Video: How To Grow By Partnering With Other IT Solution Providers

if you don't partner then a lot of companies are actually getting bought up and absorbed by other larger msps so Partnerships are a way to grow your size without doing a a massive merger or taking private Equity money and things like that so it's a way to extend your abilities hey Channel insiders welcome back to channel Insider partner po V I'm your host Katie boso and today I'm speaking with Travis Woods CEO of Fort Point it and vice president of Information Technology at dvbe technology columia in this interview Travis explains how partnering with other solution providers helps them to compete with large private equity-backed msps we also dig into the rise of Max Solutions and services within the it Channel as well as the speed of digital transformation in Colombia welcome Travis it's so great to see you hey Katie thanks so much for having me it's been a while and so to be able to do this with you is an absolute pleasure it feels like catching up with an old friend so it really is we've been on for like 20 minutes now not recording and just catching up so that's my favorite part when we get to do these interviews but you have been busy my friend I don't even know which business card to hand out sometimes I'm like is it this one is it that one so but you know what ever we do it's yeah um I think folks folks probably know at this point I'm you CEO of for point it which is a managed services provider we've been around for about 15 16 years now in the San Francisco Bay area and that was really where I got my start in manage services and my experience here in the channel you're a PC and Mac service provider so why don't you tell me a little bit about what 4o is where you saw the need and just a bit more about the kinds of customers and verticals you serve so when we started back in 2009 it was a time when the world was changing obviously there was the economic downturn a lot of folks had left Corporate America so out here in the west coast I'm just North of San Francisco in Marin County and um out here a lot of those folks that left Corporate America had a drive to create their own new business so we started out supporting startups and among those startups a lot of them had just grabbed Max because they were easy to use they were used to being um issued to folks in the SE Suite so these folks were used to having Max and there were not a lot of folks in the market that specialized or could manage Max on a on a grand scale so that was really the the Genesis of Fort Point and that was how we started uh managing Max for startups what's the biggest difference between serving the Max and serving the PCS from the GetGo we always had our own separate tools so everyone else was like oh well you know we have you know manage or we have these tools and in the early days there were not a lot of Mac analogies for those tools so we had to figure stuff out on our own kind of come up with our own processes very early on we found a product called addigy which was great for managing Max and it really helped us to get our arms around things and to keep things updated and help our customers but that was a big struggle I remember doing doing a number of demos and almost the you know second third question after how many users you know which the PSA you're using you know the the question would come up I'm like well I have about 90% 80% Max and they like Okay click like thanks yeah we don't have a solution for you yet so and that was that was how a lot of my demos went early on for software that that would have helped it would have been helpful but now I'm seen that most platforms have taken into account the Mac environment and it's really a natural part of business these days I think it's still is should to folks in the SE Suite but one place we're seeing a lot of Max is also in security companies there is the inherent security that comes with the Mac OS and the way it's designed that's a little different from Windows so we we do see it as a higher level of Baseline security it it doesn't mean that you can just just forego any other tools but it does mean that you're you're starting at a higher level which is nice that's interesting that you talked about some of those platforms that have now gotten on board with serving both operating systems and I think about going to a lot of these Channel specific events with vendors and you're seeing a lot more of them cater to the max space going to for example px8 Beyond over the summer I saw a lot of Google shop and Mac shops there because those were the kind of services that they provide and they felt very seen by that particular Marketplace for you I mean are you seeing most vendors be able to serve both platforms now and do you feel seen and catered to by the majority of vendors honestly the because so much of the software and so much of the the tools that that we use are SAS based tools that the platform specific functions and features are almost irrelevant folks are developing you know we're running applications in the cloud and not our machines anymore so you know the fact that you can connect a Windows machine or an Apple device to a Windows Virtual desktop and run you know whatever it matters very little these days and so I think that's also probably why we're seeing the Chromebooks that are that are all web based there so it's not that big of a deal any longer and kind of like moving on uh from from the space of for point now I'd love to talk to you about dvbe technology Colombia first of all Travis I have to point out cuz anybody listening that's like who does where does he go who does he belong to what team is he on you're a partnership machine I've noticed that you do this very often in the time that I've known you you partner with not only vendors but you also partner with other partners other solution providers within the Channel first of all how does this work for you why do you do this and then not you know go to bed at 3:00 am every day unless you do well there are those days but um no I mean personally I've always found that I'm obviously not the smartest guy in the room but I'm going to find some who can complement what I do know and what I am confident in so that we can do something different and and that's always been my M Mo I've had the pleasure of having a really diverse IT background from administrating in a school district running MSP I've been able to do and see a lot of different things and that broad experience has really help me to see places where I can