and consider contributing to the show.  Thanks for listening!

 

194: Blowing Up Your Zendesk Tickets

Topics:

Sam's team worked on a 27" mid-2011 iMac with surprising results.  Could it have been the drive enclosure this whole time?

-Friend of the show Mike Dent (@mcdent) of Ubertechs provides some insight on his experiences using a different drive enclosure:  https://www.zapals.com/akasa-ak-hda-03-black-2-5-to-3-5-ssd-hdd-adapter.html
-Equally important is the thermal sensor: https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/DIDIMACHDD11/

The rates conversation is revisited with each of the hosts bringing up their model for attracting MSP clients while not shying away from those "break/fix" clients.

Sam brings up a quick option to use Apple's Volume Purchase Program to purchase an app for a client when no credit card was on file.

While on the subject, he brings up a great little product for keeping volumes mounted even when the disconnect unexpectedly.  AutoMounter: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/automounter/id1160435653?mt=12

An old favorite FTP app called Rumpus: 

Joe found an intriguing (and possibly dangerous) problem with power adapters for an iPad in the office.

During a slow period, Jerry shares his thoughts on Watchman monitoring and ZenDesk integration and particularly how to turn them in to billable work with clients.

Jerry found an odd Apple Mail issue where it was slow to launch.  Keychain related?

Sam shares a great tip about how to login to a non-admin account on a Mac when the screen is locked...only to find that this feature does not function in Sierra!  Thanks to Kevin Ginger for the quick research.
-https://www.jamf.com/jamf-nation/discussions/21385/unlock-standard-user-s-screensaver-as-admin-broken-in-10-12

Joe's client has an issue where Safari would not load any websites.  The fix related to reinstalling the Security Update 2016-003 Supplemental (10.11.6).

Little Flocker is highly recommended from Jerry for detecting and protecting a Mac from malware and other security concerns: https://www.littleflocker.com.  Comes from the mind of Jonathan Zdziarski https://www.zdziarski.com/blog/

Jerry experiences a "wonky" iPhone search issue.

Sam encounters an odd situation with static DNS values ending up in his network settings after visiting a client.  Jerry chimes in with the possibility of a hacked router.  Sam will follow up on that on a future show.

As a special bonus, Jerry shares a great kitchen tool called the Rapid Egg Cooker: http://amzn.to/2lsJaJb