681 Boosting VCIO Services with GetInSync

[Uncle Marv]
Hello friends, Uncle Marv here with another episode of the IT Business Podcast powered by NetAlly, the show for IT professionals and managed service providers. We do the best that we can to help you run your business better, smarter and faster. We are here with another vendor spotlight for the IT Nation Pitch It competition that is happening this year.

And today we are talking with Stuart Holtby, founder of Get In Sync. And yeah, I'm having a little mouthful today, but Get In Sync is a comprehensive platform designed to assist small and medium-sized businesses in developing effective IT strategic plans. And to help explain that a little bit better, Stuart is here with me.

Stuart, how are you?

[Stuart Holtby]
Pretty good. Pretty good, Marv. Thanks for having me on.

[Uncle Marv]
Well, thanks for coming on. And I apologize for, I don't know what's happening with my mouth today. My sister had dental surgery, not me.

So I don't know if I'm osmosis, you know.

[Stuart Holtby]
Yeah, exactly. Hopefully she's doing okay.

[Uncle Marv]
All right. So, you know, I kind of put it in the simplest terms as possible with this comprehensive, you know, platform. But can you tell us specifically what it in the platform is that helps businesses?

[Stuart Holtby]
Yeah, I think actually I was asked this very question by an investor, you know, potential investor who said, you know, he explained it to me like I'm an eight-year-old. And so basically imagine that you are looking at a puzzle or a treasure map, but the treasure map is hidden throughout the office like an Easter egg hunt in a hundred pieces. And so what GetInSync does is it helps the business find the treasure map and coordinate all of that.

And that's where the MSP comes in because he's very knowledgeable or she's very knowledgeable about the GetInSync tool and helps you put in all of the pieces and display the map. So once you start putting that map together, it starts to infer where the other pieces are on the map. So essentially what we do is we help the organization uncover its strategy.

So the treasure map is now, you know, visible and you can actually find yourself on the map and you can figure out where to go to get the treasure. Now basically what GetInSync does is helps you pull together all of your applications, information, projects, processes, and so forth. So you can see that overarching strategy.

So business can confidently make good decisions and plot a course to success sort of thing.

[Uncle Marv]
Okay. I think most of us as MSPs understand that to be kind of in a VCIO role, but we look at it more from the standpoint of money. Tell us where you're spending all of your money at when it comes to contracts and IT spend and stuff.

But what you're describing sounds a little bit more than that. You haven't mentioned money yet.

[Stuart Holtby]
Yeah. Well, another interesting story. The software actually, that was kind of the inspiration for GetInSync.

So just a little bit about my background. I was an MSP and started my business out of my father's charted accounting firm. And you know, that's how I got the start.

That was 30 years ago. It was before they were called MSPs. And I started automating my father's, you know, accounting clients with PCs, this revolutionary new technology.

I know I'm dating myself. But having said that, back to your question, you know, I remember like it was yesterday, I was called in to actually do a review of all the costs that the customer was, you know, experiencing. So I was prepared and I went in and I started going through the presentation and whatnot.

And then the customer looked at me and he said, well, Hopi, you're a half a million dollars short. And I'm like, what? I didn't realize it, but they were wanting me to itemize all the costs, not just what I was billing them for.

So you know, there's CRM licensing, you know, all of the accounting licensing and all that kind of stuff. So that gets rolled up into GetInSync now as well. And it displays that entire, like, if you imagine the entire spend like an iceberg, a lot of the keep the lights on stuff is under the water that the business doesn't understand.

So by abling to bring that up and show them transparently what they're spending, it certainly gives them a lot more confidence.

[Uncle Marv]
So you're talking much more than the IT spend. You're talking about fundamentally what makes the business run. So the only question I have there is, I mean, you're not going to get payroll information from them, right?

[Stuart Holtby]
No, but the way that it works, I'm not sure if you're familiar with TBM, but there's a framework that we use to be able to put all of the licensing costs, all the technology compute costs, all that stuff in now. It's not an accounting system, but it's big blocks so that you can actually see, you know, so it actually produces, if you will, an overall encompassing budget as to what the business is actually spending. So but yeah, no, payroll costs wouldn't be in there, but we do weigh, you know, costs, for example, for developers and, you know, the costs of the MSPs and that kind of stuff, but not the actual employees.

[Uncle Marv]
Okay. All right. So that sounds a little more what I'm accustomed to.

The question I have next would be, is this something that we as the MSP would, you know, be responsible for putting in, or is there a mechanism to allow for the end users to put in some of that information themselves?

[Stuart Holtby]
Yeah, it's a great question. So in a roundabout way, GetInSync creates a two-way marketplace, if you will. So on the one hand, the MSP actually can see all their workspaces.

So the MSP has a namespace and they can see all the workspaces of the clients they have. So back to your point, what we want to be able to do is teach that client to phish and, you know, put in parts of the treasure map, if you will, themselves. And so they are actively involved in the tool as well.

