Moving from MSP business to the cloud

During lunch a few weeks ago overlooking the beautiful English Bay in Vancouver with Nick Nouri and Joe Martin from Compunet Infotech, a North Vancouver managed I.T. services company, I learned that Compunet is not like many MSPs in the Lower Mainland; Compunet is different.

As a marketing professional, I hear this all the time, “Stuart, we are different; our difference is our people and our commitment to service”. While that may be true, does it really make you different? The easy answer is no. Service and people are not differentiators when it comes to marketing your managed I.T. business. Don’t get me wrong, people and service are important; they just don’t make you different.

So what was so different about Nick and Joe? I have known Nick for many years and always admired the way he runs his managed services business. He is one of the top I.T. firms in the Vancouver area because he has always understood the importance of being different. Nick’s company cut their teeth by diving deep into the Vancouver’s legal community. Just like I did in the energy sector during my time in Calgary, Nick learned everything he could on how law offices and law firms both big and small used technology, and then designed his managed I.T. services practice around what law firms wanted from a tech company and not what the tech company tried to force on them. It was a winning formula.

When the Compunet team shared with me their latest offering that leverages cloud technologies I knew it wasn’t going to be your standard cloud solution. Compunet’s “Architectural Firm in a Box” solution is unlike anything else I have heard of in the architectural vertical. Many I.T. services companies will tell you that everything needs to be on premise because architects have huge projects and large files to share, which is true, but this didn’t stop the team at Compunet from thinking “outside the box” (pardon the pun).

What I learned from sitting down with Joe and Nick — and later speaking with John Clark from John Clark Architect in Burnaby, who advised the Compunet team throughout the project –was that cloud computing and cloud services were possible for architects, and Compunet has figured it out.

Now, Compunet has a complete solution. Besides being able to provide Revit in the cloud — the main application that architects rely on — they have a turnkey office solution including email services, VoIP telephony, cloud file sharing and much more, providing everything a growing architectural firm requires without the headaches and huge upfront costs that come with growth. The cloud allows the architectural clients of Compunet to scale.

But, what I found out next was truly eye opening.

After my English Bay lunch with Joe and Nick, I had a chance to speak with one of their clients, John Clark, the founder of John Clark Architect in Burnaby. John, like many architects, wants to do a great job for his clients, wants more business and has a passion to grow a well-respected firm. John puts his trust in Compunet for all their I.T. services and now, their cloud architect service solution.

During my discussion with John, I asked him point blank, why use the cloud and why this solution? His response was an awakening for me as an MSP marketing consultant.

“The technology is important, but what the technology affords me as a business owner is more important.”

Compunet’s cloud solution now allows John Clark Architect to attract the best architects regardless of where they are located, which allows the firm to bid on the jobs they want to go after, no matter where they are in the world.

Compunet’s Cloud Solution has also eliminated the need for office space, especially in Vancouver where lease rates are among the highest in Canada.

“That saves a ton of money, we can use elsewhere,” says John.

The cloud is truly a win-win-win for John Clark Architect, Compunet and other architects across the world that are looking to eliminate high costs in their firms.

Stuart Crawford is an IT services and managed services marketing expert. He founded Ulistic in 2010 and has been a regular contributor to CDN ever since.

At Ulistic, we have the expertise to help you get your company’s message out there and maximize your connections. We offer a wide array of unrivaled services and relevant content designed for your company’s success! To learn more about the solutions that Ulistic can bring to your strategy, give us a call at 716.799.1999, or send us an email: [email protected].

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Stuart Crawford
Stuart Crawfordhttp://www.ulistic.com/
Stuart Crawford is an MSP marketing specialist and coaching professional. He is president of Ulistic Inc., a managed services coaching, mentorship, sales and outsourced marketing services firm. For more info call u 716.799.1999 or email [email protected]

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