Twins Talk Tech Leadership

A great voice is one that is born of experience and from having a keen awareness of both need and a willingness to speak out. David Sobel is the Host of The Business of Tech Podcast, an IT services focused news platform. Dave has been a fixture and we are fortunate to work alongside him to elevate leadership voices and trends within this space. Highlights include:Be a good listener and stay focused on being a learner. His Diversity Report update. It is not getting any better; not getting more diverse. 2 basic ideas of diversifying to sell to your customer base, and to 'make the pie bigger.Need to build an excellent culture and have great retention of talent.Invest in keeping in touch with people and delivering continuous value.His passion for slow cooking and smoking meats.  Connect with Dave on LinkedIn and follow his work by visiting businessof.tech/

How you build matters. Building upon a foundation of family, community and commitment can lead to amazing results. Marissa Maldonado, CEO & Majority Owner of Proda Technology, a managed IT services and consulting firm shares her story of determination and commitment to building an organization of impact.Some of the highlights include:Integrating coaching, peer groups and impacting communities.Core values, EOS model and scaling past $2M and $5M.Embracing vulnerability as a leader.Promoting diversity, inclusion and supporting women in technology.Work-life balance and playing with your children.Connect with Marissa on LinkedIn and visit prodatechnology.com/

Community, strategic partnerships and embracing diversity can lead to incredible growth. International tech veteran and visionary leader Per Werngren lends his experience from building a successful international organization and from his time leading the International Association of Microsoft Channel Partners - IAMCP. Idenxt is a leading hosting provider, powered by Microsoft.Highlights include:Global expansion and impact of the IAMCP community.His widely adopted P2P Maturity Model.Diversity of backgrounds is an advantage to any organization.Be willing to acknowledge that you are a guest and foster curiosity.Must lead by example, empower leaders and embrace inclusion.Working with governments and the importance of smaller companies having their voices heard.Trends and the spirit of giving.Book Who moved the cheeseBook: ‘Moments of Truth’To learn more about Per and his work, connect with him on LinkedIn, visit idenxt.com and accelerator.one/

What would being able to deploy a fast and reliable DNS Filtering Solution look like for your organization? What does Formula One have in connection with the award winning speed of DNSFilter? Steve Staden, Senior Director, Product Management at DNSFilter dives into more than just how you can provide your company with content filtering and threat protection against malware and phishing campaigns across all networks and environments.Some of the featured highlights:Machine Learning and DNS Security.What makes DNSFilter so special including their low false positive rate.The drive to be responsive and remain visible and transparent while continuing to “raise the bar.” Their ‘Faster Together’ official partnership with Andretti Autosport.The conferences and shows we can expect to see Steve and his team in 2024.What type of podcast programs he listens to in addition to our own Twins Talk Tech Leadership program.Connect with Steve on LinkedIn and visit dnsfilter.com to learn more. Steve is also sharing a great resource: CIS checklist and the Annual security report.https://explore.dnsfilter.com/hubfs/DNSFilter%20CIS%20Controls%20Checklist.pdf

Raghu Ram Bongula, Chief Technology Officer at ConnectWise joins us to share his leadership journey and provide a glimpse of his work with AI and Hyperautomation within the MSP space. ConnectWise is an industry leading IT software, services, resources, and community for the tech sector. Some of the highlights include:His approach to meeting the growing needs of the MSP community.Start with knowing your audience, identify the problem you want to solve and then work backwards while accepting feedback.Fast fail approach to develop and release better products.Stages in Development include: Prescriptive, Predictive and DescriptiveConnectWise Sidekick, an AI assisted tool for managed service providers, designed to enhance efficiency and ingenuity.To learn more about Raghu and the exciting work they are doing at ConnectWise, visit connectwise.com/ and connectwise.com/blog for articles, resources and new tech insights.