And that creates an environment where the MSPs and the clients can, you know, have that dialogue and, you know, solve for complex technology issues, right? And do that trade-off analysis so that the customer can overcome their doubts and make confident business decisions. So that, you know, I think Marv, you would agree that selling is hard, but buying is even harder.

And a lot of the times I, when I was an MSP, I found that clients were really stuck and they, hence the word GetInSync, is that they kind of, all these good ideas went to the land of indecision, right? Where all good ideas kind of die a thousand doubts. And so it's trying to get the client feeling comfortable that they're making the right decision.

[Uncle Marv]
All right. So I'm going to pivot a little bit here and, you know, a lot of these things sounds like, you know, items that we would already be doing and kind of like a TBR, QBR sense. We did talk about this as a VCIO type platform.

There are obviously other products in the channel that do this. So what makes GetInSync unique in that respect?

[Stuart Holtby]
Yeah. So, you know, other than we have a number of different frameworks that we put in there. So essentially it's the intersection between applications, projects, programs, and processes, coupling that with a portfolio management kind of perspective.

Now, often, I mean, I like to think of GetInSync as more as a leading indicator, whereas QBRs and those kinds of things are lagging indicators. So if you were to compare it to say, like driving a car, you're going to be looking through your windshield and not your dashboard. You need your rear view mirror, but you don't drive your car through your rear view mirror.

And that's more of a quarterly business review. So what our system does is helps the MSP gain that line of sight to the actual business strategy of the organization. And it's really, really intended to be customer facing.

So tools such as the QBRs are more MSP facing, and you print out a report and take that in. Whereas this is more of a, you know, like I say, a two way marketplace whereby the company actually uses GetInSync to share all that information with you. So where they're going, what their business objectives are, what their business drivers are, those types of things.

[Uncle Marv]
Right. So we're hoping that the customer embraces this and takes an active role in using this tool on a regular basis so that it's not, you know, something that we wait for the next review to go through. They can see this on a regular basis where they stand.

[Stuart Holtby]
Exactly. Yeah. I mean, you have to ask yourself, why quarterly?

Well, if you look back in time, you know, I'm talking the Bob Hope generation time. Financial reports were done quarterly. And, you know, that's the fastest that people could get them.

So in that regard, I think QBRs are kind of going away the fax machine a bit because you're needing that at the minute information to be able to pivot as business, you know, business requires it.

[Uncle Marv]
Yeah. I've had a couple of customers that even though we tried to have a regular schedule, it was more, it was more that they wanted at any given point, they wanted to be able to call up and say, Hey, I want to have a meeting to see where we're at so we can plan for, you know, whatever the next period is. And it would not be a regular timeframe.

They would just call, you know, sometimes they may call and then like a month later, Hey, I think we need to meet again. We had this come up. That's going to change our plan.

So having that real time, I think is pretty, pretty nice and pretty key.

[Stuart Holtby]
Yeah. Go ahead. No, I was just going to say, and the thing is just having that kind of real active dashboard whereby and I know, you know, the way we look at it is it's big blocks.

So it's, you know, green, yellow, red, and just, you know, answering some pretty straightforward questions, you know, where does all the money go was one of the questions. Another question is just, how are we doing from a, from a CEO or founder perspective? They don't want to get into the minutiae.

They just want like, give it to me on one page. And that's what get in sync tries to do provides.

[Uncle Marv]
So one thing I noticed in your product that there was a section called, uh, idea creation and prioritization. So the question I have for that is, is this something where you're asking the customers, Hey, whatever you're thinking about doing, go ahead and stick it in there, even if it's not on the drawing board yet. And we can kind of help plan.

Is that what that's geared towards?

[Stuart Holtby]
It's exactly what is geared towards. So, so for example, I've always asked, uh, organizations like how, how do you vet ideas? How do you, how do you become innovative?

Well, you know, the people at the front lines need a way in which to kind of bubble up, um, some ideas and some of them are simple, some of their big, but just put them in. And, uh, basically what happens is then, uh, everyone can see it transparently as to what those ideas might be. Now you might have some projects that are in flight already that those ideas could be hooked to.

So it's the left-hand knowing what the right-hand is doing so that you're not, uh, you know, we've been in organizations where they bought the same application twice. Um, so, you know, it's just having that visibility and that overview.

[Uncle Marv]
Interesting. Now, how many people would you engage in something like that? Because sometimes I imagine there's usually one key contact at a company that is filling that out or getting those reports.

If we were doing regular TBRs, um, if we're doing things like idea generation and planning, to me, it seems that it would be better the more people that had access to the tool to kind of, you know, give feedback the better. So what's the number of people that would use this tool per organization?

[Stuart Holtby]
Yeah. So that's where our licensing comes in. And basically what happens is that everybody in the organization, uh, assuming your policy and whatnot permits it, but from a licensing perspective, it has view access.

So we've always said, wouldn't it be great to be able to Google your environment? And now with AI that and get in sync is all AI enabled. So a lot of the heavy lift is done for you.

So the intention is, is that, uh, anyone in the organization can go in and look up like where is payroll done? And you just ask it in plain English or, um, you know, what's the number one project? You know, it'll come back with the answer.

