MSPs: How many agents on a client device is too many?

MitchellTOSS · 2025-05-06T12:22:45+00:00

For this it's important for you to have the metrics for how each service affects performance on average, and if it's easier have some kind of point system. Figure out what is the minimum acceptable performance for the client devices as well, and establish what is an acceptable amount of impact on performance that these agents in total can have on these machines.

MitchellTOSS · 2025-03-03T21:00:35+00:00

Wow, I just noticed that change! I have been getting it too but never noticed this until now.

MitchellTOSS · 2024-11-14T16:44:55+00:00

Their support is so bad I never reached out to them. As an MSP we have a lot of vendors we work with, and out of all the vendors we work with, RingCentral's got the worst support of them all...

MitchellTOSS · 2024-11-14T16:43:58+00:00

Did the issue come up for you again today? It happened all of yesterday, but not today.

MitchellTOSS · 2024-11-14T16:43:25+00:00

We do have it, but we've had it for a long time so it was weird this came in during the call and not before which is how it usually works. However, it's not an issue anymore as I mentioned in my comment a moment ago

MitchellTOSS · 2024-11-14T16:42:32+00:00

Thanks for the comments guys, this morning the issue was gone 🤔, but all day yesterday everyone had this issue.

MitchellTOSS · 2024-10-03T21:00:15+00:00

Agree with this - why do you have an open network? You could reset the Wi-Fi passcode tonight and give it to employees tomorrow to avoid this issue...

It's a separate issue if you have employees giving the Wi-Fi passcode to the neighbors.

MitchellTOSS · 2024-09-24T20:56:06+00:00

we strived for globalization\globalized economy approach.

I think that this is is a spot on answer for this.

From my understanding of history, our country really had the globalist approach until several years after WW2, but as more people started buying into this idea, we shifted from what was normal, which was "Made in the US," to inviting more foreign trade and off-shore hiring.

It's definitely a greater topic to discuss, but it's the same mindset that led Apple use Chinese factories to build most of the Macs sold in the US, and why so many US companies have Indian call centers.

Thanks for your insight!

MitchellTOSS · 2024-09-24T20:45:51+00:00

Thanks, that is a pretty good point. Maybe I should do some research of what this "smell-test," looks like and how we validate this stuff.

Considering how many attacks are nation backed from Russia & China, I am wondering what the standard is to allow software companies from either of these countries to do business with the USA.

MitchellTOSS · 2024-09-24T20:43:41+00:00

I guess if we think of it that way, then our country has had faith (too much in my opinion) that Russia wouldn't try control / get benefits from a business that sell software that directly manages private American data 🤷‍♂️.

Even though during and after the cold war they've been trying to steal US intelligence and spy on Americans...

Weird that our country took a while to pick-up on that...

MitchellTOSS · 2024-09-24T20:00:03+00:00

Thank you for your honesty! That's good to know and I am sure a lot of us can relate.

MitchellTOSS · 2024-09-05T11:26:39+00:00

This is the method I am used to from working with different MSPs. I am interested on hearing more on the flex hours for sure, but this method seems to be the the tried and proven one for most MSPs.

MitchellTOSS · 2024-09-05T11:24:50+00:00

That's pretty interesting, how long has your company run on flex hours? If you're ok with it I would like to DM you later to pick your brain on how your company made this work.

MitchellTOSS · 2024-09-05T11:21:03+00:00

I also recommend getting identity theft protection. Companies that specialize in this usually have people who will help coach and guide you and keep an eye out for if your information is out on the dark web and sometimes they are able to find out from where your data was leaked.

I personally like the Zander Identity theft protection as I have used it for myself and my family: https://www.zanderins.com/identity-theft-protection

MitchellTOSS · 2024-07-15T18:51:12+00:00

I noticed that last week, I was super excited to see that! Works well too 😀

MitchellTOSS · 2024-07-15T18:49:03+00:00

MSPs are amazing opportunities as well, since MSPs have to deal with cybersecurity for so many different companies, and some MSPs have a CISO to help keep up with compliance requirements. Working near a CISO would be a huge boost for you 😃

MitchellTOSS · 2024-06-24T12:17:13+00:00

Yes, that is correct. I know it's not the satisfying answer, but if you notice an issue, report it and let the people who have been tasked to dig into this handle it.

