Uncle Marv’s IT Business Podcast: Practical Business Advice for MSPs and IT Professionals

There’s always another ticket, another emergency, and another reason to put yourself last. I’ve learned that the work never ends, but the time we have for ourselves and our families isn’t something we can keep pushing off. With Movember here, I’m challenging my fellow MSP owners and IT professionals to think about their personal continuity plan, not just their business continuity plan. The takeaway is simple: taking care of yourself isn’t letting your business down. It’s recognizing that being there for everyone else shouldn’t mean ignoring what you need.

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I’ve been buying more 2.5-gig switches lately, and another MSP asked me a fair question: Why? That sent me down a bigger rabbit hole about what we’re actually solving when we upgrade a client’s network. I’m flying solo for this conversation, sharing where I’m using Ubiquiti switches, why I still put 10G connections on servers and Synology storage, and where plain old gigabit still does the job.

The takeaway is purpose. Faster ports can make sense for shared storage, database traffic, backups, and switch uplinks. But if the devices and workloads can’t take advan...

I don’t do websites, so my first reaction to the PHP security headlines was that this probably wasn’t my problem. Then clients started asking what they needed to worry about, and I had to give them an honest answer: I didn’t know yet, but I would find out. This solo conversation follows the questions that sent me digging into vendor notices, client systems, and the applications connected to their Microsoft 365 environments.

Between the PHP concerns and the ConnectWise cloud backup incident discussed on the show, the bigger lesson became clear: vendor security is our securi...

A client asked whether we were affected by a security vulnerability, and my honest answer was, “I don’t know.” That’s not a comfortable place to be, but pretending would be worse. I’m talking through what that question got me thinking about, from applications connected to Microsoft 365 to vendor permissions and whether a successful backup will actually be available when we need it.

I’m also getting a few things off my chest about vendor relationships, including an equipment replacement that became far more frustrating than it needed to be and why sponsorship doesn’t get anyone a f...

Are we moving clients to the cloud because it makes sense, or because we decided servers were supposed to disappear? My friend Tom Wyant of Wyant Computers in Traverse City, Michigan, joins me for an honest conversation about on-prem servers, Active Directory, and the applications that keep both relevant. Tom supports clients using a mix of local infrastructure and cloud services, so this isn’t a debate about picking a side. It’s about figuring out what actually works.

We talk through recurring costs, application limitations, large files, security responsibilities, and the headaches that follow a migration nobo...

You don’t need to overhaul your MSP to start getting value from AI. You need to find one task your team is tired of repeating. Meredith Payne returns to the show at TD SYNNEX Inspire in Greenville to talk about her work leading digital growth and customer success, what’s changing inside Partner First, and how MSPs can put automation to work without making everything more complicated.

I ask Meredith where smaller providers should start, whether human help is sticking around, and how to know if these tools are actually improving the business. Her advice is to s...

Before you buy another AI tool or help a client deploy agents, take a hard look at the environment supporting them. Recording from Greenville, South Carolina, I talk with Joseph Vlajcic about what happens when businesses chase individual AI use cases without considering how those systems will work together. We discuss why disappointing returns can come from more than choosing the wrong tool. Sometimes the surrounding infrastructure needs attention first.

Joseph walks through AI running in the data center, public cloud, and at the edge, with the network connecting all three. That brings up questions MSPs need...

Saving money on AI does not mean much if you are still using it the wrong way. That was one of my biggest takeaways from TD SYNNEX Inspire in Greenville, South Carolina. Erick Simpson joins me to unpack the announcements that caught our attention, including FinOps Fusion and Agent Bridge. We discuss the potential to better understand AI spending, reduce manual work around quoting and ordering, and spot client opportunities that get buried when we are busy putting out fires. I also explain why I want to see the AI spending conversation go beyond cutting costs to improving prompts...

Recurring revenue is nice. Recurring profitability is what pays the bills. I sat down with Augie Staab, Director of MSP Sales at TD SYNNEX, at Inspire in Greenville, South Carolina, to talk about the difference. We dug into cybersecurity stack standardization, what makes a vendor offering truly useful to MSPs, and why letting every customer pick a different tool can undermine your business. Augie also explained how TD SYNNEX’s dedicated MSP sales team and new MSP ARC program aim to help partners identify gaps and make better business decisions.

