Netrio CRO on Post-Acquisition Integration & Best Practices

We have covered M&A from various angles, including expert-led guides on how to prepare and extensive news coverage of the latest deals impacting channel partners. For this piece, we sat down with Mike Cromwell, chief revenue officer at Netrio, to learn more about how to approach integrating companies once the deal is closed. 

As M&A activity continues, Cromwell shares what others should keep in mind when pursuing a deal

Cromwell has witnessed M&A up close and personal throughout his career, having grown and guided several companies through their acquisitions. He now oversees all aspects of revenue at Netrio, a national services provider that was partially created through acquisitions.

To him, the most important thing to remember when entering the market, either to acquire or to be acquired, is to stay true to your goals.

“You want to certainly capitalize on the opportunity but still be diligent in selecting the right targets,” Cromwell said. “When we started the process two years ago, we were very focused on who the buyer would be, whether there was a culture fit, and the other parts of due diligence that are critical.”

Those “other parts” include the more obvious facets, such as EBITDA and revenue health, as well as customer segments and market opportunities. Cromwell emphasizes the importance of setting goals early, identifying what you’re looking for in terms of expansion, and adhering to those objectives without distraction.

“You really need to have a strong focus on what you need [from a deal] to fill out your strategy,” Cromwell said. “Stick to your thesis, whatever it is, and look for validation as you learn more about a potential target. And maybe most importantly, be prepared to walk away if you find things that are red flags and might hurt your business in the long run.”

How Netrio is integrating four companies into one unified MSP

As Netrio continues to integrate acquired companies into a single national MSP, Cromwell says the company’s leadership has developed a year-long program to ensure all components of the business understand the road ahead.

To ensure the smoothest transition possible, Cromwell emphasizes again the importance of businesses remembering the people at the heart of the company.

“First and foremost, you’ve got to be front and center with your people,” said Cromwell. “The acquired organization has to feel part of something very quickly. That also applies to clients. The most important assets we have are our people, both internally and externally.”

“You should always have the customer at the forefront. Without customers, we don’t have businesses,” Cromwell added.

Netrio, in its current state, is the result of four MSPs coming together in the last year: 

• Netrio and Success Computer Consulting merged in October 2024;
• That merged provider then acquired PCA Technology Group a month later;
• And the company then acquired Agio in May 2025 

Cromwell says the complete integration process is still ongoing, but the first action taken was to align key departments and minimize the disruption to clients of all four providers.

“The first thing we integrated was sales and marketing, partially because it’s one of the easiest things to integrate, and pulling together all of the opportunities in marketing gives us an advantage,” Cromwell said.

In addition to bringing together sales and marketing functions, Netrio is also working diligently to leverage the AgioNow platform, developed by Agio, across its entire client base.

“The Agio platform is one of the most innovative that we’ve ever seen, and it’s going to allow the unified Netrio to deliver better customer experience, and do it more efficiently than any of us were able to do before,” said Cromwell.

Local touch, national reach, and innovation: how M&A alters the channel

Now that Netrio has established itself as a national MSP, it can offer broader support and a larger solutions portfolio to the clients who worked with any of the provider organizations in their local territories.

“We’ve got the ability now to offer global support 24/7, 365 days of the year,” Cromwell pointed out. “Our product portfolio together is about 2x what it was before, and we’re going to deliver all of that through a platform our end users can leverage. That’s going to have a huge impact and be very meaningful to local clients who didn’t previously have access to those things.”

Even with all of the benefits laid out, Cromwell says he knows local clients will still worry about how changes to their provider will affect their operations. To him, maintaining a local presence and emphasizing the need for change in the current market are crucial aspects of open communication with customers.

“We do our best to talk about why change is good and what it will mean for the market. With scale comes the ability to innovate faster and bring new solutions to market,” Cromwell said. “At the end of the day, if you don’t embrace change, it’s going to get harder and harder to compete.”

Channel sales and other goals for the new Netrio

All of the planning and diligent integration strategy is already paying off; Cromwell says the recent revenue numbers are the strongest any of the individual companies have seen in years.

Now, as Netrio moves forward with a clear goal to be one of the strongest national MSPs in the country, it is doubling down on channel partner sales through TSDs and on deepening relationships with new and existing clients.

“We are seizing the opportunities ahead of us, for sure. Netrio was the first MSP to sell in the channel through TSDs as a supplier, and we are closing larger deals and moving up-market through our channel,” Cromwell said. “We are also really focused on customer growth. We’re already seeing results with upselling and cross-selling to the existing client base, and we continue to scale through a consolidated marketing approach.”

Cromwell doesn’t count out future acquisitions either, though he says the current focus is on building a foundation through integrating the acquisitions Netrio has already completed.

“We keep our finger on the pulse for sure, and we have a great private equity partner that does as well,” Cromwell said. “I don’t think you’re ever really done, since technology is always changing. But 90 percent of the way there, that will be a big milestone for us, and all companies operating on one platform with downstream workflows in place, that will be a big milestone. And once that’s in place, any subsequent acquisitions will be a much easier process.”