Optimizing School Technology with Fractional Staffing and Strategic MSP Alliances
Live from the ATLIS 2026 Annual Conference, the hosting team is joined by Alex Inman and Tom Wildman to analyze the evolving role of Managed Service Providers (MSPs) in independent schools. The conversation addresses the rise of fractional staffing, shifting IT reporting structures under CFOs, and the absolute necessity of cultural alignment when outsourcing school technology services.
Transcript
Peter Frank:
Paul, welcome to Talking Technology with Atlas,
Peter Frank:
the show that plugs you into the important topics and trends for
Peter Frank:
technology leaders all through a unique independent school lens.
Peter Frank:
We'll hear stories from technology directors and other
Peter Frank:
special guests from the independent school community,
Peter Frank:
and provide you with focused learning and deep dive topics.
Peter Frank:
And now, please welcome your host, Christina Llewellyn.
Christina Lewellen:
Hello, everyone, and welcome back to
Christina Lewellen:
Talking Technology with Atlas. I'm Christina Llewellyn, the
Christina Lewellen:
President and CEO of the Association of Technology
Christina Lewellen:
Leaders in Independent Schools,
Bill Stites:
and I'm Bill Stites, the Director of
Bill Stites:
Technology at Montclair Kimberly Academy in Montclair, New
Bill Stites:
Jersey,
Hiram Cuevas:
and I'm Hiram Cuevas, the Director of
Hiram Cuevas:
Information Systems and Academic Technology at St. Christopher
Hiram Cuevas:
School in Richmond, Virginia.
Christina Lewellen:
Gentlemen, today is a very emotional day
Christina Lewellen:
for a lot of reasons. There were lots of tears and goodbyes,
Christina Lewellen:
happy tears this morning at our general session. We just came
Christina Lewellen:
off of the luncheon here at the Atlas 2026 annual conference,
Christina Lewellen:
where we celebrated our Pillar Award winners, our Aspire Award
Christina Lewellen:
winners, our Atlas Leadership Institute graduates, and now we
Christina Lewellen:
sit on the stage here in Columbus together, and this, my
Christina Lewellen:
friends, is the last podcast recording with me, unless you
Christina Lewellen:
decide to have me back on as a guest in the future, which I
Christina Lewellen:
will not shut the door to, but right now, as the co-host with
Christina Lewellen:
my best East Bill and Hiram, I think this is
Bill Stites:
it. Are you co-host Emeritus as well? So,
Christina Lewellen:
yeah,
Bill Stites:
title going on to that as well.
Christina Lewellen:
I think I mean, I could decide right now,
Christina Lewellen:
according to Jamie Britto, because Jamie basically told me
Christina Lewellen:
last night at the reception that everyone in independent schools
Christina Lewellen:
who don't really want to go away, they just name themselves
Christina Lewellen:
Emeritus, and so Jamie Britto said that I could just be Atlas
Christina Lewellen:
Emeritus, so maybe I should be co-host Emeritus. What do you
Christina Lewellen:
think works?
Hiram Cuevas:
I think it works, and he does that.
Christina Lewellen:
Guys, it was such a pleasure. I just want to
Christina Lewellen:
say how much I love you both. We were together in New York City
Christina Lewellen:
for the nine event, just a couple weeks ago, the AI event
Christina Lewellen:
hosted by nine, and we went to a steakhouse, and it was a
Christina Lewellen:
delightful evening that I will treasure forever. I just love
Christina Lewellen:
you guys so much. I was
Bill Stites:
glad we got that time.
Christina Lewellen:
Me too.
Bill Stites:
Very nice. We needed that.
Christina Lewellen:
We raised a glass. We had an ice cream
Christina Lewellen:
sundae. It was awesome. So we are here again at the Atlas
Christina Lewellen:
Annual Conference, and you know, a lot of times we speak with our
Christina Lewellen:
keynote speakers and carry on the themes and extensions of
Christina Lewellen:
what we hear in the general session, so that we can take it
Christina Lewellen:
out to our broader listening audience. But we have a topic
Christina Lewellen:
that we've been meaning to come back to for some time, and so we
Christina Lewellen:
thought, why the heck not do it live in Columbus? So we are
Christina Lewellen:
going to talk today about managed service providers. This
Christina Lewellen:
is something that's been on our list, our editorial list, for
Christina Lewellen:
some time, and Atlas gets a ton of questions about it. To be
Christina Lewellen:
honest, I think schools are trying to figure out where to
Christina Lewellen:
fall on the spectrum of everything in house, nothing in
Christina Lewellen:
house. How does that work? To whom does this report? So, since
Christina Lewellen:
we had you guys here, we're welcoming Tom Wildman and Alex
Christina Lewellen:
Inman to our live stage to talk to us about this. Thank you,
Christina Lewellen:
guys, for being here.
Alex Inman:
Thanks
Tom Wildman:
for having us, and to be part of your last podcast.
Tom Wildman:
What an honor. I may not cry, but inside I'm sad.
Christina Lewellen:
You know what, me too. I have to say, so
Christina Lewellen:
thank you, guys, for doing this. I know that the conference is a
Christina Lewellen:
busy time, and you could be out enjoying time with your
Christina Lewellen:
colleagues, so thank you for having this conversation with
Christina Lewellen:
us. Let me start by giving each of you a moment to just
Christina Lewellen:
introduce yourselves and why you're here on the stage with us
Christina Lewellen:
in the context of talking about MSPs.
Tom Wildman:
So, I'm Tom Wildman, I'm the founder of
Tom Wildman:
Knowing Technologies, and we started in the direction of
Tom Wildman:
being an MSP when we were supporting technically multiple
Tom Wildman:
schools, and really, we at that point we were doing pretty much
Tom Wildman:
whatever project work on site support, but we found that the
Tom Wildman:
need for extended services was growing, and we are entirely
Tom Wildman:
independent school driven. So, all of our customers in kind of
Tom Wildman:
schools are very focused. We've got educators that work on
Tom Wildman:
staff, and so we knew that we had to be integrated more in the
Tom Wildman:
world of the school and the school's vertical, and we had to
Tom Wildman:
have a unique alignment with each one of our school's
Tom Wildman:
mission, and how they were trying to use technology to
Tom Wildman:
accomplish instructional philosophies that made sense to
Tom Wildman:
them in a manner that made sense to them, and so we evolved that
Tom Wildman:
service, and while we are an MSP, for sure, and I think if
Tom Wildman:
you look for MSPs, you'll find our company in Independent
Tom Wildman:
School World, but we call ourselves actually a TSP, a
Tom Wildman:
technology solution provider, sometimes technology strategy
Tom Wildman:
provider, and we're
Christina Lewellen:
interesting,
Tom Wildman:
we do that because we want to indicate that we're
Tom Wildman:
actually embedded with that school.
