Here’s The Biggest Moves 20 MSP 500 Executives Made In The Last Year To Drive Success

As part of the CRN MSP 500 we asked top executives to describe the biggest, most significant change their managed service provider company made in the last year to drive success. Here’s what 20 had to say.

Changing Times

To effectively meet the rapidly changing IT needs of their clients, MSPs and MSSPs themselves must be constantly changing, adopting new technologies and business processes to stay at the top of their game.

Over the last year managed service providers have restructured and implemented new workflows to operate more efficiently and better serve their customers. They have made strategic acquisitions to expand their technology and service portfolios and extend their geographic reach. And they have taken steps to hire, train and retain their most valuable asset – their employees.

As part of the CRN 2024 Managed Service Provider 500 project, we asked executives at the MSPs on this year’s list the question: What is the single biggest/most significant change your company has made in the past year to drive success?

Here’s what 20 MSP and MSSP executives had to say. (The complete profiles of the MSP 500, including their answers to this and other questions, can be found here):

All Lines Technology

Dave Siegel, Chief Technology Officer

Warrendale, Pa.

Virtual CIO: Investing in a VCIO tool and process to drive customer engagement and retention.

Complete Technology

Bret Knighton, President

Kansas City, Mo.

Restructuring of our leadership team and our sales department has been done to help increase our success. Along with the restructuring, we have decided on our commitment to marketing and public engagement events. This includes hosting webinars and in-person events along with attending networking and member-based organization events.

Cortrucent Technology

Shane Henszey, Co-Founder and Virtual CISO

Gibbsboro, N.J.

Implementation and consolidation of our ERP and customer management platforms.

Custom Computer Specialists

Jay Whitchurch, CEO

Hauppauge, N.Y.

We have acquired two new companies outside of our regional footprint. These companies both have expertise that compliments and expands our current offerings.

Dataprise

William Flannery, CEO

Rockville, Md.

Continuing last year's theme, Dataprise has doubled down on growth through acquisition, to expand nationwide and cement regional presence in key markets. Three of the acquisitions from 2023 focused specifically on cementing Dataprise's presence and reach in Houston, Denver and New York City. These acquisitions have allowed Dataprise nationwide growth while providing further support to our existing customers in those regions.

ECI

Jeff Schmidt, CEO

Boston

Over the past year ECI has championed automation as a key tenet of customer success. Our focus on driving automation to support business acceleration and productivity for our clients is clear through the capabilities we deliver to clients through our partnerships with ServiceNow and Microsoft. Additionally, our launch of the ECI Large Language Application (ELLA) has helped us support productivity for our clients and eliminate any excess processes, streamlining the client's workflows and overall business outcomes.

EOS IT Solutions

Brendan Strain, COO

Pflugerville, Texas

EOS has developed tools to accelerate, enhance and drive data, which provide market-leading indicators, trends and insights to support internal teams and customers. We have invested in a unique catalog/ordering platform for customer portfolios of IT equipment that provides insights into their asset management strategy, enabling a consistent global customer experience. Procurement teams can understand spend, accurate forecast levels, and asset management globally. We have digitized an industry-recognized methodology allowing sales to present more focused/structured solutions to clients. We utilize data-driven insights (Salesforce, Tableau) to identify areas of improvement and make informed decisions.

FSET

Nicole Brown, COO and Managing Partner

Kenora, Ont.

Valuing our employees, we've significantly invested in their professional development, fostering a conducive learning and growth environment. Our team's skills are the foundation of our success, and our investment echoes this belief. Furthermore, we've reassessed our approach to work-life balance, introducing flexible work arrangements and wellness programs. These initiatives strive to foster a healthier lifestyle for our employees, enhancing their job satisfaction and performance. Our dual strategy - professional development investment and work-life balance revision - has resulted in considerable success, improving morale, productivity, retention, and boosting our reputation.

GuidePoint Security

Michael Volk, Chairman and CEO

Herndon, Va.

GuidePoint Security has invested in and built out an Identity & Access Management consulting practice that has grown to become one of our top practice areas. We've hired experts across the three IAM pillars of access management, identity governance and administration, and privileged access management, who deliver IAM advisory and implementation services to our customers. Additionally, this team provides managed service capabilities around these three IAM pillars.

Insight Enterprises

Joyce Mullen, President and CEO

Chandler, Ariz.

