Information from our blog . . . See our blog at https://nsitsp.org/news/ See the contents of the Member Resources area at https://nsitsp.org/member-resources/ ----- ----- Materials Available From The AI Working Group August 22, 2023 Posted By: Amy Babinchak Posted In: Marketing If you haven't seen what the AI working group is doing yet, then you need to log onto https://nsitsp.org and grab the resources. If you haven’t seen what the AI working group is doing yet, then you need to log onto https://nsitsp.org and grab the resources. The group, led by Steve Kazan, is producing webinars and a toolkit to teach you how to use AI and think about how to integrate it into your business. For example, the AI Tool Kit is a working document on how to use AI, plus a list of the webinars past and present they have and are producing. AI Toolkit This comprehensive kit not only helps you learn how to use AI but connects you with key contacts at leading corporations, provides suggestions for useful Ai applications and more. Content of the toolkit Purpose Group Members Section Links Useful Blogs / Websites Blogs / Newsletter and Articles Key contacts Useful MSP Tools ChatGP Tools Softland Partners AI Techniques & Best Practices 2023 Sample Tool List Studies NSITSP Webinar Topics Webinar #1 Webinar # 2 Webinar #3 Appendix 1: Basis ChatGPT Prompts Instructional/Guidance Problem-Solving Content Creation Analysis/Comparison Communication Research Personal/Professional Development Productivity Planning/Strategy There’s a section of 40 beginner prompts for AI, broken down into topics. Here’s one of those sections. Problem-Solving Analyze pros and cons of [two options]. Offer three innovative solutions for [specific problem]. Troubleshoot [common problem/error]. Improve decision-making skills in [specific context]. Manage stress and maintain work-life balance. Streamline and automate [specific process/workflow]. Webinars The AI Roundtable is also organizing webinars. These will help you start using AI, understand the risks and talk to your clients about AI. Webinar #1 (recording available) Title: Using AI Tools to Market Your MSP Webinar # 2 (September) Topic: AI Cyber Security, Risk and Data Governance Webinar #3 (October) Title: AI and Operational Efficiency: Separating Hype from Reality and Practicality Take action Do you want to see more content like this? Attend the Marketing committee meetings. Not a member yet? Join yourself or join your company! ----- Membership Upgrade Time! July 31, 2023 Posted By: Karl Palachuk Posted In: Membership, Professionalism For individuals with zero employees, and for employees themselves, the individual membership is perfect - only $125 per year. Company memberships are based on the number of employees you have and start at only $150 per year. A lot of people joined the National Society in August of 2021 when we first kicked off memberships. That means it’s renewal time for many of you. Prices have gone up the tiniest bit, but are still super affordable. For pretty much anyone who wants to be a member, the annual cost is less that ONE hour of labor! Paid Members: Please Choose a Membership Level For individuals with zero employees, and for employees themselves, the individual membership is perfect – only $125 per year. Company memberships are based on the number of employees you have and start at only $150 per year. Companies can register all of your employees at Associates. Associates can access all of our webinars and events, and participate in forums. They cannot vote or hold office. Download Detailed Instructions on Upgrading Your Membership Now: https://nsitsp.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Member-Upgrade-Self.pdf If you have employees, we encourage you to upgrade to a Company Membership! Members can learn more at https://nsitsp.org/join/ – or watch the membership decision tree video at https://nsitsp.org/membership-decision-tree/. Registered “Free” Guests – Please Step Up Now If you are in the IT industry, please contribute the tiny amount we ask for a professional membership. Going forward, we’ll be producing more member content (such as webinars). But most importantly, we are working to help improve this industry AND its reputation. We’re working to transform this industry into a profession. You can help with just one little PAID membership per year. Join us for the All-Member meeting on August 9th and find out what we’ve been up to and what’s ahead. But in the meantime, today is a great day to step up to a paid membership for the National Society of IT Service Providers. Please let us know if you have any questions! ----- Everyone Needs A Code Of Ethics – Use Our Model July 10, 2023 Posted By: Karl Palachuk Posted In: Membership, Professionalism, Resources One of the most important steps any industry needs to take on the road to professionalism is a standard set of rules and ethics that everyone agrees on. One of the most important steps any industry needs to take on the road to professionalism is a standard set of rules and ethics that everyone agrees on. This doesn’t have to be exact, word-for-word. But certainly, the general principles should be universal inside the