NSITSP: Advocating for IT Professionals (EP 802)

[Uncle Marv]
Hello friends, Uncle Marv here with another episode of the IT Business Podcast, the show for IT professionals, managed service providers, anyone that is supporting business in our industry. This is the show to help you run your business better, smarter, and faster. Some of the things that I do from time to time are a little different and this is one of those cases.

And just to lay the groundwork, this past year I became a member of the National Society of IT Service Providers, the short acronym is NSITSP, and this was an organization that was started to kind of help us define some professional standards. It also helps with education, advocacy, and there was a little bit of governance in the sense that we wanted to have a seat at the table if legislature started to come down the pike, yada, yada, yada. But I'm telling you all of that to tell you this, over the next few months, I will be hosting with my podcast, several of the members from the NSITSP will be doing some member spotlights, talking about the organization, talking about how it got started, talking about how members are benefiting from this.

So that's what's going to be happening over the next few months. So you will see that NSITSP logo throughout the course of the next few months. And what better way to get started than one of the pioneers of our industry and the person that kind of spearheaded the beginning of the NSITSP, Karl Palachuk, is joining me today.

Karl, how are you?

[Karl Palachuk]
I am excellent. Thank you for having me and thank you for doing this.

[Uncle Marv]
Well, thank you guys for, I guess the best way to be dragging me into the group here. Amy Babinchak was chatting me, she's like, why aren't you helping us? I'm like, uh, don't know.

[Karl Palachuk]
That's the best kind of volunteerism.

[Uncle Marv]
Yes, it is. Yes, it is. Now, for people that, you know, like me, have kind of been doing our thing, heads, you know, heads down, working, working, working.

For people that don't know or have not heard of the NSITSP, I explained a little bit about what it was, but since you're one of the founding members there, tell us what started all of this and how we got to where we are.

[Karl Palachuk]
Well, a number of us, and you mentioned Amy, but Amy Babinchak and Dave Sobel and just a whole bunch of people that, you know, I've interacted with over the years, have talked about the need to do something. And in 2021, I wrote a series of blog posts where I basically said, look, our industry needs to take a serious look at ourselves. We have scoundrels.

We have truly people who sign contracts and don't do what they say they're going to do. You know, they rip off their clients and they give us a bad name. We have politicians who think that we're the compliance officers for anything that they want to throw out there.

You know, we can see that legislation is coming and regulation is already here. And at the same time, we as an industry are run by a lot of people who don't take it very seriously as business people and as professionals. And so we have problems from the outside, problems from the inside.

And I wrote a series of blog posts. And then I held a webinar and I said, I want to talk about that. And I turned it all into a big, long white paper, which is downloadable at NSITSP.org.

And basically, you know, I talked about the pillars of turning an industry into a profession. And then you may recall July 2021. So I had asked my assistant, you know, start building a website, make it really simple, like a five pager, right?

Yeah. OK. So then July 4th weekend, 2021, I go off to Nashville.

With a friend and my phone blows up because of the Kaseya attacks. And it just it drove me over the top because I heard people on the news. Talking about our industry and saying things like, well, this must be really bad software.

This must have been implemented wrong. These people must not know what they're doing right on and on and on. And I can think of is you have absolutely no idea what you're talking about.

And that's where we started using the phrase like we want to have a seat at the table when anybody's talking about us, whether that's legislators, the media, other professionals, our clients or other IT consultants. So I know that's a little long winded, but it is.

[Uncle Marv]
And part of me, you know, harkens back to, you know, early days of doing this when I kind of made my transition from, you know, a solo tech break fix, working out of my car, being the trunk slammer that people called me to doing more business support, becoming more professional, working with law firms, medical offices and stuff. I did see a need for there to be some sort of standard in terms of what people did. Now, some people probably look at like the auto industry where they've got their certifications and body shops, you know, are registered.