Stop building a different stack for every cu...

Using fewer AI tokens doesn’t automatically mean you’re saving money. I sat down with Andre Van der Post, Vice President of Cloud Solutions at TD SYNNEX, at Inspire in Greenville, South Carolina, to talk about FinOps Fusion and what it takes to manage AI spending beyond the token count.

We get into infrastructure costs, poorly written prompts, governance, and the opportunity for MSPs to help clients make smarter decisions. Andre also gets honest about what’s still being built. The takeaway: managing AI costs means understanding the business value, not just watching usage.

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Dr. Lorne Lavine, better known as The Digital Dentist, joined me to talk about building an IT business that serves one vertical and serves it well. Before becoming an MSP owner, Lorne practiced periodontics, which gave him a real advantage when he started helping dental offices with technology, software decisions, networks, HIPAA, and cybersecurity.

We talked about how he grew through credibility, referrals, writing, speaking, and staying focused on dentists instead of trying to support every kind of business. There are some solid lessons here for any MSP: niche down, understand the customer’s world, do profitable ri...

Charlotte Conroy from Recent Communications joins me for a straight conversation about UCaaS, cloud communications, and why MSPs should stop treating phones like the thing they would rather avoid. Her company works alongside MSPs to help clients move from aging phone systems to supported, reliable communications without turning every phone issue into an internal help desk problem.

We talk about competing on value instead of price, the reality of copper-line shutdowns, legacy phone systems that are still out there, integrations with door access and overhead paging, and where AI can actually help without making the customer experience...

Lucas Dowd and Kevin Townsend, co-founders of Catalyst Shift, join me to talk about a problem just about every MSP knows too well: the data you need to run the business is scattered across your PSA, RMM, CRM, email, accounting, and other tools. The result is too much manual digging, too many disconnected reports, and not enough time in front of the customer having the conversations that actually matter.

We talk about their idea of a business operating layer that brings those systems together, looks for patterns, and turns the information into practical next steps. That can...

I sat down with Andy Syrewicze from Proofpoint MSP Platform to talk about a problem every MSP runs into: Microsoft 365 security looks simple until you start managing it across real client environments. Andy explains how Proofpoint 365 Total Protection, the MSP platform formerly known as Hornetsecurity, brings together email security, Microsoft 365 backup, security awareness training, permission management, DMARC, and tenant standardization.

The big takeaway is that security cannot stop at email filtering or MFA. MSPs need layered protection, cleaner SharePoint permissions, better user reporting habits, and a standard Microsoft 365 baseline they can consistently apply across their client base.<...

I sat down with Dave Sobel to talk about why too many MSPs are leaving AI out of their websites, client conversations, and service offerings. We dig into AI governance, shadow AI, Microsoft Copilot, and why simply asking better questions can create real business opportunities.

AI is everywhere. It is at every conference, in every vendor presentation, and in every customer conversation. Yet Dave’s research found that 68% of roughly 3,600 MSP websites do not mention AI at all. That means a lot of providers may be invisible to prospects looking for guidance, services, or simply a trusted te...

I had a great conversation with Alex and Mariana of MyPCFriends Cybersecurity, a husband-and-wife MSP team based in Kissimmee, Florida. Their story starts with Alex’s computer engineering and break-fix work in Venezuela, continues through the challenges of rebuilding in the United States, and arrives at a business that is more intentional about managed services, cybersecurity, compliance, and serving the right clients. They are now focused on financial services and insurance organizations, with clients extending beyond Florida.

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=== Guests: Alex Villamizar and Mariana Arrietta

Tom Bull of Two River Computer joins me for a practical conversation about building an MSP around trust, community, and the work clients actually need. Tom shares how his business grew from computer repair and consulting into managed IT, residential technology, Wi-Fi, smart-home projects, and cybersecurity, all while serving smaller businesses that larger MSPs often overlook. We talk about referral relationships, local visibility, Google reviews, and why listening to the customer can matter more than following every piece of conventional channel advice.

We also get into the realities of controlled growth and modern security. Tom explains why...

Sean Lardo, better known around the channel as Mr. IT Nation, joined me for a special conversation following the announcement of the IT Nation PitchIT 2026 finalists: Lemhi, Synthreo, and Blacksmith InfoSec. After a 16-week competitive cohort built around coaching, refinement, and practice, these three companies are now preparing to take the stage at IT Nation Connect Global in Orlando.

