Grab a glass of bourbon and settle in with industry experts Michael Creen and Michelle Ragusa-McBain. We're talking about Sonic Wall's latest acquisition of Solutions Granted and what it spells out for Managed Service Providers.

This episode peels back the layers, revealing how Sonic Wall's recent business moves are reshaping the landscape for MSPs. Michael Creen, a seasoned partner since the days of dial-up, and Michelle Ragusa-McBain, a Sonic Wall visionary, join forces to discuss the game-changing acquisition. 

Michael and Michelle expressed their excitement about the acquisition and highlight the importance of the partnership, the revamping of the Secure First partner program, and the expansion of SonicWall's portfolio to better support their partners.

The key takeaways from the podcast are: 

  • Discussion of SonicWall's acquisition of Solutions Granted and its impact on MSPs.
  • Strategic alignment between Sonic Wall and Solutions Granted.
  • Revamping of the Secure First partner program, including increased incentives and co-marketing opportunities.

=== Links from the show

https://www.sonicwall.com/

https://solutionsgranted.com/

Angry Florida Man Assaults Circle K Cashier with Chocolate Egg: http://tinyurl.com/2uvku4p9

=== Show Information

Website: https://www.itbusinesspodcast.com/

Host: Marvin Bee

Uncle Marv’s Amazon Store: https://amzn.to/3EiyKoZ

Become a monthly supporter: https://www.patreon.com/join/itbusinesspodcast?

One-Time Donation: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/unclemarv

=== Music: 

Song: Upbeat & Fun Sports Rock Logo

Author: AlexanderRufire

License Code: 7X9F52DNML - Date: January 1st, 2024

Transcript

00:08 - Marvin Bee (Host)
Hello friends, Uncle Marv here with another episode of the IT Business podcast, the show for IT professionals, where if you support business, we try to help you do that better, smarter and faster. This is our Wednesday live show, the last show for January 2024. We have been off to a fantastic start and, speaking of stars, we're going to have two people on in just a minute and it's going to be very interesting to see how this goes. I'm sure by now you have heard of the acquisition of sonic walls, overtaking or purchase or however that goes. We'll ask them of solutions granted and we'll talk about that and everything that means to us as an MSP. 

00:54
We are going to have a very interesting Florida man and I am just I'm not even going to go over the week and review I've had an interesting week. I've got some great stories. I will do a separate show just for that, but for now let's get on with it. I'm going to bring on probably he's not the biggest hype man in the channel, but he is someone that if you're going to drink bourbon, he's the guy to chat with Michael Creen from Solutions Granted. Michael, how are you? 

01:24 - Michael Crean (Guest)
It's all. Welcome Marv. How are you, sir? I'm doing well. 

01:26 - Marvin Bee (Host)
I'm good. I am good and she probably needs no introduction. Somebody that has been in the channel quite some time. Big name at Cisco, Now global channel chief at Sonic Wall, Michelle Ragusa McBain, Michelle, how are you? 

01:41 - Michelle Ragusa-McBain (Guest)
Hi, I'm good. Hi Michael, I'm doing great. How are you? 

01:45 - Marvin Bee (Host)
All right, welcome to the show guys. Now this was this. Took a little doing Trying to get everybody scheduled together, especially when you when you're a global channel chief, it's hard to make time for people like me. I did it, but we were able to make this happen. 

01:59 - Michelle Ragusa-McBain (Guest)
I think it was you that had the popular schedule. I was just like please, please, let me on, and then you did it. 

02:06 - Marvin Bee (Host)
All right here we are All right. So, folks, let's, let's you know, put aside all the stuff. I know that everybody's already heard of the acquisition. Everybody's probably asked you guys tons of questions what does it mean, how are things going to go? And we'll get into a little bit of that. But let me start with what I consider is the most important question, and I purposely did not put this in your show notes because I wanted to get a clear, concise, unfettered answer what does this mean for the string of ASCII cup wins? 

02:43 - Michael Crean (Guest)
What does it mean? What does it mean? I mean, look. So I came in to the, to the stream yard, and the last time I was on here is after we won the ASCII cup for the third time and I'd put my name as Michael the winner crane. And so as I came on, I was like, oh, I'm just going to leave that in there. And here's where you start with this. It means nothing different. Man Like, look, I'm going to win again. Like I'm not slowing down, Like the gauntlet has been thrown. Would you expect me to say anything less really? 

03:14 - Marvin Bee (Host)
No, I wouldn't, but I wanted to hear from Michelle if they were going to throw some Sonic wall money behind this now to make sure that you keep winning. Maybe, maybe, get a little game in the swag department. 

03:25 - Michelle Ragusa-McBain (Guest)
Oh, of course. No, listen, I love ASCII for many years. Jerry Koutavas is a good friend of mine as well, and we talked about sponsoring as well, and then now we get to do it together. So Michael's a winner. We play to win here as well. So I love, I love working with Michael. I think it's going to be a dream team combination. We really complement each other very well. But we'll definitely show up, we will give some swag and we will support every bit of that and we we're coming for the cup and I'm going to be there to celebrate. 

03:56 - Marvin Bee (Host)
Oh right. 

03:57 - Michelle Ragusa-McBain (Guest)
We're going to come together, Michael. 

04:00 - Marvin Bee (Host)
Now I should ask did you guys bring it. 

04:04 - Michelle Ragusa-McBain (Guest)
Our bourbon. 

04:05 - Marvin Bee (Host)
Did you bring the bourbon? 

04:07 - Michael Crean (Guest)
I did not bring my Meaning like do we have some? 

04:09 - Marvin Bee (Host)
Right, yes. 

04:10 - Michael Crean (Guest)
I'm at home, so we know good darn. Well, I've got some bourbon. 

04:13 - Michelle Ragusa-McBain (Guest)
Right now it's in the cabinet, correct? 

04:16 - Marvin Bee (Host)
I set this out for a reason, just in case we needed to partake. 

04:19 - Michael Crean (Guest)
I got both here and the Weller. 

04:22 - Michelle Ragusa-McBain (Guest)
Yeah, do you have a preference? 

04:25 - Marvin Bee (Host)
So I'm not a bourbon guy. So the wife actually went out and did some research and she get. There's two new bottles behind me, if you notice. 

04:32 - Michael Crean (Guest)
I see you got some buffalo trays. 

04:34 - Marvin Bee (Host)
Yes. 

04:35 - Michael Crean (Guest)
What that one is up on your right shoulder Can't see it very well. 

04:39 - Marvin Bee (Host)
That's the four roses. 

04:40 - Michael Crean (Guest)
Oh, there it is yeah. 

04:43 - Michelle Ragusa-McBain (Guest)
Also. 

04:44 - Michael Crean (Guest)
I think that I have another webinar right after this. 

04:46 - Michelle Ragusa-McBain (Guest)
So I thought, hmm, I will hit my best on the top. Better not drinking for a full hour before my first Asia pack webinar on cafe biz. 