Christina Lewellen:
Okay, we'll come back to that for sure. But
Christina Lewellen:
Alex, let's give you a second.
Alex Inman:
Yeah, sure. So my name is Alex Inman. I'm the
Alex Inman:
chief solutions officer for Pacific One Source, which is
Alex Inman:
actually a company that owns three different ed tech
Alex Inman:
companies, one of which is educational collaborators. I
Alex Inman:
founded, and we've been an Atlas sponsor and supporter for all of
Alex Inman:
the years that Atlas has existed, and but I sold that
Alex Inman:
company to Pacific One Source because. They own a reseller,
Alex Inman:
but also, and what we call educational MSP, an EMSP, and
Alex Inman:
that way we were able to provide more of a comprehensive solution
Alex Inman:
to our education clients. All three companies all only serve
Alex Inman:
the K-12 space.
Christina Lewellen:
Awesome. So, Bill and Hiram, let me just ask
Christina Lewellen:
you guys, before we get deep into this, we've had MSP
Christina Lewellen:
conversation on our list for a while. Do you guys get a lot of
Christina Lewellen:
calls about this? Is it something that you wrestle with
Christina Lewellen:
a lot? Do colleagues call you and say, are you using an MSP?
Christina Lewellen:
Do you, what do you know about it? I mean, we get a lot of
Christina Lewellen:
calls at Atlas, and I basically tell them to call you guys.
Bill Stites:
Yeah, no, at MK, we've been using MSPs for a
Bill Stites:
while, and it was interesting, because we'd been working with
Bill Stites:
one company for quite a while, over 15 years, and had an
Bill Stites:
ongoing relationship with them for quite a while, but I'd never
Bill Stites:
really put it in the MSP type category. I don't know why I
Bill Stites:
never thought of it that way, because at the time I think we
Bill Stites:
were doing so much in house, we had the staff, we were doing,
Bill Stites:
managing our own things, and it was at a point where there
Bill Stites:
wasn't as much complexity, there wasn't as much being added onto
Bill Stites:
our plates at the way they are now, so it was more of a
Bill Stites:
relational aspect. It wasn't in what I considered managed
Bill Stites:
services. I joke around, I would refer to him as my console yeti,
Bill Stites:
going to the Godfather reference, there, you know, and
Bill Stites:
I still kind of use them in that way, but what has happened over
Bill Stites:
the years is that as more has gotten added on to what we do,
Bill Stites:
whether that's security, whether that's access control, whether
Bill Stites:
that's phone systems, all the different things, our ability to
Bill Stites:
focus and to really have knowledge in one particular area
Bill Stites:
has become much more difficult to sustain, not to mention
Bill Stites:
finding the people that know enough about all of these
Bill Stites:
things, and that skill level, and bringing them in, and we've
Bill Stites:
talked about this time and time again, bringing them into
Bill Stites:
schools becomes much more difficult. So the role of the
Bill Stites:
MSP is one for us where we've turned and we said, listen, we
Bill Stites:
don't have any more of the capital, the human capital, the
Bill Stites:
capital time to really invest in this, and we need to look to it
Bill Stites:
and then outsource that. So, yes, we're using them now more
Bill Stites:
than we have in the past, but they've been part of the fabric
Bill Stites:
of who we are for quite a while
Christina Lewellen:
now. I'm going to go to Hiram, and then
Christina Lewellen:
I'm going to ask you gentlemen to respond to what you're
Christina Lewellen:
hearing from them in terms of is this why clients call you. So
Christina Lewellen:
Hiram, what about you?
Hiram Cuevas:
We use an MSP as well, and they evolve and change
Hiram Cuevas:
over how your own organization changes. See, I think what's
Hiram Cuevas:
really helpful for our audience to recognize is that our
Hiram Cuevas:
schools, K 12 independent schools, come in so many
Hiram Cuevas:
different flavors that sometimes it makes really good sense to
Hiram Cuevas:
use a an MSP. When you look at Bill's example, where he was
Hiram Cuevas:
saying it's hard to find somebody with a specific skill
Hiram Cuevas:
set, not only do you find them, but then you have to keep on
Hiram Cuevas:
educating them, which is even more difficult because that
Hiram Cuevas:
landscape changes on a dime, and all of a sudden, what they're
Hiram Cuevas:
supposed to be doing in house, they're now have to go to school
Hiram Cuevas:
to get the new cert in place, so that they can continue to do the
Hiram Cuevas:
job that they're doing. This industry has just changed so
Hiram Cuevas:
much for tech directors that we are relying on them more and
Hiram Cuevas:
more, because we need those specialized services.
Bill Stites:
The point that I want to make, though, is what
Bill Stites:
you mentioned, and I think the two of you can actually jump on
Bill Stites:
and touch on is that we may get somebody in that knows the one
Bill Stites:
product that we're doing, but they're supporting our one
Bill Stites:
instance of that. They may get that cert, you know, I've gotten
Bill Stites:
certs in all sorts of different things, but if I don't use it,
Bill Stites:
it doesn't get applied, and you lose that knowledge, so even if
Bill Stites:
you get somebody in, you need problems coming at you, and if
Bill Stites:
you don't have this part, you're never really kind of continuing
Bill Stites:
to learn. So that's one of the values that we saw when we let
Bill Stites:
that go.
Hiram Cuevas:
Ed, to add to that, Bill, I think what's going
Hiram Cuevas:
to be really important here, YouTube actually addressed this,
Hiram Cuevas:
is it's helpful to have an MSP who has a gold standard with
Hiram Cuevas:
Microsoft or Cisco or Google? Because I can't get on the phone
Hiram Cuevas:
and call these people when I have a problem, but my managed
Hiram Cuevas:
service provider can do it on our behalf, because our
Hiram Cuevas:
constituents think that we can call Microsoft and Google on the
Hiram Cuevas:
fly and say, 'Hey, can you get this done? It doesn't work that
Hiram Cuevas:
way.
Christina Lewellen:
So, now you've heard from your I did
Christina Lewellen:
this on purpose, customers, what they're wrestling, what they're
Christina Lewellen:
dealing with. Now I want to give you guys a chance to respond.
Christina Lewellen:
I'm sure that you hear what you just heard a lot, so speak to
Christina Lewellen:
that.
Alex Inman:
We indeed hear the growing complexity, Bill, to
Alex Inman:
your point, the growing complexity makes it complicated,
Alex Inman:
and so even teams that were comfortable and appreciated
Alex Inman:
doing more in-house are just needing more support, and along
Alex Inman:
with sort of our EMSP, we use fractional staffing as much to
Alex Inman:
describe what we're doing, that's right, because it allows
Alex Inman:
us to kind of slide right into the literacy that you need and
Alex Inman:
just to fill that gap. Right, so for our clients we have some
Alex Inman:
that are just doing that smaller piece that is more unique to the
Alex Inman:
needs of that school, particularly with schools your
Alex Inman:
size and budget, but with the smaller schools they need almost
Alex Inman:
everything, if not everything. Their technology department was
Alex Inman:
a full-time employee who was doing part-time teaching, and
Alex Inman:
then in part time they were doing everything else in the
Alex Inman:
school. There's not a human on this planet that can actually do
Alex Inman:
everything that a school needs, and so we can come in, but they
Alex Inman:
can barely afford an entire FTE.
