About 25 years ago, when I was onsite working for a customer, the owner, Brad, told me that what he wanted from an IT Service Provider was to pay one monthly fee and have them take care of everything from start to finish. At the time, this was very much out-of-the-box thinking. I took this question to the team, and it stirred quite a discussion. Would it be possible? The risks seemed so high. Out of that conversation, we developed a quarterly service plan where we completed a very defined list of essential maintenance services to keep our customers up-to-date and secure.

Little did we know that about 10 years later, the one-fee managed service concept would roll into the IT Services world and take it by storm. The shifting IT security landscape and customer demand have brought about this new way of doing things. Thankfully, we became one of the early adopters, investing in MSP technology and growing our MSP practice ever since.

This MSP journey has raised my awareness of our shifting world of constant innovation. And, really, not paying attention to innovation can be disastrous.  Just try to ask Kodak, Blockbuster, or BlackBerry. Not keeping up could mean not staying in business.

Interestingly, before 1900, knowledge grew but only doubled every 100 years.  By about 1950, experts surmised that knowledge doubled every 25 years, and now estimates suggest that it doubles every 12-13 months.

When exploring innovation, it can be challenging to distinguish between meaningful advancements worth adopting and fleeting trends that will fade. What is important when it comes to tech innovation in the SMB market?  What should we consider adopting in 2025?

1) Artificial Intelligence. As you might expect, AI is at the top of the list.  AI might be a no-brainer for some of you, but many of us still hold back a little. AI is here to stay.  It is already very good and making strides forward. Pick a product and begin to use it. ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot are all excellent. If you buy a subscription and have your settings correct, they protect your data. Copilot has an advantage if you already use Microsoft 365 and want it to help you with documents and emails. There is free video training on how to prompt them well. Learn how to create your customized GPT (easier than it sounds).  You will be amazed by the results and find that it saves you time. And AI can help you be creative. Teach it about your business and ask it how you can innovate. Also, look for new AI features in many of the software packages you already use.

2) Up your Cybersecurity Identity Management and ZeroTrust.  Cybersecurity is changing rapidly as the threat actors get craftier.  If you have not updated your security in the last year, it is time to review.  Using identity management to unify your authentication across cloud and local apps is one way to improve security.  Another is to employ ZeroTrust.  ZeroTrust does not trust anything except what has been explicitly allowed.  It establishes a baseline for what is acceptable at a given time and then locks a PC or network only to allow these things.  If something new needs to happen, a request must be initiated and approved to move forward.  This model inherently increases security and stops breaches, ransomware, and more.

3) Cloud Computing and SaaS Integration. Cloud has been around for a long time, and many of us have moved some of our stuff, like email and Microsoft 365 or Google Suite, but we are not using it to its fullest. It might be time to move your documents to SharePoint and OneDrive for easy access from anywhere. It might be time to look again at the features of your ERP or other software and consider moving to a cloud-hosted SaaS model. The cloud has certainly matured, and it is worth another look.

4) Data-Driven Decision Making and Business Intelligence. Many of us have data in multiple systems, sometimes siloed and sometimes just hard to manipulate into valuable metrics. Capturing and presenting this data in a way that can influence transparency and decision-making can have a considerable impact. Tools like PowerBI, Laserfiche, and others allow you to create dashboards and reports that bring your data to life and enable progressive decision-making.

5) Hybrid Work and Digital Collaboration. Hybrid work is here to stay. So many things that required travel and meetings at remote sites are now handled by web meetings.  Adopting advanced meeting tools, workflow automation, web-hosted data storage, and even AI meeting agents can ease collaboration with remote workers and even remote customers who you interact with regularly.

Innovation is essential for SMBs that want to stay competitive, improve efficiency, and future-proof their business. Whether adopting AI, strengthening cybersecurity, leveraging cloud solutions, harnessing data, or optimizing digital collaboration, the right strategy can make all the difference.

At CTaccess, we help businesses figure out the right strategy and put it into action. Let’s talk, if any of these areas are on your mind (or should be). We’d love to help you make smart, practical moves that set you up for success.  Reach out to Scott at scotth@ctaccess.com or 262-789-8210.