help out and things that like experiences that I can lend to a direction someone else is going in and so together I feel we are stronger I've had the pleasure of working with some amazing Partners who are now friends you know some of my best friends in the channel and I'll go to some of these events and my wife's like why you know you're you're so excited to go to this work event I'm like no you don't understand like I get to see my friends who I also get to work with so this is a win-win for me but again my my emmo is really to to find people that are doing just really cool things and I want to contribute what I know I want to contribute my vast experiences to help make something for them or help to deliver something that's amazing and at the end of the day it's a business too so the fact that we get paid for it is icing on the cake yes I would say so for sure is there a word for that maybe I'm not thinking of the the partner to partner partnership oh my God a a PPP yeah the yeah the the P2P yeah um that's a new one in the in the industry I think uh we better stamp a trademark on that DM TM let's face it in the MSP space it is really hard to go at alone and and I think a testament to that is that because we can't do everything for our clients and their needs are are becoming greater with compliance cyber security and even just management being able to partner with other people and find the right partners is important to survival uh for an organization we're see already seeing that if you don't partner then a lot of companies are actually getting bought up and absorbed by other larger msps so Partnerships are a way to grow your size without doing a a massive merger or taking private Equity money and things like that so it's a it's a way to extend your abilities and again in in the best cases they become your best friends and you make a lot of money got so Travis you mentioned private Equity there and I want to talk a little bit more about that in the context that you brought it up talk to me about just your your Viewpoint of private Equity buying up a lot of msps and is that something that you find to be impacting the MSP market and how so give me your thoughts so it's it's definitely changing the MSP market for starters we're seeing smaller msps it's becoming harder for them to compete against these larger firms and whether they're private large firms or or peack large firms doesn't really matter I think the shift that we're seeing is is that the smaller msps just can't compete um because of of the shared resources because of discounts with with volume and the the scaling that comes the efficiencies that come with with scale looking at how PE specifically affects this we're seeing that drive that Mass migration and that mass consolidation in in it so I think if anything it's just speeding up that process but again I wouldn't say that it's a bad thing I think it's just changing the landscape at the end of the day the customers are going to make the choice and they're going to go with a service that provides top level care that meets their needs and when they as soon as that stops happening then Market forces will correct and they'll go shopping for someone else so that Golden Rule still applies be good to your customers but again that consolidation I think has been accelerated by the money that's come in from private Equity I appreciate those thoughts and moving on from there talking about your your sort of answer to this is partnering with other solution providers and other service providers and in that vein I want to talk about dvbe technology Colombia uh for those listening yes you have heard D vbe before our friend Rich McKinnon heads up the US division of that business and you have taken over the dvbe technology Columbia division as the vice president of it first of all talk to me about that role you've been in it for I think almost two years now is that correct we're going on two years tell me about that so we had all started with um a a a trip that Jessica now McKinnon took down to Colombia where she realized that there was a great need for cyber security services there were a lot of projects going on where smart cities and AI implementations were happening there's a great need for Automation and she saw this play out in a lot of the people that she knew there her contacts there and so it was really her kind of open eyes that said hey there's great opportunity there and so rich and I had been friends for years worked together with his company dvbe in the US as well previously so we had a great working relationship and me being someone who is often ready to just take the snow globe and shake it up and do something a little different jumped at the opportunity it was a an opportunity for me to to take that vast background that I've had and apply it in a whole new landscape with different opportunities and different uh challenges as well but um it's been exciting so we there we've been able to provide solutions for smart cities Integra there are a number of projects right now that we're working with Partners we Solutions integrator there so we're working with Partners to put together a smart City solution or safe cities solution where there's monitoring with cameras that information is analyzed with by AIS that information is passed to policing forces to help ensure Security in cities and it's it's really exciting so talk to me more about Columbia and the overall Latin American Market are you seeing in real time the need for managed services and Consulting grow down there just talk to me about the digital transformation that you're seeing I mean you've said smart cities a couple of times right there that is obviously a very impressive Market segment so tell me a little bit more granularly about the projects and the just the general growth of the need that you're seeing down there we met with the uh minister of information uh there and they have a significant uh initiative to push forward digital transformation in their cities and all of this is to better serve the citizenry of the country there's money behind it there's political will and now we're starting to see the projects that are support that are coming from that and and again the the project I mentioned earlier the safe cities projects those are examples of that initiative at work so that's exciting to see that's real exciting to see but also cities like Bogata and medin are becoming technology hubs they are um areas that are playing host to a lot of companies that are doing Nearshore development there are a