Tom Wildman:
Yeah, that's right. It's unreasonable to expect that
Tom Wildman:
they'd be able to do that.
Alex Inman:
That's exactly
Tom Wildman:
like mid-sized schools, 500 to 1000 or 1200
Tom Wildman:
students.
Alex Inman:
That's right,
Tom Wildman:
you know, they may have one or two people on staff,
Tom Wildman:
but they won't be able to hire the bits of expertise that's
Tom Wildman:
exactly why, and that is why an MSP is quite valuable if they
Tom Wildman:
know that skill quite well, and they know how it's being applied
Tom Wildman:
in independent schools, and independent schools are
Tom Wildman:
different, they just have unique ways of applying technology, and
Tom Wildman:
they need people that can understand and communicate with
Tom Wildman:
them about what that technology is doing. Yep, so what we see is
Tom Wildman:
the need for MSPs is growing, the need for deep skills within
Tom Wildman:
the MSPs is growing, the need to be able to provide those
Tom Wildman:
accurately and quickly on a fractional basis to client needs
Tom Wildman:
is the future,
Christina Lewellen:
and that's where I want to peel back the
Christina Lewellen:
onion just a little bit, because the idea is having an MSP that
Christina Lewellen:
understands specifically the nuances of what is a very
Christina Lewellen:
complicated ecosystem in an independent school with
Christina Lewellen:
technology, because I think that we often hear about schools that
Christina Lewellen:
go find the local provider for some kind of fractional support,
Christina Lewellen:
right, and then that's problematic. Or an MSP that
Christina Lewellen:
supports associations or corporate may not understand the
Christina Lewellen:
nuances of independent schools. So, tell me, what makes it
Christina Lewellen:
unique to be an MSP serving an independent school?
Tom Wildman:
Okay. Teachers, like
Christina Lewellen:
teachers,
Tom Wildman:
bring somebody from the outside world in, from an
Tom Wildman:
MSP that serves Dennis' office or lawyer's office, they are
Tom Wildman:
right. Guess what, your new world is now supporting
Tom Wildman:
educators. So, go have your first conversation with
Tom Wildman:
educators, and tell them that you'll get back to their problem
Tom Wildman:
in an hour and a half or two hours when they've got 30 sets
Tom Wildman:
of eyeballs staring at them. That doesn't fly. So, there has
Tom Wildman:
to be extreme sensitivity to what actually is the
Tom Wildman:
instructional process, and know their priorities on responding
Tom Wildman:
to that. I 100% agree with what you said. The only part that I
Tom Wildman:
would add is the community, so when you're serving small and
Tom Wildman:
medium businesses,
Alex Inman:
you're usually working with just those people
Alex Inman:
within that company and on their internal stuff, but so much of
Alex Inman:
technology in an independent school is community based,
Alex Inman:
right? And so the number of constituents that you deal with,
Alex Inman:
even beyond the teachers, which is a huge one, and understanding
Alex Inman:
them and how that works and how that ultimately impacts the
Alex Inman:
mission and vision of the school, it's just different than
Alex Inman:
it is in small, medium business space, and so that learning
Alex Inman:
curve just takes so much longer, and I once heard on a panel with
Alex Inman:
the CIO of the German International Airport and the
Alex Inman:
director of device management for Peugeot Citron, the auto
Alex Inman:
manufacturer, and all these questions were coming to me
Alex Inman:
instead of those other guys, and at the end of it, I was like, I
Alex Inman:
almost felt embarrassed. I said, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to take
Alex Inman:
up so much oxygen. Why do you think all these questions went
Alex Inman:
to me, and they said, because your job is hard, ours is easy.
Alex Inman:
They said everything that we do has a very defined start-stop
Alex Inman:
existence. Everything that you do is almost limitless, the
Alex Inman:
creativity of students, the needs and expectations of
Alex Inman:
teachers and parents, all of that stuff is hard. It's hard,
Alex Inman:
and so if they want to know how technology really works, they
Alex Inman:
need it in the most complicated environment possible, and even
Alex Inman:
some of the biggest companies in the world recognize that
Alex Inman:
schools,
Tom Wildman:
yeah, independent schools have a tendency to see
Tom Wildman:
the providers as part of them, they're forming relationships
Tom Wildman:
with people, and so they don't like MSPs that move people in
Tom Wildman:
and out, they look more at transactional or commoditization
Tom Wildman:
of the human, and you can't deliver service to an
Tom Wildman:
independent school if you're not willing to commit that staff to
Tom Wildman:
that relationship, and they have to be good at it. So, if you're
Tom Wildman:
looking for skills, you can't say, 'All right, what is your
Tom Wildman:
MCSC certification or your security certification? Okay,
Tom Wildman:
check, check, check, that works. It's okay, let's watch you form
Tom Wildman:
a relationship. Yeah, let's watch you get involved with
Tom Wildman:
somebody who's emotionally concerned at the moment and be
Tom Wildman:
empathic.
Alex Inman:
Yeah, one of our on-site technicians, after his
Alex Inman:
first month, he was employee of the month at the school. Yes,
Alex Inman:
yeah, and he didn't work for the school technically, right? And a
Alex Inman:
small thing is our techs don't wear their company shirt, they
Alex Inman:
wear the shirts of the school, and we buy stuff at the school
Alex Inman:
store for the folks, because we want to immediately communicate
Alex Inman:
we're part of that community. Yeah,
Tom Wildman:
that's right. And it's sometimes hard to do, it's
Tom Wildman:
hard to tell an employee who is at a school or at two schools
Tom Wildman:
almost the entire time. Time, remember, you work for Knowing
Tom Wildman:
Technologies, you don't work for the school, and then you can't
Tom Wildman:
have that conversation with the school too. It's like, no, no,
Tom Wildman:
she's part of us, right, right, right, don't let her go. Right,
Tom Wildman:
we had one employee who left in the support role, and she left
Tom Wildman:
to take a job at the Disney Corporation, just had this great
Tom Wildman:
opportunity, and so we were very happy for her, and the school
Tom Wildman:
where she was assigned had a huge going away reception, two
Tom Wildman:
of them a luncheon, and then a dinner, and a reception
Tom Wildman:
afterwards. And then they saw her out making an arch when she
Tom Wildman:
left campus.
Christina Lewellen:
Did they make her emeritus?
Tom Wildman:
You know, we don't throw that word around as
Tom Wildman:
cavalierly as Jamie Bruto does.