I know here in South Florida, just your typical service trades, you know, carpenters, home workers and stuff. We have a lot of contractors. That are kind of like you mentioned, scoundrels, you know, but there's a license for them and they can have their license revoked and that.

But it's weird. People look at our industry and say, OK, do we really need to have this standard? Do we need to have some sort of governance?

[Karl Palachuk]
Well, it's funny. So just literally last week, I heard about something I'd never heard of before, which is apparently there are people who are security professionals who go out and they do a security audit. And then it's literally like used car repairment.

Right. They say, oh, you've got to fix this and this and this. And they make the client or they give the client a proposal to fix a lot of stuff that's not really broken.

It's just not their brand of equipment or, you know, something like that. And so they're actually not representing our industry very well. And let me just back up a bit.

I have nothing against trunk slammers. We basically all started out as one person shops and moved from there. But you, I know, and you alluded to it.

You started out with understanding what a professional is, that you were going to do the job right or you weren't going to do it at all. And there are people and you know, there are who don't care if they do it right. They'll take the money and they'll do what they can.

And if they screw it all up, they honestly don't care. They'll go get another client. And we need to not have our industry looked at like we look at used car salesmen.

[Uncle Marv]
Is there is there space for self-policing in our industry? I think to some degree, some people have tried to do that, but it sounds like we aren't able to do that ourselves.

[Karl Palachuk]
Well, it's interesting because I was having a chat with Dave Sobel recently about how I am not sure if you look at all the industry organizations out there. I'm not sure there's a huge belief that we need something like that. I think there is.

You obviously think there is. But there's a whole lot of people who think, no, we'll just you know, the wild, wild west is a pretty fun place to operate. And I think there is a need to do some holding each other accountable.

That's why we encourage people to download our model code of ethics and basically say, Marv, you can keep me accountable. I'll keep you accountable. Our clients can hold us accountable to what we have put on our website as our code of ethics.

And you can hold me to what I promise I'm going to deliver. But at some point, there needs to be some assistance from an organization outside of us. And, you know, I think some people are adamantly opposed to any government regulation, but it's going to happen whether you like it or not.

Your only choice is, will you participate in it when it comes or will you let it happen to you?

[Uncle Marv]
Right. We do have, for lack of a better phrase, a cybersecurity issue where insurance companies are starting to put in directives. I'm going to say with and without our input and that affects us directly.

So it is happening, as you say.

[Karl Palachuk]
Yes. And, you know, in the great someday we have a million things to do. But one of the things I would love to see us do is build a coalition with the insurance industry, because if we could say, look, you know, let's say potentially we have a model legislation that says, hey, you know what?

If you offer people these things that will make them secure and they turn you down, then if something happens, you're absolved and the insurance company doesn't have to pay because they were offered what would make it right and secure. They turned it down. And so, you know, don't sue the IT consultant.

But that absolution for us and for the insurance company can only come from state governments. You can't say that you want to do that and have an insurance guy sign a waiver. It's just not going to work.

Right. So it has to be an industry to industry thing. So whatever is on the long list of things that can happen someday.

But I do think the insurance industry is one of our great potential allies.

[Uncle Marv]
I want to make sure that we let people know the Web site that Carl mentioned in as ITSP dot org. And you can find everything there. Of course, you can get involved there and join our cause.

Now, Carl, you are I don't want to say an enigma. That's probably not the right word. But in terms of these member profiles, you and I have discussed you're more than a member.

And I mentioned earlier that you are one of the pioneers in our industry helping to establish with your books and with your guidance. You know, the guidelines of service agreements for SMB consultants, your quick start guide to manage services, manage services in 30 days. You helped shape a lot of what we do as managed service providers.

So in this new endeavor, let me ask, what is, I guess, your personal goal that you would like to see happen with the NSIT SP?

[Karl Palachuk]
Well, so my personal goal in general is to help IT consultants be as successful as possible. Like literally, you know, that's the promise that my company makes that I make. And if I do something that doesn't help IT consultants to be more successful, you can call me on it.

