About This Episode

Jerry Koutavas of The ASCII Group is a household name in the MSP community. In this episode of MSP Business School, we get to hear directly from one of the foremost leaders in the industry as he and the hosts discuss where the MSP industry is now and where it’s headed in the very near future.

1:29 – Jerry recounts his journey from being a computer geek in high school to landing a job at a software company. He shares his introduction to the channel and how his boss recommended him for an opening at ASCII 26 years ago.

4:48 – Jerry and the hosts take a short detour to talk about the future of AI in the MSP space and how it could potentially be used to positively impact the industry by providing predictive models that help MSPs know what to be prepared for.

6:56 – Tim asks Jerry to share an exciting new initiative ASCII is currently developing. They discuss the importance of MSPs working together to share information with each other.

11:52 – Jerry and the hosts talk about several issues that the MSP community faces when it comes to legitimacy and liability. They discuss the importance of walking away from customers who don’t take cybersecurity seriously, as well as the importance of MSPs taking security seriously themselves.

14:52 – Jerry dives into one of the big things ASCII is encouraging its members to begin doing when it comes to customer relationships and what they share with their clients. He and the hosts dig into the benefits of transparency and how to use it to create even more value with your customers.

17:48 – Brian asks Jerry to share some of the upcoming events that ASCII will be hosting around the country. Jerry and Tim share stories from past events that highlight the impact of community.