Biz-Tech Twists

Brad Gross is back! Bob and Brad are here to discuss MSPs, Managed Service Providers, to break the barrier between being an MSP and understanding what an MSP is. Brad is full of great tips and advice for MSP’s so make sure you listen to the full show!

This week’s guest is Dianna Geairn, Customer Success Executive at Devtech. We’re talking about technology sales, but more specifically complex sales, long sales cycles, and the consultative style approach. Sales is such a broad topic with thousands of different sales styles. We’re breaking up the common myths about being successful in your own sales way.

In the MSP world, a lot of people post pictures of them travelling to different conferences, events, or whatever it may be. But not Bob, he thinks it’s silly. When building Simplex-IT's brand, it’s not the Bob Coppedge show. Despite his ego, Simplex-IT isn’t only about Bob.

Do you know how many weird holidays there are? We don’t either but we still like celebrating them. Our favorites are Bring Your Teddy Bear to Work Day, National Pizza Day, and most importantly, Pi Day. Hayley and Cassie, half of Simplex-IT's marketing team, join Bob to discuss why it’s important to celebrate things as a company.

Everyone’s an AI expert these days. It’s the cool thing to be! We’re not talking about that today though; we’re talking about geek history and AI. Microsoft launched their AI tool named Copilot and are adding a button for it to the Windows 11 update. Why are they doing this? Well... it’s because of Obi Wan Kenobi.

It’s our first crossover episode! Matthew and Zach over at @FortMesa invited Bob onto their podcast and joined him on Biz-Tech Twists. @FortMesa is a leading cybersecurity solution helping technology service providers build great cybersecurity businesses.

Bob was joined this week by Brad Reynolds, Senior VP of Artificial Intelligence at Expedient, and Brad’s teaching Bob about AI. You’ve heard of the industrial revolution, so wouldn’t you say we’re in the AI revolution? It seems like it’s changing every day and Brad’s here to make it make sense.

Simplex-IT was just part of an apparent cyber hack but how bad was it? This attack targeted our business account connected to a popular job search website. Bad actors were able to bypass the MFA with this website and log into our account because, well, there weren’t any MFA steps in place. Thankfully, nothing bad came out of this attack but it does make us wonder, has this happened to any other company before?

Welcome back to another episode of Biz-Tech Twists. Bob was joined this week by two very special guests. Cassie and Hayley from Simplex-IT's marketing dream team. Simplex-IT has been putting out a lot of “Breaking News” style videos recently and wants to let other businesses know the impact and process of these videos.

Bob absolutely loves solar eclipses and will actually travel pretty far to see them. He also knows a lot about how to safely watch a solar eclipse. Hopefully you enjoy this somewhat scientific episode.

We’ve got a backwards episode for you today and Bob’s still talking about Legos. Melissa Hockenberry, owner of First Things First Training and Consulting LLC, joins Bob in the virtual space to discuss customer experiences and how we can make it as enjoyable as possible.

You’re an idiot, I’m an idiot, we’re all idiots. Well, according to Bob. Don’t get offended yet, Bob actually is right on this one. Just like how we’re all idiots, we’re all experts too. Everyone is a subject matter expert in one topic or another but usually it’s a topic we’re interested in. What subject are you an expert in?

Will Brooks, Solutions Engineer at FifthWall Solutions, joins Bob this week for another fun filled episode. We’re talking insurance! You have insurance to protect your vehicle, so why not protect your digital space too?

Before everyone starts yelling at Bob, he might actually have a point here. Back in his day, kids were thrown outside and told to play. They used toys that didn’t come with instructions. Business is sort of like that too. More and more people are looking to follow an outlined set of directions when it comes to running their business. Is this better than how it used to be?

Bob has another special guest this week, Vicky Bruns from @connectwise, talking about business relationships with vendors. These “relationships” used to solely be transactional, but 2020 showed us a new kind of relationship.

IT used to be more about technology than the information. Then it switched to focusing on information rather than the technology. We started to look more at the data side of things and have been turning it into useful information. But what are the 3 biggest changes in IT recently? Big data, cybersecurity, and AI.

This week’s show is a special one. Bob is joined by the founder of Serving Strong Enterprises, Scott Couchenour. That’s pronounced coke-an-hour. Yummy. Scott is a life coach helping business owners in their 3rd quarter of life reinvigorate themselves instead of burning out. He’s turning negatives into positives.

Let’s talk about presenting. Back in the old days, presenting used to mean perfection. Everything about what you were saying, standing, and the way you were dressed had to be perfect to a certain standard. What are the rules of presentations today?

Sarah Pervo, President at Artemis Staffing & Recruiting, joins Bob in the studio this week. They’re talking about how important soft skills are for your business atmosphere and why it’s so important for IT professionals to have soft skills.

