662: Wildfire Warnings, Aging Clients, and AI’s Growing Impact

The hosts discuss unseasonably warm February weather in Boulder, a small wildfire near the Flatiron Mountains, and concerns about drought, low snowpack, and higher summer fire risk. Joe shares a soft launch of psikit.com to promote MeshTastic-based mesh communication devices for emergency preparedness. They then talk about a senior living network project requiring outside cabling certification due to unlabeled, problematic wiring, and how client crises can finally drive needed spending. Joe describes a long-term client’s aging Mac mini and 15-year-old Promise RAID enclosures, recent drive failures, and a likely refresh to newer Mac hardware with direct-attached RAID and faster networking while noting how client retirement timelines affect investment and business valuation. They preview ACEs (CCP discount code) and an MDM panel, debate AI’s near-term staffing impact, and warn that Synology C2 backups can’t be transferred from an MSP to a customer.

00:00 Welcome and Check In

00:07 Boulder Drought and Fire Scare

01:59 Mesh Comms and PSIKIT Launch

03:23 Getting Out Bossed on a Project

05:52 Why Network Certification Matters

09:15 Client Server Upgrade Warning Signs

12:26 Aging Hardware and Backup Plan

13:47 Longtime Client Origin Story

15:53 Retirement and Tech Spending Choices

18:49 Upgrade Proposal and Storage Strategy

21:21 Promise vs NAS and Other Vendors

24:35 Software RAID Pitfalls

25:33 SoftRAID Upsells

26:34 Client Aging Valuation

28:21 ACEs Discount Plug

29:19 MDM Panel Preview

31:07 Intune Reality Check

31:55 AI In Small Business

37:21 AI Workflow Quirks

44:40 Synology C2 Lock In

48:07 Wrap Up Thanks

321: Green Acres

Topics:

-Special thanks to Puelle Design in Portland, Maine for hosting Joe's mobile recording studio this week.

-Joe is in the Northeast! He is visiting family for some milestones before heading on the road again

-Jerry is in the midst of a move to a new home and new headquarters of MacWorks.  He calls it the reverse Green Acres.

-After having a car mishap, Jerry discovers CarPlay in his rental car

-A recurring theme for our show has been value based billing and, of course managed services plans.  Joe & Jerry share ideas about their formulas for monthly billing.  Ideas like billing per user or per device, preset hours per month, and services used are among the topics of discussion.

-Prepaid discounts are an enticing way for clients to buy in to ongoing services.  “Monthly check-ins” are also something that clients seem to be drawn to.

-Do you install Watchman Monitoring on client devices for free as a “loss leader” or break even point?  What happens if you end the relationship?

-Jerry has a couple of funny client anecdotes with his classic impersonations

-He also has his fair share of gripes

-Joe's client had an issue in Calendar on her Mac: "The server responded with an error. There is insufficient storage space for "event title" in "calendar name" in account "iCloud". The choices were Try Again, Ignore, or Revert to Server. He removed a calendar she didn't need that only had a few events on it, and it solved the problem. Then we added a few tests, and she seemed to hit the limit again. We then moved a calendar with a lot of events to a local On My Mac calendar for archival purposes, and instructed the client to move needed events back onto a calendar on the server. Hasn't happened since.
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202158

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296: Clients & Support

Topics:

-Joe is broadcasting from the passenger seat of the RV as he deals with a host of hardware problems

-A company called Twelve South created a product called AirFly that’s perfect for using your AirPods on an airplane: https://www.twelvesouth.com/product/airfly

-Jerry is working with a new client who has a current consultancy that holds all the credentials close to the vest and it presents its challenges

-Methods of doing business becomes a hot topic as Joe & Jerry talk about navigating those waters with clients

-Working with resellers or other companies that may operate differently can cause confusion and add complexities working with the client

-Jerry compares the work at times to being a refrigerator repairman

-Sometimes in our line of work, feeling appreciated is a rarity

-“You don’t *** with the computer guy” - Jerry Zigmont

-Some clients just want to game the system

-Jerry has some good stuff to say about the TidBITS Content Network.  All of the CCP team put it to good use and you can too: https://tcn.tidbits.com/

-While we are on the subject of clients, Joe & Jerry talk about methods and styles of communication

283: The Mile High jamf Club - Interview With Weldon Dodd Of Rewind Tech

Topics:

-We welcome back Weldon Dodd of Rewind Tech to the show. Weldon was kind enough to put Sam up and host him in his training space in Centennial, CO

-Joe has a correction from listener Justen Wattenberger in the way he pronounces and writes Mojave

-In Joe’s latest feature request corner, he wants to see shared favorites. Sam would like shared contacts.

