Video: How To Pitch Your MSP Business To Client IT Leaders

hey Channel insiders welcome back to channel Insider partner POV your source for untapped opportunities and unfiltered opinions in the it Channel all to help you make Better Business decisions I'm your host Katie boso my guest today is Chance Irvin vice president of Information Technology at Transit Technologies chance partners with several Channel Solutions and services businesses and says that without them he wouldn't have a team in this episode chance explains why he leverages the it Channel and what he looks for in a channel partner chance welcome it's great to see you great to see you kitty thanks for having me thanks so much for being here I'm really excited to talk to you because I think that you offer such a wealth of knowledge to our MSP reseller and overall audience of solution providers who are just wondering how can I do my job better even if it's just a little bit and I think you've got such great knowledge for that so I really want to start out first by discussing what you do on a day-to-day basis so why don't you go ahead and tell me what is Transit Technologies and how long has it been in operation so transits a holding company established about 5 years ago we managed seven operating companies one of which is a recent acquisition our operating companies range from just a few years to over 40 years old transits companies are improving improving quality of life with safe effective and reliable Mobility through Innovative Technology Solutions on the mobility side with fixed drought or non-emergency medical transportation microtransit um trip planning so when people ask you what you do on a day-to-day when your family asks you what your responsibility is for you might have two different answers there but what is your responsibility of your role on a day-to-day basis at Transit main buckets of things it Operations Security and compliance technology purchasing and vendor management and then of course depending on who I'm talking to well what are any of those things mean right so long and short I'm I'm helping make sure our user base and the the resources we use are as secure as they can be and that all of our users can get their job done with the equipment they have So within that job chance how do you Leverage channel partners and how critical is this to your role and your company Transit Technologies sure for us and for me just my my aspect of how I look at things channel is very critical to to Our Success at Transit we run a very lean internal uh Team we depend on third parties for MSP for help desk and network needs mssp for sock and sore Security Solutions and we have a vcso um program with a with a particular third party that helps us with our Readiness building a team is an investment whether it's internal folks or external so it's it's important to utilize resources that you need at the time and hiring all of the skill sets you need internal just doesn't make sense in today's world um some of those key specialty areas or deep engineering you might need to have them inhouse for some companies it's just never going to work you might get them there for a short time for a short project but you're likely not to keep them interested for the Long Haul so it doesn't make sense to go through that expense of onboarding that deep Talent that's where you know where I need that deep Talent need to Outsource that CU you don't need that every day so that's some of the reasonings behind why the channel makes sense for for us we need general you know jack of all trades guys on uh guys or gals on the team every day um but then when those big issues come up go get those partners that have those deep bench of skill sets so they can bring in that specialty person so we can get over that project or that hump quickly internal folks Jack F Trace folks they can do it they'll eventually figure it out if you've got a year but the business world today they don't have a year for anything to me it just makes sense to build that team with those external Partners so that we can more effectively accomplish those Milestones that the business is going to have for us no very well put and I really like what you say about running lean and this is how you're able to build up literally your team chance I think if these these guys and gals weren't there it would just be you we'd be we'd be looking at the face of that department and I think it's important to point out it's not Outsourcing and then walking away these are people that you speak to I'm assuming on a fairly regular basis absolutely every you know the MSP specifically in the vciso program constantly our mssp the sock sore group they're doing things every day and we you know we get messaging and whatnot but the other groups are very much look and feel like they're internal folks talking to them times I mean we're starting this morning with this podcast but for two hours before I've had all kinds of conversations back and forth with my MSP already this morning and I will the rest of the day it's just like they're the systems administrators or systems Engineers on my team they are I have access to some technologists within our operating companies but they are highly focused on the solution they're selling making sure their business can do the things to make their revenue some of the security and compliance things that I'm concerned with we've extrapolated that need for them to be worried about it at least not as much as they would have to if if my role wasn't here and the third parties I bring to the table accomplish that for them when we have to we tap into those folks if the issue that we're tracking is specific in one of those organizations because it's it's going to be that Tech asset within that company that's going to fix it but on a day-to-day basis we're we're covering the breadth of of those needs for them are there any examples you can give me to kind of explain some of the challenges in your role that you rely on your it Partners to help you solve definitely I know that having people in place is the number one need that you have but can you get a little bit more granular for me change in capabilities for Solutions over time I and the folks within the operating companies when something comes up and we have okay something's changed in our environment but it's been two years since we've looked at this well in two years out in the market there's 50 new things that have come about that might be a possibility for us how to solve a problem we don't but we don't have time to dig down to what are the two or three that actually are going to match up with us so some of the third parties I I'm using that's