745 Redefining vCIO and the AI Service Desk

[Uncle Marv]
Hello friends, Uncle Marv here with another episode of the IT Business Podcast coming at you live from Orlando at IT Nation Connect, continuation of day two. If you've been watching the live stream, you've been seeing some of the activity going by. It is lunchtime coming up, so we'll have some people making noise behind us.

But microphones have been doing good, so we've got a good turnout here. Our show today is presented by Thread, winner of last year's IT Pitch It competition. And they've added some AI magic to their service desk, so they are doing some great things.

And we're coming to you powered by Rhythms, the internet in a box, providing me with my own internet connection, so I don't have to rely on the hotel. Even though that's been good, but it's great to have something dedicated. So I am joined here by Kip Fanta, with a company that we talked with back in July, GetInSync.

And Kip has joined them in an official capacity. So we're going to chat about that. So Kip, how's it going?

[Kip Fanta]
Good, Marv, thank you. It's great to be here. Thanks for taking the time for this.

[Uncle Marv]
Well, thanks for stopping by. Glad we were able to find a spot for you. So tell me what's new with things since July, and of course, with your coming on board.

[Kip Fanta]
Yeah, I've been working with Stuart Holtby, who you met with and talked about back in July, the CEO and founder of GetInSync. And years ago, I met him. My background is from Procter & Gamble.

I was in IT back then. And I remember when our CIO said, we're going to have to make sure IT stays relevant and strategic. So I've always kind of been working from, how does IT and business really work better together?

And after 25 years there, I left and started working with organizations around the world on business and IT. How do you start to really make sure you're adding value? And years ago, I ran into Stuart at GetInSync, and he showed me what he had, which was really about that conversation of helping your business understand IT.

Helping IT actually have that conversation about what we're trying to do. So Stuart and I have been working together. And as you said, formally in the last several months, I've taken on a role to really drive the work we're doing with our partners.

Because we want to really work through the partners, because they've got the relationship with the clients. They really know what they're doing with the IT organization. So I'm going to be helping our partner portal, getting the partners onboarded, as they bring in GetInSync to the work that they're doing to kind of move up the value chains.

We talked about modes this week. This is that value builder, for sure. In terms of what the MSPs can be doing.

[Uncle Marv]
So for those that watch the show, listen to the show, you may remember that VCIO services is kind of what GetInSync's about. So again, helping you communicate with your customers. Has there been any change?

I know that everything was so focused on Pitch It this summer.

[Kip Fanta]
Yes, yes.

[Uncle Marv]
But have you had time to kind of pivot back now and really hone in on the message and what you guys are doing?

[Kip Fanta]
Yeah, I think what's exciting just being here this week is hearing about even some of the tracks in terms of growth and strategy. That leadership and management and that mode, as I was just referencing the value builder and such. We clearly think that GetInSync plays into MSPs that are wanting to look to drive a little bit more of that value and helping the organization understand their full landscape.

Not just the stuff that they're managing, but the full, all their IT applications, all the things that they're doing together. Co-managed IT is where we're spending some time talking about this with people as well. Because you have an opportunity as an MSP to help that IT director, that IT organization be a hero.

Because many times they're struggling just to keep track of everything that they're doing. So the MSP, and where GetInSync fits in, is use this, leverage this to help understand the demand on IT, to help understand your landscape of all your applications. Did you know that you actually have eight applications doing the same thing?

I didn't even know that. You have an opportunity to really move up on that value builder level to help understand what you're doing.

[Uncle Marv]
One question, and I don't remember if I asked Stuart, but I know I've asked some others in terms of VCIO. A lot of times customers will look at us coming in to present them with that as a way to sell me more. You're just looking, you just want to dig in and see where else you can get your fingers in and get more money out of me.

But what I have found is that a lot of times that's not the case. There are times where we can actually save money, combine resources.

[Kip Fanta]
And we like to think, this is definitely not like a QBR, kind of reflective back, looking just at what happened in the last quarter. This is an opportunity to really partner and to show all that wasted dollars and all the ways to spend. And so it's not about just selling other things and other applications.

It's about really helping them manage their IT strategically. And sometimes, again, it's on spreadsheets. People do not understand what they have.

And it's just a mess. And Guinness thinks it can allow you to kind of bring all that together from all your IT services, all your IT applications. Let's look at the projects that we're even doing.

And many SMBs, particularly as we talked about this week, have gaps in all those areas. So the MSP, what are those SMB gaps? Come in there and fill those gaps.

That's what we've been talking about this week. So Guinness think would allow you to fill those gaps because you're going to have a little bit more holistic, strategic view of it.

[Uncle Marv]
Right. I know that you mentioned that a lot of our QBR, TBR stuff is always focused on looking back and the way that we usually look forward is in terms of projects. VCIO is more of looking forward, in my view, and you can tell me if I'm wrong, with not just what projects are coming up, but where do you want to go as a company?

[Kip Fanta]
Yeah.

[Uncle Marv]
Tell us what things you want to do. And let's see if everything that we have is actually helping you move in that direction. Is that accurate?

[Kip Fanta]
Well, as you know, we don't always want to do what they ask for. We want to make sure that we do what they need. Right.

