Meet Clare Davis, Account Manager
Clare Davis quickly became a tremendous asset to the entire team at The 20. Read below to find out more about Clare.
What do you do here at The 20?
I work with our awesome MSP partners as an account manager!
Describe The 20 in three words…
Supportive, visionary, agile.
As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
What’s the most challenging thing about your job?
Striking a balance between individual desires vs. collective needs.
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Every year of my life has been better than the last.
What do you think is the most important quality necessary for success?
Resilience
What do you like most about The 20?
The people and the vision.
What do you like to do in your spare time? / What are your hobbies?
Spend time with family and friends, travel, music, and be outdoors!
Where are you going on your next vacation?
Probably another wedding. ????
What’s your top life hack?
Understanding that comparison is the thief of joy.
Interested in working with Clare at The 20? We’re hiring! Check out our Careers page for more info.
Meet J.B. Frierson, Senior Account Manager
Today we turn the spotlight on J.B. Frierson. J.B. quickly became a tremendous asset to the entire team at The 20. Read below to find out more about J.B.
What do you do here at The 20?
I am an account manager.
Describe The 20 in three words…
Scalable. Innovative. Brilliant.
As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I wanted to be an engineer.
What’s the most challenging thing about your job?
It’s a tremendous opportunity and challenge to partner with our clients to help them grow their business and achieve their goals.
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Learning sales allowing me to grow my clients here at The 20.
What do you think is the most important quality necessary for success?
Hard work and dedication.
What do you like most about The 20?
The culture.
What do you like to do in your spare time? / What are your hobbies?
Spend time with family. I like to workout, read, and write.
Where are you going on your next vacation?
Cabo San lucas
What’s your top life hack?
Plan my weeks on Sunday
Interested in working with J.B. at The 20? We’re hiring! Check out our Careers page for more info.
Meet Courtney Ford, Graphic Designer
This month we have turned the spotlight on Courtney Ford! Courtney quickly became a tremendous asset to the entire team at The 20. Read below to find out more about Courtney!
What do you do here at The 20?
I’m the Graphic Designer so I help the Art Director create social media content, digital/print collateral, and cool stuff for around the office.
Describe The 20 in three words…
Strong, Family, Exciting.
As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
Marine Biologist… until I realized I am actually scared of everything in the ocean ????
What’s the most challenging thing about your job?
Right now it’s VISION season so deadlines are crazy trying to get everything finished. (PS: don’t forget to register at the20.com if you haven’t already ????)
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Knowing all the words to Eminem’s “The Real Slim Shady”
What do you think is the most important quality necessary for success?
Dedication
What do you like most about The 20?
I often describe The 20 as my dream job, so that’s a list we don’t have time for.
What do you like to do in your spare time? / What are your hobbies?
This isn’t a hobby… YET. I just bought a leash so I can start walking my cat outside. I’ve also picked up playing Animal Crossing in my excessive amount of time at home this year.
Where are you going on your next vacation?
Colorado is the plan ⛄️
What’s your top life hack?
Interested in working with Courtney at The 20? We’re hiring! Check out our Careers page for more info.
Meet Vishal Rambaran, Tier 1 Support Desk Technician
Today we turn the spotlight on Vishal Rambaran. Vishal quickly became a tremendous asset to the entire team at The 20. Read below to find out more about Vishal!
What do you do here at The 20?
Level 1 Support Desk
Describe The 20 in three words…
Close-Knit, Supportive, Friendly
As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I do not think I had anything in mind but I do remember saying astronaut a lot turned out to be scared of heights.
What’s the most challenging thing about your job?
Nothing is ever the same it is a constant changing environment.
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
To be honest coming here at this time as it breaking out of my day to day and experiencing something new.
What do you think is the most important quality necessary for success?
Be coachable take criticism and run with it.
What do you like most about The 20?
The community everyone is willing to assist to what ever level they can.
What do you like to do in your spare time? / What are your hobbies?
I enjoy building computers and am currently working on my first water cooled rig, other than that currently just playing games. As well as learning the violin and I’m not good at all.
Where are you going on your next vacation?
