CRN Exclusive: GreenPages Launches Transformation Services Group

With its new group, GreenPages Technology Solutions is hoping to help clients leap ahead in transforming their businesses to take advantage of cutting-edge technology.

On Monday, the Kittery, Maine-based solution provider, No. 151 on the CRN SP500, will announce the launch of a new business practice called the Transformation Services Group, designed to help clients accelerate their transformation to more agile and innovative technology. The new group will run alongside the $130 million company's robust systems integrator and cloud services business.

With the group, CEO Ron Dupler said, GreenPages will be able to take clients on an "accelerated" transformation to cloud-based platforms and leading technologies, comparing it to buying a new house instead of renovating an existing one.

[Related: GreenPages CEO: 10 Cloud Trends You Need To Know]

"As we've evolved over the years, we've really made our living off of having a great team of technologists. We're really smart at deploying technology in unique ways," Dupler said. "What this is about now is layering on top of that a group of people that are adept at driving change, and what I call accelerated change, for those who need it. This isn't all about technology, this is about people and processes as well."

The new practice will be led inside GreenPages by Jim Lampert, who joined the company as a consultant in July and will now serve as president. Lampert brings extensive experience in the channel to the new role, including recent top leadership positions at Fruition Partners, Acorio and Cloud Technology Partners. He will report to Dupler.

The launch responds to a "big shift" in the way businesses are using technology to disrupt traditional competitors, Dupler said, pointing to examples like Uber and Airbnb. Businesses have to be able to move quickly, and legacy IT won't support that shift, he said. "I think this move is in reaction to and really reinforces our world view. ... If you look at everything we do, it's helping customers move from traditional to new world IT models, and transformation is the more accelerated and premier way we can do that for clients that need to move quickly -- and we're finding that more and more do. We're excited for this and we think the market needs it," Dupler said.

The demand is clear for this type of solution, Lampert said. Before the launch, the pipeline had already exceeded expectations at the end of the first quarter, he said. GreenPages plans to hire five to 10 dedicated sales and technical staff to handle initial demand and will ramp up quickly as growth accelerates.

"I'm not sure there's a client today that we've spoken to or met with that isn't wrestling with these issues," Lampert said. "The speed of change is coming at all IT executives, and it's giving them the ability to look to a thought leader like GreenPages ... to develop a plan, implement a plan and deliver that program for them."

Dave Widener, director, IT and project management at Dead River Co., a South Portland, Maine-based utilities company, has been using GreenPages for professional services. Using the new Transformation Services Group, Widener said, the company has transformed step by step to embrace a hybrid cloud model, a far departure from an "underperforming IT organization."

"What we were was a reactive shop. What we are now is a proactive shop," Widener said.

The difference from a customer-facing perspective has been dramatic, Widener said, especially around its desktop computing environment. ERP data, phone systems and agent software is much more readily available using the hybrid cloud model, which allows for a smoother and "much more invisible" process for the customer.

"We really look to GreenPages as that highly capable, highly informed thought leader that is going to help us shape the dialogue. ... I think they are the right partner because they can digest where I'm going, meet my needs yesterday, today, tomorrow and into the future," Widener said. "It's that breadth and depth that really, to me, says they definitely deserve a role at the table and differentiates them from their competitors."

PUBLISHED APRIL 10, 2015