October 29, 2025 • 21 mins
Think you’ve only got one real internet option and no leverage when things go down? We unpack a better way to buy and manage connectivity, voice, cloud, and AI by partnering with an independent agent backed by master agencies. Ken Johnson from USIT Systems lays out how a single address check can reveal fiber builds on your street, business-class circuits with SLAs, 5G fixed wireless backups, and last‑mile building solutions that pre‑wire condos to avoid messy installs and uneven support.
We get specific about where leverage comes from: a master agent represents thousands of circuits, which changes how carriers respond when you open a ticket. Instead of being one small account, you’re part of a portfolio with escalation muscle. We also walk through outage reality—who gets restored first, how SLAs shift your place in line, and why a business circuit in a home office can be a smart play in storm‑prone areas. From there, we widen the lens to cloud redundancy, comparing multi‑region strategies that fail over between data centers so critical apps stay online when a hyperscaler hiccups.
AI isn’t a buzzword here; it’s a practical toolkit. We cover call routing that sends customers to the right local office, after‑hours secure payments, and voice features embedded in modern phone systems—all scoped to real ROI and usage-based pricing. Different industries need different vendors, so we talk about matching solutions to verticals like dental, medical, churches, and travel agencies, and how an agent can shortlist partners that actually fit your workflows. We close with a candid look at security in an AI era—email, phones, payments—and why layered defenses now sit beside SLAs and redundancy as core business hygiene.
If you’re ready to cut downtime, lower costs, and build a resilient stack without vendor lock‑in, this conversation is your blueprint. Subscribe, share with a colleague who battles outages, and leave a review telling us the one upgrade you want to tackle next.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Intro/Close (00:00):
Welcome to Tech Talk, your go-to guide for
making technology work for you.
Whether you're running agrowing business or just trying
to keep things running smoothlyat home, we've got IT covered.
US IT Systems brings theknowledge, experience, and
solutions you need to stayconnected, protected, and
productive.
It's Tech Talk Time.
Here's your host, Cabo Jim.
Cabo Jim (00:18):
Welcome to the Fort Myers Beach Good Neighbor
Podcast Tech Talk, and we haveKen Johnson with us today from
US IT Systems.
Welcome.
Good morning.
Yeah.
Pleasure to have you on andshare your expertise with our
listeners and uh all the techstuff that you know.
So uh I think you have asubject picked out today that
(00:40):
you wanted to speak about.
Ken Johnson (00:42):
Well, yeah, I want to talk about why you use
somebody like me, and andthere's a lot of us out there,
so you know, somebody like methat that has relationships with
multiple vendors, and and wecan talk specifically about
internet service providers, uh,we can talk about uh I uh phone
(01:07):
systems, we can talk about uhAI.
Uh and and one of my favoritesubjects is is of course the
cloud.
And if you look at mybackground, you know it's yeah,
where is the cloud?
Well, it's out there someplace.
Uh but we we can have thosekind of discussions.
But today I'd like to focus onon what an internet service
(01:29):
provider is.
And and you, for example,called up your local internet
service provider and ordered upinternet service, and and that's
fine, but for a small business,there may be better options and
there may be additionaloptions.
So I want to talk about thedifference between dealing
(01:52):
directly with your internetservice provider and working
with somebody like me that hasrelationships with what's called
a master agent.
Cabo Jim (02:02):
And when what does master agent what does that
mean?
What is that to common folklike me?
Ken Johnson (02:09):
Well, a master agency is a company that has
arrangements with all thedifferent internet service
providers.
Now, I don't want to want tosay all inclusively because
there's oftentimes smallregional companies that they
don't have relationships with,but there is a lot of
(02:32):
relationships out there, andmost of the relationships are
with the majors, and and everyarea has what was explained to
me years ago is a duopoly.
There are ever since JudgeGreen came along and broke up
the bells, anybody that's gotenough gray hair to remember
that.
Well, wait a minute, Jim.
Cabo Jim (02:54):
I have no hair, sorry.
Ken Johnson (02:55):
I still remember it.
You still remember it, and andwhat they did was they broke up
the bells and they said everyarea has got to have two
suppliers.
So what happened is every areaended up with a primary and a
secondary supplier.
Now, interesting enough, a lotof times the secondary supplier
(03:17):
was just a billing agency thathad a relationship and bought
service from the primarysupplier anyway.
