Transcript
episode of IT Insiders, AutoMox's podcast that introduces you to the people behind the product. So, you know, happy spring, everyone. Thanks for joining us. I guess maybe unless you're in the Southern Hemisphere, not spring where you are. But this episode, we're talking about all things spring cleaning and what that means for IT pros. So we have Adam Whitman, our manager of solutions engineering with us to give us his best practices, tips, all that good stuff. So thanks for joining us, Adam. Yeah, yeah. Thanks for having me, Maddy. I'm in Colorado, so spring is, you know, never a set day here. So it's been cold, it's been hot, it's been snowy. So really looking for that steady spring weather to hit pretty soon. I feel the exact same way. I'm happy to start seeing some sunshine here in Kentucky, but definitely still up and down. So all right, so let's get into it. I look through all of my guests' LinkedIn, do a little bit of stalking, I guess, if you want to call it. And so I kind of wanted to talk about your career journey a little bit first off, just to understand what you do today, Automox. And then it looks like you, like me, got a degree in marketing. So take me through kind of how you made the switch to, you know, IT and where you are today. Yeah, yeah. Well, like most people in college, I didn't know really what I wanted to do. So yeah, definitely got a degree in marketing. Got my first job in IT back in 2008. You know, and in terms of the switch that I made, you know, earlier in my career, you know, I've always loved technology ever since I was a kid. You know, I remember building computers with my brother, and then we played video games for hours on those systems after they were built. So yeah, I really always loved technology. So when the opportunity presented itself, you know, I jumped all over it. This was early in my career back in 2010. This is at the time, you know, when virtualization was really taking off. So it was really uncomfortable for me for a few years, trying to learn the concepts and being able to support our customer environments. So it was quite a challenge. But it really pushed me to grow my knowledge and really kind of got me where I am today. Yeah, for sure. So talk to me a little bit about where you are today. What are you doing at Automox and how you help our customers? Yeah, absolutely. So like my title says, I'm one of the solutions engineering managers. You know, our organization, you know, I'm also helping out a lot of our, you know, major, you know, customers that come in. So the bigger prospects are looking for our technology. So yeah, really responsible for making sure that, you know, people looking at our technology, understand how we work, how we can implement our technology into their tech stack, you know, kind of how we compete against our competitors, and then making sure that, you know, any integrations they need any, you know, custom workflows they need, I can help them with that and make sure that it's a seamless transition to adopt Automox into their IT environment. And so working a lot with our prospects, looking at working a lot with our customers, and really enjoying it, right? I think a great thing about my job is I get to touch a lot of different technologies, talk about a different, a lot of different IT verticals. So really expanding my knowledge every day, and really just enjoy talking about technology. So it's really good conversations with our prospects, just talking about general tech, and you know, not so much focused on Automox itself. So really, really, really enjoy it. Yeah, I love that. So let's talk a little more tech. If you were going to talk to one of our prospects or customers, what are some of the top tips you would give for like, IT tidying or IT spring cleaning, like anything, from servers to end users, software audits, like in anything, fair game? Yeah, yeah. Well, there's a lot to do when you're an IT admin, right? Especially if you're managing security side and the IT operations side. So, you know, I think I would maybe start with, you know, I think it's a good time to perform just audits of your IT landscape. This is kind of the stuff that admins have probably been putting off for a while. This may be a good time to circle back, do those audits. Revisiting your business continuity plan, just to make sure it's still valid, right? We want to make sure that we're prepared in case of any type of disaster or outage that we're experiencing. So I think, you know, revisiting that, that business continuity plan is always a good idea. Maybe even simulate a failure in your organization to see how the team responds based on that plan, making sure that if an attack or something does happen, that you can be quick to respond and have a well thought out process to do so. I think performing an audit of your IT hardware and software to determine what is still valid and what's not being used anymore. IT admins are busy. We don't want to waste time on things that we're not using. So I think this is a great way to reduce the overhead and also at the same time, maybe save the company some money with, you know, getting rid of things that they're paying for that they're not using. I think it's a great time for endpoint hygiene as well. You know, making sure that, you know, you're auditing what's being used in terms of rogue or decommissioned devices, removing those from your management tools so you can use them on real endpoints. Also a good time to make sure that you're up to date with your patching on both your workstation and your server endpoints, right? Patching can easily get out of control. You can get really behind. So this might be a good time to take some time to go through and make sure everything's patched. If it's not, go ahead and maybe develop a plan to develop a maintenance window and go through that patching process. And, you know, I think it's also a good time maybe just in general to clean up your work area as an IT admin. You know, I'm sure, you know, there's laptops and computer peripherals scattered everywhere. So you want to make sure that you organize all that. So when the time comes where you need it, you know exactly where it's at. So I think I know how things can get really out of control when you're