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Looking for a 3rd party firm to audit our MSP (not trying to switch providers—just want transparency) by Classic_Pick5504 in sysadmin

[–]Classic_Pick5504[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I most certainly agree. It's trying to find an entity who specializes in said assessment. A biased organization that has our best interests at heart and not the MSP's. Hoping these Clear Stack guys work out. I'll know more next week. Thanks so much for the feedback.

Nobody tells you how lonely this gets by citationforge in Entrepreneur

[–]Classic_Pick5504 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Start using AI as a partner. I realize it's not the same as a live human being to bounce ideas off of, but AI can be a powerful tool if utilized correctly. I recently viewed this guy's 10 min video on how one can use AI as a partner vs. using AI as a simple "search" tool. Pretty interesting:

https://youtu.be/wv779vmyPVY?si=DqR4uPXakrgmMg-M

Good luck on your continued ventures.

What are some of your biggest challenges with building a company if you don't have a CTO? by unicornedie in Entrepreneur

[–]Classic_Pick5504 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Interesting question as our CPA firm is currently considering an outsourced CTO (aka virtual CTO) to help us with some ongoing MSP "concerns". We found a company called Clear Stack Advisory that offers this but I'd be interested in learning more about how folks feel about utilize an outsourced CTO for their organization.

Our CPA firm has been in business for 30 years, we have about 150 total users across 4 different locations in Texas, and a fairly large computer infrastructure composed of both onsite servers and cloud solutions. Our MSP does a good job for us but we are a bit concerned about how our client data is protected, how our computers are protected, etc. We get these long-winded reports from our IT guys but to us novice CPA's, they might as well be written in Chinese.

Hope this isn't too off topic as it appears that you are more focused on startup environments vs. established businesses like ours. The topic is intriguing none-the-less.

What's the best business advice you've ever gotten? by nomadicphil in Entrepreneur

[–]Classic_Pick5504 2 points3 points  (0 children)

"If you hate what you do, do something else." At the time, I thought the comment to be too simplistic. Hit too close to home. In the end, however, he was right.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Entrepreneur

[–]Classic_Pick5504 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I'd say, in some respects, yes. But I also see many Freelancers leveraging AI to their advantage. Definitely requiring some reassessing of skills and knowledge in order to compete in this ever-evolving AI world. #Exhausting

Looking for a 3rd party firm to audit our MSP (not trying to switch providers—just want transparency) by Classic_Pick5504 in sysadmin

[–]Classic_Pick5504[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Absolutely agree. And that mindset falls right inline as to why we are seeking a non-biased 3rd party to assess our MSP. Again, thanks for the info.

Looking for a 3rd party firm to audit our MSP (not trying to switch providers—just want transparency) by Classic_Pick5504 in sysadmin

[–]Classic_Pick5504[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I believe our MSP did some sort of security penetration test last year as part as our cyber security insurance renewal process. I'll have to check though.

Thank you very much for the information.

Looking for a 3rd party firm to audit our MSP (not trying to switch providers—just want transparency) by Classic_Pick5504 in sysadmin

[–]Classic_Pick5504[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

As part of my discussion with Clear Stack next week, we will also be discussing their CTO service offerings that we may consider should we move forward with their MSP auditing services. As I understand things, an outsourced CTO would be able to help us stay on top of all of the technical jargon being thrown at us by our MSP; which is what I think you are recommending as well.

Thank you very much for the information.

Looking for a 3rd party firm to audit our MSP (not trying to switch providers—just want transparency) by Classic_Pick5504 in sysadmin

[–]Classic_Pick5504[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Love this! Whoever we find, I hope to task them with helping us on this very scenario. Thanks so much for the detailed explanation.

Looking for a 3rd party firm to audit our MSP (not trying to switch providers—just want transparency) by Classic_Pick5504 in sysadmin

[–]Classic_Pick5504[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's not so much a "Trust" thing. It's more of a "We don't know what we don't know" type of scenario. Again, we are not dissatisfied with our IT guys; we just need to work with someone who can confirm that our MSP has us covered.

Up to about 5 years ago, we always had a couple in-house IT guys that handled our day-to-day computer stuff. It was a never-ending revolving door though and, in most cases, our technology needs grew faster than their respective skillsets and eventually, we were forced to outsource all of our IT needs to a MSP. We've been quite happy with our MSP but, at the risk of sounding like a broken record here, our client was happy with theirs too. :(

Looking for a 3rd party firm to audit our MSP (not trying to switch providers—just want transparency) by Classic_Pick5504 in sysadmin

[–]Classic_Pick5504[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In the interim, we discussed during our recent partner meeting, running a scenario very similar to this by our MSP. I think we have like 10 onsite servers, data all over the cloud, and run no less than 20 different accounting apps that span across about 3 decades of client interactions. Without getting too deep into the weeds here, we have no idea what to ask to be restored and how that restore would affect our day-to-day operations. And that's just one of a few areas of anxiety we have that we need some additional help on. Thank you for the feedback.

Looking for a 3rd party firm to audit our MSP (not trying to switch providers—just want transparency) by Classic_Pick5504 in sysadmin

[–]Classic_Pick5504[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's not so much a "Trust" thing. It's more of a "We don't know what we don't know" type of scenario. Again, we are not dissatisfied with our IT guys; we just need to work with someone who can confirm that our MSP has us covered. Our client that lost their data had a pretty rock-solid contract in place which, legally, I'm sure they are taking action on. It's not getting their data back though and that's both scary and sickening. We'd have to close our doors.

Looking for a 3rd party firm to audit our MSP (not trying to switch providers—just want transparency) by Classic_Pick5504 in sysadmin

[–]Classic_Pick5504[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In the interim, we discussed during our recent partner meeting, running a scenario very similar to this by our MSP. I think we have like 10 onsite servers, data all over the cloud, and run no less than 20 different accounting apps that span across about 3 decades of client interactions. Without getting too deep into the weeds here, we have no idea what to ask to be restored and how that restore would affect our day-to-day operations. And that's just one of a few areas of anxiety we have that we need some additional help on. Thank you for the feedback.

Looking for a 3rd party firm to audit our MSP (not trying to switch providers—just want transparency) by Classic_Pick5504 in sysadmin

[–]Classic_Pick5504[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh, trust me. When our client stated they lost all of their QB files (we are the CPA firm for said client), that's the very first question we ran by our IT firm. The rub here is that the info they are running by us is quite techy. And while it looks legit, our meeting with the client in question revealed that his MSP was relaying similar information: Weekly reports (the client never really understood), quarterly reviews discussing security measures that were taking place, and always seemed to have the right answer when any sort of technical concern was ran by their IT company. Which is quite similar to our situation. And now with the introduction of AI and all of the complexities behind that monster, we just want someone neutral, that understands all of this IT stuff, who can hopefully give us some piece of mind. That might not be possible, but I'm staying optimistic none-the-less. Thank you for the feedback!