Well, that's changed over thelast uh you know few dozen
years.
What's happened is the theinternet has gotten built out.
Uh, there's more and moreinternet service providers
competing, and they all attachto the same backbone one way or
(03:41):
another.
So a master agent hasrelationships with all of these
service providers, and the salesrep at the master agent that I
call up, he can tell me who hasthe best service, who has the
lowest price.
And we've got a set of toolsthat we can use where we put in
(04:01):
an address and we can get a listof all the different options
that are out there.
All of a sudden, now yourpricing is in control, and
you're in control of thosepricing and those pricing
options instead of just havingto take what the local sales rep
walks in and says, Here's yourcontract, sign here.
(04:24):
Yeah, it's what a master agentdoes for you.
Cabo Jim (04:27):
So, are you a master agent for all of these other
providers out there, or how doesthat work?
Ken Johnson (04:33):
I I am not a master agent, I am an agent.
So I deal with multiple masteragencies.
One of them is uh a fairlylarge nationwide, another one is
a smaller nationwide, and thenI have one out of uh I think
it's Orlando or Lake Mary that'san even smaller regional master
(04:57):
agency.
So each of these masteragencies has different
relationships, and the smallerregional master agency has a
relationship with the samenational agency that I have.
So it it gets kind ofconvoluted.
You've got to pay attention towhat you're doing, and and
(05:17):
you've got to understand how therelationships work.
Cabo Jim (05:22):
Interesting.
So, I mean, obviously, gettinginternet at home is way
different than getting it from abusiness.
I mean, there's all types ofdifferent businesses, shapes,
and sizes, and their demand foryou know, the internet varies on
depending on what they'redoing.
So obviously having a portfolioof people you can go to helps
you find the best option forsaid business, correct?
Ken Johnson (05:46):
And and more importantly, it gives me the
opportunity to service thecustomer and provide the
customer with the best option ormultiple options that they may
not even be aware of.
Cabo Jim (06:02):
And what kind of options are available out there
typically?
Ken Johnson (06:07):
Well, you've got um, when I looked up your
address, I think you've got fouror five different large ISP uh
carriers, internet serviceprovider carriers that could
service your location there inFort Myers Beach.
And and so you've got multiplelarge options, and then you've
(06:31):
got multiple smaller options.
Uh, one of the interesting onesis uh ATT Cellular provides
this 5G over-the-air servicethat you can service your home
with a box that you put in thehouse that talks to talks to the
the cellular network andprovides internet in your house.
(06:56):
Now it's it's an option andit's a great option for people
that are not uh on on net iswhat they call it.
They don't have a a wire or afiber that's running past their
house.
You've got two or threedifferent copper solutions that
run by your house, and you'venow got a second fiber option
(07:19):
that's coming right down youryour uh the the street right in
front of you.
Yep, down yeah, right betweenthe beach and you.
Cabo Jim (07:30):
Yeah, perfect.
Ken Johnson (07:32):
And as you sort of as you drive down the street,
you know, um going to ColdstoneCreamery.
Oh, I never do that.
As you drive down the streetgoing to Coldstone Creamery, you
can see them putting that fiberin the ground, which is your
your latest option, which givesyou another option into your
area.
Then there's also a bunch ofother options like last mile
(07:55):
carriers, and it it gets it getsvery convoluted, but you can do
a lot of stuff, and you canalso buy dark fiber, but yeah.
Cabo Jim (08:05):
And most people like like myself think, well, okay, I
need internet, there's oneprovider here, and that's who I
have to use, and that's who Ihave to choose.
And I'm I'm stuck with that.
But but they have to realizethere are other options out
there.
Ken Johnson (08:19):
Now, now let's say you own a condominium building,
or you're the in charge of acondominium building.
One of my favorite things tolook at is a last mile carrier
that will come in and make sureyour condominium building and
all the units are pre-wired.
(08:40):
Since they're pre-wired, theymay be pre-wired for fiber, they
may be pre-wired with copper,but they they come in and then
they put equipment in yourequipment room and and they in a
common area, and then theymanage every unit in the
building.
So instead of everybody callingup the local internet service
(09:03):
provider, and the local internetservice provider walking in
with a drill bit that's thislong and borrowing a hole
through your wall and creatingan entrance for water and bugs,
the everything is pre-wired andmaintained and controlled so
that your condominiumassociation can protect their
(09:24):
property and can protect theircustomers.