managing a lot of hardware. So this might be a good time just to organize everything, make sure everything gets its own spot. And you know where it's at when the time comes. Yeah, I know. I'm sure a lot of us have seen the inside of an IT closet before, and it can certainly be a little bit of a scary and disastrous place. But obviously, you know, there's there's a lot to manage. So yeah, not necessarily off and make it happen, right? Yeah. Yeah, exactly. For sure. I love it. Okay. So yeah, I think great call on business continuity, doing some sort of like fire drill for disaster breaches is a great idea. And then yeah, obviously, keeping those endpoints in check, keeping them patched, making sure they're not drifting all that good stuff. So absolutely. Yeah. So a little more of a personal question now, around spring cleaning, but what is your favorite and least favorite like spring cleaning or just sort of household chore? Like for me, I hate doing the dishes. It's like my least favorite thing ever. But I really like vacuuming. I don't know. It's very, very satisfying. Very sad to me. Yeah. Yeah. Well, who likes doing dishes, really? But I do dishes every day. So you know, not going to maybe consider that spring cleaning for me. But when it comes to it, you know, I would say probably my least favorite thing is cleaning out the garage in the basement, right? Stuff can easily get cluttered. And you've been kind of just pushing things down there for the last year. So you know, going through getting rid of things, you know, figuring out what you need, making room for things that you do need. That's, that's always a long process. It feels like it takes me all week and just to get everything organized when that happens. So yeah, it's, it's not my favorite. Yeah, I agree. I think the garage can kind of end up like that IT hardware closet where it's like, all right, I'm just gonna put this away for now. And then all of a sudden, you're like, Oh, my gosh, I have so many things in five years, we need to do something with it. So yeah, for sure. All right, I've got a couple more little questions, personal questions for you. And then we will get on to our game, which is always how I end the episode. So first off, I asked everyone this changing up the format a little bit, but what would you call auto mocks? If we were not called auto mocks? Oh, that's a good one. I would say, you know, auto mocks were about autonomous endpoint management. So I don't know, it's a really good question. I would say I'm on the spot here for this one. I know. I don't know, somebody virtual management, bro. I don't know something like that. Right? Or cross OS complete. I don't know. Something around autonomous management, managing cross OS, something like that. Probably not the best names. But yeah. All right. I love it. Yeah. Well, it's the cross OS is a big part of auto mocks. So I think it's fair enough to call it out. All right. Final question. What is one fun fact about your career? Not so much a fun fact. I have a pretty funny story. I was at a conference and a founder and CEO of a fortune 500 company got on the elevator with me there. And I had planned to talk to him. I knew exactly who it was. And before I could say anything, he looked at me and was like, are you going to push your floor for your room you're going to? But the funny thing is I'd already pushed it. And so I had to tell him like, hey, I've actually already pushed my room. And that was pretty much the end of the conversation at that point, right? We didn't really talk and I got off my floor. And that was my, you know, experience with a fortune 500 CEO. So yeah, kind of an awkward situation, but funny at the same time. So yeah, it happens to everyone, right? There's always especially elevators. I feel like they're, they're ripe for sort of awkward, awkward encounter. He was really nice about it. So really, really great guy. Yeah. Awesome. Love it. All right. Well, I've got a couple of facts around spring, spring cleaning, and I'm going to see, I'm going to test your knowledge. That's going to be our game today. So let's, let's get into it. All right. So the first question is true or false? The first full moon of March is known as the worm moon. I'll say false. Actually true. Okay. The, the rain like that. So no, no worries. I mean, again, we're here for your it expertise, not for your, for your spring expertise. So the pressure is completely off. But yeah, actually, I mean, might depend a little bit like the place like Colorado gets a little bit less rain, but the spring rain reduces the oxygen in the soil and it causes them to make their way up to the surface around March. So. Okay. All right. This one, I'm going to give you a couple options. So what is considered the cleanest country in the world, according to the environmental performance index, options are Iceland, Germany, or Canada? I would say, I would say Iceland. You are correct. I think, yeah, I feel like it tracks, you know, they've got all the like hot springs and things like that. Yeah. Very environmentally friendly, clean. I was thinking Canada too, because it's, it's, it's a lot of forest there, but you know, can't beat Iceland. I know how, how clean their area is. So. Yeah. It's a pretty cool country. All right. Okay. Last one. Let's see. Make or break. True or false. Spring fever is a real syndrome. I would say true. Yeah, you are correct. Yeah. It's, I think it's a little bit debated, but you know, it is a fact of science that when the temperature rises, our blood flow is a little bit better. And for a lot of people that can lead to them feeling more energized. Yeah. Get more energized during spring. Yeah. And I know there's, you know, another one where it's winter, people get really upset or depressed. Right. So it's probably good to have an opposite there, but say, yeah, I always feel that way during spring. I get spring fever, so I know it has to be real. Yeah, for sure. Well, yeah. So everyone listening, I hope you're getting a little bit of an energy boost from that spring fever and you can take Adam's advice about all the various things to tidy up your IT environment. So Adam, thank you so much for having us and we'll see everyone in the, yeah, we'll see everyone on the next episode.
