ConnectWise announced today it has acquired Service Leadership Inc., a long-time solution provider consulting firm led by Paul Dippell. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
Service Leadership Inc. will become part of the ConnectWise strategy organization lead by Chris Timms, executive vice president of growth for ConnectWise. Service Leadership will continue to operate within the context of the IT Nation community that ConnectWise has wrapped around its professional services automation (PSA) platform and associated remote monitoring and management (RMM) tools, says Timms.
The goal is to make channel partners more successful by helping them better identify key performance indicators (KPIs) and other relevant metrics, adds Timms.
“We want to help them understand the signal from the noise,” says Timms.
Dippell and his team created the Service Leadership Index (S-L Index) that is widely employed by many channel partners to benchmark their business performance. The purpose of the index is to help channel partners maximize profitability in a way than enables the owners of a solution provider to command higher valuations if and when they decide to sell their company or perhaps even launch an initial public offering (IPO).
The acquisition of Service Leadership comes at a time when acquisitions of solution providers have been at an all-time high. During the economic downturn brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, there were more than 100 acquisitions involving IT services firms in 2020. Thus far into 2021, there has been no sign of any abatement.
In general, Dippell says he has been pleasantly surprised to discover how resilient channel partners have proven to be in the last year. Not every solution provider was able to survive but Dippell notes thanks to loans made available via the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) many more channel partners were able to weather the economic storm. Now with the prospect of a COVID-19 vaccine on the horizon, demand for IT services is starting to recover.
While there are many more channel partners led by executives that have a master’s in business administration (MBA) than ever, the bulk of individuals running solution providers today can still be characterized as “accidental entrepreneurs.” Many of them started out working in IT departments before deciding to launch their own IT services firm. Many of them for better or worse learned what’s required to operate a company profitably via proverbial on-the-job training.
“There’s always been a low barrier to entry,” says Dippell. “A lot of folks get started just be hanging a shingle out.”
ConnectWise as a provider of PSA platform has a vested interest in increasing the business acumen of channel partners. The more aware they become of various best practices for running a business the more likely it becomes they will invest in a PSA platform to optimally manage limited staff resources.
Longer term, Dippel says channel partners should already be looking forward to implementing technologies that make use of artificial intelligence (AI) to optimize the delivery of IT services. AI won’t eliminate the need for IT professionals but the services and capabilities that channel partners provide will be evolving, notes Dippell.
With that level of disruption on the horizon, the level of disruption IT services providers might be facing in the month and years ahead is only likely to intensify.
Be First to Comment