Now, that also gives themwhat's called a service level
agreement, and that servicelevel agreement says that that
in the event of a of a majorstorm, that they're gonna be one
of the first ones up andrunning.
So generally it's police fire,hospitals, and then businesses
(09:49):
that get restored.
So I'm sorry, you've got aresidential, you're on the
bottom of the list.
Uh I'm I it's I'm sorry, it'sthat's the way it is.
I mean, police fire andhospitals are on the top of the
list during any emergency, andthey shouldn't any emergency at
all.
And and they they've got to berestored as quickly as possible.
(10:13):
But residential, hey, you know,if you're without internet for
a day or a week, um, I'm sorry,as long as you got food and
water, electricity is optional.
Cabo Jim (10:25):
Yeah, exactly.
Opening those businesses thathelp support us are important.
Ken Johnson (10:30):
That's the key.
Now, another piece of buyingfrom a master agent, you buy
your business service from thelocal internet service provider,
you're one of 10,000, 50,000customers.
If you're buying from a masteragent, that master agent may
(10:52):
control and be responsible for15,000, 20,000 customers in your
area.
So now that master agency, youknow, the the guy like me, the
agent, calls up the masteragency and says, Hey, Kabbawabo
Jim, Good Neighbor Podcast isdown.
(11:12):
He's got a business circuit.
Uh, can you do anything to helpget him up and running quickly?
He's got some activity going onand and you know, trying to
keep the neighborhood informedas to what's available out
there.
And so now the master agencywill call up the internet
service provider.
So all of a sudden, GoodNeighbor Podcast, instead of
(11:35):
being one of 10,000, 15,000customers out of service, they
now become one of a thousandcustomers that belong to that
master agency, and that masteragency has leverage to help you
get up and running faster.
So it's it's it's all about theleverage and the service level
(11:56):
agreement that you get.
For example, here in mylocation, I have a business
internet circuit.
Why do I have a businessinternet circuit in a
residential building?
Because my office is here in aresidential building, but I get
priority to get up and runningand operational.
And with the police stationthat's sitting just down the
(12:20):
road from me, they're gonna getthe police station up and
running, they're gonna get thefire department two blocks over,
and then they're gonna get mycircuit up and running, and then
everybody else around me comesflowing in with the business
circuits, and then behind thatis the residential circuits.
Interesting.
(12:40):
Leverage leverage and serviceservice level agreement.
Cabo Jim (12:44):
Yep, better customer service at the end of the day.
So and and because you workwith these master agencies, you
have access to other resourcesfor businesses, correct?
Ken Johnson (12:55):
Many, many, many resources.
Um, everybody talks about cloudservices, and and with the
recent AWS um servers in whatwas that, Philadelphia that went
down, went down hard andbrought all kinds of problems.
I mean, I I work with a cloudservice provider that has a
(13:20):
location in Atlanta, a locationin Orlando, and a location in
Las Vegas.
So if one location goes down,they get handover.
And so it's very interesting tosee what's out there in order
to do that.
I'm surprised that AWS did nothave redundancy on that in that
(13:44):
uh service.
I'm thinking Amazon.
Oh my, they're the big monsterout there.
Yeah, I'm thinking, you know,Microsoft with Azure is a big
monster out there, and it'ssurprising to me that when a
system goes down, that theydon't just have instant failover
like some of the other vendorsthat we deal with.
Cabo Jim (14:04):
You would think, right?
Ken Johnson (14:06):
You would think, but well, bigger.
Cabo Jim (14:10):
Well, I this has all been very informative, you know.
Uh there's a lot of lot ofinformation out there that
people aren't aware of thetechnology, especially as it
continues to change on a dailybasis.
Um sharing your knowledge withthat.
Ken Johnson (14:25):
So since you brought that knowledge base up,
let's talk about AI for just acouple of seconds.
All right.
Small business typically doesnot have access to huge
resources.
Working through a masteragency, I can call up that
(14:49):
master agency and I can say,hey, I've got a good neighbor
podcast in Fort Myers Beach, andhe needs to implement some AI
in his environment instruction.
Um who have you got that couldhelp me?