04:58 - Marvin Bee (Host)
All right. So let's get started with a couple of bullet points here, just so that we can make sure we touch everything. So I'll start with this question, because it's always seemed throughout this relationship they just assumed at some point this was going to happen. Michael, you've always been a big sonic wall proponent of all the firewalls out there, and I mean the first question is what took so long, I guess is the way to ask the question. 

05:33 - Michael Crean (Guest)
Everything in its place and time. You know it’s all supposed to happen when it happens, and I think it just. I mean, if it happens sooner. I don't know that I would have been in the right place if it happened any later. I mean, who knows what would have happened. But you know, I'm thankful and it's interesting because I think it was 10 years ago. I made the comment to someone and some of the students well, what's your exit strategy? I'm not having a clue. It's like oh, you know what, you want me to give you an extra strategy, like how cool would it be if Sonic wall acquired me? Because we've had this 18 year, you know, love affair, if you will, of being a partner of theirs, of being incredibly loyal to them. You know, and then it was falling up to the bed. There's no way in the world that Sonic wall would want to acquire me. And you know, here we are, 75 days later. 

06:20 - Marvin Bee (Host)
Here we are Now, Michelle. People are well, Michelle, people are going to sit here and think, well, now that Michelle's there, this is what kind of you know made it the tipping point. Was this something that was kind of already in the works when you started, or got started shortly after your arrival? 

06:37 - Michelle Ragusa-McBain (Guest)
Yeah, so when I came, I joined in May 1st of 2023. So I'm fairly new to the organization, but there were two big catalysts of change that happened. First, our new CEO, bob Van Kirk, who was our CRO and CMO and has worked with Michael for many years, as well as our CRO, jason Carter, who also had worked with Michael for you know, he's been at the company for 17 years and Sonic wall really reimagined not only our technology roadmap I mean we have a lot of new hires. We have a lot of innovation going into that, with Chandra Prasad and all of our PMs really reinventing our strategy. But then also beyond, just the products that we're going to build in our roadmap and our multi-tenant, our single pane of glass and all of that platform that we're creating. 

07:24
It's identifying what's missing for our partners right, and we all know it's not if, but when a cyber-attack happens. We know that cybersecurity is paramount. Every single person knows that this is not a nice to have, it's a need to have, and you have to identify every layer of your portfolio to say do you have the right solutions? Are we doing the right things? Are we partnering with the right people? And what Michael provides in protecting the protectors is really paramount. With, you know, the vulnerability assessments and the way that they're able to do managed detection response. 

07:58
And, of course, now, with our acquisition of Banyan and Zero Trust and Sassy, we're taking what people know as Sonic Wall and just ramping it up to the very highest level of protecting our customers on every stage and age of their portfolio. And so, for me, obviously, MSPs are a priority. That's been my focus for many years, and I care about our managed service provider partners. I know them. I know their kids names, I know their pets names. Like we are family with one another. And I know Michael from the community. I've watched him speak many times. He's watched me speak, so we both truly care about these partners and their success and their protection. How to make them, you know, not only safe and protected but also profitable, and so for me, this was a no-brainer when you look at what Michael can bring to the table with Solutions, granted, it was a big missing piece for us that just took Sonic Wall to that next level, and so I'm so glad to have him as a partner in this journey. 

08:57 - Marvin Bee (Host)
Alright, so I'll give a little bit of full disclosure. I am a partner with both of you. I have been a Sonic Wall partner since the first one. 

09:07 - Michael Crean (Guest)
Smart man. 

09:09 - Marvin Bee (Host)
Sonic Wall since about 2005. I survived Dell Hell. 

09:14 - Michelle Ragusa-McBain (Guest)
Yeah, and. 

09:15 - Marvin Bee (Host)
I'm still with you, welcome. So, of course, when all the changes were, you know, announced with the acquisitions with Banyan, solutions Granted, solutions Granted I was happy about, I'm like yep, about time. The others I wasn't quite sure about, I don't know. But I also know that you guys are revamping the Secure First partner program. 

09:37 - Michelle Ragusa-McBain (Guest)
Absolutely. 

09:37 - Marvin Bee (Host)
Now I'll be honest, I'm a little hesitant. I'm like, let me see how this is going to go three months, six months down the road. Can you tell us about the changes that are coming up in the Secure First program and what does all that mean, including Solutions Granted? 

09:55 - Michelle Ragusa-McBain (Guest)
Absolutely so. Firstly, and thank you for being such a loyal partner to both of us for all these years. I think it's really important and I do. That's the first announcement. When I joined Sonic Wall, people said, Michelle, I thought I liked you, but now I really like you. I've been a Sonic Wall partner 10, 20, 30 years. I was like tell me what you really think. But I was so glad that they are so loyal to Sonic Wall and that despite acquisition, release, acquisition, private equity, our partners have been a paramount to us, like we're a 100% channel company and we truly have the best solution architects, the best engineers, the best sales team that cares about their success. And I'm talking when our CEO, bob Van Kerk, gets a letter from a customer. If they're not satisfied with something, he responds. And it's very rare in my 19 years that I've seen a CEO be that responsive. And so it's a top down, bottoms up really care for our partners, but in Secure First. 

10:56
What we do is you've probably heard it in the ecosystem, but we do outside in. So we started a bunch of advisory councils and technical advisory councils around the world and we pulled our partners and say what are you receiving that's working, what's not? What are other people doing that we could do better? And we took all of that and conglomerate together and we relaunched Secure First. So we did a soft launch in September and tomorrow is actually the full launch of our new Secure First program. And what did we do? So what's different? 

11:28
Great question, a few things are really important. We lowered rebate thresholds so more partners can earn incentives. That was very important for us. We want to make sure that at the lowest tier and the highest tier, we actually increase discounts, because we know that we want to recruit partners, but we also want to reward them for growing and being strategic with us. In addition to that, we took our proposal based MDS and we also made it a cruel base. So if you are partnering with us, you're going to earn more money to co-brand, co-Market and co-sell and co-innovate with Sonic Wall, and we're going to partner with our ecosystem partners to make sure you have the right go-to Market strategy, that we're doing lunch and learns, that we're able to present together All of the things to really help you grow your customer base. In addition to that, of course, we have our MSP program, formerly known as MSSP, but it's our service provider program. So whether you're choosing to sell switches or firewalls or access points, or you're selling to your customers with recurring revenue and software as a service, you will earn and drive towards your requirements and benefits so you can get up the ranks with us and keep earning and get to that next tier, get increased discounts, get premium tier support, and so all of these things are very, very paramount. 