industry. When the NSITSP was brand new, the Board of Directors spent almost six months working on, fine-tuning, and publishing a model Code of Ethics for ourselves and all members. This COE was posted online for six months and eventually agreed to by the membership. We encourage all IT Service Providers to follow and post our Code of Ethics to your web site. The NSITSP Code of Ethics strives to ensure that all IT consumers (individuals and businesses) are served by professional consultants who value honesty, integrity, and professionalism in all activities. Here are some notes about WHY you should adopt a code of ethics – both for yourself and for the industry as a whole. Obviously, all business relatioinships should be built on trust. This includes the relationships you have with your clients, your employees, your vendors, and other members of the IT community. Having a code of ethics and living by the code of ethics are two different things. But one of the great benefits is that a public, visible, simple, and understandable code of ethics makes it easy for each of us to see whether the behavior we see matches the behavior promised in the COE. Almost all companies have a code of ethics. But when you read about scandals in the headlines, you see that a company’s behavior may not reflect their code at all. A code of ethics is central to building a good culture. Most obviously, it sets down rules and guidelines within your company. That empowers everyone to point to the COE and use it as a guideline: “Does this behavior fit within our code of ethics?” You company culture is then a puzzle piece connecting your company’s ethics to that of your suppliers, clients, and other partners. Culture exists within entire industries. I’m sorry to continually pick on used car salesmen, but that industry has spent a hundred years developing an industry that no one trusts. They are the “poster child” of bad behavior. Clearly, we don’t want people to look at our industry that way. A code of ethics literally says to the world: These are guidelines we hold ourselves accountable to, and you are welcome to hold us accountable to them as well. A powerful statement like that automatically helps you build a positive reputation with anyone who visits your web site. Therefore, we encourage you to post your code of ethics prominently (probably on the About Page) and make it easy to find. You can find the NSITSP COE here: https://nsitsp.org/code-of-ethics/ And a handy printable PDF version here: https://nsitsp.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Code-of-Ethics-2023.pdf In addition to keeping your business inside the law, especially with regard to privacy regulations, a good code of ethics will help you attract good employees and good clients. By good, I simply mean the kind of folks who are attracted by a strong code of ethis. We adopted a code of ethics that we hope can set a standard for everyone in the business of technology. As you are aware, there are plenty of “bad actors” in IT consulting, and we need to work as an industry to make them feel that they should work inside ethical guidelines. PLEASE download our code of ethics. Please post it (or something close to it) on your web site. Post it in your office and make sure your employees see it. Be open to discussing it with your employees. If we all use and post our code of ethics, we as an industry will begin to build a reputation as the kind of businesses that people trust. It will be the beginning of standardization of ethical behavior for the whole industry. On a very practical note, I believe a code of ethics should be short enough to fit on one page of paper AND simple enough that everyone can understand it without trying to memorize it. I think we achieved that. Here is the NSITSP Code of Ethics. Please spread the word. NSITSP Code of Ethics Competence We will always represent our skills and abilities accurately. We will maintain our capacity to provide wise counsel for those areas we represent having expertise through education, and experience. Conflict of Interest We advise our clients of conflicts of interest that exist and will always present the options we genuinely believe are in the best interest of the client. We shall not knowingly make recommendations or provide advice that serves the member and not the recipient. Confidentiality We treat all client information as confidential unless we know it’s not. We will not take advantage of proprietary or privileged information, either for use by ourselves, our client’s firm, or another client, without the client’s permission. We have documented measures for maintaining the confidentiality of our clients’ data as well as our own. Commitment to Clients We compete by consistently acting in our client’s best interest and employing the highest levels of honesty, competence, transparency, and professionalism. We expect our vendors and other IT Service Providers to operate within the same Code of Ethics we hold ourselves to, and will not tolerate unethical behavior. ----- Grab These Member Resources! May 31, 2023 Posted By: Karl Palachuk Posted In: Membership, News, Resources Please check out the member resources section of our web site. We've added A LOT of resources recently. Please check out the member resources section of our web site. We’ve added A LOT of resources recently. The Resources link is right at the top. These are members-only resources, so you need to be logged in.