659 SuperOps Joins Pax8 Marketplace: Empowering MSPs with VisionX

[Speaker 2] (0:14 - 0:54)
Hello friends, Uncle Mark here back on Radio Row at PAX APON in Denver, Colorado. We are continuing with our street interviews on Radio Row and some of the big announcements. If you've checked out LinkedIn already, we've made a couple of those that were announced here.

One of which is an announcement you should have expected because this company is all over the place. I have with me the Global Channel Chief of Super Ops, Juan Fernandez. Juan, how are you?

I'm good, Mark. How are you? I'm good.

I'm good. And for Marnie, the one and only. You've got to get that in there.

[Speaker 1] (0:54 - 0:55)
I don't know why that keeps sticking, man.

[Speaker 2] (0:56 - 1:36)
All right. Well, before we even get into the details, I just want to say that when I was talking to some people earlier and they were noticing the sign, Super Ops is on here as a sponsor of the show. Thank you very much.

But the comment was, man, Super Ops is everywhere. I love that. So I just wanted to say, people are noticing.

Good. That's good. So of course, the big news, you had a little time on stage, Arvin was on stage, and of course, the announcement of Super Ops joining the PAX 8 Marketplace.

It's true. So let me just cut to the chase and ask, man, why and what is that going to do for you?

[Speaker 1] (1:36 - 3:05)
Yeah. Well, the biggest thing for us was, when we're looking at it, a lot of our customers ask for an integration with PAX 8. Even, and Arvin mentioned this, before Super Ops really even began, they said, hey, whatever you do, make sure you integrate with this company, PAX 8.

This is who a lot of us do business with. So we originally built an integration, a one-way integration to PAX 8 to be able to work with them previously to today. The cool part about where we are today is that that integration sparked interest in PAX 8 about, okay, this is interesting that this company would do that.

But as we started to look at our archetypes and disruptive natures in the space, we came to revolutionize the RMAN PSA space. They're here to disrupt market space and re-innovate and tool to the future. That being said, us having conversations really maturized to this point today, which I also announced was change day.

I'll talk about that in a minute. This is what it is, is that now PAX 8, for the first time ever, is now offering an RMAN PSA. It's never been done.

That is a shift in the landscape of time for PAX 8. Now they actually are now being able to offer super ops. Anybody in the PAX 8 ecosystem can now look for an RMAN PSA that's been vetted by PAX 8 and has been sponsored in and is the only RMAN PSA.

[Speaker 2] (3:07 - 3:35)
Everybody knows PAX 8 is selling licenses for the products that we use, not named RMAN PSA, blah, blah, blah. Of course, that puts you in there. One of the things I noticed is that, okay, it makes it easier for MSPs to procure super ops.

My question is, super ops was already easy. Beyond that, what other benefits do people get going through PAX 8 instead of going direct?

[Speaker 1] (3:36 - 6:19)
I think that's the one. We're just decreasing the route to market. That's one of the things.

That's just the first step. We made five announcements today, which I think will really shift focus on what this means. One of them is we have also partnered with PAX 8 to not only have them transact us in their marketplace and offer to MSPs, but also create the support structures for MSPs with a PAX 8 plus super ops academy, where academy will be working to help you build your process and procedure around super ops.

Also, I said on stage that we all here as a community, we talk, we try to figure things out, we triangulate, is the offering of super ops plus PAX 8 peer groups. That's really important for those that are looking for meaningful ways. Maybe the education is the thing I need, but I also want to high watermark against everyone else.

With all that being said, all fun and great. That's two. We also decided, you know what, it'd be really good because our partners are trying to evolve into the future.

We really want them to be able to focus on their business. We do this for our customers. We say, hey, we're going to take technology headaches out of your business so that we can focus on them, so that you can focus on your business.

No one's doing that for us. We land up with all these midnight calls and all these headaches and all this hell. We're absorbing all of that.

How do we change your business to help you focus on building managed service practice to change the ecosystem, the SMB? That's why we partnered with PAX 8 to create a super ops plus PAX 8 help desk. That's coming soon.

All of these things give MSPs now a new way and a new foray into it. The other thing we announced, which is now number four, was a fully integrated marketplace. We decided to change the game.

That's cool. We're going to shift it all the way. Let's just take that slider and just move it all the way.

Let's go max here, maximum effort on trying to improve partner outcomes. With us removing the friction of a marketplace with inside of super ops as a direct offering, we now can partner with PAX 8 to help you bring all of those things inside of your arm MPSA without any friction. That's the next step.

That's something that we're going to be launching as well. Then, of course, VisionX was the big announcement, our big product announcement today. That and change day, there was a number of announcements on that stage in a very short period of time.