And that master agent will pullfrom 400 resources that they
(15:14):
have, and that master agent willpair me with two or three
different resources that I canbring to my good neighbor, Jim
Schaller, with Good NeighborPodcast, and they'll watch a
couple of your podcasts, they'llmake suggestions, they'll talk
about phone systems, they'lltalk about AI implementation for
(15:35):
phone systems, they'll they'lltalk about um AI implementation
for video, they'll talk aboutthey'll talk about, and they'll
give you maybe 10-15 differentoptions that you can look at.
Is there a charge for that?
No, there's no charge for itbecause you're dealing with the
master agent, and the masteragent gets paid when they pair a
(15:59):
company to an end user like JimSchaller.
Cabo Jim (16:04):
Interesting.
Ken Johnson (16:05):
And like you mentioned, AI is just it's a
huge it's huge, it's huge, andthere's and we can do a whole
podcast on AI because there's somany different levels of AI and
there's so many different typesof AI.
AI is this huge blanket term,yeah.
It's like saying uh a Kleenex,but yeah, you've got facial
(16:27):
tissues that come in a squarebox, you got facial tissues that
come in a rectangular box, yougot facial tissues that come in
little packets that you put inyour pocket or your purse.
So it you know, AI is thisblanket term, but there's so
many parts and pieces, andyou've got to understand the
different parts and piecesbefore you can even bring
(16:47):
something to the party.
I mean, you use um uh a phoneswitch on on your computer that
gives you access to nationwideand international calling that
um that I've I set up for you.
And and that phone switch has awhole series of AI tools that
(17:13):
can be implemented into it.
And and if you wanted toinvestigate that, we could
certainly investigate that.
Now, is there a charge fordoing it after it's implemented?
Yes, there's a usage charge.
So there's there's pros andcons to it, but you've got to
investigate the the cost versusthe gain.
(17:35):
What does it save you?
Small medical clinics, huge,huge, huge option.
Anybody that takes money, hugeoptions to be able to process
credit cards over the phonewithout ever talking to a
person.
You can get your bill paid attwo o'clock in the morning using
(17:55):
AI.
I'm working right now with atravel agency out of Illinois.
Matter of fact, out ofRockford, Illinois, part of our
old neighborhoods from days goneby.
And it's a travel agency thathas locations downtown Chicago.
Uh, they've got one in myhometown of Oswego, Illinois.
(18:17):
They've got one in Rockford,they've got one in Addison's,
they've got travel agencyoffices all over.
When somebody calls in, pairingthat user with the right office
in order to be able to do thethe work and have somebody local
to work with is huge, isabsolutely huge.
(18:40):
So we're we're looking at thatentire operation and being able
to implement entire AI spreadacross all their locations.
Cabo Jim (18:50):
And it's good to have that that support of a master
agency.
Like you said, there's so manydifferent ways AI can be
implemented in a business, butunderstanding what best benefits
you as a business and helpsyou, you know, be more
successful and and keep moremoney uh is important as well,
too.
Ken Johnson (19:08):
Absolutely.
And it's all about making youroperation more efficient, more
cost effective, and keeping yourprofits in your pocket.
You can call up the localinternet service provider and
say, I want phone and internet.
Well, that internet serviceprovider is going to sell you
internet phones and put them onyour desk, but do they have all
(19:33):
the tools?
Is there a better provider thatcan plug into the same
internet, the same network?
Is there a provider thatservices your industry
specifically?
Is there a provider that worksvery, very well with churches?
Is there a provider that worksreally well with dental offices,
(19:53):
but not medical offices?
That there's so many parts andpieces, and there's thousands of
providers out there, and you'vegot to take a look at what fits
where.
Cabo Jim (20:06):
I love it.
I love it.
I think there's so much that wecan touch on, you know, during
this tech talk.
And I think we've got a lot offuture episodes already that
we've we've kind of mentionedtoday that we can uh tap into.
So I'm excited about that.
AI being one of them.
But uh any last words for fortoday?
Um enjoy the beach.
(20:28):
I love the if I have to, okay.
I mean, you you gotta enjoy thebeach.
That's that's why we live herein paradise to be able to do
that.
And uh I let Ken take care ofyour tech while while you're at
the beach.
Ken Johnson (20:47):
There you go.
Uh and and I I like uh to togive you one last word is AI has
changed the scope of securityfor your email, for your phones,
for everything.
I will ask you, please, please,please, just be safe out there
because the internet is not asafe place to play.
