Video: AVATAR CEO On Redefining The Proactive MSP

hey Channel insiders I'm your host Katie boso and welcome back for part two of my interview with Jason Wright CEO of Avatar MSP if you haven't watched or listened to part one head on over to Channel insider.com right now to catch up today in part two Jason and I continue to discuss what differentiates Avatar as an MSP and the lesson both positive and tough that Jason learned in his first 2 years as CEO of the business is there a success story you can tell me in which you were able to help a specific customer be able to find that solution that was able to help them Drive success or to work with you to avoid that threat actor anything like that that you could share with me yeah there's actually a couple of wins that really come to mind especially in that Middle Market space I can think of um company called Transit Tech Technologies based out of Knoxville Tennessee private Equity back it's actually a portfolio of software companies designing software for the transportation Logistics industry so they really operate as three four 500 users across six different companies each of those companies are using different Technologies they have different processes in in terms of how they manage it so the challenge was really how do we um bring together a solution that addresses the needs at an Enterprise level and really uh considering the demands placed on the business by private equity and their expectations around growth but while still simplifying and giving them somewhat of a a custom feel right and so in that particular case um we won an RFP it was a pretty rigorously run RFP uh the company is backed by a strategic CIO and he had also some pretty stringent uh compliance mandates to get them to a sock 2 type 2 certification in a really short time frame right so really the essence behind that is there were multiple uh players in the sandbox so to speak all delivering strategic value added services and and we had to come together in a collaborative way deliver on a singular solution for the customer that could then Scale based on the growth that uh the private Equity was driving from behind the scenes and so um that has been a very successful win for us and and you know with companies like that this one started out 300 users in in six months is already approaching 400 users in 18 to 24 months is going to double its number of employees so they need good partners that can effectively help them scale uh one other one that that I'll mention is a locally based publicly traded Energy company that had uh focusing on some new IP and technology and carbon sequestration and natural gas production um net power is the name of the company and so they were actually looking at some of the the big players in the markets you know the the folks like infosis I mean people that frankly we would never compete with in a regular opportunity this company is well funded and is looking to build anywhere between 10 and 30 natural gas transmission plant in the next each of the next three years so if all goes to plan it could be as many as 90 power plants in that time frame and ultimately they chose us for our sort of uh ability to be nimble and and tailor a package that fit their specific need but could also scale on demand and and address that kind of growth so impressive and thank you so much for sharing about those Jason I'm excited to hear about everything that comes not only in 2024 but beyond and when I think about this year and I think about the future I'm also thinking about the tech trends that we're seeing uh I I'm sure you know which one I'm going to mention AI of course it's is completely saturating this space but whether or not it's AI or any other technology Trends are there any ones that you're watching closely or perhaps implementing into your line of business well we certainly are are focused on how we're leveraging AI to impact our business uh we've built a center of excellence around Ai and we've hired automation Engineers we're uh advancing our efforts around skip scripting and building Telemetry so that we you know in our business this is not really new trend right automation has been around for forever in in sort of a monitoring capacity or preventative maintenance but thinking about how you can incorporate the generative AI components into automation for some truly disruptive technology is is where we're at today you know I think of things like just the client engagement interaction in ways that you can automate that but still personalize it I think of things that we're sort of working on internally around uh knowledge base and allowing people to do some self-service capabilities on their own for faster resolution uh without having to necessarily go through traditional channels of of getting support right so you know my advice to the market is um invest in it focus on it but do it for your business and driving optimization efficiency in terms of your own Service delivery capabilities before you then think about taking it to Market as a professional service or a Consulting engagement because we really as an industry need to eat our own dog food first and learn the ins and outs you know if you're not working towards an effective uh solution that solves a business outcome or or affects the business in some actionable way whether it's reducing cost uh providing scale to the organization creating opport unities for Revenue generation then you're really just wasting your time and your client's time so so ultimately focus on how you use it internally to improve process and Service delivery I would say before you try to take it to Market as a a product or service offering and Jason you brought up data and something I meant to ask earlier was earlier on in your your journey with Avatar you really wanted to focus on employee