* https://nsitsp.org/member-resources/ Recent additions, thanks to the Legislative and Marketing Committees, are: Printable, attractive version of our Code of Ethics in PDF format Tri-fold brochure to print and have on hand for events such as ChannelPro “Contact Your State Representative” Resource Guide The recent members-only webinar recording on Press Relations The recent members-only webinar recording on Insurance and more! Please explore, share, and give feedback – especially on the handouts. These are first-take documents and we expect them to get better (and more professional) over time. Thank you all for your support! * Note: If you cannot access these files, it means that you are not a paid member. Being a Registered Guest is great – and we love you – But being a paid member is better. We need the numbers. And we are producing a growing about of members-only content. Please commit today. The cost starts at $125 for an individual membership and only $150 for a company membership. Please visit https://nsitsp.org/join today! ----- Badges And Governance May 21, 2023 Posted By: Amy Babinchak Posted In: News Set of delicious jelly and caramel sweets arranged in lines by type Some go beyond just membership and actively work in the organization with passion. We should recognize those people, shouldn't we Some people in an organization are standouts. It’s just how a group of people sort themselves. Some go beyond just membership and actively work in the organization with passion. We should recognize those people, shouldn’t we? This is one of the items that the Governance Committee reported on during the most recently quarterly meeting. Together with the Marketing Committee they are coming up with a badging program. NSITSP wants to recognize those organize meet-ups, recruit new members, companies and vendors, staff our table at events and more. What do you do with a badge? Show it on your NSITSP public profile Stick it on your laptop Include it in your LinkedIn profile Include it on your website Wear it on your name tag Badges are both silly and important. I put my name tag adornment, that you get in your NSITSP welcome kit and not technically a badge but bear with me, on my name tag at the ChannelPartners conference and it was noticed. Several people asked me about it and about the NSITSP. That’s what we want from a badge or a name tag adornment, a conversation starter. These things work to build reputation and awareness, while at the same time providing you with the knowledge that we really, really appreciate you. Are you reading this but aren’t yet a member of the National Society of IT Service Providers? Please join us today. Together we can move this industry toward more professionalism and be in all the places where people are making decisions about our future. ----- Membership Update: Please Update Now January 22, 2023 Posted By: Karl Palachuk Posted In: Membership, News We've updated the Membership program to include tiers based on company size. Now is a great time to upgrade. As you probably know, we’ve updated the Membership program to include tiers based on company size. There are no differences in benefits, just different price levels based on the number of employees. There are three types of membership: 1) Registered Guests (free) 2) Individual Members ($125) – Intended for one-person shops or individuals 3) Company Members ($150 – $2,500) – Includes one Individual Membership and a number of Associate Member See the graphic below. Most members will be either Individual Members or in the Tier One Company Membership. Important: If you are a sole proprietor or one-person shop and intend to stay that way, you don’t have to do anything: Your membership will be converted to the new $125 annual price and your account will renew at that price. Download Detailed Instructions on Upgrading Your Membership Now: https://nsitsp.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Member-Upgrade-Self.pdf If you have employees, we encourage you to upgrade to a Company Membership. This allows your employees to become Associate Members, so they can view all elements of the web site, sit in on meetings, participate in forums, etc. Associate members cannot vote or run for office, but can participate in all other activities. The company tier levels are: • Tier One Membership $150 – Company Size 1-5 • Tier Two Membership $375 – Company Size 6-15 • Tier Three Membership $1,250 – Company Size 16-50 • Tier Four Membership $2,500 – Company Size Over 50 Members can learn more at https://nsitsp.org/join/ – or watch the membership decision tree video at https://nsitsp.org/membership-decision-tree/. Please let us know if you have any questions! ----- Revised Membership Program – Early Thoughts September 30, 2022 Posted By: Karl Palachuk Posted In: Membership, News The Governance Committee has been working very hard to craft the “next” version of our general membership program. Here is