Video: Why Fresh Thyme Market Chooses ITsavvy as its IT Partner

hey Channel insiders I'm your host Katie boso and welcome back for part two of my interview with munu Gandhi CEO of IT solutions provider it Savvy and Craig Diggs IT director for freshtime Market an IT Savvy client if you haven't watched or listen to part one head on over to Channel insider.com right now to catch up today we'll continue our discussion about how it Savvy and freshtime Market work together to drive successful business outcomes can I ask about how the customers are recognizing or even better not recognizing about those improvements or upgrades in the store how was that impacting them when they visit a freshtime market or visit your website or so on and so forth so one of the things that we wanted to set forth at the very beginning of this is we didn't want our customer to be affected we wanted the experience in the door to be as transparent as possible we are a farmers's market that's what we sell ourselves at and that's the environment that we wanted to produce for our customer we wanted to bring technology to the environment in a way that was just seamless for our customers so some of the things that we're doing are when our customers walk into our facilities now they have open free and easily accessible Wi-Fi that wasn't available before um you know if you've got an iPhone your system automatically connects next to our guest Wi-Fi network and automatically starts um traversing our our Network it's great it's seamless um you know we we're looking at a couple of different opportunities for things to bring to the actual stor frame but again we didn't want it to be in your face um you know and I I have the opportunity where I do go to you know competitors and I walk through their facilities and everything else and I found that there was really two diverse paths it was either absolutely no technology available or it was so in your face that you felt like you were walking into the future and whenever we had conversations with our leadership and with our team and everything else there was a very apparent want that our customers couldn't be affected from their experience that the experience was you know very near and dear to our heart and so we wanted to maintain that and it Savvy has really taken that and they've run with it and the solutions that they bring to us consistently had that theme of being transparent but allowing the customer the ability to do things that they couldn't do before I think that's such a good point to bring up because I I personally love the experience of grocery shopping in person um if you ask my husband he would rather somebody drop them off at his door very little interaction but I'm not alone there are people like me out there who love that experience of seeing what's new knowing where my produce is coming from and learning about it but I can tell you as as that experience starts to get um quote unquote upgraded with technology it does become a little sterile and it kind of takes away the expectation so I think it's important you know in the way I asked the question of how are they noticing it or better yet not noticing it and moonu back over to you as you mentioned before your background is as an IT leader at some of the businesses where you were the client turning to that vendor or Channel partner I really want to know what was your experience like because I I've looked at your LinkedIn I've looked into your background the amount of times I've Googled you so you're going to see that Spike uh somebody in Massachusetts has been doing that a lot it's me um so when when you're thinking back to that what are some of the the nightmares so to speak that you ran into when working with or trying to work with a partner like that and how has that impacted the way you lead it Savvy and and just basically bond with your clients you know when you're a client there's a number of challenges you're facing right you have you're trying to navigate your team get them aligned around the direction make sure everybody's in lock step and then moving forward you want people to make decisions enable that you have to deal with financial challenges and obligations that come up you have to deal with qu hly the political realities of every corporation that's out there um there's there's just a lot coming at you right and you know Partners will often come in and say hey I'm here I'm here to support you I'm here to help you and you know if there's a deal on the table they're there uh but often times when happens is you know they're there for that moment in time but then they're not there after that and and so you know when I came and I've had the privilege of kind of being on both sides of the aisle and I've kind of flipped back and forth and it it it you know there moments in time when when I love being a f to that I'm like oh I need to go back to the other side and um but you know the things that mattered to me most when I was a client is is the partner truly leaning in are they have they really understood my business strategy and then from that what have I developed from a technology strategy perspective they really tried to understand what are my goals what are my objectives like how am I going to get bonused at the end of the year and then have they Allied themselves to become a true trust that's to me is a true trusted adviser they know my company they know our strategy they know my strategy they know what I'm aligned around and trying to achieve they know what my folks are right and then they build a team and a capability that aligns to that because they're there to purely support the business outcomes that I was looking for right and when someone did that you know that that was like the gold star recognition for me I'm like this is somebody that I want to lean in with this is the person that I want to bring along with me the other thing and and and Craig and I align on this tremendously is you know we're in technology people process and Technology all three of them fail kind of all the time right and when you're doing large transformation you have even more opportunities for failure because you're going from a very very Legacy environment to something you're leap frogging to something massively new right and in that scenario things are going to go wrong and you know we have another of ours uh he's a CIO at hi Physical Therapy Gus Oaks and Craig knows well you know he talks to me about I want partners that when there's a