what they do so they're basically technology brokers in the past you had vars but a VAR will bring the best of what it is they sell but that might not be the best for us so I'm using Partners today that look at the entire market and they narrow down our the based on the scope we have they find across the entire Market what are the two or three we should be focused on that's a lot of work it would take me a couple of months to do that well I hand that off here's my scope I'd like to discuss this in two weeks and in two weeks they'll have most of it broken down that's one of the examples security and compliance we're we're taking through all of our companies through sock 2 sock 2 is a significant compliance if you've not done anything ISO 2701 very similar and I mentioned that our new acquisition has ISO 27,000 W already well our other six companies we were really starting from scratch it's taken a lot to be ready to go through the sock 2 type 2 this year had we not used the Outsource Partners we would be still a year and a half two or two for us to be ready on our own because we don't know the give and takes that are going to happen during that audit what exactly do we have to be ready for how do we prepare our teams across the different business units because it's not it's not really an IT thing it's a business thing so being able to change the hearts and Minds within our organization I would have eventually got it done but similar to my comments earlier the company doesn't have time for me to figure that out another big one buying power as a small organization I can buy most of the things we need directly but I'm only going to have the Leverage of what my business will utilize so my throughput is finite it's only what it is but going through partners and leveraging their buying power some of the folks provide the opportunity to buy as them now I'm a much bigger fish that might equal another 10 or 15% in discounts I also caution my my peers you got to make sure your problems remain solved don't do that just to get get leverage to push down your costs if you're not actually getting your problem solved you didn't save anything in that case but some of the challenges within doing these things sometimes the Business Leaders want you to chase the dollars cheapest cheapest cheapest well cheapest of the things that are right and you got to fight for making sure that's the right thing so in this particular question that's an important concern I have for my for my peers to chase the dollars but chase the after you've chased the solution and I imagine a lot of that responsibility comes down to you even when you're starting the process just how am I balancing getting the job done with my budgets with my constraints and with pleasing leadership to a certain extent as well with that said when you're thinking about all of these things that you need to get done and you're also thinking about those budgets and you're also thinking about what all the the bosses are telling you to do and the timelines and so on what do you look for for inside one of your out sourced it teams when you're taking on a new MSP or a new solution provider altogether or maybe one is pitching you for the first time what do you specifically look for when you are going down that process number one is are they going to solve my problem or are they pushing a solution looking for a problem so do they understand my business do they understand my problems if you're not solving my problems it doesn't matter there's nothing there's nothing else to talk about second is can they be an extension of my team I need my users to think of them as Transit it Ops whatever partner they are sure the end users are going to know that these people are coming from these other companies I mean most of the communications they're going to see their domain in the emails but will they operate with me so that the end users will like wow I know they're from another company but it really feels like they just work for you I don't know how it can work otherwise in in my opinion if it's not like that then it's it's a lesser outcome for the business I need the people to feel like we're family so to speak that's just my own take on it that's how I try to build with external teams they've got to know over time of course I mean you don't have this day one or even month or even maybe quarter one when you bring on a new MSP so it's not about how can they do that the instant they show up but are they willing to work in that direction because in 6 months or in definitely in 12 months I should have some users really saying High accolades about these partners and if they're not I made a bad decision another concern for for my peers out there this is work this is team building just like it would be if you hired people just because I want it to be that way that just doesn't mean it shows up that way you got to put in the energy for it I'm very diligent about keeping an eye on how are the these folks with these Within These msps how are they interacting do they give short-handed response to my end users and the end users are business people not technologists just like you would have a green CIS admin brand new CIS admin help desk person they're not going to do perfect right out of the gate typically technologists don't communicate very well they give only enough information to the end user that would make sense for that help help Des person they've got to learn that a new MSP coming into my business World they don't know Transit yet it's going to take a minute and they're talking to me at the transit level and they may only help one of my seven companies for a week and then they jump to the other company that's different it's a different company it's different people they have a different lineage or history to get them where they are today so all of that is important to understand going into a relationship with a with a new partner you've got to tell them up front the Dynamics you have in your organization not all my peers are going to have seven companies underneath you're probably going to have one but you do have different departments your companies are of a different size you have different people came from different places all of that's the same for all of us you've got to put in the energy to make that work so that number two was internal and external that that third party has to be willing to go through that with you and you have to be willing to put the energy in to to work towards that outcome it's not going to just happen even if you don't want to get all the way to the family feeling like I mentioned you still have expectations but expectations are realized over time with