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034: Interview with Ben Greiner, Inventor of Robot Cloud and President of Forget Computers

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Interview Recorded on January 14, 2014; Intro Recorded on January 21, 2014


Intro:

- Sam's friend's lost iPhone

- 1Password's great security audit feature

- Mat Honan's epic hack

- solving the password problem

- MonkeyBox

- Apple's two-step verification


Topics:

- Robot Cloud is built on JAMF Software Casper Suite, customized for multi-tenant use, designed for Mac/iOS management; working closely with JAMF since early 2007

- Robot Cloud has been available as a product since 2013 and is designed for 1-100 seats

- Forget Computers employs 13 people, 10 full time, all but two are technical

- DeviceScout is offered as an add-on for consultants who already have a JSS (JAMF Software Server)

- Inventory & Alerts (JAMF "recon" + added alerting and ZenDesk integration via Support Menu app) @ $5/month/device

- Policies (automated patching, advanced troubleshooting) @ $10/month/device

- Ben's background in consulting: worked as a creative at an ad agency, de facto IT person there; started as a team of 1 in 1998 as Digital Logic, then rebranded as Forget Computers; ACN since 2001; merged with another company in 2005, and attempted to integrate the two companies without success; left with two other consultants at the end of 2005, rebirth of Forget Computers, based in Chicago

- more about Security, Certificates, Network Requirements, etc.

033: Marketing and Followup

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Recorded on January 14, 2014

Topics:

- Promise Pegasus R6, 4 TB RAID 6 failed 1 TB drive replacement – live rebuild during a workday, approximately 3 hours; Promise Utility had reported a PFA condition on Drive #5; sent log to Promise support who authorized an advance shipment RMA; drive reported several bad blocks the next day and went offline; drive replaced and RAID rebuilt successfully in 3.5 hours

- Google's algorithms rank local sites higher for local service providers

- Google text ads are often clicked indiscriminately by "normal" people even though we technical people often avoid them

- "white hat" vs. "black hat" SEO techniques

- put your phone number at the top of every page

- put your email address on the page; spam is a solved problem

- good to have separate pages for each type of service you offer, e.g. Remote vs. Onsite

- being a salesperson without sounding like a salesperson

- giving away your time on "good faith" and asking the client to write a good referral; prospects look for recent referrals

- alternatives to the ACN Consultants Locator for reviews, e.g. Yelp

- however, be wary: Yelp often removes positive reviews written by legitimate users, if those users have only posted one review; also, it has been reported that "Yelp will help you remove bad reviews…for a price."

032: Happy New Year – Business Resolutions and New Things

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Recorded live on January 7, 2014

Topics:

- Mac Pro migration project

- AirMail – Sam's pick

- MailPilot – another Mail alternative

- Send Later plugin: delay your response to client questions to avoid sending the message that you are available instantly or at off hours

- Daylite, Daylite plugin for Mail.app – Jerry's pick

- iSkelter

- Screen Sharing menu let vs. dragging .vncloc files to a folder in the Dock

- aliases to mount volumes on login or click

- Surveillance Station on DS212j – Joe's pick

031: Help Desk Ticketing Systems and Year-End Purchases

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What do I do?

What do I do?

Recorded live on December 17, 2013

Topics:

- Zendesk: Starter Plan @ $1 per Agent per month

- forward emails to help desk, ticket shows original email sender as Requester

- using help desk for calls, scheduling requests, and tasks

- continue using email for quick questions

- formal "discovery" process for new clients, or doing smaller/easier tasks before larger projects

- great to see outcome of others' tickets

- configure triggers to CC lead or admin on High Priority tickets

- End of Year purchases

- selling old equipment for clients for commission vs. fixing and selling old machines inherited from clients

Picks of the Week:

- Hatching Twitter: A True Story of Money, Power, Friendship, and Betrayal – Jerry's pick

- Promise Pegasus2 R4 Diskless 4Bay Thunderbolt 2 RAID System – Joe's pick

Plus:

- Mavericks classes coming in January! Visit InstructUs Training or your local AATC for class schedules. First possible 101 class is 1/6/14.  First possible 201 class is 1/22/14.

- Mavericks training books out December 30, 2013

030: Interview with Ryan Powell of iLifestyle Consulting, plus Bonus Rants

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Recorded live on December 10, 2013

Topics:

- special guest Ryan Powell of iLifestyle Consulting discusses some cloud-hosted apps he uses to help run his consulting practice

- looking at the per seat recurring/subscription pricing models of cloud software as a predictable cost of doing business

- Work(etc)

- Wufoo for forms

- LiveChat for website live chat

- RingCentral for phone system

- Highrise for CRM

- Basecamp for Project Management

- Echosign for agreement signatures

- Timely for scheduling and automatic appointment reminders

- Xero for accounting

- Zendesk for support

- Mailchimp for email marketing

- HootSuite for social media

- Google Apps for email hosting

- Robot Cloud for client monitoring and policy management

Plus:

- Joe's rant about Yahoo Small Business

- Joe's rant about Apple Store