12:47
And just to add, obviously our portfolio continues to expand. I know everybody thinks of us as the firewall company and we do have best in class firewalls. But we have Capture Client, we partner with Sentinel One, we have Endpoint Security, we have, you know, firewall virtual firewalls and now we have our whole portfolio with SGI and we're continuing to evolve that portfolio. So, as we look at Secure First, we took all of the best things that we had. We have flexible consumption, we have building and arrears, we have the ability to add and procure and remove products at any time, no hassle, and we're just really making it easier to do business with us, simpler and really helping to drive our partner's profitability so we can grow together. 

13:32 - Marvin Bee (Host)
All right. So out of all of that, I have two more questions that I think would help clear some things up. You said more opportunity for rebates. Does that mean you've lowered the threshold for deal registrations, or has that process changed? 

13:49 - Michelle Ragusa-McBain (Guest)
Yeah, that's a great question. So what we're doing, actually, that's a great call out. We have a few things that are really important there. One we're doing new customer deal regs. So any new customer to you and Sonic Wall that you bring to us, you get 50% off that deal. So the complete deal reg is 50% off. So that's an incremental 10% off the bat. And then, in addition to that, we are also doing tier match plus one. 

14:16
So if you're not a Sonic Wall partner today and you're working with somebody else, we know how hard it is to lift and shift your business, to join and start something new, and we don't want you to start from the ground up. So wherever you are, wherever you are, we're going to meet you where you are. If you prove that you're a gold partner with so and so and you come to us, then you're a gold partner with us, just like that. And in addition to that, you have 180 days. We're going to assign a dedicated team of partner development to help you. 

14:43
We have Sonic Wall University with all of our free classes. We've had over a million classes taken since inception. We're bringing back tech masters, so we have this great portfolio for our partners in terms of training and enablement. I mentioned cafe biz earlier and cafe tech, so we have a lot of training and enablement videos, whether you're a tech or an exec or anywhere in between. So we definitely want to help you drive new customer growth and be able to win those deals and be able to hit the ground running being a partner with Sonic Wall. 

15:14 - Marvin Bee (Host)
All right, that answers that, question Number one. Question number two is this going to help us compete with Amazon? 

15:21 - Michelle Ragusa-McBain (Guest)
Yeah, absolutely so. The lower discounts here is Amazon. 

15:25 - Marvin Bee (Host)
Don't laugh at that, Michael. What's wrong with you? 

15:29 - Michelle Ragusa-McBain (Guest)
No, 100%. That's a valid concern, it's a valid question and I appreciate that because that came up very early on in my journey at Sonic Wall. And so that's exactly why, with our two tiers that we have, we have our velocity tier. So if you start out in the program and you just enter Europe bronze level but you're going to get a higher discount. If you're going to go up to you know, silver, that's still in that tier, that's where you're starting to start earning that rebates, the MDF and all of that. And then as you get up to the mastery track that's when you're really, you know, cooking with gas You're going to get a lot more perks, a lot more benefit in that good, better, best. And so if you invest in us, we're going to invest back in you and help drive that success together. 

16:10 - Marvin Bee (Host)
All right, Michael, really did you really? 

16:15 - Michael Crean (Guest)
I can't help it for years. So you know, I always I see this from a different point of view. Obviously, I've been an MSP, I've been a bar, been an MSSP and we built out our own channel. We've got these 1000, some odd partners, and it was always this really interesting conversation where it's like well, you know, you're going to sell me that for X, I'm just going to go buy it from somebody else and then I'm going to bring it back to you and you could figure it doesn't work that way. 

16:44
You know, this is like a package deal and you don't always buy everything on price. Sometimes you're buying it for the relation, sometimes you're buying it for the totality of the experience that you're going to get. And I've always struggled with the you know, the MSPs that come in and it's only about the bottom line, because that means you don't value service. And you know, is that how it's at the type of customer that you want? Do you want the type of customer that's only going to look for the cheapest person to service them? Because you know, if that's the kind of customer you want, that's a tough relationship to begin. 

17:20 - Marvin Bee (Host)
It is. It is, and I'll be honest with you. I tell customers I'm not going to be the cheapest, but it's not the customers per se that I'm worried about. It's other solution providers that are also doing that that they'll go to Amazon and buy. You know the Amazon special that's 30% lower. 

17:38 - NetAlly (Announcement)
And. 

17:39 - Marvin Bee (Host)
I just ask you know, listen, I let people know what's coming up on the show. They give me questions to ask. I ask you know that. 

17:49 - Michael Crean (Guest)
There's. I mean, it's always going to be a tough one. I mean anytime there's an opportunity for somebody to try to beat the system, to cheat the system, to do something to you know, get their edge up if you will. 

18:04 - Marvin Bee (Host)
There's always going to be somebody. Yeah, there will be so. So Michelle got to answer a lot of the questions early on. Michael, back to you. I know that you, you know, talked about an exit strategy. Wouldn't it be great if Sonic walk wider is, and now they have? So what excites you the most about the future? 

18:27 - Michael Crean (Guest)
You know. So there was a lot of buyer beware statements being made from people that I knew that hadn't been acquired from. You know, lots of people want to give you your opinion. Some people I was soliciting, some I was not soliciting, and it wasn't necessarily about the company that was acquiring, it was just in general about acquisitions and how they go, and so there was a lot of. I hope everything that I'm hearing is true and I hope what I'm being told is exactly what it's going to be. And I will say you know we're still new at this. I mean, it's literally, it's been 76 days, 75 days, whatever we're at right now. But honestly, there hasn't been one thing that was told to me through all of the due diligence, everything that happened and to this point that I'm looking back and saying, well, they said this, but it wasn't true Everything that I am trying to accomplish that aligns with the goals that we want to accomplish is a global security company, but a global security company that's leading with services and not just product, and that's the big change that's happening right now. 

19:32
I mean, I'll say we're in the honeymoon phase and I'll tell you the honeymoon is pretty damn good right now, like I have got no complaints. I mean we're doing the same things. I mean so much. So, to the point, like and Marv, you're catching us at a really good time. We've got several new offerings that are coming out here in just the next couple of days and things that were important to me. 

19:52
I mean, everybody knows it, we were always about no contracts, no minimums, always wanted to give every MSP an opportunity to succeed. You were a one man shop, you're a half man shop because you had a full time job and you're just doing this on the side to figure out where you can take it. And you needed one endpoint of something, whether it was for cloud or for your Windows, Linux, mac or a firewall, whatever it was. Sonic Walls completely adopted this methodology. You know they are now doing everything exactly the way we're doing it. 

20:20
But this consumption base has no minimums, no annual commits and to me that's empowering, like that has got fuel to the fire. I mean it's just and it's so cool. Like I'm learning so many things, I'm having some opportunities to talk to people about different pieces of technology. I'm seeing a completely different side of business that I've never seen before. Like we didn't have any PMs working at Solutions Granted, like we were the PMs, like the three or four of us got in the room, we made a decision and we just went and did it, and so it's. It's a lot of fun. You know, I'm really enjoying this part of my journey and I'm looking forward to the growth that we're about to undertake the global expansion. We're building out another security operations center in Europe Like I never had the money to do that as Solutions Granted. 

