Meet Allan Sivils, CEO of Sivils IT Consulting!
Tell us a little about your MSP…
Sivils IT Consulting is located in Virginia Beach, VA. We were established in 2014 after I spent 15 years managing enterprise IT operations. I wanted to create a niche business that focused strictly on partnering with our clients’ IT operations, and not selling software or hardware. We focus on building true partnerships with our clients that allow us to advocate for their business growth.
How long have you been a member of The 20?
We joined in December 2019!
Why did your MSP originally look to partner with The 20?
A couple of reasons – The 20’s model is very similar to what we have been building since we started our business; to focus on being the best “Managed IT Department” for our clients. So, it made perfect sense from a partnership standpoint. Second, we have clients on both coasts, and being a part of The 20 gives us the resources that we need in order to serve clients across the United States. This allows us to scale faster, while not sacrificing the quality that our clients should expect. Lastly, the shared expertise of being a member alongside other top MSP’s allows us to work together to bring the best solutions to our clients.
Tell us about the biggest change in your business since joining The 20.
We do not feel limited by how much we can scale our business by being a member of The 20.
What do you like most about being a member of The 20?
The network of being a member. Being part of such a large community has already helped us since joining in December operationally. We’ve been able to provide onsite resources to our clients that are thousands of miles away, and have these resources follow the same processes we do internally. We’ve been able to implement better technical solutions and processes that have helped us internally to service our clients.
What do you think is the most important quality necessary for success?
Relationships. Both within our MSP community, our vendors, and especially our clients.
What are your biggest business challenges?
Managing the ebb and flow of IT projects around our clients growth – while we do our best to ensure that we can schedule to meet expectations, sometimes the volume of projects needed at one time can be difficult to manage. Also, sometimes projects require a wide range of very specific expertise. Being a member of The 20, this is quickly becoming less of a challenge.
What are your areas of focus for 2020?
Microsoft Azure, Windows WVD and Nerdio. We see that these have a huge operational advantage and efficiency versus having workloads onsite. It also helps us scale our clients faster, while ensuring their business continues to have the highest availability for their operations.
What advice would you share with an MSP looking to scale their business?
Stay focused on the relationships I mentioned above and being the IT Department advocate. Unfortunately, due to the nature of the business, with a lot of us being engineers that get too focused on the details, leverage your fellow partners/vendors instead of trying to take the entire pie for yourself. Follow this up by a repeatable IT operational standard and processes that will be clear and focused for your team to support and, most importantly; stable, secure, and protected for your client.
What book are you currently reading?
I travel a lot, so by “reading…” that really means “audio book” for me. This would be Traction by Gino Wickman. I’m actually listening to it again! I will listen to audio books that I have enjoyed, multiple times — that is — if I find the information extremely valuable.
Favorite blogs / podcasts
Honestly, I don’t have any. I spend so much time investigating, reviewing, testing, and reading about various IT solutions and methods. I guess I would say, I read “the internet.”
Interested in becoming a member? Click here for more information!
Meet Mark Elliott, CEO of 3i International!
Tell us a little about your MSP…
3i International is located in Houston, TX. We have 25 employees and have provided expert IT services since the year 2000. We are awesome at security and managed services, and our mission is to help people be their best by making technology easy and secure. We have a great team and have a lot of fun every day!
How long have you been a member of The 20?
3i International joined The 20 in December of 2018.
Why did your MSP originally look to partner with The 20?
Great question, this is a two-part answer for us. First, we were looking to move upmarket to larger clients and wanted a way to deliver services on a national level where we did not lose control of our customer or have degradation in support by hiring one-off boots on the ground. Secondly, we were having challenges scaling the business, and it kept leading to service delivery issues. Before The 20, we had a great company with talented engineers, and our clients loved our support and personal touch. At our size, we did not have separate teams for the helpdesk and onsite engineers. Every engineer had a seat in the call center, and when needed, they would be sent onsite. This methodology worked well as long as we did not grow. Every time we had major projects or a large new client onboarding, we would have to move resources from the call center to install equipment or onboard new seats. As soon as we reallocated resources from our call center, the level of service that our clients had become accustomed to would fall. We would then move some resources from the field back to call center only to have project deliver suffer. We found our company stuck on a staffing teeter-totter with happy and then unhappy clients. The 20 gave us the ability to truly separate our call center from the onsite and project team, which has been a Godsend. We now have happy clients all the time, not just in between waves of growth.