a draft of their current thinking. The committee would love YOUR feedback. Please do so here or in the member forum: Who is the Member? (Note: You must be logged in to access forums.) First, an overview of the proposal. Non-paying guests are currently referred to as “Registered Members.” The committee proposes changing this to guests, noting that members have committed a small amount of money to be paid members. Second, the core building block of membership is the paid Professional Member. A paid Professional Member might be an individual or the named Professional Member in a company. We have long held that each company has no more than one vote. That is obtained by having one named Professional Member per company. Third, there will be tiers of Company members. Companies are divided by the number of employees. The idea is that all employees may be “Associate Members,” but will not be able to vote in elections or to hold an office. For example, an MSP with ten employees would have one Professional Member and nine Associate Members. Associate Members have access to forums, internal documents, and everything on the web site that is open to Professional Members. Associate Members may attend committee meetings, but they would not be official members, so they will not vote on motions. Fourth, Vendor Partners are those companies that have contributed at a larger level and are part of the Vendor Partner Program (defined at https://www.nsitsp.org/vendors). Each Vendor Partner includes one Company Membership and therefore one Paid Professional membership as well as a number of Associate memberships. Here’s a rough diagram of how the program would look: Draft Concept for New Membership Program Note, please, that the names for membership levels are truly placeholders. We do not intend to have a membership level named “Huge.” We would love to have your ideas for tier names. The Governance Committee agreed to let people self-identify with regard to their tier levels. The idea is that you will select based on the number of employees, but we’re not going to validate your choice. Professional Member benefits – $125/year Able to self-designate as MSP, VAR, Vendor, Educator, Media, etc. Access to members-only information on the website such as: reports, files, membership directory and forums Access to training regarding ethics and industry best practices* Legislative updates and advocacy guidance* Attend public, private and committee meetings Can vote in NSITSP elections Listed in the Membership Directory Can serve on Committees Member to member communication Receive digital membership logo to use for website, business cards, etc. Adhere to the NSITSP code of ethics *in development Big questions to discuss here or in the forum linked above: What do you think overall? Are we headed in the right direction? What names should we have for the four tiers? Is four the right number of tiers? Do these breaking points makes sense? Do these price levels make sense? ----- Social Media Headers July 5, 2022 Posted By: Karl Palachuk Posted In: Marketing UPDATED POST – It was pointed out that my taste in graphics is confusing with regard to a business I own. This was not my intent. But I have created some new graphics that I hope are not like anything I’ve used before. PLUS, I’ve created them so you can drop your logo into the graphic to maximize your association with the NSITSP. — — — One of our members requested graphics made specifically for Facebook and LinkedIn. So, in my spare time over the holiday, I created some. They’re not great, but they get the job done. Any real artists out there? Also: Check out the Social Media Kit for more resources! Here is the Facebook graphic. Note that there are hefty margins that will not appear on certain devices. The core graphic and background design should show on phones, desktops, and tablets. Right click to download for Facebook Here’s the LinkedIn graphic. Note that the logo is to the right so it won’t be obscured by your profile photo. Right click to download for LinkedIn Finally, here’s a graphic you can customize for YouTube: We appreciate the enthusiasm. Show your membership! ----- Social Media Kit – And More June 4, 2022 Posted By: Karl Palachuk Posted In: Marketing, News, Volunteer We have three quick marketing updates. Please explore and share. News on our YouTube channel, logo contest, and social media marketing kit. Members: Please help us promote the NSITSP! We have three quick marketing updates. Please explore and share. 1. YouTube – Quick news update before we get to the headline. The NSITSP YouTube channel now has a custom URL: https://youtube.com/nsitsp – exactly what you’d expect. Please visit, subscribe, and share! 2. Logo Contest – Our big Logo Contest ends June 15th. See the info at https://nsitsp.org/logo-contest/ – and join the contest today! If you just have a hand-drawn idea, take a picture and post it. No talent required. Now the headline . . . 