Next vacation no plans on the book but will most likely back home in Pennsylvania, if not Singapore.
What’s your top life hack?
Mistakes happen, so learn from them.
Interested in working with Vishal at The 20? We’re hiring! Check out our Careers page for more info.
Mother’s Day is this Sunday and, for many of us, Mom was our first life coach.
Our Mothers paved the way for what we’d become, so what better way to honor our Moms than to list some of the ways they’ve impacted our lives? Here are 6 members of our 20 family, each sharing a nugget of indispensable wisdom, courtesy of their Moms.
Enjoy!
Matt King, Channel Sales Rep.
[My Mom is] very punctual and instilled that in me at an early age. She would say, ‘It’s always much better to be an hour early than one minute late.’
– Our Channel Sales Rep, Matt King
Camden Rendon, Talent Acquisition Manager.
My Mom taught me that we all sweat salty and we all bleed red. ‘Treat everyone with the same respect, and don’t ever look down on anyone, because one day they might grow taller than you.’ ‘Say ‘yes ma’am’ and ‘no sir’ and always say ‘please’ and ‘thank you.’ ‘Don’t spend a lifetime on someone that won’t spend a minute on you.’ ‘Love fearlessly, and never forget to tell people you care about them.’ ‘It’s okay to cry, but pick yourself back up and put on a smile before facing the world.’
– Our Talent Acquisition Manager, Camden Rendon
Joe Parr, Manager of Backup and Disaster Recovery.
‘Always be there for your family, they are the only one you have.’
– Our Manager of Backup and Disaster Recovery, Joe Parr
Rudy Lucas, Marketing Program Manager.
My Mom, Martha Lucas, would always say, ‘Depend on no one. The only person that is going to take care of the old you, is the young you.’
– Our Marketing Program Manager, Rudy Lucas
Michael Copeland, Creative Director.
For me, my Mom was always big on respecting others. Which seems like the most basic of principles, and it is, but it was always an important lesson growing up; the top of the charts. Whether it was about respect being a two-way street, and that you needed to give it if you wanted it in return, or about how actually listening to someone is the sincerest forms of respect, my Mom drilled it (and continues to drill it) into both my Brother and me.
– Our Creative Director, Michael Copeland
Kayley Lantrip, Marketing Coordinator.
‘If it is in a song or a script, you’re allowed to say the curse word.’
– Our Marketing Coordinator, Kayley Lantrip
Happy Mother’s Day!
Want to join our awesome team? The 20 is hiring! Check out our open positions here.
by Camden Rendon
We have come to a day and age in which we are all trying to navigate a candidate-driven job market. This can be both a good and a bad thing. On one hand, you’ve got candidates being pickier about their next move, which means that retention rates are getting higher, and it seems to be a better fit for both sides. On the other hand, you’ve lost a lot of negotiating power, especially if you’re working with a strong, well-rounded candidate that is wanted by multiple different companies. Dallas has the fifth-largest tech labor force in the US, behind Silicon Valley, D.C., and New York City. According to the same website, CBRE estimates that more than 160,000 DFW residents work in the technology field. With so much competition, it can be hard to hire and keep great talent. However, the best way to do that is to build a company culture worth believing in.
There are three steps to building and maintaining your company culture:
- Lay it out
- Implement
- Study and revise
Lay It Out
In order to build a company culture, you’ve got to lay out what you want it to look like. Are you trying to build a “work hard, play hard” environment? Do you want to keep it buttoned-up and professional? Maybe you want to make your office dog-friendly or cater lunch once a week for your employees. Whatever it is, you have to start somewhere. Write down your company’s values, mission, and goals. From there, you can find and attract candidates that have similar views. Come up with traditions that you can make specific to your company, that employees look forward to participating in.
Implement
Once you’ve got an idea of what you want to accomplish, put it into place. Introduce things slowly, and make sure your current staff is on board. From there, bring in your newbies and help shift the culture to what you want it to be.
Study and Revise
It is imperative to continue to study the culture and revise as needed. If you see that something isn’t working, change it! I will say that consistency is key, so when you find something that works, stick with it. Building traditions, allowing employees to make friends with one another, and employee engagement are crucial to making it successful.