Christina Lewellen:
All right,
Tom Wildman:
when we say it, we mean it. Got it.
Bill Stites:
So, just for a full disclosure, both Hiram and I
Bill Stites:
have worked with Alex for years through EC on the educational
Bill Stites:
collaborator side. Yep, yep, and some of the best things that
Bill Stites:
have come from those experiences that we've had is we're able to
Bill Stites:
go in, we're able to, not from the managed services
Bill Stites:
perspective, but we've been able to go in, do audits, get to know
Bill Stites:
the schools, be able to have sometimes the conversations that
Bill Stites:
the people at the schools have been trying to have, but until
Bill Stites:
they bring in that outside voice, you know, they really
Bill Stites:
haven't been able to have, or wouldn't be willing to have, or
Bill Stites:
it's until they invest the money into it in a different way that
Bill Stites:
it raises to a certain level, and then you have those
Bill Stites:
conversations, and you can get those things said and done that
Bill Stites:
really I think bring a high degree of value and a real guide
Bill Stites:
to the schools in terms of what they need to do next, and that's
Bill Stites:
largely the role that Hiram and I have played in the work that
Bill Stites:
we've done, but now you're able to go in and you're able to
Bill Stites:
actually
Alex Inman:
support that ongoing communication.
Bill Stites:
So, how does that look now for you when you are
Bill Stites:
starting that relationship with the school, like we would spend
Bill Stites:
months on, you know, an audit doing all that type of work, so
Bill Stites:
that we had this foundational thing for a report that we would
Bill Stites:
then turn over.
Tom Wildman:
We do the same thing, we start with a full
Tom Wildman:
assessment, so we understand all right here are all the pitfalls,
Tom Wildman:
and we have 600 some odd measurement points in the
Tom Wildman:
assessment program, and here are the pitfalls, here are the risk
Tom Wildman:
behaviors, here the risky system. So we understand fully
Tom Wildman:
where the work is going to be, and produce a similar report
Tom Wildman:
that says, all right, prioritization wise, here's risk
Tom Wildman:
management plan, it could lay out for three years, and that's
Tom Wildman:
the plan of action for us, while we're also supporting the
Tom Wildman:
school, or we're also doing administration-driven projects,
Tom Wildman:
or growth projects, or construction projects, so all of
Tom Wildman:
those things have to feed into the service, and they look at us
Tom Wildman:
as like a sandbar that breaks the waves, so they don't have to
Tom Wildman:
bear the brunt of the rough seas that they're in with technology,
Tom Wildman:
and because we do so many schools, our assessments are
Tom Wildman:
really good. Any school could build their own assessment, but
Tom Wildman:
it would get better when they did it the second time, and even
Tom Wildman:
better when they did it the 40th time. Sure, so that we do them
Tom Wildman:
all the time makes that assessment package so very
Tom Wildman:
valuable to the school, because it illuminates their path
Tom Wildman:
forward and gives them so much understanding, and it makes
Tom Wildman:
their budgets credible, and makes their conversations with
Tom Wildman:
boards credible, because it's been thoughtfully assembled, and
Tom Wildman:
that's a real value that we provide.
Alex Inman:
I'm sure you do that assessment for all of your MSP
Alex Inman:
contracts, or all your ongoing contracts.
Alex Inman:
Do you
Alex Inman:
do it for schools that are not on your contract?
Tom Wildman:
We do. Yeah,
Alex Inman:
okay. And Bill, kind of to your question, and your
Alex Inman:
point, the reality is the depth of the audit that educational
Alex Inman:
collaborators does, that you guys have participated in, it's
Alex Inman:
usually for schools who have most, if not all, of the
Alex Inman:
capacity that they need in house, beyond project work, and
Alex Inman:
so some of that is cost, some of that is size, some of that is
Alex Inman:
market analysis, and all that kind of stuff, and then when we
Alex Inman:
do an MSP, they're usually coming to us, not because they
Alex Inman:
need an audit, and they know that they needed on it, they
Alex Inman:
know that they just don't have the people to deliver what is
Alex Inman:
necessary, and so we do an audit with them once we've signed that
Alex Inman:
contract with them, shape it up, and then it's the same team that
Alex Inman:
are sort of moving it forward, and so they're different brands,
Alex Inman:
which I just kind of want to.. we're a complicated company when
Alex Inman:
it comes to names. We have way too many,
Alex Inman:
but we
Christina Lewellen:
have a few,
Alex Inman:
and so Edutech Group, out of just north of here
Alex Inman:
in Cleveland, Ohio, and they work nationally, but that's
Alex Inman:
where they're headquartered. That's our Educational MSP
Alex Inman:
Group. And then Educational Collaborators does more on the
Alex Inman:
project side, and so there's a little difference. Now,
Alex Inman:
obviously, there are times where that project feeds into the need
Alex Inman:
for an MSP, and there are times where the MSP may say we need a
Alex Inman:
deeper kind of analysis, but only at a project level, and
Alex Inman:
that's of course where the folks like you guys, who are just
Alex Inman:
insanely amazing, bring a third-party degree of Uber
Alex Inman:
expertise that is exceptionally well grounded in the needs of
Alex Inman:
the customers, and we had 140 collaborators, right, so we can
Alex Inman:
be pretty granular in terms of picking and choosing the teams,
Alex Inman:
but that's our project work, and it's a little bit different than
Alex Inman:
how we do our MSP,
Christina Lewellen:
so let me ask you guys a question, because
Christina Lewellen:
one of the things that we like to try to do with this podcast
Christina Lewellen:
is. Is to allow technology leaders of all stripes at all
Christina Lewellen:
size schools and all demographic schools to feel seen and feel
Christina Lewellen:
heard, and so can you start by let's speak in the negative,
Christina Lewellen:
what would identify a bad MSP relationship, and of course this
Christina Lewellen:
is not you guys, it's not your companies at all, but I'm sure
Christina Lewellen:
you hear plenty from your clients, so I want the folks
Christina Lewellen:
listening to this podcast to know, like, if they've got a meh
Christina Lewellen:
feeling about their MSP, where does that come from? What does
Christina Lewellen:
that look like?
Tom Wildman:
I gave you one, and it's important if they're
Tom Wildman:
swapping out people and they really want the customer to see
Tom Wildman:
that their service is a commodity, that's a red flag
Tom Wildman:
that will never stop, and there could be an indication that
Tom Wildman:
they're not paying their people the way they should. It could
Tom Wildman:
mean a lot of things, but that's a big red flag. We were talking
Tom Wildman:
about organizations or assessment. I think if they
Tom Wildman:
don't come in with some kind of enforced structure of
Tom Wildman:
understanding how are they going to see what the needs are at the
Tom Wildman:
school, that's another red flag. They should give you a clear
Tom Wildman:
idea of what their path going forward with that school is
Tom Wildman:
going to be, if they're not clear with pricing structures,
Tom Wildman:
that's another concern.