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I am catching up on the latest NSITSP activity from August, and there was a lot worth paying attention to. From election and governance updates to advocacy around AI, cybersecurity, right-to-repair, and data centers, I wanted to bring these conversations to the podcast because they affect the business environment MSPs are working in every day.

What stood out most to me is that the IT industry needs more than good technicians and great tools. We need people who are willing to get involved, educate clients and lawmakers, document what works, and make sure our voices are heard...

I was riding solo for this Wednesday Live Show, and I had something on my mind that every MSP, IT professional, and business owner needs to consider: Can a client access everything their former IT company managed? I recently met with a prospect who believed they had administrative access, but when we sat down and checked, they did not have the level of access needed to manage their Microsoft 365 environment. They were dealing with other access problems too, including their website, account recovery, and network equipment.

My take is straightforward. Our job as MSPs is to manage...

I had Chris Miller back on the show, and we started with a topic every MSP owner understands: client service. ATB Technologies has built a reputation around keeping customers happy, but Chris was honest about what that really means. Technology still breaks, Microsoft and Azure still have outages, and users can still be frustrated. The difference is how your team responds, communicates, and works to make things right. One of the things that stood out to me was Chris talking about hiring for soft skills on the help desk, including a certified child psychologist on the team. Patience is...

Chris Miller did not come into the MSP industry as a lifelong technologist. He came from telecom sales, thought he knew computers because he knew how to use them, and then got a quick education when he had to explain firewalls, switches, and backups to business owners. What I appreciated about Chris is that he did not pretend to know what he did not know. He sat down with an engineer, asked questions, learned the environment piece by piece, and then figured out how to translate technology into business value.

We also get practical about MSP growth...

Brian Weiss from iTech joined me for a real MSP owner conversation, the kind we need more of. We started with what happens when a vendor changes its roadmap and you are suddenly left having to rethink part of your own business. Brian shared how Pax8 winding down its business applications services affected his support plan for Microsoft Dynamics Business Central. The important lesson is bigger than one vendor: every MSP has dependencies, and standardizing your stack does not remove risk if too much operational knowledge or support capability lives outside your control.

We also got into...

I sat down with Cameron Brister from SquarePlanIT to talk about the real-world decisions MSP owners are making right now. AI is changing fast, clients want to use new tools yesterday, and we still have to think about security, permissions, data, and supportability. Cameron makes a great point that we cannot become the department of no, but we also cannot pretend every shiny new tool is ready to roll out to clients.

We also get into the less glamorous but very real work of running an IT business: migrating from Autotask to Halo, planning a move from...

I had a great conversation with Mike Glasman, president of Vitalpoints IT Services in Los Angeles, because he came into the MSP world from a path many of us did not take. Mike spent years in channel and enterprise technology sales, working around major vendors and large solution providers before he became an MSP owner. That background taught him how to get in front of customers, ask better questions, evaluate vendors, and build credibility around difficult technical problems, even though he does not position himself as the person who has to fix every ticket.

What really stood...

Matt Forman from The Local Circuit and I sit down for a good old-fashioned MSP catch-up, covering his steady growth, a changing vendor stack, and why automation is helping his team do more without hiring faster than they need to. We also get into practical AI guardrails, ticket triage, and the tools that save real time in the field.

We talk through some decisions MSP owners deal with every day: changing cloud-distribution partners because of payment-processing costs, moving from Synchro to Halo and NinjaOne, and putting Huntress to work for endpoint and Microsoft 365 identity protection. Matt also...

Shaun Webber, Co-founder & CEO of Spotto, joins the IT Business Podcast to discuss an AI cloud-operations platform built to help MSPs manage and optimize Microsoft Azure environments at scale. Spotto surfaces actionable cost, performance, security, and reliability recommendations, with controlled remediation and automation designed to help providers reduce operational toil and identify service opportunities.

Guest: Shaun Webber

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Aaron Birnbaum, co-founder of Seron Security’s TRaViS ASM, joins the show to discuss an AI-enhanced external attack surface management platform built for proactive cybersecurity. TRaViS helps MSPs identify exposed assets, vulnerabilities, leaked credentials, and shadow IT, then turn that visibility into an actionable security service for clients.