Tell us about the biggest change in your business since joining The 20.
We are closing more new MRR deals every month with the 20 offering and pitch. Our pipeline has grown with higher monthly recurring opportunities than we had before. The 20’s footprint has allowed us to focus on larger companies with multiple locations in different cities. We have found a real need here as an internal IT department with 500 employees cannot successfully support 20 locations with a couple of engineers. Our customer satisfaction with project delivery is through the roof. The 20’s call center handles the majority of our tickets, so we were able to shift our team around and create a dedicated team focused solely on project delivery. During our growth, we can now provide great support from the call center, our local onsite team, and the project team.
What do you like most about being a member of The 20?
The community is awesome, from weekly accountability calls with other members, the ability to message nationally on Microsoft Teams to find an answer to a tough question, the comradery at quarterly training meetings. It just a strong group of like-minded individuals with 1000’s of years of experience all fighting to make a difference in the lives of their customers and their families. The services The 20 provides encompass most of what an IT company needs to succeed. It is a great offering of tools at a fair price. We were concerned about what our customers would say about the changes, but our customer satisfaction continues to increase since becoming a member.
What do you think is the most important quality necessary for success?
I don’t. I think this question could be answered ten different ways by ten people, and no one would be wrong. You might hear answers like grit, ambition, courage, commitment, willpower, drive, integrity, and on and on, you get my point. So why is it that sometimes you see individuals with these traits fall short of their full potential? I have been at this game for 25 years now, and I know that I possess all of the traits I just listed above. I am moderately successful, debt-free, and can retire comfortably in a few more years. By national standards, I’m in the top 1%, but by no means do I have a yacht or private aircraft. My journey to this point has been a dog fight in a highly competitive market. So, I think great success takes more than character traits as they are table steaks in today’s business climate. I feel to blow it out of the water truly you have to be first, better, or different. I feel the opportunity The 20 has afforded my company compliments my character traits by creating a differentiation that allows me to reach my full potential.
What are your biggest business challenges?
Last year we spent time identifying our weaknesses and threats. Now, last year’s challenges are this year’s opportunities as we have prioritized what we will be fixing and implementing during this calendar year. This year we are working on increasing outbound lead generation to 50 leads per month, implementing an employee training program around culture and function, standardizing our QBR methodology, and executing on a new inbound digital marketing strategy.
What are your areas of focus for 2020?
We are an EOS company, so we will continue to implement and improve our use of the traction tools set. From a top-line perspective, we are focused on growing monthly recurring revenue in the healthcare, legal, AEC, manufacturing, and energy verticals.
What advice would you share with an MSP looking to scale their business?
Identify what’s holding you back, and if you’re willing to fix it, find a business coach or organization with the skill set to help you solve your challenges and hold you accountable. Don’t be afraid to partner with The 20. It is one of the best decisions we have made for our business and the people we support.
What book are you currently reading?
I recently just finished setting my personal goals for 2020, which includes a list of 36 books. Here are the three that I am currently reading in January:
1. The Big Leap – Gay Hendricks. This book is about removing upper limiting beliefs in your personal and business life that keep you from reaching your full potential.
2. The Road Less Stupid – Keith Cunningham. I am reading this book for the second time. Incredible lessons that are easily digestible like fatherly advice.
3. The First 90 Days, Updated and Expanded: Proven Strategies for Getting Up to Speed Faster and Smarter – Michael Watkins
Favorite blogs / podcasts
Chris Voss – The Negotiation Edge
Guy Raz – How I Built This
Interested in becoming a member? Click here for more information!
Meet Travis Street, President and CEO of Complete Technology Solutions!