(21:09):
Be careful.
Cabo Jim (21:11):
There's there's bad people out there everywhere.
So, yes, definitely.
Well, Ken, it's been apleasure.
You're a lot of security.
Thank you.
There you go.
Yep.
Thank you.
Yeah, thank you for being sucha good neighbor, and uh, I guess
we'll see you next time here onTech Talk, okay?
Very good.
I look forward to it.
All right, thanks.
Intro/Close (21:31):
That's it for this episode of Tech Talk, where
we've got IT covered so you cankeep life and business running
smoothly.
Remember, whether it'scybersecurity, cloud solutions,
or just keeping your techtrouble free, USIT Systems is
here to help.
Visit us online atUSITSystems.com or give us a
call at 407-753-4499.
Stay safe, stay connected, andwe'll catch you on the next Tech
(21:51):
Talk.
Welcome to Tech Talk, your go-to guide for
making technology work for you.
Whether you're running agrowing business or just trying
to keep things running smoothlyat home, we've got IT covered.
US IT Systems brings theknowledge, experience, and
solutions you need to stayconnected, protected, and
productive.
It's Tech Talk Time.
Here's your host, Cabo Jim.
Cabo Jim (00:18):
Welcome to the Fort Myers Beach Good Neighbor
Podcast Tech Talk, and we haveKen Johnson with us today from
US IT Systems.
Welcome.
Good morning.
Yeah.
Pleasure to have you on andshare your expertise with our
listeners and uh all the techstuff that you know.
So uh I think you have asubject picked out today that
(00:40):
you wanted to speak about.
Ken Johnson (00:42):
Well, yeah, I want to talk about why you use
somebody like me, and andthere's a lot of us out there,
so you know, somebody like methat that has relationships with
multiple vendors, and and wecan talk specifically about
internet service providers, uh,we can talk about uh I uh phone
(01:07):
systems, we can talk about uhAI.
Uh and and one of my favoritesubjects is is of course the
cloud.
And if you look at mybackground, you know it's yeah,
where is the cloud?
Well, it's out there someplace.
Uh but we we can have thosekind of discussions.
But today I'd like to focus onon what an internet service
(01:29):
provider is.
And and you, for example,called up your local internet
service provider and ordered upinternet service, and and that's
fine, but for a small business,there may be better options and
there may be additionaloptions.
So I want to talk about thedifference between dealing
(01:52):
directly with your internetservice provider and working
with somebody like me that hasrelationships with what's called
a master agent.
Cabo Jim (02:02):
And when what does master agent what does that
mean?
What is that to common folklike me?
Ken Johnson (02:09):
Well, a master agency is a company that has
arrangements with all thedifferent internet service
providers.
Now, I don't want to want tosay all inclusively because
there's oftentimes smallregional companies that they
don't have relationships with,but there is a lot of
(02:32):
relationships out there, andmost of the relationships are
with the majors, and and everyarea has what was explained to
me years ago is a duopoly.
There are ever since JudgeGreen came along and broke up
the bells, anybody that's gotenough gray hair to remember
that.
Well, wait a minute, Jim.
Cabo Jim (02:54):
I have no hair, sorry.
Ken Johnson (02:55):
I still remember it.
You still remember it, and andwhat they did was they broke up
the bells and they said everyarea has got to have two
suppliers.
So what happened is every areaended up with a primary and a
secondary supplier.
Now, interesting enough, a lotof times the secondary supplier
(03:17):
was just a billing agency thathad a relationship and bought
service from the primarysupplier anyway.
Well, that's changed over thelast uh you know few dozen
years.
What's happened is the theinternet has gotten built out.
Uh, there's more and moreinternet service providers
competing, and they all attachto the same backbone one way or
(03:41):
another.
So a master agent hasrelationships with all of these
service providers, and the salesrep at the master agent that I
call up, he can tell me who hasthe best service, who has the
lowest price.
And we've got a set of toolsthat we can use where we put in
(04:01):
an address and we can get a listof all the different options
that are out there.
All of a sudden, now yourpricing is in control, and
you're in control of thosepricing and those pricing
options instead of just havingto take what the local sales rep
walks in and says, Here's yourcontract, sign here.
(04:24):
Yeah, it's what a master agentdoes for you.
Cabo Jim (04:27):
So, are you a master agent for all of these other
providers out there, or how doesthat work?