So the I founded the NSIT SP because I want people to realize that the more professional you are, the more successful you can be. I mean, if you think about it, there are there are lawyers who advertise on the side of buses and they charge one hundred and fifty dollars an hour and they scratch and claw to, you know, chase down ambulances. And there's lawyers that charge seven hundred fifty dollars an hour and have a waiting list.

One of those takes their profession more seriously than the other. And you can always scratch and claw and get by or you can say, you know what, I'm going to step up. I'm going to get some certifications.

I'm going to get some education. I'm going to make sure that my people are competent and that we fulfill our promises and so forth. And I just think you and your clients will all be more successful if you are more professional.

And again, I just think we ought to hold each other to that level of accountability.

[Uncle Marv]
All right. Do you see any challenges that we may face as we move down this path?

[Karl Palachuk]
No, lots of them. The worst problem, the worst potential problem is sitting like a time bomb waiting for us. The next time that there's an attack equivalent or, you know, the modern equivalent of the Kaseya attacks, some legislator is going to turn to their staff and say, give me a law, give me legislation that I can implement on this.

And as you know, when the government gets involved very frequently, they put forward legislation that would not have prevented the problem, doesn't actually address the problem, but it makes everybody feel good. And they pass the legislation and then they move on to the next thing. Well, who knows what's going to happen when they turn to somebody and say, give me some legislation, and they implement something that mis defines our industry or puts regulations on us that do no good for anybody and cost us money and potentially reduce the security of our clients.

It's just, you know, there's so much potential problem out there. We need to get involved now. You know, the old saying that best time to start was five years ago.

And the second best time is today. Well, today is a great day. I mean, we really should have been doing this for 20 years.

But the second best time is today.

[Uncle Marv]
All right. I'm going to go out on a limb and do a little bit of translating. And you were very generous with your with your answer.

I'm going to say that the politicians are going to look to their staff and be like, who can we blame and how can we fix it? And that's how they'll come at us with the legislation of we're going to slap you in the hand and make sure this never happens again. And you're going to have to jump through all of these hoops to keep these bad dangers away from us.

[Karl Palachuk]
But you do have to blame somebody. And like I said, we're already the de facto compliance officers. Yeah.

[Uncle Marv]
Yeah. Very interesting. So now as the organization, this is year four, I believe.

We are looking to, of course, continue to grow in membership and stuff. So what would be some advice to MSPs out there that are listening, I.T. professionals that are listening that would help get them off the fence and join the organization? And then what can they look for once they do join?

[Karl Palachuk]
Well, one thing is, you know, everybody's got webinars. We put on what we think are truly educational webinars that anybody can watch live. If you want the recordings, you need to be a member.

Probably the best part about membership is we're promoting professional development. So the professional development committee, which I sit on, is moving forward to have a program of continuing education credits where basically, you know, we've got levels of membership. And anybody can go to our website and go to the bottom of NSITSP.org and click on members and search our membership. And eventually what's going to happen shortly, I believe, is that there will be little badges next to your profile saying that you have reached a certain level. For example, if you go take so many hours of classes on running your business professionally, then you're going to have a certain certification there. And so when people go searching for you, it gives you something to brag about, to be able to tell your prospects and clients, hey, this is what we do.

This is how we're involved in the professionalism of the industry. Again, it makes you look good. And because that's a publicly searchable database, it will be very easy for people to say, well, I need somebody who's in this area.

So who are the IT consultants in Tampa or wherever? And, you know, there you are. And it's just like when you go looking for a dentist or anything where there are some that are certified, board certified, this, that, they have all of these different layers.

Well, we hope to have the same thing. And it's also the case, we need people to get involved with helping to represent us and speak on our behalf at conferences and so forth. I'm shocked at, you know, I go to some conferences and I say, how many people have heard of NSITSP?