Tell us a little about your MSP…
Complete Technology Solutions (CTS) was founded in 2001 in Muncie, Indiana. I ‘accidentally’ started the company when I was finishing my bachelor’s degree at Ball State University. I was working at Staples at the time and a customer (an elderly lady in her 70s) asked if I would come to her house and setup a computer I sold her. I didn’t see the value of my skills at the time so I traded my labor for a home-cooked meal lol. After I was finished with my work, she gave me a $20 tip and asked if she could give my number out to some of her friends. I didn’t realize how connected she was in the community. The next week I had 10 elderly ladies calling me for computer help! And that was how CTS was started. Since our humble beginning as a one-man break/fix shop, CTS has evolved and grown over the years to a fully-managed IT department service with over 50 staff members, and offering nationwide IT support and consulting services exclusively to the multifamily industry.
How long have you been a member of The 20?
We joined The 20 in the spring of 2018.
Why did your MSP originally look to partner with The 20?
Prior to joining, our company had hit a revenue ceiling for over 5 years that we could not overcome. At the time we did not have a vertical focus. And although we had been working with multifamily companies for close to 15 years, we still supported other local businesses and were competing with many IT companies locally. I wanted to change our direction and offer a service with a vertical focus that was unique and would give us a competitive advantage. I accidentally discovered The 20 while attending a ChannelPro conference in Dallas. After a ‘colorful’ keynote speech by Tim Conkle, I immediately recognized The 20 model was the way to succeed and allow CTS to scale up and grow. I signed up the next day! It was the best business decision I have ever made.
Tell us about the biggest change in your business since joining The 20.
The biggest change in our business since we joined is that we are now 100% vertically-focused. The tools and nationwide footprint of the 20 has given us the freedom to focus on our multifamily specialty and deliver superior all-inclusive service and support to our clients for a predictable, flat monthly fee.
What do you like most about being a member of The 20?
The best thing about The 20 is the camaraderie between the partners. Every member is a great resource and has unique talents and skills they share with the group as a whole.
What do you think is the most important quality necessary for success?
In order to succeed, you gotta put in the work. Hard work, discipline, and determination.
What are your biggest business challenges?
I think I speak for most of the companies out there in saying sales and marketing is always a challenge for an IT company. One of the biggest advantages of joining The 20 is that they became my marketing and sales department and handle it all. This way I can focus on business development and on our vertical.
What are your areas of focus for 2020?
We are focused 100% on multifamily and student housing moving forward. This is a vertical we have been working with for over 15 years and have a wealth of experience. We truly understand the unique needs of property management and development companies which allows us to provide superior service and consulting services to this market.
What advice would you share with an MSP looking to scale their business?
Focus on at least 2 or 3 vertical markets and tailor your service delivery around them.
What book are you currently reading?
I switch between business development books and science fiction books. Currently I’m reading Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business by Gino Wickman, and Bears Discover Fire and Other Stories by Terry Bison (one of my favorite science fiction writers).
Favorite blogs / podcasts
Multifamily Matter Radio Show. I love listening to this show to stay on top of the latest trend and information in the multifamily industry.
Interested in becoming a member? Click here for more information!
Employee Spotlight: Matt Mariaux, Support Desk Team Lead
What do you do here at The 20?
I am a Support Desk Team Lead, which makes me a bit of a catch-all. I try to provide auxiliary support in a variety of ways like acting as a resource, investigating service delivery issues with Zach, monitoring call and ticket flow, as well as tracking data for optimizing efficiency. I help out where I can.
Describe The 20 in three words…
People who help computer.
You know, I think I biffed that one…
As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
A Private Investigator. I grew up loving the Sherlock Holmes stories. I used to set up “crime scenes” around the house and question my whole family while writing down notes in my composition book. I was the best fake crime solver in the neighborhood.
What’s the most challenging thing about your job?
Sometimes you have to have tough conversations with people. I want to challenge techs when a ticket didn’t quite go as well as we’d like to see. That’s not always an easy chat, but it’s necessary to keep everyone at their best. Fortunately, they don’t hear all the quiet cursing coming from my desk beforehand. Or maybe they do. I don’t know.
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Probably ‘Doctor of the Peggle Arts’on Xbox 360. It took a long time.
What do you think is the most important quality necessary for success?