So, uh, the, the point is, is that the view and then, uh, the way that we work, uh, the portfolios is that what we like to try and do is distribute that intake of ideas. So, um, finance will have, if you will, a portfolio manager, uh, HR would have a portfolio manager and so forth. And so that's how they collaborate and you spread it out.

So now you're giving the power to those actual org units within the, within the business. So it doesn't all fall back on it. Um, and so, you know, that's, that's the sweet spot for get in sync.

[Uncle Marv]
All right. And so let me ask this because I know that, you know, this IT pitch, pitch it is geared towards MSPs, but this sounds like something that you first developed for regular businesses. Um, so how much is catered towards the business side as opposed to the MSP side?

[Stuart Holtby]
Yeah, that's a really good point. So we are a sell through product in the sense that the MSP does a boost their VCIO margins. Um, so, you know, they, they can, they can certainly do that, but they can also resell the actual application to their clients.

Um, so the clients themselves, uh, from what we've seen, you know, particularly, uh, with, you know, all of the, you know, uh, change in the environment, digital transformation and that kind of stuff actually are very, very, you know, uh, welcoming to this type of, of, of a tool, because of course they can be self-sufficient. Think about it in terms of a sales process. You know, often the MSP is invited in when the decision is 70% cooked and now you're trying to tell that customer, you know, you haven't thought about all your needs.

And so you're way past the place where you're valuable. So if you can actually get the customer showing you your ideas ahead of time and, you know, if you will, um, curating those with your customer, uh, you're, you're much more likely to help them and, you know, uh, develop more projects for, for the MSP.

[Uncle Marv]
So you're giving customers a lot of credit for only being at 70%. A lot of customers are at that 99% and they only tell you at the very end, here's what we've decided, make it happen.

[Stuart Holtby]
Well, and that in therein lies another reason why we got get in sync. I was always, um, so disappointed when we would put things into an environment like 99% done, go get me one of these and then find out later that they didn't use it or turn it on. You know, we get customers what they asked for, but it's not what they need.

And, uh, and that's always, always, always a challenge for MSPs. And, um, and so then what happens is you end up wearing it because, well, how come you didn't know that I wasn't going to be able to, well, I just got you what you asked for. And, uh, so this allows us to have that, I guess, if you will, sobering second thought and be able to show them really what they're after, you know, what they need for their business.

[Uncle Marv]
All right. So let's pivot back around to, uh, what I will give you as the final question for MSPs. How does this, uh, get in seek product integrate or meld into the rest of our stack?

[Stuart Holtby]
Yeah, it's always a challenge, uh, because one of the things that we want, uh, MSPs to do is, you know, have conversations with their clients. So we don't want to over automate. However, having said that we do a bulk import of all of the, you know, all the information, you know, whether it be from ConnectWise or you could upload it from spreadsheets or and so forth.

Um, we are at this point, of course, as part of the PitchIT program, very much interested in connecting with ConnectWise Manage and particularly on the project side, because we do want that integration with projects. That's definitely on the drawing board. As far as the stack is concerned, um, an MSP can offer this, you know, to 20 clients, um, out of the box.

So, you know, in terms of our licensing, it's very inexpensive. So monthly it's, it's, you know, sub $15 a client kind of thing. So very inexpensive.

Now, as that client starts to buy licenses themselves, then, you know, that's where, you know, if they buy two licenses, that's where it incrementally goes up. So, but the MSP can actually provide this as a service without a great deal of costs added to the stack. All right.

[Uncle Marv]
Well, uh, Stuart, thank you very much. So I'm looking at this, uh, a nice little business technology decision maker, in a sense, and, uh, helping us with VCIO. And, uh, I have your website here.

I need to let the listeners know that, uh, of course, the link will be in the show notes, but it is just as it sounds, get in sync, except that the extension is .ca because you are a Canadian company.

[Stuart Holtby]
Canadian company. Yeah, absolutely. And you can always catch me on LinkedIn.

Um, I'm Stuart Holtby there and yeah. And one little other, uh, small plug is if you're interested in knowing if, you know, the VCIO, you know, thing is for you, if you're just starting out in a VCIO, if you go to our website slash pitch it, there is an assessment there that you can take, um, that, you know, assesses where you're at and, you know, get in sync, we'll meet you where you're at in terms of your maturity and, and VCO capabilities.

[Uncle Marv]
All right. Well, I will put that link in there and, uh, uh, try to direct listeners there and, uh, get on board. Uh, Stuart, thank you very much.

[Stuart Holtby]
Thanks, Mark. Appreciate it. Have a great one.

[Uncle Marv]
All right, folks, that's going to do it. Stuart Holtby from Get In Sync. And that will do it for this episode of the Idea Business Podcast.

Be sure to head over to the website and catch more of not just regular podcasts, but the remaining vendor profiles for the IT Nation Pitch It. And we look forward to seeing them all at IT Nation Connect in November. But until then, we'll see you next time.

Holla!