lot of companies that are providing IT services so they they recognize their their Geographic position in the world serving you know just right at the doorstep of the United States serving the technology needs of the United States companies with developers and also realizing that they have this technology Capital knowledge base within them and and applying it to their own country and their own cities as well but I believe you're hiring something like over a hundred consultants in bot Columbia yeah I just posted that on LinkedIn so we'll be hiring a number of Consultants there yeah we're excited about that for sure to provide the that service and again these are these are services that we've provided here in the United States in the past and so to be able to do it there in another country yeah it's a little different but in that respect we're still providing um you know we're still still have that continuity service that something that we know we can do and do well and over the past two years we've been able to make inroads and connections with just amazing people in both government and technology and one of the things that I really have appreciated down there is there are so many folks that are willing to work together kind of going back to that theme that we talked about earlier of partnering we've met a lot of folks that have wanted to partner with us or have partnered with us in some way to help deliver a project or take us into to a project so uh it's it's been a fantastic environment and the the appetite for new technology and the appetite for Change and building up that knowledge base technology knowledge base is is very great so I have become quite smitten with uh Colombia I'd love to kind of switch gears now and just talk some general Tech talk which is always fun in in our business thinking back uh over the last year 2024 has seen a lot I mean it feels like we say this every year but just thinking about this past summer we've seen a lot in the headlines when it comes to it when it comes to cyber security and compliance it's it's been a ton so I just would like to know what's been the biggest challenge whether it be a dvbe or with a Fort Point it what have you seen your customers running into the biggest challenge or maybe the biggest need that they have that they've been coming to you about I think I I can speak to two different markets but you know in the SNB Market where 4o really serves a lot of companies there are resistant in they're not seeing the value in bringing their cyber security and their it infrastructure they're not they don't see the value in bringing up their maturity so that they're meeting certain standards and that is alarming it's very concerning so I think that's an area that I would like to see greater movement toward I mean specific example is in the Microsoft licensing to really take advantage of all that they have to offer for cyber security and to secure their their tenant you know requires the additional license and requires a P1 or P2 I think or but um or one of the higher licenses and explaining that to a small business owner it's real hard for them to to justify that price difference and they're like well why you know why am I not just secure enough here why do I need to be here because this seems pretty secure you know I've got MFA I've got password man R blah blah blah so making that ex exclamation has been difficult and I would say something that that really needs to culturally be supported Again by companies like Microsoft in in the way that like security should not be an add-on it should be something that is built into your product you had mentioned Microsoft and you know some of the things that they could be doing better I'm curious to know are there any vendors or at least tools that you're working with partnering with right now that you're like this is great no notes this has been going excellent for me I'd love to hear if there's any of them that you would shout out at the moment right now we're so we're working with addigy right now for Mac management which has been fantastic we've been rolling out EET as well which is really kind of open my eyes to Next Level so they they've done a lot with that product and really grown it over the years and plus they have that you know 35 year history behind them so it's really been a research driven company and and I think kind of a sleeper if you will that's secret one of the things I'm that that I have been real passionate about when I meet new vendors is really introducing them to the channel and introducing them to the way that msps work and the way that they sell through to their clients the way that they need a company to work with them because it is a you know as you know Kat you've been in the channel long a long time now it's a different way of doing business and I don't think that a lot of companies jump into this space especially from Enterprise with the awareness that's needed to to really do well in creating a good successful partner program creating good partner support and also helping Partners sell forward their products with MDF programs and you know spiffs and other you know support that's needed for the MSP to to be able to to bring awareness to their product so those are other initiatives that I'm all working on to to help companies with which is a lot of fun and hey that's why we have this video podcast it's to be able to express that so thank you very much for your transparency Travis of course of course now if we want to get in touch with you and learn about Fort Point it or dvbe technology Colombia or if we want to talk to you and just hear more about more about the channel you want to know like how things work I yes I'm quite active on LinkedIn uh though I don't post every day I'm definitely stalking my friends and people I don't know so um please reach out to me on LinkedIn thank you for your time today Katie thank you so much thank you so much to Travis for joining me today and thank you for watching or listening you can check out all episodes of Channel Insider partner POV on Channel insider.com or on youtube.com/ channel inssider news and Trends you can also listen to the podcast of every episode on your favorite podcast listening platform don't forget to like subscribe and follow where wherever possible so you never miss an episode you can also come connect with Channel Insider on LinkedIn or X at Channel Insider or with me at Katie boso once again I'm your host Katie boso and I'll see you next time

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