Ken Johnson (04:33):
I I am not a master agent, I am an agent.
So I deal with multiple masteragencies.
One of them is uh a fairlylarge nationwide, another one is
a smaller nationwide, and thenI have one out of uh I think
it's Orlando or Lake Mary that'san even smaller regional master
(04:57):
agency.
So each of these masteragencies has different
relationships, and the smallerregional master agency has a
relationship with the samenational agency that I have.
So it it gets kind ofconvoluted.
You've got to pay attention towhat you're doing, and and
(05:17):
you've got to understand how therelationships work.
Cabo Jim (05:22):
Interesting.
So, I mean, obviously, gettinginternet at home is way
different than getting it from abusiness.
I mean, there's all types ofdifferent businesses, shapes,
and sizes, and their demand foryou know, the internet varies on
depending on what they'redoing.
So obviously having a portfolioof people you can go to helps
you find the best option forsaid business, correct?
Ken Johnson (05:46):
And and more importantly, it gives me the
opportunity to service thecustomer and provide the
customer with the best option ormultiple options that they may
not even be aware of.
Cabo Jim (06:02):
And what kind of options are available out there
typically?
Ken Johnson (06:07):
Well, you've got um, when I looked up your
address, I think you've got fouror five different large ISP uh
carriers, internet serviceprovider carriers that could
service your location there inFort Myers Beach.
And and so you've got multiplelarge options, and then you've
(06:31):
got multiple smaller options.
Uh, one of the interesting onesis uh ATT Cellular provides
this 5G over-the-air servicethat you can service your home
with a box that you put in thehouse that talks to talks to the
the cellular network andprovides internet in your house.
(06:56):
Now it's it's an option andit's a great option for people
that are not uh on on net iswhat they call it.
They don't have a a wire or afiber that's running past their
house.
You've got two or threedifferent copper solutions that
run by your house, and you'venow got a second fiber option
(07:19):
that's coming right down youryour uh the the street right in
front of you.
Yep, down yeah, right betweenthe beach and you.
Cabo Jim (07:30):
Yeah, perfect.
Ken Johnson (07:32):
And as you sort of as you drive down the street,
you know, um going to ColdstoneCreamery.
Oh, I never do that.
As you drive down the streetgoing to Coldstone Creamery, you
can see them putting that fiberin the ground, which is your
your latest option, which givesyou another option into your
area.
Then there's also a bunch ofother options like last mile
(07:55):
carriers, and it it gets it getsvery convoluted, but you can do
a lot of stuff, and you canalso buy dark fiber, but yeah.
Cabo Jim (08:05):
And most people like like myself think, well, okay, I
need internet, there's oneprovider here, and that's who I
have to use, and that's who Ihave to choose.
And I'm I'm stuck with that.
But but they have to realizethere are other options out
there.
Ken Johnson (08:19):
Now, now let's say you own a condominium building,
or you're the in charge of acondominium building.
One of my favorite things tolook at is a last mile carrier
that will come in and make sureyour condominium building and
all the units are pre-wired.
(08:40):
Since they're pre-wired, theymay be pre-wired for fiber, they
may be pre-wired with copper,but they they come in and then
they put equipment in yourequipment room and and they in a
common area, and then theymanage every unit in the
building.
So instead of everybody callingup the local internet service
(09:03):
provider, and the local internetservice provider walking in
with a drill bit that's thislong and borrowing a hole
through your wall and creatingan entrance for water and bugs,
the everything is pre-wired andmaintained and controlled so
that your condominiumassociation can protect their
(09:24):
property and can protect theircustomers.
Now, that also gives themwhat's called a service level
agreement, and that servicelevel agreement says that that
in the event of a of a majorstorm, that they're gonna be one
of the first ones up andrunning.
So generally it's police fire,hospitals, and then businesses
(09:49):
that get restored.
So I'm sorry, you've got aresidential, you're on the
bottom of the list.
Uh I'm I it's I'm sorry, it'sthat's the way it is.
I mean, police fire andhospitals are on the top of the
list during any emergency, andthey shouldn't any emergency at
all.
And and they they've got to berestored as quickly as possible.
(10:13):
But residential, hey, you know,if you're without internet for
a day or a week, um, I'm sorry,as long as you got food and
water, electricity is optional.
Cabo Jim (10:25):
Yeah, exactly.
