Mitz Giannakos

Mitz is a Co-Founder and Virtual Chief Revenue Officer at Next Step (NSTSP), bringing over 20 years of executive experience in Telecom and Managed IT to the Alberta market. Specializing in vCIO strategy for the Energy, Construction, and Financial services sectors, Mitz helps SMBs leverage AI and automation to compete with enterprise giants. He partnered with Mark Prescott to build NSTSP on a foundation of 'Customer Intimacy,' driving triple-digit growth by helping local business owners stop fixing computers and start winning bids.

a broken bridge where the two sides don't align, symbolizing poor planning or costly mistakes when buying Software.

Buying Software: 7 Steps to Avoid Costly Mistakes for Your SMB

IT Strategy and Innovation / By

How to Buy Business Software (Without Costly Mistakes) To buy business software the right way, follow a structured process: define your real requirements, set a budget, research the market, shortlist and compare options, verify the fit with the vendor’s implementation team, negotiate price and terms, then plan the rollout and user adoption. Skipping these steps […]

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SMB Guide: IT Risk Management, Governance, and Disaster Recovery for Alberta Businesses

Pillar Content / By

Making Your Alberta SMB Resilient Managing IT for an Alberta Small or Medium-sized Business (SMB) means juggling constant demands. Keeping systems running, users happy, and budgets in check leaves little time for complex topics like Risk Management, Governance, and Disaster Recovery (DR). It’s easy to think these are concerns only for large corporations. That thinking

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Next Step team holding an 'IT Risk Management with Next Step!' banner outside The Alberta Grind coffee shop.

IT Risk Management: No Longer Optional for Alberta SMBs

Cybersecurity and Proactive IT / By

What Is IT Risk Management for a Small Business? IT risk management is the ongoing process of identifying, assessing, and reducing the technology risks that could disrupt or damage your business — before they turn into a breach, an outage, or a costly recovery. For Alberta SMBs it has stopped being optional: AI has supercharged

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Beyond the Daily Grind: 4 Tech Trends to Drive Real Growth for Your SMB

IT Strategy and Innovation / By

Which Technology Trends Actually Drive SMB Growth? For a small business ready to move beyond reactive IT, four trends matter most for real growth: artificial intelligence, business analytics, cloud technology and IoT, and integrated software stacks. AI acts as an efficiency multiplier, automating repetitive work and surfacing insight. Business analytics turns the data you already

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5 Ways AI Chatbots Increase Efficiency & Support Challenges for SMBs

Leveraging Technology For Growth, AI & Automation / By

How Do AI Chatbots Help a Small Business? AI chatbots help a small business by taking over routine, repetitive interactions — answering common questions instantly around the clock, qualifying website leads, and easing the support load — so a small team can focus on higher-value work. The five biggest benefits for an Alberta SMB are:

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"Frustrated Alberta business owner on hold with telecom provider"

On Hold Again? Why Alberta SMBs Deserve More Than Big Telecom Offers

IT Strategy and Innovation, Connectivity & Communications / By

Why Do Alberta SMBs Get Such Poor Service From Big Telecom? Alberta SMBs get poor service from big telecom because they are too small to matter to a national carrier built around mass-market volume — so they are routed through automated menus, bounced between departments, and left on hold while no one owns the problem.

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Big News! Your NSTSP Phone System is Getting Smarter with Powerful AI Features

IT Strategy and Innovation, Connectivity & Communications / By

What AI Features Are Coming to the NSTSP Phone System? The NSTSP phone system, powered by 3CX, adds AI transcription, call summaries, and chatbot capabilities that run securely on-premise — so you get smarter communication without sending your call data to outside services. With the 3CX Update 8 release, your platform gains onboard transcription (no

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UCaaS for Alberta SMBs: Revolutionize Your Customer Experience

IT Strategy and Innovation, Connectivity & Communications / By

“Never before has there been a greater opportunity for small businesses to leverage technology to differentiate themselves from their competitors and disrupt their industries.” Mitz Giannakos CRO, Next Step Technology Solutions Provider Alberta small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) face intense pressure to operate efficiently and deliver exceptional customer experiences. Outdated communication systems often create friction,

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Shop Smart, Stay Secure: Online Safety Tips for AB Businesses

Cybersecurity and Proactive IT / By

Online purchasing, whether for office supplies, software subscriptions, or supplier payments, has become as routine for businesses as a trip to the local wholesaler. But this operational convenience brings a critical need for robust online security practices. In an era where cyber threats are escalating—even targeting small and medium-sized businesses once thought too small to

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Elevate Your Service: How AI Chatbots Improve Customer Experience for Alberta SMBs

Leveraging Technology For Growth, AI & Automation / By

How Do AI Chatbots Improve Customer Experience? AI chatbots improve customer experience by giving customers instant, consistent, around-the-clock answers to common questions — eliminating the long waits, inconsistent responses, and after-hours gaps that frustrate people and cost you business. For an Alberta SMB with a small team, meeting rising expectations for fast support is a

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