Advertising is all about grabbing the attention of customers as quickly as possible. And now with social media, advertising is everywhere. But how can businesses differentiate themselves in a saturated advertisement model?

Bob brings in two very special guests for this episode. Hayley, Simplex-IT's in house videographer, and Tom, PodPopuli’s Creative Director, hop in front of the camera and break down the world of podcasting.

Bob’s back this week for a solo episode but he’s talking about ripped jeans? How can he connect ripped jeans to business and technology? It might be because he’s old but who knows what goes on in his crotchety mind.

When a company grows, people are usually in charge of the repeatable tasks that keep the company growing behind closed doors. But what happens when the person doing those tasks goes on vacation or quits? Who works on those tasks now? Automation helps businesses, small or large, keep things rolling and gives every employee the same standards to follow.

Bob brings in guest Marnie Stockman, former teacher turned IT genius, to talk about how teachers (and really everyone else) can use their professional experience to take on new career opportunities. If you go from career A to career B, you might find skills from career A useful to career B even if it doesn’t seem that way.

Business is just math with people. You can add or subtract employees, divide skills, multiply success, and even learn to cross the road with calculus... ok that last one just pertains to squirrels.

Howard Pincham is back! Bob somehow conned him into coming back to the show and they’re taking a trip down memory lane. This time they’re talking about user-groups and how they’re making a comeback in this new digital age. Tune in for this sarcasm packed episode!

Bob’s back with another guest this week! Bob Sullivan from InfoGrow gives us an insight on how CRMs (customer relationship management) can be incredibly useful to any business out there. Sure, CRMs require a little more work when entering data, but in the long run you get a better look at your sales cycle.

The only constant in IT is the fact that everything changes all the time and Simplex-IT knows that. And our latest change? Kevin’s leaving for greener pastures. Kevin has been Bob’s #2 for the better part of 13 years but it’s time for a change. How do you offboard someone in such a critical role? Tune in to this breakup episode and see how Bob and Kevin figure it out.

Marketing, it’s not that technical... right? Wrong. Eric Kokonas from SOPHOS is here to school Bob in how many technical fields need marketing, specifically cybersecurity. We all know that IT’s an infinite game that’s changing every day. There’s always going to be new bad guys hacking the mainframe, new types of malware invading your infrastructure and cybersecurity gurus protecting us from all the bad things out there. How can we continually market this never-ending loop? Bonus game: How many acronyms do Bob and Eric use? Comment below for a special prize if you get it right!

Ann Westerheim the Founder and President of @EkaruIT joins Bob to talk about cybersecurity and how everyone can learn about vulnerabilities in your IT without actually being an IT person. IT and technology flows through everything we do which gives bad guys more places to possibly breach. Businesses, small and large, need to be aware of how much technology plays in their operations and how to protect against vulnerabilities. Remember kids, be cybersafe!

This week we have 2 guests! John Bernatovicz, Founder of Willory, and Howard Pincham, CIO Koinonia Homes Inc., join Bob as they talk about how IT and HR can be the best of both worlds. John and Howard show us how HR and IT can work together and create a wonderful relationship.

We’ve all heard of supply and demand, but how has IT played a role in it? Bob is joined by Mike Ryan, Managing Partner at The M. Ryan Group, as they breakdown supply chain optimization, how supply chain management was hit during the pandemic, and how IT has played both a good and bad role in supply chain optimization. What came first, the process or the technology? Find out during this episode of Biz-Tech Twists.

Bob’s making up words in this episode. Ok, maybe Bob didn’t come up with “coopetition” but it’s a word he really likes. Should companies compete or cooperate with each other? Why not both? MSP’s do this all the time. They share knowledge and work together but still succeed in their own lanes. Does your organization use “coopetition” with similar companies in your field?

Bob and Kurt Ketcham, Simplex-IT’s in house meteorologist, break down common cloud myths. No, not the clouds we see in the sky. We’re talking about the magical place where data gets stored online. Kurt explains how businesses can move to the cloud piece by piece, evaluating server migration, technical debt, and more.

Bob’s running solo this episode! Today he’s talking about something we don’t actually talk about as often as we should. Being nice while staying secure. As humans, we naturally try to be helpful but that can lead to our downfall. Being helpful can lead to being taken advantage of and bad guys pounce on that opportunity. Let’s talk about it.

Bob invites Brad Gross, THE leading attorney for the MSP industry. We tackle the question of whose fault is IT. With the increased complexity identifying faults and responsibilities for IT is more complex than ever. IT Service resellers, Managed Service Providers, and end clients all share responsibility, what can we all do individually and collectively and what is it about Bob and ostriches?