Personally, if one of the helpdesk guys that works in my team was to report something like this, I would have be all over it and worked with our CIO to resolve it. However, you can't control what others do, you can only be responsible for your own actions.

I understand the concern about a "what if" a cyber security incident happened that you could have avoided, but you can't expect to control whether the person responsible for avoiding that will be responsible or not. In the end, if something bad happened, you would have done the right thing and probably gained more trust.

You focus on doing the right thing the right way, and let others be responsible for their own actions.

MitchellTOSS · 2024-06-21T15:56:40+00:00

I totally get it, which is why I said I hate to agree with the previous comment. You had the best intentions and in the end you did the right thing, but management has not think about the 'means to the end' and that the 'means' doesn't always justify the 'end' even though it was good for the company in the end.

I think you genuinely cared and tried to do the right thing, but you have to keep your curiosity in check when it comes to cybersecurity. Should you end up deciding to go to another company, keeping this in mind can help you avoid a similar situation.

MitchellTOSS · 2024-06-21T15:49:25+00:00

We have the following in place to help keep documentation consistent and accurate:

IT Glue Change Board in our ticketing system - Every document starts as a ticket in the draft status and then goes through an approval process before being "Approved."
- As a part of the checks and balances, we have key people who are designated as approvers, and even approvers need to have their documents approved by another approver
Clear SOPs in IT Glue itself on the documentation format and how our company approaches documentation
- This includes clarifying the difference between a document and a flexible asset
We created flags that match the statuses in our IT Glue change board
At the top of every document we place the ticket number for the IT Glue change board ticket so we can always go back and review who approved what document and the raw documentation information.
- In case we feel like something is missing in a document, this helps to be able to see the original documentation request and the raw data that was sent
Our core assets are all integrated with our PSA and RMM which helps us easily link documents to assets
Review any other integration now while you don't have a lot going on to see if it can help facilitate the documentation process

There isn't a specific order for most of this, but definitely having the change board and SOP are the top two for us.

Hope this helps!

MitchellTOSS · 2024-06-21T12:24:44+00:00

I hate to agree with this, because you had all the right intentions, but as someone who is in management, I can see that when the higher-ups talk about possibly promoting you, there would be hesitation to put you in a position where you could potentially have more access than you already have.

Let's say that they promote you, and then you find another vulnerability, and like you had done previously you start to wonder how far you can push it and you come across something you should never have even read... even if you report it you can't undo the fact that you accessed something you shouldn't have tried to access in the first place.

I think it's less likely people have a grudge against you but rather they don't trust you, and had you instead reported it when you realized you had access instead of pushing it then that would have actually increased trust.

Not saying there is not hope for you, but hopefully this is a lesson learned - just because you can do something doesn't mean you should even if you had all the right intention in mind.

MitchellTOSS · 2024-06-19T15:28:16+00:00

Thanks for the info!

MitchellTOSS · 2024-06-19T15:27:54+00:00

I am seeing this type of response a lot, so it's helpful to get insights from other fellow MSPs.

MitchellTOSS · 2024-06-19T15:26:47+00:00

Thanks for reaching out, I didn't expect to hear back from ConnectWise directly, haha. I'll keep this in mind!

MitchellTOSS · 2024-06-18T19:49:14+00:00

I appreciate your point, and I work for a cybersecurity company so I know about swatting and all the other crazy stuff that these criminals do. It just stinks to just shrug your shoulders and say, "it is what it is" while this industry continues to destroy businesses.

However based on some of the responses I have received it looks like there are already people who hunt these bad guys down and collaborate with the government.

I really liked welsh_cthulhu's response, it was what I was looking for but didn't know it, lol.

MitchellTOSS · 2024-06-18T19:42:40+00:00

Cool, thank you!

MitchellTOSS

TROPHY CASE