21:10
So I mean what an exciting time to build out, you know, global operations, which is kind of cool. 

21:16 - Marvin Bee (Host)
Yeah, now I do want to say kudos to both of you. You were on a podcast earlier with my good friend, Bradley Gross, and you talked about the fact that there was this commitment that basically no changes for two years, which seems unheard of when there's an acquisition. So that's got to feel good that you know there's this. You know commitment that, at least from what it feels like to me, the ship's going to keep on sailing. 

21:46 - Michael Crean (Guest)
Yeah, I mean I, you know, look, this is a knot. This is not a not-for-profit business, so we do have to execute well, we do have to make sure that we're keeping everything in check, and so, obviously, if I'm not a good leader of this managed security services business, well then I should probably expect that, you know, my two years may be a little bit shorter, but you know, honestly, I'm kind of like that guy on the treadmill is like, oh, you got on the treadmill next to me and it's a race. Like I'm probably going to die before I give up on this race. So I, you know, I don't expect that we're going to see anything other than you know, we've been really successful for the last eight or nine years as we've made a transition for being an MSP to being an MSSP. That service, the channel, I mean it's the things that we're creating right now, the way that people are talking to us, the way that people are perceiving us, the pipeline that we're seeing, it's, it's pretty stinking cool. Like I am, I'm pretty happy. 

22:48 - Marvin Bee (Host)
All right. So I saw a question that came up in the chat. Before we get to that, I want to take a quick moment and let's hear from our sponsors. The IT business podcast is presented by net ally, and this cup that you've seen me drinking from is another provider. Uh, super ops, and this is my regular pineapple and water drink, not bourbon, so I want to thank them for that. 

23:16 - Michelle Ragusa-McBain (Guest)
You can speak it. I mean that's an option. 

23:18 - Marvin Bee (Host)
That is true. 

23:19 - Michael Crean (Guest)
Speaking of its pineapple and water with some rub. 

23:24 - Marvin Bee (Host)
No, so I'll say this I went to go grab a glass for the bourbon and the only things I had from you guys, I had this, this little plastic carnival cup from solutions, I will deliver. And then fix that. And I'm going to only show this like here, because I do have tumblers, but it was somebody else's brand on it, so I didn't want to mention that. 

23:52 - Michelle Ragusa-McBain (Guest)
I'm sorry about that. We're going to fix this. 

23:55 - Marvin Bee (Host)
All right, um, all right, and then we have our live stream is presented by computers. Done Right, thank you very much. And I've got a quick video from our main sponsor, net ally. 

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25:13 - Marvin Bee (Host)
All right. So back to the question that came up in the chat just before that. Of course, everybody is wondering what things may or may not change. And the first question is how does this affect the solutions granted? Sonic wall offerings? 

25:30 - Michael Crean (Guest)
So, Diana, if you're talking about the firewall as a service offering that solutions grant had, where it was that monthly offering for you to get the firewall with? You know either configuration services or management services or just utilize us to get out of that OPEX game or get out yeah, get out of the OPEX game and get in. Sorry, get out of the cap X game and get into the OPEX game. It's not changing. We're still doing that. We've been facilitating orders since the acquisition. There is one thing that changed through this acquisition and it was the most logical change that should have taken place. 

26:07
So I think everybody knows that solutions granted had been a long time sonic wall partner and a platinum partner for years and years and years. So we had a very large, huge resale business. We were selling renewals; we were selling firewalls. Outside of what we were doing in our management security services. We had lots of partners that would either buy from us or just through. You know, 22 years of being in business, you built up quite the reputation and the Rolodex and I just dated myself by saying Rolodex of people that would come back and want to buy technology from us, and a lot of it being sonic wall. It is the one and only thing that did not come across, and what we did is we had a relationship with a young lady out of Texas who had been a sonic wall partner for a very long time, and we transitioned our entire reseller sonic wall business over to Lydia McCloskey with PCs to you, and so that's really the only thing that has changed. Everything else came across. Every person came across. Everything is still exactly as it was. 

27:11 - Marvin Bee (Host)
So the question might be going forward at some point. Right now, if we go to our distributors and we buy Sonic Wall, we're buying the essential package, the total secure blah, blah, blah. Are we now going to be able to add onto that some of the MDRHDR services as well, or is that still going to be separate? 

27:33 - Michael Crean (Guest)
No, you are going to be able to add onto it. And I will say one thing that is actually really unique is how many acquisitions do you know that have taken place? Or, obviously, the acquiring company had a CFO, as most companies do. Well, the acquired company, solutions Granted I had a CFO. Well, they kept my CFO. They actually kept my entire finance team, and we are still doing our own billing through our own systems, and there's no end to that in sight. 

28:00
So, the managed security services division of Sonic Wall, we now have the ability that we can service partners directly. If you love going through distribution and there's all kinds of reasons that you can like it and you should like it and if they're taking care of you and you feel like it's a good relationship and you're being serviced well, you should just keep on doing that. But if you've been a long time Sonic Wall partner with us at Solutions Granted, that doesn't change. You continue to procure through us, you continue to pay us, we continue to take care of you, and so it depends on how you want your path to the top of the mountain to look, because there's multiple paths to get there. 

28:37 - Marvin Bee (Host)
All right, Michelle. Anything to add to that? 

28:40 - Michelle Ragusa-McBain (Guest)
No, I would just add that, you know, as we continue to look at our entire portfolio, I think that there's just from end to end solutions. A lot of what Michael has, you know, is learning for our team. Obviously, Every vendor tries to do this right and I think that the benefits of what we do as a 33-year-old expert in you know, having PMs and all of the work that we've done globally in our footprint, expansion in 215 countries and territories around the world those are things that we can help, you know, with Michael, really hit the ground running. But reciprocally, there's things that Michael and his team have done really well and we don't want to disrupt that. We want to learn from him, we want to grow with him and we want to help expand what's working and learn those best practices at Sonic Wall so that we can continue to be effective for our partners around the world. 

29:35 - Marvin Bee (Host)
Right. So a lot of what we've talked about. There seems to be this convergence for Sonic Wall and Solutions Granted to reshape how we're addressing the cybersecurity aspect of this. So how do you see the acquisition doing that? I guess in a holistic way, going forward. 

