In The News

Bethesda, Maryland – November 13, 2019 – The ASCII Group, a membership-based community of independent North American MSPs, VARs and solution providers, is pleased to announce the featured speakers for its 2020 North American ASCII IT Success Summits. The agenda for the Summits reflects a heightened focus on education, providing attendees with strategies and best practices on how to grow their IT companies while best servicing their customer base. The 2020 events will have more emphasis on MSP-driven education sessions (featuring ASCII members) and our most popular Keynote speaker returns for a special security discussion.

Keynote Speaker – Frank Abagnale, Security Briefing: The Art of the Steal

In this unique session, con man turned crime stopper Frank Abagnale provides the latest information to protect institutions, associations and corporations from embezzlement, forgery, counterfeit currency, check fraud, identity theft, and Internet fraud. He describes white collar crime techniques, liability concerns under the new Uniform Commercial Code, and demonstrates the latest document features and equipment. Abagnale combines his expertise with anecdotes from his time as one of the world’s most successful con men for a timely, insightful and informative presentation.

Additional MSP peer education and industry speakers include:

Bob Coppedge, Simplex-IT – The MSP Survival Guide to Co-Managed IT Services

Can Managed Service Providers (MSPs) work harmoniously with internal IT departments? Historically the answer has been “no way”. In this session, you will see that it can be done without having to recreate your traditional MSP offerings. In fact, MSPs can directly market to organizations who have internal IT departments and create a unique selling proposition. By crafting a mutually supportive relationship between internal IT employees and your MSP organization, both parties reap the benefits and can build a strong, long-term relationship. This session will show you how to do this without reinventing your existing MSP practice.

Corey Kirkendoll, 5K Technical Services – The Ultimate MSP Check List for Bulletproof Internal Security

Over the past year, “security” has been one of the most highly talked about subjects in our industry. However, there is one element vital to the success of MSPs that hasn’t been broadly discussed – internal security measures. Corey Kirkendoll, CEO of 5K Technical Services, has been aggregating best practices from within the ASCII and vendor community into a definitive guide to help MSPs lock down their environments from future attacks. Corey will present this information, highlighting the top things most MSPs are not doing that leave them vulnerable to being breached. The content created for this session has been a collaborative effort for our industry and the findings are vital for any MSP to hear.

Dawn Sizer, 3^rd Element Consulting – Going Vertical in Municipal Government and Law Enforcement is Not a Bidding War

Building trust and delivery of IT services for first responders is no small task and leading the charge in this sector of the market is Dawn Sizer, CEO of 3rd Element Consulting. Dawn has focused almost exclusively on this vertical as well as local municipalities. With over 12 years in delivering IT services, Dawn has stood out because of solid processes and knowing the nuances of this market and what it takes to be successful. With 0% client loss, 3rd Element Consulting provides 24/7 support which extends to the office, outside of cars in the field, to the station, and into the cloud. Plenty of people say it’s too hard to get into this vertical, but it’s knowing how, and the right staff will qualify you, or disqualify you.

Shannon Mayer, The ASCII Group – How MSPs Can Drive New Business through Live Events

Events are a proven way to generate business and heighten your company brand. Building an event takes more than just figuring out the logistics aspect though – it requires an understanding of marketing and repeatable strategies for success.  Shannon Mayer, ASCII’s VP of Channel Development, has produced over 150 events, and in this session Shannon will go beyond the basics and help you determine the best approach and strategy to help you produce your own local, live event to drive new business and retain customers.

Jerry Koutavas, The ASCII Group: MSP-Client Retention Strategy Study

With its most recent industry study, ASCII breaks down the data exposing specific strategies that leading MSPs are using to increase customer retention. As MSPs continue to drive recurring revenue and automate processes that would lessen the need to have a physical presence at their client sites, it is vital to have a strategy to increase touch and awareness with your customers.  Jerry Koutavas, President of The ASCII Group, digs into the specifics as we help you compare your current business strategy to your peers as we discuss the most recent data on which approaches outperform others to maintain customer revenue.

For over 20 years, the Success Summits have been the leading conference in the channel and bring together over 1,500 IT solution providers, cutting edge technology vendors and key industry thought leaders in a two-day format.  ASCII hosts events in nine major cities across North America and the series focuses on areas to help MSPs advance and move their businesses forward through the power of community and peer-to-peer knowledge sharing.

“Our goal has never changed, provide the ASCII MSP community with an event unlike any other, with actionable business content, a nationally recognized keynote and the showcasing of top technology that is helping MSPs drive new revenue,” said Jerry Koutavas, President, The ASCII Group.  “Attendees leave the events with business intelligence they can use and new partnerships they can leverage to further build recurring revenue for their business.”

The Summit series is designed for qualified Managed Service Providers and is targeted towards those looking to increase revenue and enhance their current business model.

The locations and dates for the 2020 ASCII IT Success Summits:

• Long Beach, CA – February 26 – 27
• Houston, TX – March 25 – 26
• Washington, D.C. – April 22 – 23
• Chicago, IL – May 27 – 28
• Cincinnati, OH – June 24 – 25
• Toronto, Canada – July 29 – 30
• Atlantic City, NJ – August 26 – 27
• Boston, MA – September 24 – 25
• Orlando, FL – October 21 – 22

MSPs and solution providers interested in attending the Summits can visit www.asciievents.com. For more information, follow ASCII on Twitter @asciigroup and #ASCIISUCCESS.

About The ASCII Group, Inc:

The ASCII Group is the premier community of North American MSPs, VARs and solution providers. The Group has over 1,300 members located throughout the U.S. and Canada, and membership encompasses everyone from credentialed MSPs serving the SMB community to multi-location solution providers with a national and international reach. Founded in 1984, ASCII provides services to members including leveraged purchasing programs, education and training, marketing assistance, extensive peer interaction and more.  ASCII works with a vibrant ecosystem of leading and major technology vendors that complement the ASCII community and support the mission of helping MSPs and VARs to grow their businesses. For more information, please visit www.ascii.com.

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Press Contact
Alysia Vetter
Vice President of Marketing
Tel: 800-394-2724 x 131
Email: alysia@ascii.com
Web: www.ascii.com