ACP CreativIT Acquires Midmarket Managed Services Superstar Mindsight

'Having Mindsight as part of our team is going to accelerate our journey to serve more midmarket and upper midmarket customers in a deeper and more holistic way as technology consultants and advisors,’ says ACP CreativIT CEO Matt Zafirovski.

ACP CreativIT has dramatically boosted its midmarket managed services prowess with its acquisition of Mindsight, a Downers Grove, Illinois-based MSP that has developed a stellar reputation for its elite enterprise engineering talent.

The owners of Mindsight, led by President and CEO Ed Kapelinski, built the 21-year-old company with about 50 employees from the ground up by recruiting the best technical talent with the highest salaries to deliver enterprise class solutions to midmarket customers.

That vision has propelled Mindsight into one of the top MSPs in the country with a proven track record for migrating midmarket customers to the cloud and then managing those environments with a full suite of managed services. Mindsight’s mantra, said Kapelinski, is “offering enterprise services to the midmarket on a cost-effective basis.”

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Mindsight, a top Cisco partner that has a 90 percent customer retention rate, was modeled after Cisco superstar Berbee Information Networks, a Cisco services superstar that was acquired by CDW in 2006, said Kapelinski.

Mindsight, in fact, filled a void that was created when CDW acquired Berbee, said Kapelinski. “Over the past 20 years Mindsight has become known for having the very best IT engineering team in Chicago with exclusively enterprise-level talent,” he said. “We have brand recognition for having 100 percent enterprise level engineers. We have always gone after the midmarket. Instead of coming from the bottom up with managed services we came from the top down. Now it’s time to elevate our game and reach out to more of a national audience. ACP CreativIT has the broad resources that we need to do that.”

ACP CreativIT CEO Matt Zafirovski, for his part, said the deal, the first acquisition by his company in nearly two-and-a-half years, will be a springboard for ACP CreativIT to capture a bigger slice of the highly coveted midmarket managed services pie.

“Having Mindsight as part of our team is going to accelerate our journey to serve more midmarket and upper midmarket customers in a deeper and more holistic way as technology consultants and advisors,” he said. “They have done a really nice job of building out an enterprise-driven engineering culture with strong managed services for the midmarket, growing in cloud and cybersecurity. It’s a services intensive business with strong recurring revenues. Most importantly they put their customers and their employees first.”

In fact, Zafirovski (pictured above) said that cultural fit of putting customers and employees first was key to the acquisition. “Putting customers and people first is exactly how we think and talk,” he said. “They have a super talented and dedicated team. We’re looking forward to being a great home to support their employees in their career objectives. We want to be dynamic workplace for them where they can build long-lasting, fulfilling, growth-oriented careers.”

Kapelinski, who remains as CEO of Mindsight reporting to Zafirovski, said he knew within “five minutes” of meeting the ACP Creativ IT management team that the cultural fit was right. “They have the same level of concern for the client and for the employees that we do, all while still achieving solid financial results,” he said. “Most of the organizations out there are private equity, roll it up, strip it out, sell it off. ACP Creativ IT is a family business. They are more interested in acquire, perfect and hold.”

Kapelinski said his company’s enterprise-class engineering excellence is a huge differentiator versus competitors that often place second string engineers into midmarket accounts.

“The issue for most companies is time more than money, they need execution and they don’t want it from the junior varsity,” he said. “It’s about the time it takes to consult and execute on a project. They are looking for support services and time to resolution. When you have an issue time is of the essence.”

All of the Mindsight enterprise engineers are paid six-figure-plus salaries with the average tenure for a Mindsight employee at 10 years, said Kapelinski. “No one else was willing to make the financial sacrifice that we did to stay with only one tier of engineers,” he said. “We did it and it has been quite successful.”

Kapelinski said he is excited about the future working with ACP Creativ IT to grow the business. “I feel successful,” he said. “This is our baby and I’m going to continue to lead the charge here.”

In fact, Kapelinski and co-owners — Mindsight sales superstar Don Vargo and Vice President of Partnerships Jim Folliard — are remaining with the company as well as 50 employees. He said his employees are all “embracing” the opportunity to move forward with ACP Creativ IT to grow their careers.

Kapelinski said he sees continued strong opportunities for the channel with the advent of the AI era. “I love technology because it changes rapidly,” he said. “The challenge is to stay relevant by seeing transitions in the marketplace, realizing which ones are going to take hold and what it means in terms of servicing clients and their needs. AI presents a whole new host of opportunities that will allow for efficiencies in our organization and provide additional areas of value and revenue for clients.”

Kapelinski, a serial entrepreneur who has manned several successful ventures, said his father, also an entrepreneur, gave him advice that he took to heart that paved the way for his own success with Mindsight and his other ventures: “He said you can make money quarter over quarter like most organizations or Wall Street or you can have a long-term vision of creating value through excellence and at some point in the future you’ll get paid for it.” That has proven to be a successful maxim for Mindsight and its customers.