fire they're running into the fire with me right and that was another thing that when I was on the client's side you could very clearly see right and so Craig and I have communicated to both our organizations we're going through a massive change we are going to have issues Craig calls it the Murphy the Murphy Law Murphy will show up when you least expect it and when you most don't need it right but it's in those moments and at IG Savvy we call that the recovery Paradox when something goes wrong because something will go wrong how do we engage as a service provider how do we communicate with our clients how do we resolve the situation in a timely manner and then how do we go back and say Hey listen it was people it was process it was technology whatever it was and this is what we're doing to ensure it doesn't recur again and if we do those things well those things well with our clients our clients will actually come back and say wow yeah there was a mistake that happened or technology blipped but those things happen it's in how you recovered that showed us why we want to continue to partner with you and like I said Craig and I with our two organizations we were very clear things are going to go wrong right we don't blame the other side we pick up the phone we talk through it we resolve it and then we figure out how to make sure it doesn't happen again right because first time those things happen second time we can't let that happen right right um and so those are some of the things that that we've brought and I think the other thing I you know I mentioned you know our CTO kind of same has warant two hats our coo like we're we're practitioners right I was a network engineer our CTO had done a lot of appdev and other stuff our coo built services from the ground up and so we've lived these lives we know what what's going on and so when we you know when Craig had the offsite when we have other offsites where you know our clients bring their engineering Talent we can go toe-to-toe with them because we we we understand the technology um and oftentimes what you'll see in in kind of our ecosystem is you know partner leaders that might have grown up through sales or marketing and nothing wrong with that but they might not understand the technology at the level that a firm like it Savvy leaders do and so you can make a commitment that may not be reasonable you can you know things happen in those moments and so we feel we can create better Solutions which create Better Business outcomes on behalf of our clients and you know again this this comes to where Craig it was the right leader with the right organizational challenges and the right momentum but again in nine months to do all the things that Craig has done and for us to be a part of that that doesn't happen I think unless you have all of these things come together Craig when you go in for a raise I hope you play this video it is your your hype podcast yeah yeah you know in in all honesty I I really do appreciate all the props that I get from it Savvy I could not do what I do without them um I'm brutally honest about that fact I'm also brutally honest about the fact that I have one of the best teams that I ever had the privilege of working with they are phenomenally smart they come to the table with ideas and I you know we have conversations and and I tell the guys I'm like hey nothing's out of the ballpark like open up the gates what do you got because we're starting fresh here so if there's something that we need to be talking about if there's a discussion that we need to have or an opportunity that we need to be looking at like bring it to the table and let's do it um and but honestly I I'm just a guy that I could not do this without my team in all honesty it's it's them every single day so well now all of them can play this video to know that I I appreciate that I think that is incredibly kind and transparent and very very true and for Craig for you I I want to take into account that there are people listening who may be new to the aspect of what the it channel is why the it channel for you why go to somebody like moonu somebody like it Savvy and work with them why not go direct why not go directly to Juniper or HP so for us and for many of the people who are watching this the main reason to go I to go channel is because it's budget conscious um bottom line we all work for something um I try as much as possible to tell my team that you know our currency is time and and we work on the time block um but at the back of all of our minds is that budget every single year and I've never worked in an environment where technology has just been handed an you know a blank check we're we are a support agency and we're not a we're not typically a profit Center so we have to be extremely budget conscious and working inside of the channel and working with a partner brings you opportunities that you can't get on your own um if I were to go to Juniper and say and I'm GNA pick on Juniper and I'm GNA pick on the guys there and I know well and they'll be they'll be fine with this but as a customer if I went directly to the manufacturer and said I'm going to do this I'm going to buy let's call it 100 switches for easy numbers they're going to go okay cool we'll sell you the hundred switches and we will even sell you a block of time to help you set them up and we'll be there for you if something happens but it Savvy goes to Juniper and says we've got 50 customers and they're going to buy 5,000 switches this year that's a whole different pricing structure and they we've got the ability to to have conversations with those manufacturers that you know plainly we just can't have um and so you you build those relationships and it gives you the opportunity to step into a stage that you wouldn't have the opportunity to to walk on you know in a normal day um so really honestly it's it comes down to the fact of that and the idea that again they have a knowledge base that you can tap into that you can't get anywhere else I can't go out and as as a grocer um even if I was you know the big three um in the United States even if I had three or 500 people in my it Department I still wouldn't have enough people on my team to be able to say that I can cover the entire gamut of Technology it's just too broad and so having those Partnerships to be able to go to them and with the challenges and the hard that we find every single day and having that knowledge base available to you you can't buy that