Information Technology has changed over the years, everyone knows that. But there has been significant shift in IT that’s been happening for decades, and nobody seems to be noticing. Except for Bob. The emphasis within the IT industry has been slowly shifting from Technology to Information. Back in the mid 70’s, there was a focus on the Technology, and not so much the information, so I call that the iT phase. Lower case I, Capital T. Probably 1995 – 2010.. Information and Technology were about the same, IT. But now.. Capital I lowercase t. Technology is moving forward, absolutely. But not at the pace the use of the information is.

When we make the most of a time we lost or a failure, is it still a loss? Join Bob and CloudPlus CEO Tony Francisco down the twists and turns of failure, losing, quitting and how the lessons learned from those times can prove to be more valuable than succeeding.

We all know change is hard and most people resist it, but why? In this episode Bob discusses his theory behind WIIFM and NIMBY and how by staying ahead of them can help you reduce change resistance.

Bob brings in CSO, Chief Sarcastic Officer, David Cowan from PSS Innovations to discuss how important humor can be in a workplace. Ok, maybe David’s not the CSO but it sounds so much better than CEO, right? Having fun at work is such an important aspect of professional relationships and can bring down those corporate barriers many businesses put up. Sit back, relax, and prepare to listen to one of the most sarcastic episodes of Biz-Tech Twists.

Do you remember Y2K? Do you want to know why it happened? Come along for the story of it through Bob’s eyes. His really, really old, aging eyes. He explains how we got in the situation we got into, why it was such a great idea at the time and why it would prove to be our undoing years later.

Bob brings in guests Kevin Dutkiewicz, of Simplex-IT, and Rob Rae, of Pax8, to discuss industry events, conference dos and don'ts, and the different roles taken on as a professional at these events. Star Trek, Hot Tubs, Sports and Wizards. Stick around to see how they made it make sense.

The brilliant folks over at Simplex-IT (along with Bob Coppedge) came up with a really great way to explain the kind of IT every organization needs. Only probably was, it made a really, really bad acronym. Gut check time. Do we use it for laughs anyway? Because it really, really makes sense. And we talked to a lot of people in the Managed Service Provider world who agreed that it made sense. Face it, the people who laugh are the people Bob would probably want to people with. Or do play it safe? Listen in to find out.

Chat GPT and AI is the buzzword of the day, join Bob as he talks about tools of the past that have transformed IT that were buzzwords and big deals in their time too. So when Bob says Chat GPT Isn’t a Big Deal, he follows it up with a big YET. Because what’s next?

We don’t really know what we’re doing in this episode. Bob discusses business ecosystems, relationships, authenticity and more with Ken Patterson, VP of Community and Ecosystems at Taylor Business Group. These crotchety geeks explain why building relationships is so important and how it improves sales. Nobody’s perfect and that’s why we need to educate clients instead of just plain old selling.

The words we use and the way we use them depend on our intended audience. They decide what’s heard, regardless of what’s said. How we communicate effectively has as much to do with what we want to say, who we are saying them to, and how much is already known about the topic. Join Bob down this journey about why words matter.

Bob talks about using video to differentiate yourself, yes even you introverts who prefer to avoid the spotlight. He gives you some real-life steps to follow to create good videos, so you walk away with an outline of exactly what you need to do. Don’t trust Bob? Who does? He also name drops some of his favorite resources he’s used over the years.

Join Bob as he interviews Simplex-IT's very own Technology Director Kevin Dutkiewicz as they break down some key aspects of Co-Managed IT (CoMITs). From figuring out how to make it all work, explaining layered access, flexibility of CoMITs, and training for techs. Bob may have written the book(s) on Co-Managed IT services, but Kevin’s the guy who actually makes it work.

Amazon Best Selling Author, it sounds so prestigious, doesn’t it? Here’s the twist, it isn’t. A lot of it has to do with timing and luck. But that’s not why Bob set out to write his books. Listen in as Bob drops his secrets on writing his three books and achieving Amazon Best Selling Author status 3 times! Spoiler, it’s not that impressive (and neither is Bob).

Join Bob Coppedge as he welcomes the IT industry’s beard boy Matt Lee to discuss the infinite game as it applies to life and business. Finite Games? We know the rules, players and goals. Infinite games? Not so much. How do Infinite games change the way we look at personal and professional life, business and cyber security? That’s the twist of this podcast.

Bob Coppedge introduces what you can expect from this podcast in future episodes. He talks about the topics he will cover, the featured guests he will have on, and the reasons he chose to start up a podcast. As a Cleveland native, self-described Crotchety Old Geek, and lover of learning all the things, there’s no telling where this journey is going to take him. One this is for sure though; you’ll want to be there for the ride.