Our acquisition of SADA Systems, announced Dec. 1, 2023, opens a significant door for Insight to provide multi-cloud services spanning the three top cloud hyperscalers: Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud and AWS. SADA is one of the largest dedicated Google Cloud consultancies and a six-time Google Cloud Partner of the Year.

ImageQuest

Milton Bartley, Co-Founder, President and CEO

Franklin, Tenn.

We hired a COO to drive operational efficiency improvements.

IT Service ArchiTects

Bruce Rosen, Principal, CTO

Springfield, Pa.

Right-sizing our rate card to reflect true profit! Pay us what our services are worth.

JustTech

Joshua Justice, President

La Plata, Md.

With low unemployment and constant turnover affecting everyone, we reduced our number of field sales and launched a virtual client support team to routinely check in with clients, update contact information and provide information on additional services.

Logos Systems

William Birchett, President and CEO

Dallas

We have partnered with local universities to recruit internships. This has allowed us to grow the entry-level workforce in one of the hardest fields to break into. In the last year we have brought in five outstanding interns who have been able to work directly with our CISOs in providing service to our customers.

Merit Technologies

Abraham Varughese, CEO

Greenville, S.C.

Conducted a gap analysis of our engineering team to ensure customer satisfaction.

Network Coverage

Alex Joy, President and CEO

Danvers, Mass.

Given the growing importance of security and the impact it has on all elements of our [business] and our customers’ business, and how service is delivered and data is protected, every functional team now has a security specialist assigned to it as part of the core personnel on that team.

Orchestrate Technologies

Vincent Williams, Co-Founder

Cincinnati, Ohio

Orchestrate has demonstrated remarkable growth and adaptability over the past year, marking a transformative period for the company. One key driver of this success has been a strategic acquisition that fortified Orchestrate's position in the market. This acquisition, undertaken with precision and foresight, has not only expanded the company's portfolio but has also played a pivotal role in driving notable 30-percent growth across various facets of its operations. However, Orchestrate's commitment to growth doesn't stop at external acquisitions. Recognizing the importance of fostering internal capabilities, we have made substantial investments in sales software to enhance the sales process.

Razor Technology

George Sucher, Managing Partner

Conshohocken, Pa.

We have spent the last year revamping our program management and use of analytic data on how we work with our customers to drive new successes or directions for customers that drive true ROI. We've hired a new chief technical officer to help us continue to reach our goals because we are not just supporting our customers but showing them the path to efficiently grow their business with technology.

S1 Technology

Jeremy Roth, CEO

Lafayette, La.

The biggest and most impactful change we've made is with the metrics that we track to determine the success of the business. We are an EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System) business and set goals with our vision traction organizer. That tool and exercise is very good for long-term goal setting but can fall short in short-range goal and incentive setting. We've aligned our stats to be much more customer centric (CSAT and NPS) and it's given us tremendous upside.

Success Computer Consulting

Bruce Lach President

Golden Valley, Minn.

In order to further our efforts and drive success in our organization, we made a significant investment in several of our teams including, but not limited to, Learning & Development, Human Resources, Community Development/Diversity & Inclusion, and Project Services. By deliberately investing in tools and resources that benefit and improve individual departments, we're able to retain and develop the skills of the incredibly talented people who work here. Additionally, we've made efforts to refresh our sales process, which included narrowing the focus of our sales team to specific verticals to make it easier for them to build and foster new relationships.

Syntax

Christian Primeau, Global CEO

Montreal

In November 2023, Syntax completed a strategic acquisition of Beyond Technologies, a Montreal firm specializing in SAP solution integration and business consulting services. This has created a powerhouse of more than 2,800 experts serving over 900 mid-market and enterprise clients in 26 offices across the Americas, Europe, Africa, and Asia. The acquisition has added depth to our portfolio, allowing us to offer industry-focused solutions in consumer industries, life sciences and the public sector, in addition to our existing expertise. Syntax takes pride in its ability to deliver boutique services at scale, offering clients a unique blend of flexible talent, unrestrained by location.

TAB Computer Systems

Tony Arsenault, President

East Hartford, Conn.

Becoming employee owned. It established a broader set of accountabilities for our company and drove engagement higher as we look to continue to educate each employee on how he or she makes a difference to our clients and to each other.