-Joe quizzes us on the domain 1e100.net (hint: it is owned by Google)

-Sam addresses the rumors about how he spends his CCP per diem and where he sleeps at night

-Weldon gives us the scoop about his business and how it involves MSP clients as well as an Apple Authorized Training Partner

-Weldon begins a conversation about how to onboard new employees and the team shares their thoughts

-One of the methods that Sam used was to have the new hire document your steps so he/she learns how to create documentation and you get to critique the way they create notes

-Joe has a client that he respects that gave him good unsolicited feedback on his new hire. She became a barometer and may be a future method for vetting potential new employees

-Weldon compares that to a situation where he was brought on board to help vet a new educator being brought into his son’s school

-Sam has a bone to pick with Joe about a new client referral that he cannot shake

-On the topic of referrals, Weldon talks about his good business relationship with Amy McKnight and the team at The Mac Spa

-Joe asks Weldon about his decision to go all in on MSP and how difficult it was at times to say no to potential business

-After heavy experience with companies like Microsoft and Cisco, Weldon realized he was the only one on his team that could handle certain tasks. So it made him sharpen his focus on things that he and his entire team could be awesome at.

-A big congratulations to Weldon for his successful presentation with Randy Saeks at JNUC 2018!

-ACEs Conference is back for 2019! It will be held in Kansas City, MO June 4-6. Visit http://acesconf.com/ccp/ for special pricing for CCP listeners.

282: Interview With Allen Hancock of Watchman Monitoring - Zendesk Private Ticket Creation

Topics:

This show is brought to you commercial free, thanks to our Patreon sponsors.

On this episode we welcome long time supporter of the show and owner of Watchman Monitoring, Allen Hancock

-Some news for Allen and the team is that they have hired Ben Mason. You may know Ben from his excellent support at Gruntwork.

-Hiring new staff and remote vs local employees becomes an interesting topic of discussion

-Allen has a big announcement in that they are changing the way they handle Zendesk Tickets. Listen to find out more about Zendesk private ticket creation and how Watchman Monitoring takes full advantage of this.  

-Watchman Monitoring can also work with Zendesk’s Essential Plan

-Zendesk Private Ticket creation is the new feature that allowed this integration to happen

-Looking for help with these features?  Watch the Watchman Monitoring webinar 

-If you need quick assistance, visit http://watchmanmonitoring.com/schedule to set up a time for support.  Pro Services options are available as well.

-Allen will be in Los Angeles for MacTech Conference 2018
Visit http://conference.mactech.com/go/ccp to find out about special pricing for CCP listeners

-The Watchman Monitoring community forum has been recently revamped.  You will no longer receive emails from the forum unless you request to watch a topic or receive responses to your posts.  You can also vote on features.

Visit http://community.watchmanmonitoring.com to be a part of the Watchman Monitoring community. Get involved!

278: Interview With Adam Codega Of Stenhouse Consulting, LLC

Topics:

This week we welcome Adam Codega of Stenhouse Consulting. Adam is well known in the Apple community and is very active on Slack to work with his fellow consultants. So it was fitting for him to join us on Command Control Power.

A little bit about Adam:
He has been in IT since 2011 and a full time admin since 2014. He works with Rhode Island consulting firm, Stenhouse Consulting with a team of roughly 14 technicians.

-Stenhouse technicians have various areas of expertise and about half are Apple focused

-They also have a good relationship with the Apple Retail, which has proven to be a useful resource for them.

-Adam talks about the activation issues with Office 365

-Testing and deploying new technology is not something Adam shies away from so the group discusses how to approach that with clients

-He discusses the nuances of having to sell a solution to a client at times before being able to test

-Backing up Synology NAS devices become a topic of conversation 

-Backblaze B2 astonishingly has no method of alert if containers become out of sync

-A second Synology with shared folder sync can become another file server at the ready. It can serve as a dual purpose Hyperbackup destination at the same time. 

-A key point is to ask your clients how much their down time is worth

You can find Adam on Twitter and Slack: @adamcodega