productivity and increasing that for your customers with data can I follow up on that how is that going how is that something that you've been able to to grow or to continue with yeah that's uh pretty interesting you know I thought that was something that I was truly gonna be able to disrupt the industry with and um frankly you know this idea around human Capital Management and uh productivity monitoring around employees and staff you you saw a big uptick in startups and people bringing products to the the marketplace around that because of the pandemic and the push to work remote and there's still a place for it you know if you think about free seating environments client customer service environments shift working type environments there's definitely a place in terms of monitoring and measuring for productivity and in a way that you can draw specific outcomes for but overall at the Enterprise level I just didn't see adoption uh really take off like I thought it might right so we've sort of we still have it we use it we use it internally ourselves to to measure um productivity really how I use it more than anything is to see am I getting usage and engagement out of my vendors out of the tools that I buy or my team's actually using it and sort of measuring progress in terms of when we first bring it in and in terms of time to value and adoption how quickly are we utilizing it so it it has its place it will continue to have its place but it's not going to revolutionize the workplace and and frankly I think things are are still trending back towards people trying to pull people in I don't care what anybody says and I used to argue one way or the other you're less productive remote the data says it we've been measuring it and you know I belong to True methods uh cass's peer group and and we um really get a lot of value out of being in that group and we've run some internals multi-year studies and nowhere have I seen yet in any industry to make a valid use case that working remote is more productive I'm not saying it's necessarily uh less productive or to any particular level but you know here at our office we do some Flex scheduling uh to benefit our employees but we work here in the office because nothing replaces that swivel chair capability and and collaboration of being in the office and being able to stand over somebody's shoulder and see how they do things you know teams and slack and all that provides a ton of value but uh I just didn't see it I I didn't see the trend take off like I thought I would and U you know for those who argued with me back then there's a few I'm thinking of in particular on LinkedIn when they would see some of my Pro my uh post uh I stand corrected oh first of all incredibly incredibly humble of you to say but I think that also points out some incredible things that we've learned as a Workforce and a society in the last two years we really did think some things were going to Trend in One Direction and they didn't so I think what you experienced there was something that we were seeing on a societal level so really interesting what you were able to learn from that experience are there any vendors or solutions that you're seeing right now that are you're either working with implementing into your step back or that are just really operating well in the channel that you would want to shout out well uh yes there's a couple I mention true methods you know I recommend to any of my peers in the industry get in a peer group it's the best thing you can do in terms of uh mentorship and um you know there are a number of them out there I certainly recommend true methods a th% it's it's been great I the the owner was in it when I bought the business and I decided to check it out and I've stayed with it and I've really enjoyed my time in there um you know from a security standpoint we have really locked arms with a company called total out of Denver in terms of a uh full Swedish Services kind of defense and in-depth strategy in terms of bringing all of those security products Consolidated into single paint of glass and sort of layering in the governance risk compliance uh capabilities into the platform we've seen a lot of success going to Market with them um you know of course we still have heavy Investments with both CA and connectwise you know that we're still big fans of the the DAT product line and what Cass is doing with 365 um you know I think is going to have some interesting Ripple effects across the community and you guys of course right technology advice and what we're doing with you guys in some marketing campaigns really start starting um to lean on you guys in a marketing capacity we we brought in a HubSpot to do some interesting things on our lead generation you know I I love talking sales marketing and lead generation because that's sort of my my bwick but uh and of course I've always got to shout out our friends at the channel company of just uh you know what you guys are doing now what they doing are just absolutely in instrumental in terms of the promotion you look at the spend Katie that is being driven now around a lot of these in our industry in those market segments we defined around those sort of uh technology Trends I mentioned earlier and it's just unbelievable I I wouldn't want to be in any other industry at any other time in at any other point in history than where we are right now within the MSB space and technology and you guys have really been at the Forefront you the folks at the channel company and sort of advocating for the industry and helping our growth PX eight those guys Nick Hy Rob Ray David pal and and the whole team uh I would be remiss if I didn't point out how much of a strategic partner they have been you know just in terms of understanding partner programs specifically with Microsoft we had a a