Opening those businesses thathelp support us are important.
Ken Johnson (10:30):
That's the key.
Now, another piece of buyingfrom a master agent, you buy
your business service from thelocal internet service provider,
you're one of 10,000, 50,000customers.
If you're buying from a masteragent, that master agent may
(10:52):
control and be responsible for15,000, 20,000 customers in your
area.
So now that master agency, youknow, the the guy like me, the
agent, calls up the masteragency and says, Hey, Kabbawabo
Jim, Good Neighbor Podcast isdown.
(11:12):
He's got a business circuit.
Uh, can you do anything to helpget him up and running quickly?
He's got some activity going onand and you know, trying to
keep the neighborhood informedas to what's available out
there.
And so now the master agencywill call up the internet
service provider.
So all of a sudden, GoodNeighbor Podcast, instead of
(11:35):
being one of 10,000, 15,000customers out of service, they
now become one of a thousandcustomers that belong to that
master agency, and that masteragency has leverage to help you
get up and running faster.
So it's it's it's all about theleverage and the service level
(11:56):
agreement that you get.
For example, here in mylocation, I have a business
internet circuit.
Why do I have a businessinternet circuit in a
residential building?
Because my office is here in aresidential building, but I get
priority to get up and runningand operational.
And with the police stationthat's sitting just down the
(12:20):
road from me, they're gonna getthe police station up and
running, they're gonna get thefire department two blocks over,
and then they're gonna get mycircuit up and running, and then
everybody else around me comesflowing in with the business
circuits, and then behind thatis the residential circuits.
Interesting.
(12:40):
Leverage leverage and serviceservice level agreement.
Cabo Jim (12:44):
Yep, better customer service at the end of the day.
So and and because you workwith these master agencies, you
have access to other resourcesfor businesses, correct?
Ken Johnson (12:55):
Many, many, many resources.
Um, everybody talks about cloudservices, and and with the
recent AWS um servers in whatwas that, Philadelphia that went
down, went down hard andbrought all kinds of problems.
I mean, I I work with a cloudservice provider that has a
(13:20):
location in Atlanta, a locationin Orlando, and a location in
Las Vegas.
So if one location goes down,they get handover.
And so it's very interesting tosee what's out there in order
to do that.
I'm surprised that AWS did nothave redundancy on that in that
(13:44):
uh service.
I'm thinking Amazon.
Oh my, they're the big monsterout there.
Yeah, I'm thinking, you know,Microsoft with Azure is a big
monster out there, and it'ssurprising to me that when a
system goes down, that theydon't just have instant failover
like some of the other vendorsthat we deal with.
Cabo Jim (14:04):
You would think, right?
Ken Johnson (14:06):
You would think, but well, bigger.
Cabo Jim (14:10):
Well, I this has all been very informative, you know.
Uh there's a lot of lot ofinformation out there that
people aren't aware of thetechnology, especially as it
continues to change on a dailybasis.
Um sharing your knowledge withthat.
Ken Johnson (14:25):
So since you brought that knowledge base up,
let's talk about AI for just acouple of seconds.
All right.
Small business typically doesnot have access to huge
resources.
Working through a masteragency, I can call up that
(14:49):
master agency and I can say,hey, I've got a good neighbor
podcast in Fort Myers Beach, andhe needs to implement some AI
in his environment instruction.
Um who have you got that couldhelp me?
And that master agent will pullfrom 400 resources that they
(15:14):
have, and that master agent willpair me with two or three
different resources that I canbring to my good neighbor, Jim
Schaller, with Good NeighborPodcast, and they'll watch a
couple of your podcasts, they'llmake suggestions, they'll talk
about phone systems, they'lltalk about AI implementation for
(15:35):
phone systems, they'll they'lltalk about um AI implementation
for video, they'll talk aboutthey'll talk about, and they'll
give you maybe 10-15 differentoptions that you can look at.
Is there a charge for that?
No, there's no charge for itbecause you're dealing with the
master agent, and the masteragent gets paid when they pair a
(15:59):
company to an end user like JimSchaller.
Cabo Jim (16:04):
Interesting.
Ken Johnson (16:05):
And like you mentioned, AI is just it's a
huge it's huge, it's huge, andthere's and we can do a whole
podcast on AI because there's somany different levels of AI and
there's so many different typesof AI.
