ATSG Merges with Evolve IP to Enhance Service Capabilities

Recently, IT services leader ATSG and managed services provider (MSP) Evolve IP announced a merger. The merger will combine the strengths of both companies and enhance ATSG’s comprehensive suite of service capabilities.

The combined company will now serve 950,000 users across its 1,700 global customers through this merger. The merger will also enhance the combined entity’s ability to solve customers’ increasingly interconnected and complex technology challenges.

Channel Insider recently spoke with ATSG CEO Russ Reeder about how this move benefits the company’s customers and what this merger means for the channel.

Merger initiation and strategic benefits

Reeder says both companies have known each other for some time and jumped at the opportunity to combine forces to provide customers with additional network offerings.

“It was really a combination of their customer base– where they have over 1,300 customers that were added to the ATSG family– and there’s a great opportunity for those customers that are asking for additional managed cybersecurity offerings,” said Reeder. “From an Evolve IP standpoint, they have a very successful company in EMEA that provides ATSG a really good entry point for us into EMEA.”

According to both companies, the key highlights of the merger include:

• Expanded capabilities: Uniting ATSG’s infrastructure-centric managed services with Evolve IP’s desktop-as-a-service and cloud communications-centric managed services will enable the combined businesses to deliver a greater suite of end-to-end services to the combined business’ customer base.
• Customer-centric approach: Focusing on turning customers into brand evangelists, the newly combined businesses will prioritize exceptional service, cutting-edge solutions, unique IP, and consistent, proactive user engagement to ensure customer satisfaction and loyalty.
• Gartner recognition: Highlighting the company’s commitment to delivering trailblazing solutions across multiple service areas, ATSG is recognized as a Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Managed Network Services and a Challenger in the DaaS Magic Quadrant.
• Significant scale: The combined businesses will now be one of the largest privately-held managed services platforms and position the combined business for continued strong organic and inorganic growth.
• Leadership team: Top talent from both companies will be centralized, creating an amazing leadership team with a shared vision and a proven track record of significant results.

“There are a lot of technical challenges when you bring two companies of scale together and the good thing is, we’ve already started the integration planning and evaluation,” said Reeder. “With any good integration, you first have to create the right design and then pick the correct technology that can meet the design. We’re taking a very pragmatic approach to make sure we design the right platform for scale so we can continue to grow organically and inorganically.”

Reeder emphasized that ATSG is dedicated to creating a stable platform for accessing all the correct data and tracking the proper KPIs to turn customers into evangelists. ATSG wants to ensure that its premium white-glove managed services continue to serve its customers effectively during the merger.

The merger will further enhance the company’s cybersecurity and AI offerings and IT field services for retail, manufacturing, and hospital customers.

“In addition to our new managed cybersecurity offering, data and AI is where we have new initiatives. We’re growing our professional services organization and we already have field services with premium project-based implementation services,” Reeder said. “But on the new technology side, it’s really just focused around cybersecurity, data, and AI.”

The ATSG-Evolve IP merger can be considered an example of a customer-first acquisition, not one company collecting another without a sound integration plan. ATSG aims to continue providing premium services to existing and new customers throughout this transition.

Mergers and acquisitions are a regular occurrence throughout the channel. Read more about recent mergers and acquisitions as organizations impact the market and expand services.