Alex Inman:
Upselling would be a big flag.
Tom Wildman:
If upselling is done as upselling, that's
Tom Wildman:
concerned. I mean, we sell projects, but we do it against
Tom Wildman:
the roadmap that we build, and the roadmap is entirely a risk,
Tom Wildman:
largely, mostly a risk-driven roadmap, but an MSP is saying,
Tom Wildman:
"Oh, you know what? This firewall is six years old, so
Tom Wildman:
you need to replace it, and that just comes out of the blue, and
Tom Wildman:
it's not on the roadmap. That means that that company is not
Tom Wildman:
really well organized. We do see that. I think that if you're
Tom Wildman:
servicing legal offices, not to pick on them, it's just a common
Tom Wildman:
MSP characterization trope, maybe, but if you're servicing
Tom Wildman:
legal offices and they don't really have people that are
Tom Wildman:
going and want to talk about their technology strategy, they
Tom Wildman:
may not have that necessarily, and so they're going to be a
Tom Wildman:
little bit more attuned to, oh yeah, you just need to buy this
Tom Wildman:
simple $30,000 device, we'll just go do it, whereas schools,
Tom Wildman:
they have to be more thoughtful about that plan,
Tom Wildman:
that stuff. How
Hiram Cuevas:
I have a question for both of you. You've
Hiram Cuevas:
mentioned the importance of relationships, but how about
Hiram Cuevas:
trends? What are the current trends you're seeing in schools
Hiram Cuevas:
in terms of the needs? Similar schools, some are saying, "Oh,
Hiram Cuevas:
this school only has five people, why do we need nine?
Tom Wildman:
Right? Yeah,
Hiram Cuevas:
because you can speak to the wide variety of
Hiram Cuevas:
independent schools that are out there.
Alex Inman:
Yeah, I was just in a meeting where they were saying
Alex Inman:
that some of the membership, Atlas membership, were talking
Alex Inman:
about some of the top three things that they were concerned
Alex Inman:
about, you named, which are AI, cybersecurity, and staffing. And
Alex Inman:
I'd be shocked if Tom isn't seeing the exact same things.
Tom Wildman:
Decentralization of purchasing is a trend that's
Tom Wildman:
happening that's causing an issue for us, like an
Tom Wildman:
advancement office may say we just bought this new
Hiram Cuevas:
shadow tech,
Tom Wildman:
yeah, shadow tech, that's right, yeah, and that's a
Tom Wildman:
trend, I mean, that can obviously be stopped, but it is
Tom Wildman:
something that affects our relationship with the school,
Tom Wildman:
and also the school's relationship with technology,
Tom Wildman:
you know, they should have an internal person who's seen as
Tom Wildman:
their expert that can help them consultatively before it comes
Tom Wildman:
to an MSP, when they're buying products like that, but the big
Tom Wildman:
thing, staffing, cyber security, AI, those are great
Tom Wildman:
opportunities for us going forward, and schools just simply
Tom Wildman:
will not be able to keep up with the unique staffing need,
Tom Wildman:
there'll be so many pinpoint skill sets that just have to be
Tom Wildman:
brought in for little increments of time,
Alex Inman:
there's one trend that I didn't hear on that list
Alex Inman:
that I'm observing, and it's starting to hit our
Alex Inman:
conversations on the MSP side, educational MSP side, with our
Alex Inman:
customers, and that is the reporting structure and staffing
Alex Inman:
structure of the IT team, if they have one. The pendulum has
Alex Inman:
been swinging for a while away from the tech director reporting
Alex Inman:
to the head towards more of the CFO. I am feeling that
Alex Inman:
accelerating, and what it's doing is it's fixing the role of
Alex Inman:
the IT team and the MSP to be a little more on the pipes and
Alex Inman:
wires side of what's going on and creating a little more
Alex Inman:
distance between the technology and the classroom experience for
Alex Inman:
the school organizations like Tom's and ours really understand
Alex Inman:
and can see and help the client see where that gap is starting
Alex Inman:
to get too large and when you're talking about things like AI and
Alex Inman:
the speed with which it is moving, if you don't pay
Alex Inman:
attention to that before that gap gets too large, it starts to
Alex Inman:
become very problematic and very expensive for schools, and so I
Alex Inman:
think organizations like ours are uniquely suited to see that
Alex Inman:
sort of creep that's happening in schools that I actually think
Alex Inman:
deserves a lot more attention,
Tom Wildman:
if we see that we often call out or see that
Tom Wildman:
there's a maybe a need for some skills development and more
Tom Wildman:
strategic thinking or conversations with school
Tom Wildman:
leaders about the instructional value of technology and the
Tom Wildman:
instructional character of technology at that school and I
Tom Wildman:
think at that tech leader if it's an IT leader there's often
Tom Wildman:
chat. Technologies there, and understanding that they didn't
Tom Wildman:
come in the classroom, they don't have a significant
Tom Wildman:
professional orientation to instruction, necessarily, but
Tom Wildman:
when we see schools who are led by directors of instructional
Tom Wildman:
technology, or even CTO, for the few schools that do that, but if
Tom Wildman:
you have a director of instructional technology, there
Tom Wildman:
is somebody who is actually a great cultural bridge between
Tom Wildman:
what technology should be doing in meeting their vision of how
Tom Wildman:
it's going to be used at the school, and then constantly,
Tom Wildman:
when it comes down to us, how we're going to implement that
Tom Wildman:
vision, then we're now moved more into the executive
Tom Wildman:
functioning, or the delivery of that vision, rather than dealing
Tom Wildman:
with the gap that Alex is seeing developing, but yeah, that's a
Tom Wildman:
sign
Christina Lewellen:
I know that the answer is always it depends.
Christina Lewellen:
When we talk about independence,
Tom Wildman:
we won't say that to whatever
Christina Lewellen:
you're not allowed to say it depends, but
Christina Lewellen:
I'm curious. Roughly speaking, where is that line? What tech
Christina Lewellen:
skills do you need in house, and what tech skills are more easily
Christina Lewellen:
outsourced. I think that that's something that our own
Christina Lewellen:
technology people are struggling to have those conversations with
Christina Lewellen:
their leadership, because it might seem appealing to get the
Christina Lewellen:
W-2 turned into a 1099
Tom Wildman:
Yeah,
Christina Lewellen:
but
Christina Lewellen:
it could be short-sighted sometimes. It depends on the
Christina Lewellen:
MSP, like, where is that line?
