A Look Inside Tech Support Blogs
Merry Christmas, everyone! Since this is a holiday week, I thought we’d take a break from the fundamental series and give you a human-interest story on the writer of these blogs – me! To help you get to know me (and SDB-Consulting) a little better, I’m sharing some tidbits below with you, courtesy of a recent interview I took part in.
What is SDB-Consulting’s Mission and Core Values?
Here at SDB consulting our Mission is to: “Transform IT support centers from chaos into Zen environments, full of peace and harmony. We empower IT Managed Service Providers on how to use historical data to improve the Quality of Work-Life for their Employees, increase their Customer’s Satisfaction, and make more money for the Company.” Our core values come from being U.S. citizens…and as you can guess, I am a Christian. I say U.S. citizen rather than American, because I do not want to offend our friends in the North or South who also live in the Americas. My faith really is the foundation of our core business values here at SDB-Consulting. In all that we do, we’re guided by our Judo-Christian values as we serve those who choose to engage with us - no matter their faith. I try to lead our Company just as Ken Blanchard coined the phrase, “Lead like Jesus.” But faith alone does not explain my own professional passion. In 1990, I took the week-long “7 Habits of Highly Successful People” workshop created by the late Stephen Covey. During that week, my personal mission statement was crafted after deep introspective thinking. Even today – nearly 3 decades later - the mission remains the same, and one I reflect on each New Year: “To have a high value placed on my life by individuals and organizations, who utilize my skills and talents to guide the individuals and organizations through adverse times, while continually improving the quality of work-life for all Employees and their bottom line. To increase this value by continually developing and marketing myself and using my organizational skills so that neither my professional nor personal life suffer due to lack of attention.” At SDB-Consulting, we bring everything we are to the company every single day. For me, that means bringing a blend of my deep-seated Judo-Christian values, German heritage work ethic, 43 years of managing, coaching, and leading technical personnel, and a passion to improve the quality of work-life for as many Employees as I can (oh, and a little humor mixed in for good measure).
Why did you go into expounding on using the term U.S. Citizen rather than American?
It has been a pet peeve of mine for many years that American is used to reference U.S. Citizens, which disregards our neighbors to the North and South who also live in the Americas. I guess I took advantage of an opportunity to get on a soap box.
How long has SDB-Consulting been in business?
Five years ago, two things happened that represented the start of the business: First, I studied and passed Autotask’s Certified Consultant Partner (CCP) exam, which dubbed me a Bonafede Autotask Consultant – woohoo! Second, I hammered out an agreement with Systems Engineering which allowed me to consult on a part-time basis. For the first few years, I was an implementation consultant for Autotask and met several great IT Managed Service Providers along the way. Then Autotask changed the way they were on-boarding new Customers. They shifted away from using Consultants into using training videos instead. To my knowledge, the program has worked well, and both Autotask and their Customers are happy with the change. But there was just one small problem…it left me with nothing to do! After a year of no Consulting work, I decided to get serious, or give up the shingle. Then a series of events took me down the exciting road we are on today. First, I read Danny Iny’s book “Teach and Grow Rich” which started me on the path of offering online training courses in IT Service Delivery Management. We are still on this path, and it’s been quite a lengthy journey! Second, as a source of seed money, besides the savings, the idea of offering IT Service Manager Peer Groups came to mind. As we were researching MSP Peer Groups, I came across MSP-Ignite. MSP-Ignite is owned by a fellow Autotask CCP, Steve Alexander. Not wanting to compete head-to-head with him, we talked, and he suggested I facilitate the IT Service Manager Peer Groups for MSP-Ignite. And here we are! Today, in my role as a facilitator in the IT Service Manger Peer Groups for MSP-Ignite, it’s a definite Win-Win situation. MSP-Ignite gets access to my 34 years of Technical Employee management experience, and I get connected with IT Service Managers, who listen to the current challenges they may face in the industry.
How does writing Blogs fit in with the company’s goals?
There are many facets of Blog writing that fit with a business that is offering online training courses. Blogging in the realm of IT support:
Builds a list of contacts who may be interested in the services we offer
Gives me a vehicle to test my thoughts and philosophies to see if they resonate within the industry
Exposes the company to the industry and builds name recognition, as well as establishes our level of expertise
Allows me to give credit to where credit is due, like with my friends at Autotask, MSP-Ignite, GMS Live Expert, and HDI
Thank you for your time, do you have any last comments?
Of course! As a writer, I always have one more comment. I would like to thank everyone at Autotask, in the Autotask/Reddit/LinkedIn communities, the SDB-Consulting support Team, our Customers, and the MSP’s that have allowed us to do Spec projects with them to demonstrate our skills and/or test and develop new ideas. For more information about me or SDB-Consulting, please visit SBuyze.com, especially the About Us page so you know who the “we” are.