3. NSITSP Social Media Kit – We recently created a great resource for you: The NSITS Social Media Kit. See https://nsitsp.org/social-media-kit/ The Media Kit includes Sample posts (words) you can steal and use Some hashtags to include. As a rule, three or four hashtags is best. Graphics – various colors in both wide and square options Our logo in a couple of different formats PLEASE post on our behalf. You can always link back to our primary web site (NSITSP.org) or any of the specific pages. Note that non-members will not be able to see some pages. But that’s okay: Perhaps they’ll decide to join! If YOU want to volunteer to help the Marketing Committee, fill out the form at https://nsitsp.org/forums/forum/volunteer-opportunities/. Thank you. We hope you find this information helpful. And we really appreciate your assistance in helping the NSITSP to grow. ----- All About Letters Of Reference February 7, 2022 Posted By: Karl Palachuk Posted In: Professionalism One of the requirements for Professional membership is two letters of reference (or recommendation). Ideally, these will be from your clients. But they might also come from another NSITSP Professional member. Some people have wondered what exactly we do with these. One of the requirements for Professional membership is two letters of reference (or recommendation). Ideally, these will be from your clients. But they might also come from another NSITSP Professional member. Some people have wondered what exactly we do with these. Why this requirement? The Board set this requirement as a “low bar” to membership. You should have a couple of clients who are willing to write a paragraph saying that you are a good person to work with. Does the letter have to be on letterhead? Ideally, you’ll upload a scanned letter in PDF format. It should be on your client’s letterhead, not your own. You might also take a screen shot of an email message that shows the client’s information and email signature. What happens to these Letters? Once letters are uploaded, they go into a secure database on the NSITSP.org web site. This is a Fluent Forms database on our secure server, which is within a WordPress site on a dedicated server at DreamHost that is managed by Small Biz Thoughts. Small Biz Thoughts is owned by Karl W. Palachuk, our Executive Director. Once uploaded, Letters are opened and viewed by one of our staff, just to make sure they look legit and are not just random quotes from your web site or marketing page. Then the PDF file is closed. It stays inside the database described above and is not printed or exported. Does NSITSP contact my clients? No. We do not contact your clients or extract any information whatsoever from the Letters of Reference. This is simply a way to check that members have a business that is a going concern. Can I use these Letters for marketing? Yes! You should verify with your client that it’s okay with them. But we think this is a great way to gather some endorsements that you can post on your web site as “social proof” of your good standing. What else do I need to know about Letters of Reference? Depending on your clients, you may find that Letters of Reference are very handy to have. Some government agencies, foundations, and larger clients ask for Letters of Reference to prove that you are a a good person to do business with. Do You Have a Sample? Yes! Professional Community member Andy Higgins gave us permission to post this client letter of reference (or click the pdf icon). In case you’re not sure where to upload your letters of reference, go here: https://nsitsp.org/join/professional-member/letters-of-recommendation/ Who should I contact with further questions? If you are a Professional member, you can access the forums on this web site. Or email concierge@smallbizthoughts.com ----- Grab These "Join Us" Graphics November 21, 2021 Posted By: Karl Palachuk Posted In: News, NS ITSP In The News Will you do us a favor? Will you please download some graphics and help promote the NSITSP on social media? These 16:9 graphics work great on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. The square ones are great for Instagram. Sample Post: We are a professional association representing SMB – small and medium business – IT consultants. We focus on education, professionalism, and promoting the interests of IT professionals everywhere. Join us! www.nsitsp.org #msp #managedservice #itsp #nsitsp Or customize as you see fit! For all graphics, just right-click on the graphic of choice and save it locally. I recommend the following process for posting on social media. First select the graphic. Then past the text with the link. Be sure to include the hashtags. ----- October 24, 2021 Posted By: Karl Palachuk Posted In: News We have created pages or accounts on the following social media. These will be used to broadcast news and get the word out. Please take a minute to follow each of these and share them with your friends and contacts. Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/National-Society-of-I-T-Service-Providers-108845781574908 LinkedIn Page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/national-society-of-it-service-providers/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/nsitsp YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDF4jjX3iWr3JUMfXM9b5Gw And, of course, you can always find the NSITSP home page at www.nsitsp.org. NOW is a great time to do this. Thank you.