AI is this huge blanket term,yeah.
It's like saying uh a Kleenex,but yeah, you've got facial
(16:27):
tissues that come in a squarebox, you got facial tissues that
come in a rectangular box, yougot facial tissues that come in
little packets that you put inyour pocket or your purse.
So it you know, AI is thisblanket term, but there's so
many parts and pieces, andyou've got to understand the
different parts and piecesbefore you can even bring
(16:47):
something to the party.
I mean, you use um uh a phoneswitch on on your computer that
gives you access to nationwideand international calling that
um that I've I set up for you.
And and that phone switch has awhole series of AI tools that
(17:13):
can be implemented into it.
And and if you wanted toinvestigate that, we could
certainly investigate that.
Now, is there a charge fordoing it after it's implemented?
Yes, there's a usage charge.
So there's there's pros andcons to it, but you've got to
investigate the the cost versusthe gain.
(17:35):
What does it save you?
Small medical clinics, huge,huge, huge option.
Anybody that takes money, hugeoptions to be able to process
credit cards over the phonewithout ever talking to a
person.
You can get your bill paid attwo o'clock in the morning using
(17:55):
AI.
I'm working right now with atravel agency out of Illinois.
Matter of fact, out ofRockford, Illinois, part of our
old neighborhoods from days goneby.
And it's a travel agency thathas locations downtown Chicago.
Uh, they've got one in myhometown of Oswego, Illinois.
(18:17):
They've got one in Rockford,they've got one in Addison's,
they've got travel agencyoffices all over.
When somebody calls in, pairingthat user with the right office
in order to be able to do thethe work and have somebody local
to work with is huge, isabsolutely huge.
(18:40):
So we're we're looking at thatentire operation and being able
to implement entire AI spreadacross all their locations.
Cabo Jim (18:50):
And it's good to have that that support of a master
agency.
Like you said, there's so manydifferent ways AI can be
implemented in a business, butunderstanding what best benefits
you as a business and helpsyou, you know, be more
successful and and keep moremoney uh is important as well,
too.
Ken Johnson (19:08):
Absolutely.
And it's all about making youroperation more efficient, more
cost effective, and keeping yourprofits in your pocket.
You can call up the localinternet service provider and
say, I want phone and internet.
Well, that internet serviceprovider is going to sell you
internet phones and put them onyour desk, but do they have all
(19:33):
the tools?
Is there a better provider thatcan plug into the same
internet, the same network?
Is there a provider thatservices your industry
specifically?
Is there a provider that worksvery, very well with churches?
Is there a provider that worksreally well with dental offices,
(19:53):
but not medical offices?
That there's so many parts andpieces, and there's thousands of
providers out there, and you'vegot to take a look at what fits
where.
Cabo Jim (20:06):
I love it.
I love it.
I think there's so much that wecan touch on, you know, during
this tech talk.
And I think we've got a lot offuture episodes already that
we've we've kind of mentionedtoday that we can uh tap into.
So I'm excited about that.
AI being one of them.
But uh any last words for fortoday?
Um enjoy the beach.
(20:28):
I love the if I have to, okay.
I mean, you you gotta enjoy thebeach.
That's that's why we live herein paradise to be able to do
that.
And uh I let Ken take care ofyour tech while while you're at
the beach.
Ken Johnson (20:47):
There you go.
Uh and and I I like uh to togive you one last word is AI has
changed the scope of securityfor your email, for your phones,
for everything.
I will ask you, please, please,please, just be safe out there
because the internet is not asafe place to play.
(21:09):
Be careful.
Cabo Jim (21:11):
There's there's bad people out there everywhere.
So, yes, definitely.
Well, Ken, it's been apleasure.
You're a lot of security.
Thank you.
There you go.
Yep.
Thank you.
Yeah, thank you for being sucha good neighbor, and uh, I guess
we'll see you next time here onTech Talk, okay?
Very good.
I look forward to it.
All right, thanks.
Intro/Close (21:31):
That's it for this episode of Tech Talk, where
we've got IT covered so you cankeep life and business running
smoothly.
Remember, whether it'scybersecurity, cloud solutions,
or just keeping your techtrouble free, USIT Systems is
here to help.
Visit us online atUSITSystems.com or give us a
call at 407-753-4499.
Stay safe, stay connected, andwe'll catch you on the next Tech
(21:51):
Talk.
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