Tom Wildman:
I look at the entire set of skills or roles,
Tom Wildman:
let's say roles that's kind of reading into the list of things
Tom Wildman:
have to be accomplished as being on a continuum, and one of the
Tom Wildman:
continuum are roles that are entirely cultural, like they
Tom Wildman:
have to have a strong cultural tie into the school, and those
Tom Wildman:
are kind of out of reach of most MSP, but they do have to exist
Tom Wildman:
in a school, it's really the translation between what the
Tom Wildman:
school wants to do with instruction and technology. On
Tom Wildman:
the other end is transactional work, and those transactional
Tom Wildman:
tasks are very easily identified, you know, help desk
Tom Wildman:
tickets, network support projects, but between there are
Tom Wildman:
things like instructional plans, or risk management plans, or
Tom Wildman:
helping the school to ensure that they're driving the roadmap
Tom Wildman:
towards completion, and at some schools those are largely
Tom Wildman:
cultural roles. At other schools, those are really more
Tom Wildman:
transactional, because a roadmap is already respected and it's
Tom Wildman:
developed. So, you got a strong roadmap and you have someone
Tom Wildman:
with strong vision, you can move a lot of things off to qualified
Tom Wildman:
MSP if you don't have an idea of why technology, that's going to
Tom Wildman:
be an expensive problem,
Alex Inman:
and most of the schools that need an
Alex Inman:
organization like Tom's or ours need help in figuring out that
Alex Inman:
question, the why of technology, and so I guess I would say
Alex Inman:
pretty much everything that a technology department needs can
Alex Inman:
be delivered by a high-quality K-12 MSP, whether you're a
Alex Inman:
technology MSP or an educational MSP, or whatever letter we want
Alex Inman:
to throw in front of managed services, it can be, but the
Alex Inman:
bigger difference is, does the person need to be on site or not
Alex Inman:
on site, and COVID kind of created a new vision for what
Alex Inman:
can happen in high quality that's not on site versus what
Alex Inman:
can happen, you know, like help desk, those kinds of things, you
Alex Inman:
got to be there, you just got to be there, but that can be done
Alex Inman:
really well through an in-house person or an out of house
Alex Inman:
person, but you kind of got to be there, but some of the data
Alex Inman:
work, some of the curriculum planning work, some of the
Alex Inman:
leadership work can sometimes even be done better by somebody
Alex Inman:
who's not in the school because of the stack and other duties as
Alex Inman:
assigned that happen when you're in school versus when you're a
Alex Inman:
contract,
Hiram Cuevas:
so you mentioned earlier a fractional FTE tease
Hiram Cuevas:
that out a little bit in terms of how that might work in that
Hiram Cuevas:
situation,
Alex Inman:
so actually in most of the schools where we are the
Alex Inman:
entire technology department, the tech director is almost
Alex Inman:
always a fractional tech director and managing and
Alex Inman:
working with multiple schools because that budgeting vision,
Alex Inman:
that curricular connection, that let's look at the strategic
Alex Inman:
plan, and how could technology feed that plan that perhaps
Alex Inman:
wasn't envisioned when that strat plan was created in the
Alex Inman:
first place, that could be done, that's a high level skill that
Alex Inman:
takes somebody who has been a tech director for a long time,
Alex Inman:
probably in a couple different kinds of schools who really has
Alex Inman:
that understanding of how systems work across schools,
Alex Inman:
that's a rare, powerful, incredible skill. But you don't
Alex Inman:
need somebody who's doing it full time at that small school,
Alex Inman:
it's somebody who's probably been doing it full time for
Alex Inman:
multiple years, but not at that school. So we can contract that
Alex Inman:
kind of piece out, so that's a fractional skill set that you
Alex Inman:
need, whereas, like the help desk, most of our folks have
Alex Inman:
helped us that's at least three days a week, if not five days a
Alex Inman:
week. Yeah, and they're there, and that's really more of a
Alex Inman:
full, not full-time equivalent, it's a full-time employee, it's
Alex Inman:
just that it's contracted out, but database. Skills is another
Alex Inman:
one where you can probably slide in and do things more
Alex Inman:
fractionally. Network management used to be something that needed
Alex Inman:
to be full time, not anymore. Almost nobody needs that. Put
Alex Inman:
the network monitor. We've got a network operations
Tom Wildman:
center, that's right. Yeah,
Alex Inman:
put the stuff on there, it's on there. We know
Alex Inman:
about the problem before you even saw it, it's solved.
Tom Wildman:
I cringe sometimes when I see independent schools
Tom Wildman:
posting positions for
Alex Inman:
network manager. Oh, I
Tom Wildman:
got nice.
Alex Inman:
Same here.
Tom Wildman:
I mean, you really mean something else, I guess. Or
Tom Wildman:
that's the title that you're giving to some of the job that's
Tom Wildman:
staff different. Yeah, which is, by the way, it's also something
Tom Wildman:
that's happening with tools.
Bill Stites:
So I had a network manager, he's now my assistant
Bill Stites:
director, because most of that network management stuff had
Bill Stites:
come off and gone to our MSP, the people that we've outsourced
Bill Stites:
to, they're not on site, they will come on site when they need
Bill Stites:
to. We replaced all of our switches and all of our APs, and
Bill Stites:
we needed a wireless survey done, so they sent people on
Bill Stites:
site to do that. They sent people who were from the company
Bill Stites:
itself, but there seems to be like a secondary service level
Bill Stites:
where there are people that service MSPs to be boots on the
Bill Stites:
ground for
Alex Inman:
smart hands organization,
Bill Stites:
exactly like you can hire one of them to come on,
Bill Stites:
they'll work with you, they're not directly working for the
Bill Stites:
MSP, but they know the product line and they can be those
Bill Stites:
people to get that localized help, so to your point, like the
Bill Stites:
fractional stuff again, fractional CTO, those things,
Bill Stites:
those can all be remote, so it's really a staffing question. You
Bill Stites:
mentioned your main office for the MSP is here in Ohio. Well,
Bill Stites:
if you're staffing a school in Texas, if you're staffing a
Bill Stites:
school in Seattle, if you're staffing a school in Maine,
Bill Stites:
where and how are you finding those people that need to be the
Bill Stites:
boots on the ground, are you moving them to those locations,
Bill Stites:
or are you doing regionalized searches for somebody to hire?