Passion and vision make for a fantastic story about an organization shaking up the sector as they do their part to become the sought out solution partner for managed solution providers, their engineers and service technicians. CEO Robert Isaacs of Nine Minds touches on the potential impact of artificial intelligence and how his organization addresses fatigue and frustrations faced by MSPs when it comes to the management of ticketing, achieving efficiency, increasing profitability and driving organizational morale. Highlights include:Branding and foundation of Nine Minds.Alga as a tool to streamline processes, create efficiencies, reducing burden while opening the minds of talented technicians. Nine Minds outlook for 2024 and beyond.Lessons learned leading a startup.Empower your MSP while delivering better service to your clients by partnering with Nine Minds. To learn more about Robert and Nine Minds, connect via LinkedIn and visit nineminds.comDownload this amazing resource, a downloadable White paper covering how AI may be the ultimate key to alleviating common IT support challenges: www.nineminds.com/whitepaper

A New Year brings incredible optimism and an expectation for greater success and growth. You’ve likely met with your leadership teams and have identified opportunities, but goals and roles have to be refined and clearly defined. You cannot wear every hat as this takes away from establishing and executing the strategic vision of your organization. CEO of TruNorth Dynamics, Ole Gjerde shares the importance of successfully shifting the mindset from working in your business to working on your business. TruNorth Dynamics is a leading provider of Microsoft Dynamics solutions, providing solutions and improving efficiencies for SMBs.Some of the highlights:TruNorth Dynamics branding.Pros and challenges of embracing a remote model.Tips to go from working in to working on, including delegation and a culture of creativity. Hire great people and let them 'make magic happen.'Leadership and development include training, coaching and mentoring with clear expectations and a level of accountability. 'It's coach up or coach out'Insight into some of his goals for 2024.Connect with Ole on LinkedIn and visit trunorthdynamics.com/

We are privileged to speak with and learn from incredible leaders. What a bonus when we are able to share those voices with our listeners. We invited one such leader to lend from his experience of working with driven leaders and from building successful organizations.  Andrew Montz is a Vistage Chair and the Founder & CEO of as1, helping technology service companies accelerate revenue, scale and improve organizational culture, where teams learn to build and lead as 1 team. Some of the highlights include: Lessons learned from scaling multiple tech services companies.Why he enjoys the challenge of the ‘constant changing of technology and constant puzzle of business growth.’Building leadership teams and their ability to execute and finish the vision.Andrew believes in 'mission driven leadership' and becoming an evangelist with your customers and/or shareholders.His role as a Vistage chair.Andrew’s recommended books.  To learn more about Andrew and his work, connect with him on LinkedIn and visit as1.team/ 

QBRs are invaluable investments that support MSPs and their mission to keep clients informed and treated like a true partner in the development and execution of a strategic technology roadmap. With the advancement of tech, AI and hybrid models, it becomes more imperative that CIOs and CISOs have resources to champion their efforts. Brian Doyle, Co-founder and CEO of vCIOToolbox shares about the evolution of account management and about the importance of community. vCIOToolbox is a trusted partner to MSPs providing an account management and advisory SaaS platform for Account Managers, vCIOs, vCISOs, and Technology Leaders.Some of the highlights include:The framework of vCIOToolbox and how they help MSPs drive strategic outcomes.Their experience from being a PitchIT Finalist and participant in the 16-week accelerator program created by ConnectWise.The strength and support of the community. ‘Your competition could also be your collaborators when you build an ecosystem of trust.'MSP Business School podcast and vCIOToolbox University.To learn more about Brian, connect with him on LinkedIn, follow the MSP Business School podcast and visit vciotoolbox.com

When was the last conversation you had about vulnerabilities and how to best position your organization against cyber attacks? These conversations may not be comfortable, but they need to happen. Matthew Koenig, VP, Channel Sales at Nodeware® by IGI CyberLabs shares his thoughts on the importance of addressing and identifying vulnerabilities. Nodeware provides vulnerability scanning with complete and continuous visibility of your network and its assets. Some of the highlights:Tips for MSPs including having a proven sales methodology, asking questions and ‘selling the outcome.’ Matthew says that he will ask 'why me and why now'?'If you have to sell on price, walk away.'Impact from PitchITMatthew is also offering a 15-min consultation to any MSP with questions about vulnerability testing and the cybersecurity landscape. Also follow Matthew on LinkedIn and visit nodeware.com