29:59 - Michelle Ragusa-McBain (Guest)
Yeah, that's a great question and that's something that actually, at an upcoming for anyone coming to NerdioCon, that'll be Michael and I first time presenting together, so that's going to be a lot of fun. Expect us to be dressed like twins in the future. I'm really excited about it. Let's throw that out there. But as we come together, you know, there's a story that I've been telling for the past eight months about Sonic Wall, about how we're reimagining our roadmap and our solutions and our program and our people. We've invested in leadership in Europe and in Latin and Japan and really tried to grow and standardize our practices, but there is what I'd call the end-to-end solution, right, and you know the point of this is that I happen to, as you know, be married to an analyst and I see the growth opportunities and so the webinar that I'm doing right after this, I'm doing it in Asia and then I'm doing it in Europe tomorrow morning and then again in Americas, and I'm working with top analysts from CRN and from Canalis and from Channel Futures and all around the world to say what are we seeing as indicators of the threat landscape, next-gen AI, what are some of the predictors, what are some of the biggest opportunities and challenges for MSPs and how can they lean in and adapt to some of those things. So I'd encourage anyone to tune in if you'd like to. I think it's going to be a great session and really allow us to understand the landscape at large. 

31:33
But for us at SonicWALL, it's taking all of those separate stories now my story about what we're doing to redefine our program for our partners. Michael's story about what he has been doing. The Banyan story is about what they're doing for Zero Trust. Sassy and how we're going to incorporate that into our product roadmap as well. Shantra Prasad and us, who are our global VP of engineering and product, who are going to come together and have a new vision strategy story for SonicWALL. 

32:03
Ryan Matlock, who's leading customer support and really using next-gen AI to help make time more efficient and effective, because we know time is money. Every second that you're away from your customers is time wasted. So how do we continue to enhance our support and our training and enablement? And so all of these separate threads. We just hired a new CMO and Christine Bartlett and she's going to help do a lot of channel Marketing. So how do we sell not only to you but through you to your customers and help you grow your business and help you reimagine your go-to Market strategies to be more profitable and effective? So all of these threads are different stories and we're going to work to make it one story, one effective go-to-Market strategy, with all of those layers of security and all the ways that SonicWALL is listening and taking that feedback and not just changing our products, not just changing our program, but doing it side by side with our partners to really help you do what you need to be the best vendor that you work with. 

33:02 - Marvin Bee (Host)
Yeah, so let's do this real quick. We've mentioned Banyan a couple of times and I know my listeners; they know SonicWALL, they know Solutions Granted. A lot of them may not know Banyan. So can you really quickly tell us what Banyan is and what does that bring to the portfolio? 

33:20 - Michelle Ragusa-McBain (Guest)
Yeah, I mean in a high level. I think that's also being defined in terms of what we're going to be able to do. I mean it's really a lot of possibilities for tomorrow. But Banyan Security has been a solution that has been around. Dan Jones is their CIO and I was talking to him the other day about what are the possibilities of how we can incorporate things that. 

33:45
He was formerly the enterprise CIO at Cisco and we talk about CISO and CISO advisory suites and really understanding we have our threat report that we send out quarterly and understanding the gaps that are happening in the threat landscape and not only what they are. But how do we marry and mirror those threats to the right solutions and incident response plans and the ability to have you know SAS, zero trust for our customers. So that is just a brand new possibility of how we incorporate that into our products, how we layer that into our company, Tarun as their CEO, and just the vision and mission A lot of our listeners I know when I was at Cisco and you look at SMB partners, which is most of the long tail service provider partners, are eight to 15 person shops, right. So it's not if but when. We're going in this direction, but it's also us being first to Market and being able to provide best in class enterprise technology at an SMB level and price point, and that's really exciting. 

34:51 - Marvin Bee (Host)
So the question I have then is because Banyan obviously has zero trust, so SonicWALL has the secure mobile appliance, of course, their global VPN product as well. Is that something where Banyan will be incorporated into that or replace that, any idea? Or am I just asking way too early? 

35:12 - Michelle Ragusa-McBain (Guest)
I think you have to stay tuned, but go ahead, Michael. 

35:16 - Michael Crean (Guest)
I don't think you're asking way too early. I think we're already seeing that natural progression of change taking place and how we operate as businesses today. If we see, maybe five years ago and everybody was still kind of primarily operating in that traditional brick and mortar fashion. And so, you know, while Microsoft 365 was doing its thing and maybe a lot of people had gone the way of, you know, going exchange online, people still had their file servers, still had their domain controllers, they still had their firewalls, they still had VPN access back to get to these corporate assets. But more of like, how many of your customers have already kind of made that transition or currently making that transition to get rid of that infrastructure? So they've moved that file server to that one drive SharePoint combination and Microsoft 365 or they've gone some other platform in the cloud. 

36:07
Domain controllers are going away every day and we see this in our own services and offerings. So many people are going to either Azure, AD or ADFS. So Banyan and its capability to be cloud native and cloud first is going to give us that ability to be far more nimble. And I will tell you, like as many SSL VPN appliances as possible and SMA appliances that we've configured and deployed, and some of those deployments can be hours long. Banyan has got about a 15 minute setup time, which is crazy. Think about that time to value and how much better it's going to be for you and your client when you can start provisioning something like this. That's no longer hardware dependent and you can get it up and running in minutes. 

36:49 - Marvin Bee (Host)
All right, had to ask that question because, you're right, it's all coming. So let me step back and give you guys kind of a softball question what's been the weirdest question you've had asked to you guys in the last 75 days and what's the best question you've had asked to you? 

37:11 - Michelle Ragusa-McBain (Guest)
related to work. 

37:14 - Marvin Bee (Host)
Yeah, not your journeys around the world. Okay. 

37:17 - Michael Crean (Guest)
I think the weirdest one wasn't necessarily a question for me, but it was on Reddit. You know, in Reddit it's like a. It's the most fickle creature in the world. It's I call it the public airing of grievances. So anybody that remembers Seinfeld? It was called the public airing of grievances. It was not. 

37:34
Maybe it might have been 48 hours after the acquisition was announced and somebody made the authoritative statement. It's like one more dumpster fire. Let's see how long it takes before the brain trust leaves and like it. Just, you know, without knowing anything, without knowing us, without knowing the deal or the structure, the commitment that I've made or the commitment that you know, will Alexander or Corey Clark or Jessica Ford, you know all of the executives of Solutions Credit made in this and what we were looking for. I mean anybody that knew me, that really knew what I was after. 

38:10
I was not looking to sail off into the sunset, because the devil's playground runs really tough in my hands and I need to stay busy and I wanted to be something that I could continue to build and be proud of, and I will not do so. You know there is no dumpster fire here. You know I've made a commitment that I'm going to be here for years and I'm not going anywhere. So I think that was the I don't know if I want to call it the most difficult one but almost the human nature of uncertainty that started to rare its ugly head so very quickly. If somebody's saying you know, another one bites the dust, that one felt unfortunate. What I will say the best thing was the amount of text messages and phone calls that I received of people saying, man, this is amazing, it's so cool, you know, I'm proud of you. I mean, it was a lot of that, a lot of the I'm proud of you. That was unexpected. 