knowledge anywhere so and what qualities do you recommend other customers like you or maybe just starting to dip a toe into the space look for in their it partner the biggest quality is going to be open transparent communication um you've got to find a partner who's willing to come to you and say yeah Craig was probably not the best idea um you know you got to have the partners that are willing to come to you and say yeah let's go and and to be there and be behind you every step of the way um you know I again I've had the opportunity of working with several different Channel Partners I've had the opportunity of working with several different um manufacturers and everything else and I can honestly say to date I've never had a relationship like I do with it Savvy um just because I know that I can pick up the phone and um I'm you know if it's or if it's I mean even honestly if it's melind or moonu or Hal or any one of them I can probably pick up the phone and say I've got a problem and they're going to be there they're going to circle the wagons and they're going to help me out um but it's just and and again just having that opportunity to just have a conversation and we all my opinion is is we all need to come to the table with all of our Books open and and be completely trans as transparent as we possibly can be because that's the only way that we're going to progress and get work done and mood as a business you run a business too everything that Craig said the kind of customer that he is that fresh time is does that just help you how does that impact your decision-making when you say yes we're going to take that customer on absolutely again you know I think open and transparent Communications are the most important thing right the ability to Craigs Point some clients just want you to be kind of a yes provider and order taker right and and that's fine to a certain degree but that's a trans actional relationship right um if you truly want Partnership if you truly want kind of the best thoughts and perspectives that all come together into kind of one final outcome right then you need someone you you need this needs to be a two-way two-way communication this needs to be let's listen let's understand let's learn and then let's solve together right um this are the possible that we were able to do with Craig came about because we were able to have those open transparent conversations because we were able to give our perspectives and and and share our experiences on both sides of the aisle right it doesn't just create the best kind of possible outcome it creates speed it creates velocity because when you do that and you do that up front you're getting everything out on the table you're working through all of the the good the bad the ugly you're getting clear alignment not just at the leadership level but all the way down and so then when you say go jointly the teams know what it has to happen right and so you know those are the clients that when you get an opportunity to lean in with and really support like we go we we go and we will bring everyone to the table right up through including Glenn who's our Co Millan who's our CTO myself we'll bring the best of it Sav uh because we know we can create massive value for our clients uh in those scenarios munu what's coming up in 2024 for it Savvy you know we've grown about 90% Katie in the last three years it's been a phenomenal kind of growth and you know we continue to to to to focus in on those four solution pillars you know we've built and acquired a number of capabilities but you will see us continue to acquire uh capabilities within those for solution pillars so that we can continue to build more and more solution offerings that deliver an end to-end solution outcome right um as as a technology infrastructure Solutions provider that has a comprehensive value added resell business you know our goal is to deliver all of the components of the solution right we love selling that hardware and software combining that with the deployment capabilities and then managing it so our clients don't have to worry about that stuff stuff right and when we can do all of those things which very few folks can you're actually delivering that business outcome so you know you'll see us continue to make investments in our service capabilities you know everybody's talking about AI uh we've built a a a a a relatively small today Consulting practice around AI which we're leaning in with with a certain client base and so you'll see us do more in that space both internally and with our client base and you know the goal for us is just to continue to able to be that kind of that One-Stop shop uh that that we've been able to be for Craig if people are listening and watching and they say yes let's reach out to it Savvy you're located in Illinois are you Regional or can we go uh totally National here who can reach out to so yes so we have we're based out of Oakbrook Illinois uh but we have 500 colleagues located throughout the state and we have the ability to deploy uh you know across the US so and and we can do multinational in certain of our solution uh pillars as well and moonu if I'm an IT consumer if I'm a CIO if I am in the position that's similar to Craig what can I do to reach out to it Savvy to get started with you so you can reach out to us at info at itsavvy it's itav vy.com uh send any questions you have it'll get sent to the right folks within the organization if you'd like to learn more about who we are www . itsavvy dcom and we would love to to engage with you and see how we can help support your business and Craig if we want to learn about freshtime markets if we want to go find out how you're continuing to innovate the shopping experience where can we go to find out more yeah absolutely you can go to www.res time.com that's uh our website you learn just about everything you need to from from there thanks again to moono and Craig for joining me and thank you for watching or listening you can check out all episodes of Channel Insider partner POV on our website Channel insider.com or watch on our YouTube page at Channel Insider news and Trends you can also listen to the podcast version of every episode on your favorite podcast listening platform like apple podcast or Spotify don't forget to like subscribe and follow wherever possible so you never miss an episode once again I'm your host Katie boso and I'll see you next time n

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