Success is sort of a moving target, isn’t it? I prefer to focus on goals. If you want to achieve something, you have to put in on paper. You don’t truly know or understand anything unless you can write it down. So do that.
What do you like most about The 20?
I’ve really enjoyed seeing the growth and the changes that come with that growth. It’s nice to look back every once in a while and think, ‘I remember when…’
What do you like to do in your spare time? / What are your hobbies?
I’m an actor part-time, though I haven’t worked much lately. I’m also a bit of a film buff and have a totally not unhealthy love of video games.
Where are you going on your next vacation?
I was thinking I might find a small town somewhere I can drive to. I’d interview people and research the town’s history and quirks so that I could write a profile on the place. I might not even try to sell it. It’d really just be to unwind while focusing on a new challenge.
What’s your top life hack?
Did you know you can get blood out of clothing if you soak it in Hydrogen Peroxide? That probably makes me sound like a serial killer, but I just learned it recently and I thought it was cool!
Interested in working at The 20? We’re hiring! Check out our Careers page for more info.
Employee Spotlight: Meet Tiana Ware, Administrative Coordinator
What do you do here at The 20?
I am an administrative coordinator here at The 20 and Roland Technology.
Describe The 20 in three words…
Innovative, Upbeat and Dynamic.
As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
A history professor!
What’s the most challenging thing about your job?
There are times when the job can be pretty demanding, and as a result, I can feel overwhelmed. But I have such a strong support system here that these occasional storms always get weathered!
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Losing over 150 pounds!
What do you think is the most important quality necessary for success?
Tenacity.
What do you like most about The 20?
My colleagues!
What do you like to do in your spare time? / What are your hobbies?
Traveling for food with the kid, making different vegan meals, attending conferences, workshops and DIY classes.
Where are you going on your next vacation?
Seychelles, Africa.
What’s your top life hack?
If you feel a cold coming on, consume spicy foods and foods with a lot of garlic. It assists in alleviating the mucus in your body, possibly avoiding getting sick all together.
Interested in working at The 20? We’re hiring! Check out our Careers page for more info.
What do you do here at The 20?
I’m a Support Desk Engineer (After Hours).
Describe The 20 in three words…
Top, Twenty, Percent — lol just kidding, but it seemed like a trick question!
Let’s go with: Crazy, Fun, Fast.
As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I wanted to be Spiderman until I was about 8, then it changed to playing with anything electronic and getting paid to do so!
What’s the most challenging thing about your job?
Working during off/odd hours.
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Still being alive!
What do you think is the most important quality necessary for success?
Honesty with everyone you work with, to achieve success in anything you work for.
What do you like most about The 20?
It’s a second family and we look out for each other!
What do you like to do in your spare time? / What are your hobbies?
Music production and beat production for small and up-and-coming businesses and rappers.
Where are you going on your next vacation?
Colorado (I like the cold)!
What’s your top life hack?
When going out to a restaurant for dinner, tell the waiter/waitress that it’s someone’s birthday at the table. Depending on the group, you sometimes will get a free desert or a discount on the bill. This also can work in hotels and other places that a vacationer might go.
Interested in working at The 20? We’re hiring! Check out our Careers page for more info.
What do you do here at The 20?
Offer top-notch IT support as a Tier 1 Support Desk Technician.
Describe The 20 in three words…
Happy
Dynamic
Progress
As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I always wanted to be a crazy scientist/inventor.
What’s the most challenging thing about your job?
Accepting that at the end of the day, you might not be able to have resolved all issues.
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
My daughter. Despite her being half a world away, we remain in contact.
What do you think is the most important quality necessary for success?
Being aware of both strength and weakness and learning from both success and failures.
What do you like most about The 20?
The happy work culture.
What do you like to do in your spare time? / What are your hobbies?
Messing with computers
Playing games (both board and computer)
Doing statistical/technical analyzing
Watching movies
Where are you going on your next vacation?
A cruise in the Caribbean, including dolphin swimming and ruin exploration.
What’s your top life hack?
Use data to form conclusions. Don’t use conclusions to judge data.
Interested in working with Bryan? We’re hiring talented technicians! Check out our Careers page for more info.