I'm super excited about it. Yeah.

[Speaker 2] (6:20 - 7:03)
VisionX caught my attention because it talked about all of those things in a panel format with unified billing, flexible billing, more automation, which you guys are going to be synonymous with automation, it seems. All of that is great. One of the things that when I've talked about super ops in the tagline, it's the future-ready RMMPSA.

VisionX, the way that I heard it described earlier is that you guys are talking about it's able to allow us as MSPs to see our future. That's correct. Of course, I'm going to ask, man, how do we look beyond what we do day to day?

Because we're stuck in the grind.

[Speaker 1] (7:03 - 7:06)
I know. I've been there. I'm tooled inside of this.

[Speaker 2] (7:07 - 7:08)
Yeah, but you succeeded, man.

[Speaker 1] (7:08 - 9:35)
Yeah, but the reason I succeeded was because I tooled past it. This is what VisionX, my brainchild that was VisionX, it's exactly the things that I was focusing on. I said, look, with all the data that we now have, we could chart a new path to the future.

I could pick an adventure. If I want to be a million dollar MSP, how do I get there? I can click a button and everything in here tells me all the things I need to do now.

I can see myself being successful. That's why I need peer groups and academy and I need help desk so that MSPs can see a future that is not the one because oftentimes the question that we don't ask is the one we don't know how to ask. VisionX gives you the opportunity to see things you've never seen before.

Technician proficiency, right? If a technician is underperforming in a certain area, we don't know that. How do I know what their proficiency is?

If I look at the tickets and the ones I saw, the quickest and the fastest, I can immediately profile them and say, hey, this ticket looks like it really synergizes with them. Their experience level is this. If I bring in stuff that's going outside of that and this guy is running long or this gal, I know that they're not proficient in that and I might want to reroute that ticket to someone else or my platform should empower them to understand how to sell that ticket faster.

See, this is where we have to think different, right? Again, if we come at it with the same methodology of doing things we've always done, it's a definition of insanity. We get outside of the insanity loop and now we're in a creative loop.

This is where we're at, is being able to create those new futures. Now you can see, for instance, let's say I have a customer that I'm about to take on. Let's just say for the moment that I'm going to go and I'm going to sell them a product in my services and then I'm going to onboard them.

A year later, I'm going to come back and say this is the worst customer I ever brought on. What would it be like if I knew before I took that customer on that this customer was not going to be a good fit for me? What if I knew that that was going to happen before it happened?

This is the vision of VisionX, is that we have enough data, we can chart, plan, map, articulate, architect, deliver everything to allow MSPs to now be successful and take away the parts that we don't know how to do. I'm excited, man, because no one's ever done this before. It's here.

We're announced.

[Speaker 2] (9:36 - 10:39)
Let me ask this question, and folks, of course, are alive, so you know I didn't prep them for this. One of the things that I struggle with, I'll be honest, is because for all practical purposes, I'm a solo MSP. By all means.

I've had techs. I have subcontractors. I do a little bit more than your average solo tech, but I'm not the million-dollar MSP.

Of course, we're always being judged by being a million-dollar MSP, and all of those things you mentioned, tech proficiency, KPIs, they're always drilled down to us from the larger MSPs. This is what you got to be doing, but I always take it from the standpoint of that works for you. It doesn't work for me where I'm at.

I may get to you some day, so does this allow the smaller MSPs to get that foothold and take those steps if they want to be a one million, a three million, a five million within the super ops framework?

[Speaker 1] (10:39 - 13:08)
I would say this, and I'll give you full transparency. The answer is technically yes. One of the things that challenged me when I was building my MSP was why do I need these numbers?

These numbers are going to make me be like you, and I don't want to be like you. The whole point of me building a business is having a competitive advantage. If I'm like everyone else, there's no advantage to being like everyone else.

The only thing then is margin erosion. We compete on price because now it's like we do the same thing, but now we're going to race to the bottom. We say, don't race to the bottom, but then we don't build systems that don't allow us to.

We tell everyone, hey, do this, do this, do this. That's done. We're over that.

It's no longer. You can pick what you want to do and say, look, do I want to build for employee satisfaction? Maybe my ticket needs to run four days.

Maybe it needs to run two weeks. I'm more focused on employee satisfaction than I am maybe growing to a $10 million business. Maybe I really like where I'm at.

I'll say this because even as an MSP, there was a point in time where I say, man, I really loved who we were as a business at about 10 employees. I knew everybody. I watched their kids grow.

That was a special moment. I really liked that. When I grew to a huge MSP, I lost touch of all that.