correction and guidance there's a third piece for me and will they help me think strategically I can't have them be order takers just because I say hey we need to do this A and C I may describe it in a way that is the absolute most convoluted way to get it accomplished and I need them to say you know hey I think I think I understand your outcome but we have three other options any one of which would be easier can we look at that I need them to challenge me with those things certain processes might be order taking but if that's the only thing they're doing I think you're missing out on the value of having a third party helping you out listening to all of this is there any advice that you would give to it Partners to better present their value when they pitch to you or in that first meeting with you and other it leaders about their Solutions about their services how can they immediately come across to you as the it partner that you want to engage in business with first part of it would be them starting out with what could they find on the on the internet about us and asking me engaging questions that's going to tell me they're trying to understand one our business and two the problems I really have at hand right now most of the beginning of that conversation needs to be more about learning those things well so they can have more connected information about what service or product they're going to bring to the table because if they understand my Parts well they can speak to why their their solution is going to solve my problems if they're taking that approach that's going to be way more heartening to me versus hey we've got this great solution and it does all these things do you even know if all those things matter to me start with that connection first would be would be my my number one for those third parties going on from there you've mentioned quite a few times throughout this interview is just how big of a deal the channel is to you you're a big proponent going through the Channel and leveraging it Partners why do you think or what reasons have you heard as to why some of your colleagues in the industry don't Outsource any aspects of their it and don't go through the channel I think the number one I hear with most of my colleagues is they're so concerned with loss of control every time I tell them it's like well if you actually lost control then you didn't do your agreement with them very well your scope was way off and you never should have signed it there's ways to ensure you don't lose control there are parties that only work is if if you give us full control we'll support you but my team's the only ones in there well then that's the wrong partner for you unless that's what you're looking for to some extent everything's negotiable and where things aren't negotiable you got to make hard decision maybe that's not the party you want to deal with you've got to know the scope you've got to make that clear and there's plenty of third parties out there that are willing to work with you to start where you are and to help you grow to where you need to be that's another key thing in some of the other questions as well sometimes it's overwhelming to just get in with a third party because this third party specializes in a certain place where you want to be one day but you have these solutions to you have a particular Network today that's not their specialty but you want to go towards their specialty okay you got to work that into your implementation so all of that is around loss of control you can't just jump to some place that matches them and then also make sure your scope is clear on you want to co-manage I think co-manage is a is a key term there if you want to retain some control but you can Outsource this party it's a co-manage scenario you got to talk through that with them the next one is not being secure that's a relevant thing to be concerned with but for most medium and small businesses that third party is probably well more secure than you are in most cases not all cases not meaning to offend anybody but my organization's right in there we are more secure now because of the third parties we brought in keeping in mind security and compliance was one of the reasons we were working on some of these things so I would hope so but in most cases even if you're just looking for support for help desk and things like that most of the parties out there they should already be very secure and if they're not you shouldn't be picking them in my opinion the level of security at this point if you look five or five plus years back it wasn't the case some of the third parties out there were just getting their feet on the ground and some still are right there's always a new one out there but for the most part third party Solutions msps and msps they're very well grounded in security and and availability last one I would point out last lots of my peers will say ah there's really no good partners locally not necessarily true in my area here but my networks all around the country they don't have great options where they are well I challenge them with in today's world why are you worried about that lots of companies most of their most of their people are remote anyway at this especially after after the pandemic I know it's scary but bite the bullet get into a short agreement with some partner on a per uni cost perspective it'll be very expensive but do a short like do a 90day agreement they're not going to give you any discounts for that but some of them will give you a taste and a very small scope so you can kind of feel it ask for it they might not advertise it but ask for it I'm a big proponent of they they can't tell you no if you don't ask so get it there try a little bit see how that remote team can help you in your organization just cuz it's not local great there's Talent all over the world there's Talent all over the United States if you need to keep it in the states great keep it in the States but there's great folks everywhere we're just getting this conversation going come back on Tuesday for part two of my interview with chance Irvin thanks so much to chance 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 watch on YouTube at Channel Insider newsand Trends you can also listen to the podcast version of every episode on your preferred listening platform don't forget to like subscribe and follow wherever possible so you never miss an episode you can also connect with Channel Insider on LinkedIn and X at Channel Insider you can connect with me as well on the same platforms at Katy boso once again I'm your host Katie boso and I'll see you next time

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