探花大神

CO-based MSP Leverages SaaS Services to Capitalize on Client Demand

Introduction

Based near 探花大神鈥檚 headquarters in Boulder, Colorado,  is a cloud-focused Managed Service Provider (MSP) that services dozens of client organizations in various industries. Altitude Integrations provides a carefully selected 鈥榮tack鈥� of integrated solutions to satisfy the needs of their clients and stay ahead of the curve. Much like the companies they manage, Altitude Integrations is outgrowing the taste for on-prem maintenance, and has full intentions of scaling their business using cloud-based solutions. Until fairly recently, however, clients did not always see eye-to-eye concerning cloud-based security and identity management. For their business and their clients鈥� benefit, Brett Ramberg, Altitude Integration鈥檚 CEO and owner, needed to find a comprehensive solution in order to make a successful transition away from the on-prem, break-fix business model to being a reliable, cloud-forward integrator. Read the accompanying case study with Altitude Integration鈥檚 Lead Technician, Jan Kalkus, to understand Altitude Integration鈥檚 transition from a more technical standpoint.

• Organization: Altitude Integrations
• Size: 11 employees; approx. 125 clients
• Location: HQ in Boulder, CO, USA
• Problem: Altitude Integrations needed to replace Active Directory and transform their business model from break-fix to cloud-forward integrators.
• Goal: Altitude Integrations is determined to revamp their product stack and move all clients to the cloud.

Background

By design, Altitude Integrations locally and remotely supports client organizations that are growing quickly. In the past, this support included on-prem maintenance for Microsoft-based solutions, and relied on a break-fix business model for generating revenue. However, a shifting IT landscape and increased demand for cloud-based solutions have encouraged Altitude Integrations to reconsider this business model. As their clientele of startup organizations look to scale their operations, they are looking to Altitude Integrations for IT assistance with rapid onboarding, identity security, and full-scale access to cloud-based resources.

鈥淲e tend to work with businesses that are scaling pretty quickly. That probably has something to do with the region we鈥檙e in, but companies that are scaling quickly tend to see more value in their IT, and those are the types of clients we want,鈥� Ramberg explained. 鈥淐ompanies that are scaling want to triple their size in a year or two. They want to invest now, so when they do get there, it isn鈥檛 going to be as hard. They want to make those changes now, invest now, and grow and scale.鈥�

Since these types of companies are relatively young, they present a slightly different scenario from older and larger enterprises. Instead of bringing a laundry list of on-prem infrastructure issues to Altitude Integrations, they鈥檙e coming to them for advice on the cloud, and asking how they can avoid well-known growing pains down the road.

鈥淪o, our clients aren鈥檛 necessarily bringing us problems to solve so much as they鈥檙e bringing us questions that need answers. You can google 鈥榃hat does Cloud IT mean?鈥� and have hundreds of different answers,鈥� Ramberg said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 much better in my opinion to have a local company sit down and explain cloud IT to you, and help you understand what the cloud means for your unique business. It鈥檚 better to work alongside our clients as integrators rather than as a maintenance company.鈥�

The Challenge

As the interest in cloud-based identity management solutions continues to rise, Altitude Integrations has seen a change in attitude firsthand from their clients and competitors. For those growing companies looking to scale their business operations and gain momentum, the traditional fear and skepticism towards moving to the cloud is giving way to an eager, newfound sense of curiosity.

“Just six to 12 months ago, our clients were scared of the cloud. But now, they鈥檙e asking about it. They鈥檙e understanding more and more that they can save money and time, improve redundancy and resilience.”

For Altitude Integrations to continue to convert these growing companies into clients, they have found it necessary to pivot away from traditional client management methods. Even simple client requests used to require considerable commuting, time, and prerequisite training to resolve.

鈥淚n the past, even the process for changing passwords required a concerted effort from one of our technical administrators. Our techs had to go in, on-prem, and know each of those client panels and how to reset that specific password, and we had to spend time training them on all of these different processes,鈥� Ramberg explained.

The break-fix model, as it鈥檚 traditionally known, is being phased out by Altitude Integration鈥檚 team in favor of a more progressive, mutually rewarding way of conducting client management. As Microsoft鈥檚 Active Directory loses its grip on the IT industry, Altitude Integrations is acting on a big opportunity to reposition their services and streamline their management process through the cloud.

鈥淲e want to offer products that are easy to use and we want to be more of an integrator and business transformation consultant, rather than respondents to fires day in and day out. Any products that can help achieve that, we go with,鈥� Ramberg said.

The Solution

In order to keep pace with the market and transition into a new, cloud-forward business model, Altitude Integrations needed a cloud-based solution they could grow with and rely upon. Flexible, secure, platform-neutral (Windows, Mac, and Linux), and endpoint-centric, 探花大神 arrived at the right time to ease Altitude Integration鈥檚 business transition.