There was parts where that culture, if culture's your biggest thing, you don't have to grow outside of that. If that's providing a good lifestyle for you, there should be no one that tells me I need to change. If I'm making money and my employees are happy and I'm driving my business into the future and my customers are happy, don't come and tell me I need to do something else.

That's my choice. That's our choice as an industry. For us, we took that as a charter and said, let's solve this problem to give them that autonomy.

Yes, VisionX's intent is not to tell you how to do it. You want to grow your business? Turn a knob.

You want to increase employee satisfaction? Turn a knob. You want to have customer satisfaction?

Turn a knob. You can now change the arrays of the X, Y axis and say, here's where I'm the happiest. I'd like to stay here.

And you can. That's the whole point. But if you want to take your business to all new levels, you'd just be able to look at it and say, that's a lot more than I really want to do.

Because if I would have known that, I might not have gotten as many gray hairs.

[Speaker 2] (13:10 - 13:11)
My hairs are gray.

[Speaker 1] (13:11 - 13:12)
I'm not taking any shots here.

[Speaker 2] (13:12 - 13:34)
All right, so all the big announcements were announced today. Press release is out. You guys are here as a platinum sponsor?

Titanium. Titanium. Don't know the elements, but one more.

One more up. Okay. Got the booth down there.

Is that really like a 360 degree booth? Do you like that?

[Speaker 1] (13:34 - 14:37)
Yes. It's a great booth. I love that.

You know, again, I'm very, even the song I played, right, during the middle of my keynote is different, right? It's, you know, techno slash trap. We can be different.

It's okay. And I think there's too much conformity in them. And we're just saying, you don't have to be the same.

Even in the booth, yes, that is a really slick S-curve, very dynamic booth so that when you go into it, you're just like, this is cool. We got ice cream. We got Jordans.

We're giving away some Jordans. We got books being signed. I thought you were going to just slide those to me on the side.

Everybody's trying to get their Jordans. Super Ops custom Jordans are fly. But yeah, we just, again, it's okay to be different.

We can have fun doing this and we don't have to be like fearful of the vendor that's trying to get me to buy something because we're not. We're just here to help. And I think that setting that example hopefully will allow others to take pace on that and we can move into the future in a much different way.

[Speaker 2] (14:38 - 14:52)
So Juan, I want to say thank you and I want to take just a little bit of time because there are people that will look at me and say, dude, you're selling out. Are you a Super Ops man? And full disclosure, I don't use you guys.

He's never looked at it yet.

[Speaker 1] (14:53 - 14:57)
As much as we talk, I've never even asked you to look at it.

[Speaker 2] (14:59 - 15:33)
So yeah, full disclosure, they are a sponsor, but I'm not a partner, but that doesn't matter. One of the things that I've enjoyed with having people join me is that this is a big space and everybody can sit and see and do things differently. I like when I can partner with people that are doing things and making a difference.

And when you guys and I came together and said, yeah, we can partner. And I appreciate that. No pressure.

You're not hard selling me. When I come around to wanting to look at you guys, it'll be great.

[Speaker 1] (15:33 - 15:53)
You look when you look. And that's the thing for us is that, I say it all the time, you can't really buy anything from me because I'm not selling anything. If you see yourself being successful and you take a look at something and you're like, man, I really want to see that, you'll look and you'll find it.

And we're building a platform that if you want to, we're the ability and they'll come. We don't have to cram it down.

[Speaker 2] (15:53 - 16:24)
Well, the big thing that you guys are doing, I think, which has made the biggest impact is you're providing education. You're providing an opportunity for people to learn from each other. What works for you?

What doesn't work for you? Can I adopt this for me? And the super summits that you guys have been putting on, which we were at two weeks ago, all the events where I've seen you guys at, it's more about this, I don't even want to say community.

You guys have a community, but listen, we're in this together.

[Speaker 1] (16:25 - 17:54)
It's community forward industry led. And that's where, again, our sponsorship here, and again, thank you for what you do. I recognize that a lot of people pay attention and I hear all the time, people are like, man, I heard you on our show, I've always wanted to meet you.

And I'm like, you never know where people need help. And I've always said, you got to go get the people that need the help and bring them in. And again, kudos to you for doing that and continuing this labor of love.

And I know that it may not always be profitable, but your love for making this work. This is why we sponsored, because I know how much effort this takes. And I appreciate somebody that's willing to put themselves in a place to say, I want to make a difference.

And I want to support those people. We didn't know each other very well when we said, hey, I want to, but I knew that you were out there. And I want to sponsor change makers in the industry that are trying because today, like I did on stage, is I said, I want to make a change in this industry.