Guest: Aaron Birnbaum

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Mark Balovnev, CEO of Cyrisma, joins the IT Business Podcast’s PitchIT 2026 series to discuss helping MSPs turn cyber risk and compliance into scalable services. Cyrisma consolidates vulnerability management, asset and data discovery, secure configuration, compliance tracking, and remediation workflows so providers can reduce tool sprawl and better operationalize security services.

Guest: Mark Balovnev

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Romain Basset, co-founder of belfor.io, joins the PitchIT 2026 conversation to discuss a human-risk-management platform built specifically for MSPs. Belfor helps providers deliver white-labeled security awareness content, adaptive phishing simulations, and actionable risk insights through native Microsoft 365 integration and automation.

Guest: Romain Basset

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=== SPONSORS: 

Lewis Williams is the Technical Project Manager and founder behind Handover, a PitchIT 2026 company built for MSP delivery teams. Handover connects to HaloPSA and ConnectWise to turn live ticket and project data into client-ready status updates, action logs, risk registers, service reviews, and QBR packs—reducing the manual reporting workload for project and service-delivery teams.

Guest: Lewis Williams

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John Harden, Founder & CEO of Lemhi, joins the IT Business Podcast as a PitchIT 2026 participant to discuss turning client AI demand into a repeatable MSP service. Lemhi helps MSPs identify AI opportunities, build client-ready roadmaps, apply governance and enablement, and monitor adoption as an ongoing managed offering rather than a one-off project.

Guest: John Harden

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Danny Suk Brown, President of AppMeetup, joins the PitchIT 2026 series to discuss Nimo, an AI role-play and simulation platform for MSP teams. Nemo helps sales, technical, support, and leadership staff practice real-world client conversations, identify skill gaps, and retain institutional knowledge through repeatable coaching and analytics.

Guest: Danny Suk Brown

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Michael Zbarsky, Co-Founder of Blacksmith InfoSec, joins the show to discuss a Compliance-as-a-Service platform built for MSPs. Blacksmith helps IT providers operationalize client compliance through customizable policies, risk management, security guidance, and a scalable service-delivery framework.

Guest: Michael Zbarsky, Co-Founder

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=== SPONSORS: 

Callen Sapien, Co-Founder and CEO of Synthreo, joins the PitchIT 2026 series to discuss building an AI service practice for MSPs. Synthreo provides white-label, multi-tenant AI infrastructure that helps IT providers build, manage, govern, and bill for client-facing AI workspaces, workflows, and agents.

Guest: Callen Sapien

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Kevin Rauch, Co-Founder of pivot, joins the show to discuss how the company’s proactive AV lifecycle-management platform helps MSPs bring deployment, monitoring, support, maintenance, and refresh planning into one operational workflow. Pivot is designed to give IT providers greater visibility and control of business-critical AV environments, including AI-assisted incident troubleshooting through pivotAssist.

Guest: Kevin Rauch

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Michelle Coombs, founder of Oprising, joins the IT Business Podcast as a member of the 2026 IT Nation/ConnectWise PitchIT cohort. Oprising is a service optimisation platform that helps MSPs turn continual service improvement into structured, visible work—assessing operational capability, prioritising actions, assigning accountability, and tracking progress across people, process, technology, and customer experience.

Guest: Michelle Coombs

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Steve Martin, CEO of FrictionlessIT, joins the IT Business Podcast to discuss FITware, a profit-intelligence platform built for MSPs. FITware brings together operational, financial, service-delivery, capacity, and client-experience data to help providers spot profit leaks, reinforce accountable behaviors, and make more informed growth decisions.

Guest: Steve Martin

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Saurabh Sandhir, CEO and Co-Founder of Kipling Secure, joins the IT Business Podcast to discuss AI Detection & Response (AIDR) for MSPs and MSSPs. Kipling Secure helps providers discover shadow AI, monitor AI usage and data exposure, apply governance guardrails, and turn AI security into a recurring managed service.

Guest: Saurabh Sandhir

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Tyler Smith, CEO and Co-Founder of TechAlign, joins the IT Business Podcast to discuss a platform built by MSP professionals to streamline technical alignment reviews and QBRs. TechAlign combines assessments with PSA/RMM data to help IT providers identify client gaps, present recommendations, track remediation, and turn review findings into roadmap and project opportunities.

Guest: Tyler Smith

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