Building a company culture is extremely imperative to growing and maintaining a workforce. Now more than ever, candidates are looking for things that set companies apart – what will make your company a home rather than a stepping stone? Creating a culture and then hiring to fit within that culture makes retention much easier, as everyone has the same buy-in, beliefs, and values, and the expectations are set up front. Employees spend more time at work than they do with their own families, and they aren’t afraid to ditch jobs that don’t appreciate that. Appreciation goes a long way – as does a strong company culture.
Want to join our awesome team? The 20 is hiring! Check out our open positions here.
by Patrick Sullivan, Contributor
By understanding what Workspace as a Service (WaaS) has to offer your End Customer, you can ensure that you’re reaching the customers who will benefit the most from the cloud. WaaS has so much to offer to so many. But, who is the ideal prospect?
So often we are asked, “What’s the best vertical for your solutions?” and, “What industries do you typically target?” or, “What type of companies can WaaS help?”
WaaS has practical applications across every vertical and just about every size business. This widespread versatility gives our partners the flexibility to develop their solution and messaging for the verticals they are already targeting, or to focus their marketing and sales as broadly as they want.
Using the Core-4 to Find the Ideal WaaS Customer.
When evaluating a prospective WaaS customer, look for the Core-4, which will help you zero in on the ideal cloud workspace customer. If the prospect answers “yes” to any of these four questions, then you have a winner:
1. Will you require a server refresh or other large IT project within the next 12 months?
Especially this year as Microsoft will sunset Windows 7 and Windows Server 2001/2008 R2 next January, so many companies are going to have to decide: expensive fork-lift upgrade, or easy and inexpensive transition into the cloud. End Customers hate IT projects, and with the cloud, you can eliminate the majority of them, saving them money and resources, and building your cloud business in the process.
2. Do you have employees who work remotely? Or does your business have multiple locations?
In today’s global business environment, companies are turning more and more to hiring remote staff, often outside their geographic footprint. Consider a company who hires Susan whose sole responsibility is to meet with customers; any time she spends in the office is just wasted time. Or, what about a business who needs Grant’s specific expertise, but he lives in Seattle, hundreds of miles away. In both cases, the staffers need the same accessibility as anyone working from the office. In both cases, the company’s IT needs to have control over their technology. Cloud Workspace simplifies both of these, making them an easy reality.
3. Do you have extensive security needs?
Think about a small bank, finance company or insurance agent. These are small companies, but they store and share sensitive client information. Security is paramount for them. At CloudJumper, we work incredibly hard to ensure our solutions are inherently secure. Additionally, we have a number of optional security add-ons that help your End Customers who need even more.
4. Is your company’s IT function larger than your IT team can support?
This can come out in a number of ways. Of course, if they have big security needs, but maybe, they also have numerous software apps to manage and maintain. They might have tight IT requirements for maintaining certifications or franchise agreements. Maybe they have a mix of OS and devices that all need to connect. The list here is endless, and no doubt your prospects will share items they simply would love to off-load to the cloud.
Always Has Been, and Still It Remains, it’s the Core-4
These are the four prospect characteristics that so easily translate into a sale, and they always have in the 20 years we have been providing a WaaS solution. You will find them in businesses across every industry, every vertical, every part of the world. Understand them, recognize them, and the sale is yours! It’s just a natural fit.
By understanding the ideal WaaS customer, you will more easily grow your business in the cloud, and boost your sales, profits and the stickiness of your customer base. Especially as you are just starting to build your cloud business, start with the Core-4. Soon, you’ll find yourself supporting your customers in ways no on-prem server farm can handle.
Patrick Sullivan is the Channel Sales Manager for CloudJumper who uses his cloud expertise and business acumen to guide MSPs as they create and grow their companies in the cloud. His support helps them build an IT cloud solution that saves their end customers money, time and hassle. Patrick has been with CloudJumper since June 2015 and has been very successful working helping his partners build their businesses in the cloud. Prior to joining CloudJumper, he honed his business development skills working in the equipment finance industry for more than 8 years. In 2005, Patrick graduated from New Hampshire University with Bachelor of Science in Business Administration.
