22Dec2020
10Dec2020
Your customers are coming to me…
I wanted to bring up an interesting trend that I have been seeing in my website's contact form. I still get plenty of messages from IT Pros, independent consultants and Managed Services Providers. But, in recent months, I have also been seeing an increasing number of SMB customers coming to...
01Dec2020
Why aren’t you charging your customers to take care of Microsoft 365?
This is a simple question. The way I see it, there are many opportunities to provide Managed Services for SMB customers with regard to their Microsoft 365 subscriptions. Yet to this day, hardly anyone is doing it. Why? I suspect some folks have difficulty connecting all the dots and putting...
16Nov2020
How much security is ‘enough’ security? Looking at Microsoft 365 Defender vs. Azure Sentinel
How much security is 'enough' security? This is in fact a trick question, I just threw it in there to get your attention. When it comes to security, one can never be 'safe,' but only 'safer' (even with the most expensive of cybersecurity tools and talented, dedicated humans to back...
02Nov2020
The “Five Rules of Fields” for File Server Migrations to Microsoft 365
What a fun tongue twister, and such a practical resource that I am excited to share with you today! Well, actually a lot of this information you might have already gleaned by following my past posts about file server migration. But I still find that when I consult with folks...
26Oct2020
Cloud vs. On-prem and the future of Managed Services
Is the on-prem model (e.g. legacy AD with file shares, Windows Server-based apps, etc.) 'better' in some cases than SaaS alternatives like Microsoft 365, GSuite, Ping, Okta, Salesforce, DropBox, or whatever? In the SMB space, I really struggle to advocate for on-prem anymore, and I mean REALLY struggle. And that's...
13Oct2020
Goodbye, Exchange 2010 (And advice moving forward)
The end of an era. Exchange 2010 is End of Life today--no more security updates, no more extended support. I know there are quite a few servers left out there in the world, but many of them are not even in use (or they were merely in place for hybrid...
23Sep2020
Deploying Conditional Access Policies via PowerShell
There is a new GitHub repository available from Microsoft: Manage Conditional Access policies like code. Similar to the infamous Intune samples repo from which I and many others have built their automated Intune setup scripts for new tenants, this repo is replete with the resources that you need for accomplishing...
22Sep2020
SMB Ignite stuff, and other news
Big week here at ITProMentor.com. Ignite is happening, so that's always fun. Currently hanging out with the Re365 crew to watch the keynote this morning! My own Ignite session, which I recorded with Microsoft's David Bjurman-Birr, is also live now, and posted in a few places, but most notably ebedded within this...
18Sep2020