39:03 - Michelle Ragusa-McBain (Guest)
Yeah, I love that, and reciprocally, I'll echo the positive remarks. I mean, I got so many private Facebook messages and LinkedIn messages and texts just saying wow, like I've seen what you've been lighting up at Sonic Wall and I've seen Michael lighting up a solutions grant it in, like one plus one equals three. This is going to be a fire partnership and we're so excited for the possibilities, and I was really happy about that because I knew in my own heart how passionate I am about this, and so I've seen acquisitions in my past life go really right or really wrong, and the worst ones are the ones where the acquirer comes in, buys the resource and then completely changes it, to the point it's no longer what you bought it for in the first place. That is a colossal fail, in my opinion, because they were doing something right, so right that you wanted to purchase them, and then you changed them. And so, in my mind, the ones that went really well are the ones that were almost autonomous and did what they did well, and you supported it, you funded it, you amplified it and you took it from good to great. That is what I think is really what we're going to do together we're going to take what's great to awesome and we're going to be able to really rock at that together. 

40:25
Weird I get a lot of weird questions. Uncle Marv, I don't know honestly, I don't think I could narrow it down. Truly, it's on the daily I get some weird stuff. 

40:34 - Marvin Bee (Host)
You do live in Florida, so you get weird anyway. Just from being here I'll noodle that. 

40:42
So let me say this about both of you and both your organizations. Like I said, I was a Sonic wall partner back since 2005,. I survived the Dell Hell days and I almost didn't. I almost bailed, like a lot of other people, because of that acquisition, but the product was still solid and that is what meant more to me than anything. I could care less. I don't deal with product reps; I don't deal with account managers that much. So as long as a product does what it's supposed to, I'm okay. As long as you don't start gouging me for money or whatever. And Michael at Solutions Granted, I will say this there are vendors on our channel that get bashed, some of them for very good reason and some for not very good reasons, and one of the things that I can say about Solutions Granted is I don't think, to be honest, I've ever heard anything said bad about you except that you poor little heavy. Is that a bad thing? 

41:51 - Michael Crean (Guest)
But I've asked, We've had our share. I mean, like you can't make everybody happy. No you can't. 

41:57 - Michelle Ragusa-McBain (Guest)
You're not. 

42:00 - Michael Crean (Guest)
No, I mean, I'm an incredibly opinionated person, but my opinions are for the better of whomever I'm talking to. It's not for my own self gain or for my inflation of my ego or whatever it is. And sometimes people don't want to hear somebody else's truth, and my truth doesn't have to be your truth, your truth doesn't have to be my truth, but we do have to respect each other's truth. Don't have to agree with it, but definitely have to respect it, and I think that is the only thing that I've ever seen where there's been some, you know again, it was on Reddit, stupid Reddit, it's always Reddit, but yeah. 

42:40 - Marvin Bee (Host)
Reddit's its own world. But here's the thing I was also going to say for both of you. You guys are out there, you're talking to us on the street at the conferences, where a lot of places channel chiefs don't, CEOs don't, and sometimes it's lip service. Sometimes you can tell it's a little political in a lot of ways. I've never gotten that sense. And Michelle, I haven't seen you out and about. I know your husband and you know I never got that from him. I've heard your reputation Stellar is the only thing I can say about that. But, Michael, I've seen you out and about and I keep asking you why are you out here, man? You're the CEO, send your minions out and you're like no, I need to be out here listening to the people and chatting it up, and you do it right. 

43:32 - Michael Crean (Guest)
I can't fix problems, but what I can do is I can listen to problems and the more problems that I can hear and the more things that people are happy about things that aren't happy about, and the more opportunities I get to meet channel partners. It just helps keep refining who I am as a person, helps me grow, but also helps the business grow and it helps me stay grounded Like I never wanted to be. And some of this comes and I've said for years and probably as I've gotten older I've changed the story a little bit. I've said I think a lot of that leadership style came from my military days. But then I've changed a lot of that recently and I start thinking more about my mom and dad who worked for General Motors. My dad worked for 40 some odd years, my mom worked for 20 some odd years. They got up every day, they went to work and they did their job and they came home and honestly I can't ever remember a day that they complained. 

44:24
So you want to talk about silent leadership, proving to my brother and I that there's a job to do and you do it because of your free will, that you choose to do it and you must just do it the right way and I choose to carry on that legacy. My father has passed, my mom is still alive, but I choose to carry on that legacy. And hard work doesn't kill you. I think it makes you a better person and it inspires, and that's what I want when I'm gone. That's what I want the legacy of what I'm leaving behind for people to do. I want people to act like the good part of me, not the bad part of me. That apparently pours too heavy. 

45:04 - Michelle Ragusa-McBain (Guest)
That's still not a bad thing, but I'll piggyback on that. So since May 1st I've been to 34 events with Sonic Well events, partner meetings, QBRs. I too, like Michael, I was raised by a single mom. I've worked since I'm 14 years old. I'm the first in my family to go to college, the first in my family to get an MBA and the first to work in technology. So I'm super proud that I've been here almost two decades and I'm a big advocate for women and diversity and technology. I think we need more of it. I'd love to promote that. But I'm also a big advocate of. 

45:41
My mom taught me a very important principle and she said it doesn't matter who you are, you treat everyone with respect, whether it's the president or the janitor, and that's the core culture of what I was raised with just listening to everybody. And very early on in my career I remember the CEO of a company asking me what I thought and I felt like I'm a peon, like I'm so unimportant. At that stage I was so young, I was so new and he cared. What I had to say and that resonated with me my entire career was how important the impact of somebody listening to you is and what it matters when you hear somebody and you take value in what they have to share with you, because that's a gift and I appreciate listening and learning from our partners. 

46:25
I try not to do a lot of product pitching, because I'm not there to sell you something. I'm there to learn how I can help you and then compliment after what you tell me. Can I fill those gaps? Can I fill those needs? Is there something we can do to help you be better, stronger, more effective? And if I can do that, great. And if I'm not the one, that's okay too, because I'm building a relationship and you never know where that's going to translate in the future. 

46:52
And so for me, I genuinely adore this community. I think the tech channel is my second family. I have two little girls with my husband, jay, you know so nine and seven years old, and that's hard to be on the road that much with two little girls at home. And so when I leave, I tell them you know they say why do you have to leave? And I told mommy has to leave because she loves what she does and she wants you to know that you could do anything you set your mind to. Anything is possible and if you're good at it and you love doing it. That's why you get up and go to work every day. 

47:23 - Marvin Bee (Host)
Well said, well said. Hopefully that's not your kids dinging' you on the-. 

47:28 - Michelle Ragusa-McBain (Guest)
No, they're too little, they don't have a phone yet, but watch, we keep asking. 

47:32 - Marvin Bee (Host)
Ha ha, ha, ha, ha, ha ha ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha ha. Well, 2024 sounds like it is going to be a very good start to a beautiful relationship, and I look forward to seeing what happens down the road. As I said, I'm a partner. I don't plan on leaving anytime soon, so make it happen, Nice Um 3 am. Oh, I agree. So have a nice rest of your day. 

