Data-Driven Impacts and IT Security

Can a data-driven approach transform how organizations impact their communities? Join Elevity President Jeff Dotzler and Senior Sales Manager Patrick Hanifin in this exciting relaunch of Focus on Outcomes as we promise to uncover the secrets behind successful non-profits and for-profit organizations making real differences. Jeff shares wisdom from his experience in an MSP leadership peer group, emphasizing the power of collaboration and learning from industry successes.

This episode also tackles the recent CrowdStrike incident that shook the IT world. Discover how Elevity's layered security approach aims to protect client data and minimize disruptions, ensuring smoother operations. Jeff and Patrick discuss the broader implications of such events and what organizations can do to safeguard their systems. Don't miss out on this engaging episode filled with valuable lessons, success stories, and exciting previews of upcoming content!

Episode Transcript

Jeff Dotzler (00:09):
Hello everyone and welcome back to Focus on
Outcomes.
We've been out for a littlewhile focusing on some other
things and we're excited to beback bringing you a monthly
podcast where we focus onoutcomes.
Happy to have my co-host joinus, patrick Welcome.
Thanks, jeff, appreciate beinghere, as Jeff mentioned.
Co-host join us, patrickWelcome.

Patrick Hanifin (00:24):
Thanks, jeff, appreciate being here.
As Jeff mentioned, my name isPatrick Hannafin.
I'm the sales manager atElevity.
You know, jeff, I reallyenjoyed this podcast when I was
a rep.
I'm happy that it's coming back.
Why is now the right time torelaunch Focus on Outcomes?

Jeff Dotzler (00:40):
Yeah, it's a good question.
I don't know that now isnecessarily the right time,
other than it was the time thatwe got to it.
We have a lot of great thingsgoing on with our clients and
organizations that we interactwith and we felt it was the
right time to start to tell someof their stories and find out
what they're doing to helppeople in our communities.

Patrick Hanifin (00:59):
You've been fortunate enough to be part of
an MSP leadership peer group.
What have you learned about themanaged services space that's
helped you lead Elevity?

Jeff Dotzler (01:11):
Yeah, that's a good question.
You know a lot of input from alot of different sources over a
lot of time and you know just byworking with a lot of great
people, I think we've done.
We've put together someexciting things.
One of our key components ofhow we built Elevity was to be
data-driven, and I think thatincludes listening and learning
and understanding what othersthat are successful have done in

(01:32):
the space, and we've tried toincorporate as much of those
things that make sense as we'veworked to build this and I think
we've learned a lot fromclients what we've done well,
what we haven't done well, andtried to figure that out in the
next situation, the nextopportunity.

Patrick Hanifin (01:48):
For those that are new to this podcast, or
listening again, what's thepurpose of this podcast?

Jeff Dotzler (01:58):
What are we trying to accomplish, I guess, with
this?
Understand what organizationsdo within their day-to-day and
the outcome that they producethat helps the communities that
they're in or the customers thatthey serve or the population
that they serve.
So we're going to talk tononprofits.
We're going to talk tofor-profit organizations that
have a great mission or the workthat they do has a big impact

(02:20):
on the communities that theylive in.
Part of Elevity's mission isthat if we're successful in
helping our customers win andgrow, then that helps to provide
more jobs, you know more, moreopportunities for people in our
communities, and it's somethingthat we're passionate about.
And being able to provide aplatform for our customers to be
able to tell that story wasreally kind of the key mission

(02:41):
behind Focus on Outcomes, sowe're excited to do that.
I think we've got some greatepisodes lined up with some very
exciting topics, and we'relooking forward to sharing those
stories.

Patrick Hanifin (02:53):
Great.
You know, recently there was afairly significant event in the
IT space with the CrowdStrikeincident event.
Yeah, I mean kind of what.
What happened there?
And are there things that ourclients or potential clients are
that could be listening, couldunderstand, about how levity

(03:13):
protects their data and theiridentity, things of that nature?

Jeff Dotzler (03:16):
Yeah, you know, speaking of outcomes, there was
a pretty significant one thatcame from that, I would say.
Thankfully, most of ourcustomers weren't impacted by
that, so we didn't dig into aton of the details.
But you know, basicallyCrowdStrike, a very large
organization that has theirtechnology built into a lot of
other technology, did a softwareupdate and when that update
pushed it took a ton of globalapplications down, including,

(03:42):
you know, microsoft, all threeof the major US airlines and you
know many, many others.
Our phone system had wasimpacted by that, you know, and
there are only so many.
There's only so much thatorganizations can do.
We apply a layered approach tosecurity so that, hopefully,
there's multiple layers ofsecurity and best practices so

(04:02):
that major issues can bemitigated and and recovered from
as quickly as possible.
I'm not sure what could havebeen done to help organizations
in this situation.
I think, you know, I thinkDelta airlines had operation
disruption for almost a week,which is which is pretty
significant.
Yeah, but you know these arethe headlines that make the

(04:22):
global news and the mainstreammedia of major organizations
that have impact.
But the reality is most of thebreaches and major issues that
occur are to small and mediumbusinesses, which is who we
focus on, and they think,because those stories aren't in
the news, that they're notaffected.
But unfortunately, daily,weekly, monthly, we see it
happen in and around ourcommunities and with
organizations that you know thataren't going to make the

(04:44):
headlines.

Patrick Hanifin (04:45):
Yeah, and we talk about how SMBs sometimes
don't take security seriouslyuntil it impacts them, and this
is something that it's probablyimpacted a lot more than the
normal things that we hear onthe pipeline breach of a couple
of years ago, things of thatnature.