Bill Stites:
And what's that process like for you? Because it's hard enough
Bill Stites:
for us to hire locally for that job when we're advertising for
Bill Stites:
it. How are you attracting, retaining, and getting those
Bill Stites:
people in to do that type of work
Tom Wildman:
for us, that's not particularly complicated. Those
Tom Wildman:
are easier roles to hire, and the pool of qualified candidates
Tom Wildman:
is deep. Where we get into a challenge sometimes, one is
Tom Wildman:
bringing them somewhere where the work is being done by
Tom Wildman:
adults, and they can see how do you create the personality they
Tom Wildman:
can understand what is their role? What are their
Tom Wildman:
relationships with the customer? And then we have to train those
Tom Wildman:
people on how to form relationships, and that's kind
Tom Wildman:
of the harder part of all of this stuff. So, getting the body
Tom Wildman:
is fine, training them to be cultural emissaries of how
Tom Wildman:
knowing technology is to deliver services, and understanding that
Tom Wildman:
you're also half culturally aligned with the school, that's
Tom Wildman:
a bit of a challenge. Where we also have some growth is in
Tom Wildman:
account management. We haven't really talked about that, like
Tom Wildman:
who really owns the overview of the relationship that the MSP
Tom Wildman:
has with the school, because it's not really a sales role,
Tom Wildman:
it's not really a technical role, it's somebody that really
Tom Wildman:
should understand what's happening at that school. What's
Tom Wildman:
the heart of the technology program at that school? It can't
Tom Wildman:
be a transactional role, but it has to be someone that works for
Tom Wildman:
us that actually understands the history and the personalities
Tom Wildman:
that are unique to that school, or a lot of things will be
Tom Wildman:
complicated.
Alex Inman:
You know, I mentioned that we have an
Alex Inman:
alphabet of company names, right, and so we have a large
Alex Inman:
reseller, and we also have a large technology services and
Alex Inman:
implementation team. They've certified for all of the low
Alex Inman:
voltage cabling, they're certified for installs and
Alex Inman:
electrical and all that kind of stuff. So our company in
Alex Inman:
California is the smart hands for some of our competitors,
Alex Inman:
like CDW or Bloom, right, and so we do that. They also have
Alex Inman:
people all over the country, and we've built this large network
Alex Inman:
of people, so we know exactly who we can go to for that smart
Alex Inman:
hand stuff, for the people who are going to be kind of, as Tom
Alex Inman:
was talking about, the people who are going to work in the
Alex Inman:
school. The nice part is this is where educational collaborators
Alex Inman:
has really helped out Edutech, because we have such a large
Alex Inman:
network of really talented people across the country, and
Alex Inman:
it gives us the ability to help find talented people who are
Alex Inman:
going to be those onsite help desk technicians that are going
Alex Inman:
to stay there, because the people who are going to be part
Alex Inman:
of your day to day, they need to have that cultural connection,
Alex Inman:
the people who are going to install on the weekend or
Alex Inman:
evening, while you guys are gone, they can be forever.
Bill Stites:
I want to push back on one of those things there,
Bill Stites:
because one of the things you said that's an easy hire to
Bill Stites:
make, it's higher we struggle with, and the reason I say that
Bill Stites:
is you're you're looking to hire somebody at a price that for
Bill Stites:
them to come into work at our school, like I'm outside
Bill Stites:
Manhattan. One of the biggest problems that we have is the
Bill Stites:
cost of living outside of Manhattan through the roof. So,
Bill Stites:
trying to attract talent to work in a school at the rates a
Bill Stites:
school can pay,
Tom Wildman:
a challenge
Bill Stites:
to live in that area is incredibly difficult,
Bill Stites:
yet alone convincing them when they've got the New York City
Bill Stites:
market right there, where they can make more to come in. So the
Bill Stites:
question is, if you're making that hire, how are you placing
Bill Stites:
yourself to be able to make it affordable for the school? You
Bill Stites:
mentioned going from the W to the 1099 it makes sense for the
Bill Stites:
school because they're not paying all the benefits packages
Bill Stites:
and all those things, but how are you balancing that out?
Bill Stites:
Because if I can't hire them, I'm just.. well,
Tom Wildman:
we, yeah, we have, I have a couple things that are
Tom Wildman:
coming to mind. We do a lot of work in Silicon Valley, and so
Tom Wildman:
the pool of candidates that we interview are going to go to an
Tom Wildman:
interview at Google after that, or somewhere else. So we have to
Tom Wildman:
pay market, that's often out of the reach of school. There is
Tom Wildman:
another thing that is not just salary, but it's the opportunity
Tom Wildman:
those people have. Often, when you get hired at a role, a
Tom Wildman:
technology role in a school, there's not a whole lot of
Tom Wildman:
headroom for growth, but in a company like ours, there's a lot
Tom Wildman:
of it. Like, you can move up to anything. There are specialties
Tom Wildman:
that you can work into, and so it's a far more appealing to a
Tom Wildman:
candidate to take a job at an MSP serving schools, and would
Tom Wildman:
be out of school, but some people really love that school
Tom Wildman:
vibe, and you could find those people, and they're willing to
Tom Wildman:
wear multiple hats, and they're willing to do events for
Tom Wildman:
fundraisers on the weekends, because they love that school,
Tom Wildman:
and you will find those people, but they're rare.
Alex Inman:
We have a beautiful advantage in the space, so I
Alex Inman:
agree with everything Tom said, and we have that same thing,
Alex Inman:
where there's a lot of room, and our MSP is absolutely our
Alex Inman:
fastest growing part of the business, so there's been a lot
Alex Inman:
of opportunity for people to move up, so we get a lot of
Alex Inman:
young talent, which is less expensive, and they'll stay with
Alex Inman:
us because of the opportunities to grow up, but the other part
Alex Inman:
is a lot of those network management higher end positions
Alex Inman:
where you have to have those skills. They live in Cleveland,
Alex Inman:
Ohio, and Cleveland is a lot less expensive than Silicon
Alex Inman:
Valley or Montclair. It's a night and day, and admittedly,
Alex Inman:
we are very cost competitive on the coasts, because the most
Alex Inman:
expensive skill sets in our organization don't cost us the
Alex Inman:
same thing as they would if we hired them out of our
Alex Inman:
headquarters in Simi Valley, just north of LA. So, the fact
Alex Inman:
that that MSP is headquartered in Cleveland is incredibly
Alex Inman:
beneficial to us. Now, when it comes to, like, if we need to
Alex Inman:
hire the help desk on site person,
Bill Stites:
we
Alex Inman:
have to pay market competitive prices, and that
Alex Inman:
that is what it is, and even when you're talking about
Alex Inman:
something like smart hands, where they're still coming in on
Alex Inman:
a project, the prevailing wage requirements and laws in
Alex Inman:
California are very, very different than what they are in
Alex Inman:
Missouri, and so it's going to cost a lot less to get that done
Alex Inman:
in Missouri than it is in California.
Bill Stites:
Does that factor into your talks with the schools
Bill Stites:
when you're negotiating rates in terms of what you're going to
Bill Stites:
do, if they're asking for that, or is that okay?
Alex Inman:
But it's not a hard conversation, because, because,
Alex Inman:
like you said, they
Tom Wildman:
buy those themselves. I mean, they know
Tom Wildman:
that Mark,
Bill Stites:
yeah. And that's
Tom Wildman:
right,
Alex Inman:
yeah.
Bill Stites:
You know, I don't want schools to think, oh, I can
Bill Stites:
go to an MSP that's located in Ohio, they're going to pay Ohio
Bill Stites:
rates to live in Montclair. It's just not going to happen,
Christina Lewellen:
right?