48:00 - Michelle Ragusa-McBain (Guest)
Thank you, Thank you. 

47:55 - Marvin Bee (Host)
Alright, so you know what timing is right. 

48:03 - Michael Crean (Guest)
Is it drinking time? Is that what time it is? I don't know like. 

48:07 - Marvin Bee (Host)
That is our Florida man segment, presented by SuperOps and Michael. You've been on here enough times. You know what this segment is. 

48:18 - Michelle Ragusa-McBain (Guest)
Michelle, you live here in Florida, uh so are you exactly where we're in Florida, are you? 

48:23 - Michael Crean (Guest)
Whoa, whoa, whoa. He's in the WitSec program. We don't. We don't divulge where he lives, because you never know what's showing up tomorrow I'm trying my golf cart. 

48:32 - Marvin Bee (Host)
Okay, just uh. Let's just say Fort Lauderdale and the extended area. Okay, yeah, right down the road. Right down the road. Uh, so did you guys do any prep? Are we going to challenge Florida man, or do you want to answer a random question? 

48:50 - Michael Crean (Guest)
I'm going rando yeah. 

48:51 - Marvin Bee (Host)
Random. 

48:52 - Michael Crean (Guest)
I'm both going rando. 

48:54 - Marvin Bee (Host)
Okay, all right, and then afterwards I'll ask one of you to pick a number and I'll read one of the Florida stories I have prepared. So, uh, Michelle, uh, you will be first with the random question on oh my God, how easy is this. What did you eat for breakfast? 

49:12 - Michelle Ragusa-McBain (Guest)
Okay. So this is very random and I, my normal breakfast is like I drink coffee in a protein shake cause I'm in back to back calls and I so this morning I had my friend, my good friend, it was her birthday and her divorce in one day and she's like would you meet me? And we had a Poke Bowl. So that was my breakfast. It was like breakfast, lunch, Poke Bowl. That's weird, I know, but I Celebrate my gals. We have to stick together. 

49:44 - Michael Crean (Guest)
So okay, where I just have to wait. I'm confused like what time was its lunch or what time was breakfast, because where are you getting a ball in the morning? 

49:52 - Michelle Ragusa-McBain (Guest)
Like 11, like I went and I took it and that was my breakfast lunch, but normally I'm not a breakfast. 

49:59 - Marvin Bee (Host)
It's Florida. Everything is open 24 hours down here. 

50:02 - Michelle Ragusa-McBain (Guest)
Yeah, we don't sleep. I'm a New York originally, so it's the good, I'll tell you what's not open. 

50:07 - Michael Crean (Guest)
I was in San. I was in Milpitas in the San Jose area last week and I needed to go to CVS one morning, or Walgreens or something. Nothing opens till 8 o'clock. I was like what is wrong with that city, like why can I not? I don't only want it was some Motrin, not only thing, but I also want some Motrin. And the drugstore stone opens at 8 o'clock in the morning. 

50:26 - Michelle Ragusa-McBain (Guest)
No, ours are like 24 hours. We have a very high population of seniors and people of all ages who need medication evidently. 

50:36 - Marvin Bee (Host)
So my best time story when I went to grad school, I went up to Wake Forest a week early For the orientation week that we were supposed to have, only to find out they canceled orientation. So my first day there was a Monday and we were told okay, go out and do what you want. We went out, it was six o'clock, everything was closed. 

51:03 - Michelle Ragusa-McBain (Guest)
Oh my gosh. I lived in North Carolina for seven years too. I feel your pain everything close. 

51:08 - Marvin Bee (Host)
I'm like what in the world is this the world you're from, boy I? 

51:14 - Michelle Ragusa-McBain (Guest)
Do love a Waffle House. I'm not going to lie. 

51:22 - Marvin Bee (Host)
Alright, Michael, your question. 

51:25 - Michael Crean (Guest)
I feel like I've been set up here. No you have it let her go first and she gets the easiest of all easy questions. This is an easy question to get the square root of 8,472, and I'm just going to look at you too like I'm crazy. 

51:39 - Marvin Bee (Host)
What has been the best day of your life so far? 

51:48 - Michael Crean (Guest)
Right. So I will tell you what has been the best day of my life since I have sold my business my mom had. My mom worked for General Motors. She lived a comfortable life, but never really you. She didn't make that kind of money. 

52:05
My mom and I have talked about cars forever and the one thing that my mom has always wanted was a kind of like escalate, and I had always committed to and never said this to her, but it was like, hey, you know, if I ever hit it, if it ever worked for me, I'm going to buy my mom that car. 

52:20
And it was the first thing that I purchased after the acquisition and I had been like setting my mom up. We've been talking. I was emailing her pictures and text me as I came on what do you think about this color and what do you think about this style, what do you think about this interior? And you know she picked it all out without knowing and I was playing it like I'm buying this car. And then I was like, wow, I, you know, I agree with you. This is like the most beautiful build ever and I bought it. So this transaction happens on a Wednesday, I think I buy the car on a Thursday. I leave and drive to Ohio on a Friday and surprise my mom on a Saturday and like the Expletives of what my mom called me like. 

53:01
I probably shouldn't say right now, but I will say I don't know how many other things in my life that I've done that have been that good, but it feels like one of the best moments of my life. And now when my mom sends me an email she signs at the Cadillac lady. 

53:22 - Marvin Bee (Host)
Where in Ohio? 

53:25 - Michael Crean (Guest)
She lives in Cortland, Ohio, so very close to Youngstown, so that northeast corner okay you know, probably an hour from Cleveland. 

53:32 - Marvin Bee (Host)
Yeah, my wife is from that area, oh. 

53:36 - Michael Crean (Guest)
I grew up. 

53:37 - Marvin Bee (Host)
I ripped her away because I wasn't moving up there. All right, Michelle, pick a number one, two or three. 

53:48 - Michelle Ragusa-McBain (Guest)
To my lucky number two. 

53:51 - Marvin Bee (Host)
Okay. Angry Florida man assaults circle K cashier with chocolate egg. A Florida man was arrested for battery after he allegedly hurled a chocolate egg at a cashier While checking out her to circle K last Wednesday. The incident unfolded when the clerk, john may house, age 27, was next in line. For some unknown reason, may house refused to interact with the cashier and Instead approached a different employee. After paying for his purchases, may has reportedly chucked a chocolate Ed at the victim, hitting him in the head. When the clerk ordered may has out of the store, he became irate. He reportedly jumped over the counter and began hitting the cashier in the face and pushing. And what part of Florida do you think he lives in? 

54:56 - Michelle Ragusa-McBain (Guest)
Oh, let's see how I see Daytona. 

55:03 - Marvin Bee (Host)
The Tampa Bay area city of tarpon Springs. 

55:07 - Michael Crean (Guest)
So that will be close to the only thing that my mind thinks is like was he using a Cadbury egg? 