Jeff Dotzler (04:59):
I mean, this is consumer, so the outcome of this
was significant, not only inthe organizations that were
impacted, but all in theorganizations that were impacted
, but all of the people thatthey support and that those
organizations support.
It's a long line, yeahabsolutely.

Patrick Hanifin (05:11):
What are some of the directional IT decisions
that are facing organizations inthe SMB space today?
You know security maybe beingone of them, but what are some
other things?

Jeff Dotzler (05:23):
Yeah, I'd say security and productivity.
I think the whole AI craze thatpopped up in the last 12 months
, that everybody's trying towrestle with figuring out how to
tackle and incorporate intotheir organization, is really
around productivity and drivingefficiency, whether that's for
individuals with the MicrosoftCopilot tools, or
organizationally or withinindustries where major

(05:43):
applications are having AIrolled out as part of their
platform.
I think that's big.
I think figuring out how tomake the whole work from
anywhere concept be efficientand productive and secure is
another big thing that we have alot of.
We spend a lot of time talkingto customers about specifically
moving major applications of thecloud and data to the cloud.
You, I think, just using allthe tools and the technology to

(06:08):
connect and interact andcommunicate with their customers
and their vendors in a way thatis efficient, effective and
productive.

Patrick Hanifin (06:15):
I'm out of questions, great.
So last segment we're going todo some unfocused outcomes, some
rapid fire questions just rightoff the cuff what's your go-to
salad dressing?

Jeff Dotzler (06:26):
Ranch.

Patrick Hanifin (06:27):
If you were to write a book, what would it be
about?

Jeff Dotzler (06:30):
I think it'd be about leadership.
You're qualified for thatQuestionable.
I might not sell many.

Patrick Hanifin (06:37):
What's your?

Jeff Dotzler (06:38):
death row.
Final meal I think I'd have aribeye medium rare, maybe some
broccoli potato of some kind I'mnot a big potato guy Maybe rice
Rice.

Patrick Hanifin (06:48):
Do you put sauce on steaks?
No, nothing.
No, you haven't had a pick ofpepper sauce, though.
No, I know.
Favorite Christmas movie, elf.
Finish this sentence Leadershipis Consistency.
If you had to sing karaokeright now, what would you sing?
What song would you choose?
Whiskey, lullaby okay, crushedor cubed ice?

(07:10):
Cubed does depend on the drinkyes are you gonna say that?

Jeff Dotzler (07:16):
if it's in a margarita crushed, sure.
If it's with a bourbon cubed,okay, a big cube a big cube.

Patrick Hanifin (07:23):
What's the most rewarding part of your job
other than this?

Jeff Dotzler (07:27):
yeah, yeah, this is this would be on the list, uh
.
Seeing people grow, seeingpeople advance good, all right,
my turn.
It is all right, uh, if you hadto play a round of golf with
only one club, which one, andwhy?

Patrick Hanifin (07:41):
uh, seven iron, uh, just my favorite club.

Jeff Dotzler (07:45):
What's your favorite wine varietal?

Patrick Hanifin (07:47):
Great question, man.
Can I pick one?

Jeff Dotzler (07:54):
For this purpose.

Patrick Hanifin (07:55):
yeah, I'll just say a Cab.

Jeff Dotzler (08:02):
Not a Cab Franc?

Patrick Hanifin (08:05):
I'll get you ba ck in a, not a cab fronk.
I'll get you back in a cabfronk

Jeff Dotzler (08:10):
If you won the lottery.
What's the first thing youwould buy?
This is the rapid part.

Patrick Hanifin (08:17):
Yeah, I know that's a great question.
Probably a boat

Jeff Dotzler (08:20):
A boat.
Okay, You're a Chicago kid Thincrust or deep dish

Patrick Hanifin (08:24):
Thin for sure.

Jeff Dotzler (08:25):
So follow up to that Square or pie-shaped slices
.

Patrick Hanifin (08:29):
I grew up on square Square.

Jeff Dotzler (08:32):
Okay, what's your go-to snack while on a long solo
drive?

Patrick Hanifin (08:40):
Trail mix

Jeff Dotzler (08:42):
If you could master any skill instantly, what
would it be?

Patrick Hanifin (08:44):
Golf

Jeff Dotzler (08:46):
what's the one piece of technology you wouldn't
want to live without?

Patrick Hanifin (08:52):
My phone

Jeff Dotzler (08:53):
With a completely working screen, or just a third
of it?

Patrick Hanifin (08:57):
Two thirds

Jeff Dotzler (08:59):
All right, good.
Well, that's our segment.
I'm excited about that.
We'll see how our guests handlethese questions, and hopefully
as well as we did.

Patrick Hanifin (09:08):
Yeah, learned a little bit about each other
there.
I like that.

Jeff Dotzler (09:11):
You know.
So please subscribe to Focus onOutcomes.
We'll be bringing a monthlypodcast out with various
interviews and guests along theway.
You know we're going to hope tohave some fun with this, like
our rapid fire session.
We're calling that unfocusedoutcomes, at least for now,
right, until we get a paidsponsor or an unpaid sponsor.
But please subscribe, feel freeto join us.

(09:33):
You know we're going toprobably ask for 15 to 25
minutes every month and if youhave suggestions, if you would
like to join us, please reachout.
We'd love to consider havingyou as a guest on Focus on
Outcomes, patrick, it was fun.
It was fun.
All right, we'll see you next time

Patrick Hanifin (09:48):
Thank you.