And they're like, 1% of the hands go up. We need to have more members and we need to have more influence and influence and numbers go together.

[Uncle Marv]
Well, I do want to give you a little bit of good news that it's not just NSITSP that, you know, has awareness problems. A lot of groups do. And, you know, I've been going to a lot of conferences the last couple of years.

And for somebody that's been in the industry 28 years, I'm surprised at how many things I do not know are out there.

[Karl Palachuk]
Well, and part of it is you started by saying, you know, if you're head down working on your business, well, then why would you know that ASCII exists or CompTIA exists or NSITSP exists? So, you know, it is what it is. But, you know, I mean, ASCII has been in business for 40 years and there are people that have never heard of them.

So everybody's busy doing their own thing.

[Uncle Marv]
Yeah. So as Carl said, you head to the website at the bottom, you can sign up to become a member. There are different memberships.

There's individual and company memberships as well as a vendor partner program. This is for everybody. This is just not for MSPs.

If you are solo tech and you're looking to help us out and, you know, learn how to be a better professional in our industry, join as an individual. If you're a company and you've got, you know, a group of people with you, a staff that you want to adhere to these higher standards, join as a company and, of course, vendors. We love to have vendors involved with stuff.

Carl, I've got a question that I didn't prep you for, so I'm not sure if you even want to ask it. But the idea of advocacy was, I think, one of the key pillars that started out that you wanted to address in terms of being able to represent the interest of IT professionals in, you know, legislative and regulatory matters and things. Let me ask for the layperson out there.

How real do we think that that is, one, that we need to do it, and then, two, how effective do you think we can be at doing it?

[Karl Palachuk]
Well, we can be as effective as we choose to be. Anything that involves the government, you have to first start by introducing yourself, letting, you know, finding out who the players are, and being in their contact list the day that they ask for that legislation that's, you know, coming down the road. And sometimes it's not legislation.

Sometimes it's just there's a discussion of something, and maybe they're going to put together a board to look at it, and they need somebody who knows what they're talking about. Well, isn't it better that that be somebody who actually works in small businesses every day instead of a staff member from the legislature? I mean, legislative staff may be very technically competent, but they have an essentially unlimited budget and don't understand why you have to talk somebody into buying a higher level of security.

That's never part of their job or their experience, right? So it's just like anything else, you know, the more that we work in it, the more we can be involved, and it is absolutely necessary. And, you know, I was recently at an exchange event, and with the larger MSPs, almost everybody there was on board with the fact that we need to be involved in the legislative side of things.

And I think some of the smaller MSPs don't feel that way. So, you know, whichever way you feel, join us, because if you're on the inside, you get to sit on committees, you get to vote, you get to choose what we do. We are a member-run organization, so, you know, we want people to know that and be involved.

I would also say we have a great, super-active legislative committee, and several of us are working now. We just took a stand against taxing technology services in Maryland. They wanted to tax on all services, and that got defeated by some technical people, and so they turned around and said, fine, we're only going to put a sales tax on the technicians.

So, and it's only for small businesses, so if you resell a service from a large company, you know, like Microsoft doesn't have to pay the tax, but you do. And we just took a stand that that's completely unfair and asked the board to take a position on that, and they did. So this goes direct to your bottom line, you know, to your wallet.

[Uncle Marv]
All right, so there you have it, folks, an example of what can be done and what should be done. So there we go, folks. Carl Palachuk, as I mentioned, a pioneer in our industry, and he's not just somebody who has written all these books to help us get started.

He's also got his own consulting business in this industry, so he's got some skin in the game. Carl, thank you very much for your time with us today.

[Karl Palachuk]
Well, thanks for having me. I appreciate it.

[Uncle Marv]
All right, folks, and as we mentioned, nitsp.org is where you can go for more information to sign up as a member. And, of course, I ask you to follow the IT Business Podcast as we continue with the member profiles and highlighting the National Society of IT Service Providers. We'll see you next time, and until then, holla!