鈥溙交ù笊� really filled the gap as one of the last pieces that we needed to be able to take our client鈥檚 environment to the cloud, and to help them eliminate their on-prem server and replace Active Directory,鈥� Ramberg said.

While removing any on-prem dependency around Active Directory was crucial to unlock growth for their clients, it was 探花大神 Directory-as-a-Service鈥檚 flexibility and ease-of-use that has since made it a central component to Altitude Integration鈥檚 product stack.

鈥淩emoving Active Directory was the big piece, but there鈥檚 also all the ancillary aspects of 探花大神 that help us manage our clients. By being open and working with a lot of other products instead of trying to box itself in, 探花大神 quickly found a home at the center of our product stack,鈥� Ramberg said.

As more of their clients look to the cloud to realize their growth potential in a new age of IT, Ramberg sees the adoption rate of 探花大神 continuing to rise. The value of remote identity management with 探花大神 presents a real opportunity to change for the better.

鈥淭hink about how much time your clients are wasting trying to gain access to multiple directories, searching around for their assets,鈥� Ramberg said.

“With 探花大神, we can say we have a solution that will help you out and it鈥檚 low maintenance, it鈥檚 in the cloud, and it doesn鈥檛 cost that much. I think people will gravitate towards that.”

The Result

It鈥檚 still relatively early on in Altitude Integration鈥檚 journey with 探花大神, but Ramberg is already seeing some noticeable gains in efficiency and workflow. By simplifying tasks like password management through a single set of credentials, 探花大神 is helping Altitude Integration鈥檚 team work smarter and faster.

鈥淗onestly, for our team, it鈥檚 been great because if you look at some of the top 5 service tickets, it鈥檚 a lot of stuff like password resets. For us to be able to have one panel, one password, one login, one reset鈥攖hat really expedites our process,鈥� Ramberg said. 鈥淏y training an account manager to knock out those kinds of service tickets, that helps out a ton as well.鈥�

Shifting the focus of their business away from tedious, on-prem maintenance has actually enabled Altitude Integrations to provide more immediate value and establish a trustworthy relationship with their clients. In turn, these organizations are realizing the inherent benefits from integrating with 探花大神 by way of Altitude Integration鈥檚 guidance and management expertise.

“We鈥檙e doing something new with 探花大神, pivoting our business and our focus.”

Ramberg continued, 鈥淲e have our stack set now, which enables us, as MSPs, to focus more on helping our clients transform their business and integrate with the right technology. There is less of turning wrenches and maintaining servers on-prem, and more of helping our end users and businesses achieve greater business continuity by being more profitable and secure.鈥�

One particular aspect of 探花大神鈥檚 Directory-as-a-Service solution that is helping Altitude Integrations attract clients is security from user life cycle management. As data breach cases proliferate in the news, organizations are increasingly concerned with how the cloud can improve the security of their identities and help mitigate risk.

鈥淐lients often come to us for help with their security. It鈥檚 not that they don鈥檛 trust their employees, but when an employee leaves, it鈥檚 crucial to have the ability to shut their access off as soon as possible. So, 探花大神 also really helps with the identity management piece,鈥� Ramberg said.

Ramberg sees this concentration around security and identity management only growing for MSPs and their client organizations. By simplifying the end user鈥檚 workflow and password management using one set of credentials, 探花大神 directly reduces the risk at hand.

鈥淪ecurity always comes down to the weakest link, which is unfortunately the end user. If you can narrow their tools, you narrow the error gap and the risk,鈥� Ramberg explained. 鈥淪o, by having a product like 探花大神 that simplifies identity management with a single pane of glass, you can really increase security where end users are concerned.鈥�

The Future

From watching the cloud migration firsthand with Altitude Integration鈥檚 own clients, Ramberg is well aware of how the IT industry is changing. In order to remain aligned with an increasing demand for cloud-based services, Ramberg advises other MSPs to follow their lead and start adapting as soon as possible.

鈥淎lready in 2018, 50% of IT spending is cloud-based. With how fast demand for cloud-based IT has grown, you can easily imagine that cloud IT spend will hit 90 to 100% over the next 3 years,鈥� Ramberg asserted. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e not going to see a lot of on-prem hardware, so MSPs need to be more integrators, less actual engineers, and they need to learn how to leverage other people鈥檚 products.鈥�

In the past, in part from Active Directory鈥檚 on-prem restrictions, the break-fix model practically encouraged a reliance on servers and products that may require regular maintenance. Remaining on-call for emergencies simply isn鈥檛 sustainable however, and Ramberg sees long-term client relationships being built from more reliable products and trustworthy services.

“So, we鈥檙e still young with 探花大神, but I think with the way the industry is ramping up, 探花大神 is really going to help our clients, and consequently help us, expedite growth over the next six months.”

Ramberg continued, 鈥淢SPs need to grow tighter with their partners and learn their products, but they do not necessarily have to maintain those products. Instead, they should focus on integrating those products to create a better IT environment for businesses, enabling their clients and themselves to operate more efficiently in the end.鈥�

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