And I put a pin in that. And I said, I'll be there one of these days very soon. So today on stage, I announced change day, June 11th, 2024 at beyond as MSP change day, where we change the industry forever.

And I said that on stage. Why? Because you have to have a point to get to.

And again, you do too. And I appreciate that about you. You're here to make a difference and a change.

And that's why we sponsor because that's how I feel.

[Speaker 2] (17:54 - 18:29)
We are going to have to do another show and talk about that because you're right. We did not know each other. We didn't.

And you know, there are times when I get approached for sponsorships and I'm like, I don't know you. What's your goal? Yeah.

And my, my goal has always been to stand up for the people in this industry that aren't being stood up for those solo techs, those small MSPs, emerging MSPs that are, you know, I don't want to say they're being ignored, but they're, they're being told that in order to be on the path, you've got to be like everybody else. And we, we, we're here too, is all I have to say.

[Speaker 1] (18:29 - 20:24)
Everybody's here. And that's where I was there once again. And maybe if I wasn't cut from the cloth and it wasn't, you know, it wasn't in my DNA as an entrepreneur, maybe I wouldn't understand.

And maybe that's where a lot of that comes from is that, you know, if you don't equal money, then you're not important to me. I, on the other hand, was one of those people that do some, I remember that my favorite moment and I'll do this full transparency, I probably shouldn't do this, but I remember one day starting off as an MSP, this guy came to me. I was really interested in wanting to do business with this vendor.

And I was like, look, you know, I know that I'm really small, but I need a partnership. I know that I don't have all these things to make this work. And I'm probably like, I know you have like these minimums, but I need this at this level to be able to do this.

And this will really help me propel my business. You know, they looked at me and I remember the guy said to me, he goes, you think you're big shit, don't you? And I mean, I wasn't even a million dollars.

I was barely like maybe 250k in annual revenue at the time. And I just looked at him and I was like, wow, that was kind of coy. And I remember four years later, here we are standing on stage winning awards, like we're like growing at 310%.

We're already capping, killing 7 million. And the guy comes up to me, he's like, man, you know, I really love to do business with you. And, you know, we've really been trying to get back in touch.

And I looked at him and I just said, you think you're big shit, don't you? And I said, don't worry, I remember you, bro, but we're good. We have somebody and I'm dedicated to what I have.

And that's where I think because of that, that buried entry, I've been here trying to figure out how to erode that ramp or at least build structures to allow for that to take place. And today, I'm super pumped because now we give that chance and we are focused on that.

[Speaker 2] (20:24 - 20:39)
Well, that's the thing. You give the chance for people that are starting out because look, everybody started out working out of their garage, whatever, to get the opportunity to get to that million, 5 million, 10 million. We just want the same chance as everybody else.

[Speaker 1] (20:39 - 21:07)
I'm going to be honest with you right now. Mark this moment for everyone here. I cannot wait to hear next year the stories that are told on how business transformed in the last 12 months.

Like that to me is what does it, man. Like, you want to know why I do this? To hear everyone else say, I did it.

Like I got to where I wanted to go. And that for me is the reason. That's what drives me.

And so, I can't wait to be on this show next year. You're going to have a long line of MSPs that have done good things.

[Speaker 2] (21:07 - 22:14)
I don't know, man. You know, last year, I was the only podcaster here. Now we got everybody.

Dude, there's a whole bunch of them here. But okay, kudos. At least I'm sitting right here next to my sister podcast, MSP Unplugged.

Your buddy Paco, yeah. We come up in the channel together. You guys are doing good things, man.

Keep going. So Juan, thank you very much. When we get you out of here, you're starting to get a little teary-eyed.

I know, man. You're going to get my emotions out. All right, folks.

That is it. Definitely, seek out Super Ops. Head over to Super Ops.

Actually, go to my website and click on the sponsor page. And there's a link there that'll take you to the Super Ops partner page. Sign up for a demo.

Look at what they're doing. Of course, they're going to be out and about at all these events. If we're at a Super Summit, I'm going to tell you that we're at 19 Nation.

We're here at PAX 8. We're going to be... Where are we at next?

Yeah, we'll be at Super Summits in Dallas. Dallas. That's right.

Dallas. Home of the new office. Home and office, man.

We just opened it, yeah. Got to do an MSP Cribs episode there.

[Speaker 1] (22:15 - 22:15)
Yes, you do.

[Speaker 2] (22:16 - 22:28)
All right. That's it, folks. On behalf of my buddy Juan...

We're buddies now. Notice that. I'm so honored.

That's it. We'll see you here soon from Radio O. Holla.

We'll see you here soon.