55:13 - Michelle Ragusa-McBain (Guest)
Yeah, that's the only egg that I could think of and also thinking it's not easy. Yet why do they have chocolate eggs available? 

55:23 - Marvin Bee (Host)
It's Florida, why everything's open 24 hours and you can get everything everywhere, apparently. 

55:29 - Michael Crean (Guest)
Amazing, amazing, I'm going to tell you the both of you go, y'all got some problems with your state. 

55:34 - Michelle Ragusa-McBain (Guest)
I'm going to say that we have palm trees and no snow, so I'll take it. 

55:41 - Marvin Bee (Host)
We have problems with our state because half the country is moving here. We're running out of space. Here. Our roads are crowded. We're building condos on top of condos that collapse under their own weight. 

55:54 - Michelle Ragusa-McBain (Guest)
I Can't be a nimby. I moved here so I'm with everyone else. I guess it's like I can't close the door behind me. I'm happy to be here. I Remember when I moved to North Carolina the guy at the cashier was talking to me said oh, are you a Yankee or a damn Yankee? And I said and he said a Yankee comes and visits and a damn Yankee comes and stays. And I was like well then, I'm a damn Yankee, yep, so I'm not going. 

56:26 - Marvin Bee (Host)
That's right, people that come down and are you changing your license plate? Is the way that we ask People that want to stay just enough to get the tax discount of no income state but then go back home to? 

56:44 - Michael Crean (Guest)
What's that? Leave your advice. I just got it's six months in one day. 

56:46 - Michelle Ragusa-McBain (Guest)
Yeah, well, the snowbirds. Yeah, if you have Florida, we have a tax-free system, so you're getting an automatic bump in your salary. There's a house for sale right down the block for me. Come on, Michael. 

56:59 - Marvin Bee (Host)
You can afford it now, mike, come on down. 

57:05 - Michael Crean (Guest)
I just I don't like the heat, so I've got a there's something called air conditioning. 

57:09 - Marvin Bee (Host)
We use that here. 

57:10 - Michael Crean (Guest)
Man, it doesn't matter, I like being outside. It's too flipping hot, it's way too stinking humid. 

57:18 - Marvin Bee (Host)
No, not if you're on the beach. 

57:21 - Michael Crean (Guest)
Your house on the beach, Okay you've got the breeze. 

57:23 - Marvin Bee (Host)
You've got the breeze coming in. It's not that hot. 

57:28 - Michael Crean (Guest)
Okay, you're right, it's not that hot. 

57:30 - Marvin Bee (Host)
Mike, come, come, come, come visit. 

57:36 - Michael Crean (Guest)
Yeah. 

57:38 - Marvin Bee (Host)
McBain’s and I. We're probably 20 minutes apart. Well, we'll meet up. Have it come, hang out at the office. We'll take you to the beach, we'll. We'll tour you around. You'll love it. 

57:48 - Michelle Ragusa-McBain (Guest)
I'll bring the kids. It'll be fun. 

57:53 - Michael Crean (Guest)
I like the trees. Yeah, no, yeah, we have trees. 

58:04 - Marvin Bee (Host)
All right, well, Michelle, let me get you out of here so you can take a break and get ready for your upcoming webinar. Mike, I'll let you go so that you can re-evaluate your stance in life. And Florida listen, in a few years you're going to be, you know, retiring down here, so get you get used to it. 

58:23 - Michelle Ragusa-McBain (Guest)
We all end up here eventually, Michael. 

58:26 - Michael Crean (Guest)
Okay, Marv, Uncle Marv, so I'm just going to put this out there for the whole world to hear. I don't see it happening. Okay, I will come visit you, be happy for you to show me around and take me to the beach and, you know, show me these wonderful palm trees. 

58:46 - Marvin Bee (Host)
Palm trees. They’re in a state of traction. 

58:49 - Michael Crean (Guest)
Well, Michelle keeps talking about them, like they are like well. We drive around on your lap special about them at the palm trees that Michelle has. 

58:57 - Marvin Bee (Host)
Well, listen, I will say that the McBain’s probably do have Beautiful palm trees, because I mean, there are palm trees like we've got some, they're just regular. I'm sure the McBain’s have the you know, the pictorial palm trees with. 

59:16 - Michelle Ragusa-McBain (Guest)
Yes, yes, that's exactly it. 

59:18 - Marvin Bee (Host)
It's true, I'm telling you, man, I'm going to do this MSP cribs thing. We're going to go and visit people's offices and homes. 

59:29 - Michelle Ragusa-McBain (Guest)
Well, I don't know that I'm so nosy. I would love to do that. Let's just start it, we'll figure that out. 

59:35 - Michael Crean (Guest)
Marvin, she just offered her house as the very first one because she knows she's. She said let's do it. Yeah, it's neat, you've got to start with one. So Michelle just offered up her start. 

59:46 - Michelle Ragusa-McBain (Guest)
If you don't mind a mess and dogs and cats and kids and fish and you know living zoo. Yeah, we are totally in a hundred percent life on the go. 

59:57 - Marvin Bee (Host)
I'm in the right, we'll make that happen. We'll talk off. We'll talk off there, because I see some things happening with this. New sonic law solutions granted, Uncle Marv. Yeah, it's working, I see it working All right. So those of you that are joining us live and Enjoying our little banter here, apparently we have offered up a visit to Florida. Come see the excitement down here. 

01:00:30 - Michelle Ragusa-McBain (Guest)
Between. 

01:00:36 - Marvin Bee (Host)
So we'll have links to both the sonic wall site, the solutions granted site for you guys to take advantage, obviously, the benefits and the changes of the secure first program lower thresholds for better discounts, and Channel solution, channel first partners the way we love them. So, guys, thank you very much for hanging out and chatting and we will definitely make something happen in the future. And everyone else will see you soon, let's see. Next week we are going to have, oh Scott Sanders at the IT business owners Facebook group. We'll be here. We're going to be dealing with Facebook groups and communities in the month of February. For everything else, head over to it business podcast calm. That's going to do it for tonight. On behalf of Michelle and Michael, I bid you a good night and until next time, ha la. 

01:01:34 - Michelle Ragusa-McBain (Guest)
Good night. 

Michael E. CreanProfile Photo

Michael E. Crean

Speaker, Cyber Thought Leader, and CEO ensuring MSP’s can effectively deliver Cyber Security Services Proud Member of Infragard

Michael E. Crean, a U.S. Army Combat Veteran, founded Solutions Granted, Inc. in 2001. He saw the need for bridging the gap between IT and IS, with solid security offerings and strong cost effect solutions. This commitment in providing real solutions-that met corporate goals and/or compliance standards-caused immediate growth; representing thousands of customers through managed security offerings worldwide. He has entrenched himself in Information Security, implementation and the managed security services industry. He has the experience and knowhow to generate a thoughtful presentation on the State of Security and give the tricks-of-the-trade to assist customers in protecting against security treats.