huge historical win for us just last month down in Miami and we we actually had lost that uh customer we had we' had two deals two massive deals equaling 50k in mrr in both cases we lost because we wouldn't compromise our values and then within short order when those vendors couldn't perform we pulled those deals back in one and it was Pax a who was really with us along the way understanding some of the backend programs and and how we could Flex here and you know scratch here to put together the right solution so I had to mention those guys absolutely I completely understand about that and Jason I also just want to know in knowing you and knowing what a a a a fellow man you are you just love to care about people everything you told us at the beginning about some of the natural disaster work that you were physically getting involved in knowing what a patriot you are and how much you care about our military and our Armed Forces I just have to ask is there anything that you're doing this year that you'd like to talk about as far as your philanthropic work and Avatar's philanthropic work always always I mean you know a consistent uh presence we always maintain is in prison entrepreneurship prison ministry we certainly believe in sort of people who were looking for a second chance in life you can kind of see this painting behind it's reversed but it's uh Psalms 91 which is very near and dear to my heart but um you know we've always sort of embraced that second chance mentality right all of us have made mistakes in life and so we work very closely with uh prison entrepreneurship program PE they built a huge new incubator in Houston close to 40,000 square feet with podcast rooms meeting rooms it's a uh what we call a place for collisions where uh folks who um volunteer like myself can meet with people who are coming out of the program and help them get back on their feet and and really help them prepare to be entrepreneurs in their own right right because sometimes it's hard for them to get jobs in the corporate world so so P has always been a big deal to us um just in this last quarter alone we did a big event uh for Youth for Christ and and made some sizable donations there the Leukemia and Lymphoma foundation and and um supporting our friend Claudia wup who's in the technology industry and the wonderful effort she's done to raise awareness for for that we sewed into stem programs at lonar College here in Houston and programs with uni University of Houston through the Sim uh Society of information managers uh organization so we're always doing a lot I really got into business for three reasons right one was I really wanted to be the only voice in the room I I didn't really want partners this time around because I wanted to be able to to drive the vision not that I don't consult consult with my team for vision and strategy but I I I knew the the things we wanted to address in the market and I wanted to go forward secondly we wanted to build a a company that was going to be growthmed growth oriented because frankly all we wanted to do was be able to employ more and more and more people so that they could in turn provide for their families realize their dreams sewing into the the causes and Charities that are important to them and and then third was with whatever uh material resources and wealth we could generate through the company we wanted to be able to seow into the Kingdom on such a greater level you you know me that my faith is is deeply important to me and and my wife uh and her Ministry for the Brokenhearted is uh something that we've seen tremendous growth for and growth with and so we want to fund her efforts in the good work she's doing we've established a scholarship program uh for people that can go and seek help and get the counseling they need so anything and everything and and the 10,000 other things that our employees want to do we can't give away money fast enough thank you so much for sharing that with me I'm blown away so many wonderful things so little time and I'm just so impressed by everything that you're doing so thank you thank you very much for just being an amazing citizen I appreciate that and hey for the folks listening at home or watching if anybody wants to get involved with you for uh learning more about Avatar or just talk to you and find out how they can get involved with some of the amazing work that you're doing inside and outside of the office how can they get get in touch with you go to the Avatar MSP pages on LinkedIn uh x Facebook and like our Pages follow us give us your support there and we share a ton of information we're very active on those pages and that's where you can find out more and get involved like we we partner with other people that are doing cool things uh different charities that they're supporting and we encourage you to do the same if you're interested in any one thing and you just want to tag along would you also mind just for our uh podcast listeners would you mind just saying your your website sure Avatar MSP managed service Prov rider.com so Avatar MSP Jason thank you so much for your time today truly it's been a pleasure speaking with you oh it's been all my pleasure so good to see you again Katie and again thank you so much thanks so much to Jason for joining me for this interview and thank you as always for watching or listening check out all episodes of Channel Insider partner POV on Channel insider.com or watch on our YouTube page at Channel Insider news and Trends you can also listen listen to the podcast version of every episode on your favorite podcast listening platform don't forget to connect with Channel Insider on LinkedIn and X you can also connect with me at Katie boso once again I'm your host Katie boso and I'll see you next time

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