Bill Stites:
You've got to ask the school,
Alex Inman:
that is exactly understand we can for some
Alex Inman:
services, but not for
Alex Inman:
others.
Bill Stites:
So, yeah, yeah, anything that's going to be
Bill Stites:
remote, anything that's going to work out, anything that might be
Bill Stites:
fractional, anything that might be like partial boots on the
Bill Stites:
ground, you know, occasional, that's definitely where I think
Bill Stites:
that can work.
Christina Lewellen:
So, before we run out of time together, I
Christina Lewellen:
want to ask, if a school is listening to this. What makes
Christina Lewellen:
for a good MSP? Like, what should they look for? How do
Christina Lewellen:
they suss it out and make sure that they're partnering with
Christina Lewellen:
somebody who is well versed in the things that we've talked
Christina Lewellen:
about? If a school doesn't have experience working with this
Christina Lewellen:
kind of partnership, what's your advice to them?
Tom Wildman:
If that provider does not understand what an
Tom Wildman:
independent school is trying to do, and what they're about. I
Tom Wildman:
don't think that it's a very viable candidate. That
Tom Wildman:
relationship will break down, because schools form
Tom Wildman:
relationships with their providers. It's not just
Tom Wildman:
transactional. There's another thing that is interesting about
Tom Wildman:
a school. That school may, an independent school may see this,
Tom Wildman:
like, okay, well, How do I go about convincing my leadership
Tom Wildman:
that I want to have a relationship with an MSP, and
Tom Wildman:
what is the right time? Often we see that there's not an
Tom Wildman:
opportunity to do that if it's a structural pivot. There's not an
Tom Wildman:
opportunity to do that until something has changed at the
Tom Wildman:
school. There's some leadership change, or there needs to be a
Tom Wildman:
leadership change, and that invites rethinking of staffing,
Tom Wildman:
and that's a good opportunity to consider how an MSP can actually
Tom Wildman:
fit in with the staff that's being replaced to take that
Tom Wildman:
opportunity and make sure that there will be no break in the
Tom Wildman:
continuity of services and that as best can happen the
Tom Wildman:
personality of technology delivery will match what it was
Tom Wildman:
before.
Alex Inman:
That's great. I agree with all of that, real
Alex Inman:
quick, one of the things that we found in my role, where I'm now
Alex Inman:
kind of working with all of the different parts of our company,
Alex Inman:
I wanted to spend some time really understanding our MSP
Alex Inman:
customers better, and I spent a lot of time with all of our
Alex Inman:
longest term MSP customers, and it's funny, the founder of our
Alex Inman:
MSP, our educational MSP, does not like the two. Term MSP,
Tom Wildman:
yeah, right,
Alex Inman:
because our organizations, yours and mine,
Alex Inman:
are very different than those traditional MSPs, but what we
Alex Inman:
found was that most of the customers that have been with
Alex Inman:
them the longest had actually worked with an MSP, and so we
Alex Inman:
were trying to stay away from that language, and we realized,
Alex Inman:
no, no, we need to lean into that and say we understand that
Alex Inman:
you have worked with outside organizations, and you didn't
Alex Inman:
like them, and that's why you wanted to stay away from MSPs,
Alex Inman:
and but you really wanted to understand that, but that bad
Alex Inman:
experience with your previous MSP is what gave you the context
Alex Inman:
to understand what you didn't like. Once you understand what
Alex Inman:
you didn't like, it's easier to understand what it is that
Alex Inman:
you're seeking, and how we are trying to help new customers who
Alex Inman:
have not worked with an MSP before, is everything that Tom
Alex Inman:
said. And then understand, we kind of guide them through a
Alex Inman:
conversation of help us understand your culture, what
Alex Inman:
makes things tick operationally at your school, and when they
Alex Inman:
start to identify that for themselves, they're creating
Alex Inman:
space for us to help them understand that sometimes people
Alex Inman:
who really get them that aren't from their school can really
Alex Inman:
provide that to them inside their school.
Tom Wildman:
We were asked recently to pitch our services
Tom Wildman:
to a large school, and I presented our deck, and a board
Tom Wildman:
member was on that pitch, and I stood over here's the value
Tom Wildman:
proposition that we have to the school, here's how we work with
Tom Wildman:
educators, and here's how we work with the leadership, and
Tom Wildman:
here's how we help you with the processes, the complicated
Tom Wildman:
process of like managing registrar data or any data
Tom Wildman:
management process, and understand how we manage those
Tom Wildman:
high-risk situations, and at the end of it, the board member
Tom Wildman:
said, You know, I understand that, but you needed to give me
Tom Wildman:
a price per device. This is not.. this should have been the
Tom Wildman:
first sentence out of your mouth. I could have saved us
Tom Wildman:
the hour. Yeah,
Christina Lewellen:
well, I really appreciate, gentlemen,
Christina Lewellen:
that you pop down to do this with us today. Because I think
Christina Lewellen:
that this is a conversation that has a lot of layers. I think
Christina Lewellen:
it's something that we could certainly come back to, and it
Christina Lewellen:
sounds like there's some thought leadership here that we can kind
Christina Lewellen:
of punch up a little bit at list, because a lot of schools
Christina Lewellen:
are looking for this kind of help as things get more
Christina Lewellen:
complicated, like we talk about all the time on the podcast, it
Christina Lewellen:
may be that this type of supplemental resource could help
Christina Lewellen:
someone.
Tom Wildman:
We would love to talk
Christina Lewellen:
to.. we appreciate y'all. Thank you.
Christina Lewellen:
Thank you very much. And before we sign off, I just want to say
Christina Lewellen:
my final goodbye to all of our listeners at Talking Technology
Christina Lewellen:
with Atlas. This project has been a labor of love, and I want
Christina Lewellen:
to thank our team at Atlas, our staff at Atlas, for keeping this
Christina Lewellen:
thing going. I know they're gonna keep it rolling in my
Christina Lewellen:
absence. Gentlemen, it's been a pleasure to share the stage with
Christina Lewellen:
you, and of course, all of our weekly phone calls and coffee
Christina Lewellen:
dates that we do. This podcast now that we're not recording
Christina Lewellen:
doesn't mean we need to stop the weekly coffee date, so we can
Christina Lewellen:
have our dates anyway, right?
Bill Stites:
Look forward to absolutely
Christina Lewellen:
all right. Thank you, guys.
Peter Frank:
This has been Talking Technology with Atlas,
Peter Frank:
produced by the Association of Technology Leaders in
Peter Frank:
Independent Schools. For more information about Atlas and
Peter Frank:
Atlas membership, please visit the atlas.org If you enjoyed
Peter Frank:
this discussion, please subscribe, leave a review, and
Peter Frank:
share this podcast with your colleagues in the Independent
Peter Frank:
School community, thank you for listening.
Peter Frank:
Thank.
