Cloud & Managed Services MVPs - EnCompass / MVP Advanced Computing

Ingram Micro Cloud Talk

Summer 2011

At the recent Ingram Micro Cloud Summit in Phoenix AZ, Ingram Micro celebrated the MVPs, the Most Valuable Partners in their Services program.  These champions have closely embraced cloud computing and the many service provider partners that Ingram Micro represents, and have leveraged these partnerships to dramatically improve their business and the levels of service they provide to customers.  Cloud Talk also celebrates these champions by reaching out to them and asking them to share with the rest of our community the secrets of their success!

Ingram Micro Most Valuable Partner - Advanced Computing

Scott Crosby - General Manager - EnCompass

EnCompass kicked off its managed services implementation with Remote Monitoring & Management and subsequently added several additional services.  To ensure success, EnCompass employees received education on the technologies, as well as on managed services specific sales and implementation strategies, from a variety of Ingram Micro resources and programs, including the annual Ingram Micro Seismic user conference.

While the transition didn't happen overnight, EnCompass has successfully deployed managed services offerings (and built a significant recurring revenue stream) to more than 100 clients with the assistance of Ingram Micro Seismic.  In just the first 12 months, the fast growth MSP implemented 50 Remote Monitoring & Management licenses - a formidable accomplishment for any managed services provider.

Recurring Revenue was the Driver

According to EnCompass General Manager Scott Crosby, the primary driver for their shift from project-based to managed services and ultimately cloud services was the desire to "stop starting each month at zero."  Crosby saw the economy shifting and his evaluation of the message for his company was that they needed to develop a recurring revenue model that would smooth their cash flow and build more stability into their business.

Ingram Micro Does the Due Diligence and the Data Center!

Crosby cites the example of offsite backup, Online Backup & Restore, to illustrate the primary advantage his company has enjoyed from working with Ingram on the development of the EnCompass offerings.  He points out that there are literally dozens of viable solutions out there, so the challenge is in evaluating and identifying the best one, and that this can be a very time-consuming exercise.  "What Ingram's done for us is they've done the due diligence in finding the managed cloud-based solutions that we can use as part of our portfolio for our clients."

Scott Crosby also evaluated the cost-effectiveness of having EnCompass build their own data center and determined it would not be in their best interest.  "By using Ingram we get redundant, fault-tolerant data centers that we could never provide ourselves, and now that's what our clients get from us."

EnCompass is ramping up a new Network Defense Services solution, a Virtual Voice solution, and a Print Monitoring & Management solution.  Scott Crosby reports that leveraging the Ingram offerings has allowed his company to achieve each of these in a very short, thirty-day window that would not be possible otherwise.

A Complete Turnover in Sales

One somewhat stunning but very telling revelation was that EnCompass had to undergo a complete turnover of their sales staff as a result of the shift to managed and cloud services.  This was not an overt action on the part of management, rather each salesperson on the existing team found they could not make the transition and eventually left, replaced by new sales personnel who were less about simple transactional business and more adept at creating the long-term relationship required in a managed services setting.

Branding

The other MVP strategy clearly in play at EnCompass is the consistency with which they promote only their own brand.  A tour of their website's Cloud & Managed Services page, for example, lists E-Mail Defense Services, Instant Recovery On Demand, Virtual Office, Virtual Voice, Web Defense Services and many more services, but makes absolutely no mention of the providers involved.  The customer is clearly buying EnCompass without regard to what is powering it.  Vendors like to call this "white labeling" but the MVPs think of it as promoting their own offeing and standing behind it all the way.  EnCompass has rebuilt its business behind this philosophy, and is flourishing as a result!

Howard Cohen

Author, Cloud Talk

Ingram Micro North America

Cloud & Managed Services MVP Award - Advanced Computing Division

Ingram Micro Cloud Summit

Summer 2011

The Advanced Computing Division Winner is:

One of the keys to success is being able to quickly recognize market trends and work with your strategic partners to provide comprehensive solutions.  This year's Advanced Computing Division Cloud & Managed Services MVP Winner understands this and has partnered with Ingram Micro to expand and complement their services practice.

Please join me in congratulating Scott Crosby and the EnCompass team as our Cloud & Managed Services MVP Award Winner - Advanced Computing Division!

Jason Bystrak

Sales Director, Cloud Services

Ingram Micro North America

How to Differentiate Yourself and Win Deals

XChange Solution Provider

Spring 2011

Solution providers may be selling themselves short - and missing chances to steal business from competitors - by failing to differentiate themselves in sales pitches, said consultant Randy Schwantz, CEO of the Wedge Group, suggests that's very solvable.

In a general session keynote at XChange Solution Provider at the Disney Dolphin Hotel in Lake Buena Vista FL, Schwantz walked attendees through a series of questions aimed at uncovering whether they could be falling short.

"You bring in a great proposal (to a prospective client), it looks good," Schwantz said.  "The incumbent finds out you're about to take their client.  Then they pull out their VIP card, they bring in the nice wine and cheese basket, and say, "I don't know what these guys are telling you, but whatever they can do, we can do."

"The incumbent finds a way to keep the business," Schwantz said.

Schwantz, a consultant and five-time author of books including "How To Get Your Competitors Fired Without Saying Anything Bad About Them," set out what he believes are potential areas of possible competitive advantage:  price, product offering and services.

On the first two, most solution providers present said "no" when Schwantz asked if they would be sustainable competitive advantages.  The third, services, he said should be broken down in two parts:  reactive and proactive services.  It's in the area of proactive services, Schwantz said where competitive advantage is found.

"It's hard to trup the competition in reactive services," Schwantz said "If you're proactive, then that's where your services (differentiate)."

Schwantz then asked a solution provider in the audience to name eight different parts of a car, which the solution provider did quickly.  Then he asked another solution provider to name eight differentiated services his company provides.  That solution provider couldn't.

"It's easier to name eight parts of a car then eight proactive services," Schwantz said "Parts of a car are tangible.  Each has a name."  The challenge for solution providers, he said, was to make tangible the proactive services they provide and then teach prospective customers that those services can fix problems they don't even know about.

"His message did a good job of facing the challenge we all face."  Scott Crosby, general manager of solution provider EnCompass, Cedar Rapids said he thought Schwantz's message was spot-on.

"We've actually been doing something the last two years like that around managed services and being proactive, and it fits exactly with what he's talking about." Crosby said.  "It's right on board with what's been working for us the past two years."

Edward Moltzen

Author, CRN

XChange Solution Provider