So let's make sure as they're coming up with ideas, it's the right ideas. I remember talking to some of my MSPs back when I was a product is if they just shook their head, yes, and did whatever I was talking to them about. I'm not any much value.

So the MSP has an opportunity to kind of like, you know what? That sounds interesting. Given the current landscape, I'm not sure that's the right thing to do.

Let's talk together in terms of what might be the right roadmap. Let's work to partner. And again, whether you're a fully manager or you're doing a co-manage, the MSP has an opportunity to really step up and provide that leadership.

And I think that there's a lot of those that are seeing the opportunity to kind of move up the value chain. Okay.

[Uncle Marv]
So tell me how your experience has been here at IT Nation.

[Kip Fanta]
Well, it's been fantastic. Again, our first time here and being a part of the Pitch It program was fantastic. Stuart really enjoyed that meeting you and so many others.

We're getting a lot of great conversations with a lot of the partners here to understand how do they think about this space? Some of them clearly see that they need to and have an opportunity to kind of move up. Some are being pulled into co-managed.

Even if they might like not be there today, realizing some of my bigger clients, some of my bigger organizations, they are going to have some IT. So what value would I provide in a co-managed space? So we're learning a lot.

We're learning a lot in terms of how do we fit in this ConnectWise world? How do we think about within the platforms that you have here? So great insight for us as we kind of understand how to work with the partners here.

So it's been fantastic so far. Okay.

[Uncle Marv]
Now, in the time that you knew Stuart before, in the time you've come on officially now, how do you see the path for good insight?

[Kip Fanta]
Well, I'm really excited. Just like I've heard about Sidekick this week. And the work that we have with an AI is just wonderful.

Some of the things that are building put into the platform, I think, is very exciting. We're understanding, again, the opportunities with some of our analytics and the customization. We talked to someone today who said, you know, I work with a lot of different clients.

Of course, what they want is not always the same in terms of the terms they use, the language. So we're always making sure that GetInSync can be customizable to that client. They don't use that word.

They use something else for that kind of term within the application itself. So I think you're going to see more of working with the partners to make sure it's relevant to their clients. And also the financial model we're working on.

The way we think about GetInSync today is the MSP has the platform. You use that platform with your clients. But the big opportunity is, guess what?

Many of your clients will be like, I want to get in there. I want to start to use GetInSync with you. So there's that margin growth opportunity as licenses are used.

You're getting part of that margin with GetInSync inside of your partners. So that's a nice way of, we think about it as this dual kind of relationship. You're working together with them inside the tool, building a partnership.

We want to be partners, not just a service provider. Really build that strong.

[Uncle Marv]
All right. Very nice. Very nice.

Well, Kip, I want to say thank you for stopping by. You can now tell Stuart that we made this happen.

[Kip Fanta]
Yes, yes.

[Uncle Marv]
He was a little worried.

[Kip Fanta]
No, I appreciate that. Again, PitchIT IT was a wonderful experience. A lot of learnings there.

And Marv, just to have the chance to meet you, it's been fantastic. So thanks for taking the time.

[Uncle Marv]
All right. Well, folks, if you want to know more about how to work with your clients better and do those BCIO services, GetInSync is a place to go check them out. You heard about them during PitchIT, and they're here to stay.

So look forward to seeing them. Kip, thank you very much. Thanks, Marv.

That should do it, folks. I'm going to turn on the other cam, and you can see what else is happening here at IT Nation. We'll be back with more relatively soon.

So thanks a lot. And until then, holla. Hello, friends.

Uncle  Marv here with another episode of the IT Business Podcast coming at you live from Orlando, Florida, continuing with day two at IT Nation Connect. And I just squeezed in lunch. I was able to do it.

Luckily, they rolled in food right in front of the podcast booth here at Meteor Row. So I got myself a chicken Caesar salad. And my guest here is the CEO of PitchIT.

Got his at the side of the table. So he'll want to get his going as soon as we're done here. Our show is brought to you by Thread.

The Pirate folks are here again. The winner of last year's PitchIT competition. And we'll talk a little bit about that.

And we're coming to you courtesy of Rhythms. We are powered by the internet in a box, bringing to this live stream to you. So that is it.

Let me go ahead and get started with my friend Mark here. Mark, how are we doing?

[Mark Alayev]
Doing great. All right. Always happy to be in my essence as a pirate.

How many of those do you have? Outfits? Yeah, two.

Just two? Just two. All right.

Well, we have the older one from like three years ago. Yeah. This is the new upgraded model.

[Uncle Marv]
Yeah, it's got a sleeker look to it. It's a little... The hats are higher quality.

Yeah, yeah. The others look like trench coats to some degree. Yeah, yeah, it does.

Very nice. Very nice. All right.

Let me get this question out of the way. So people that are here at the conference, seeing that you have two booths and the one booth on the outside, the rage cage, as you call it, I was told that was your brainchild.

[Mark Alayev]
Everyone likes to blame me for it. You know, what we do at the company is we just think about what the most radical thing is. So yes, for sure, I push people to think outside the box.

And encourage them to make decisions that they wouldn't have otherwise and really push them forward. So maybe I encouraged the progression of ideas. But it was definitely the team.

We love having the two booths. So the booth outside is more of like a lounge. We do have a rage room.

And it's more of our problem statement, which is debt to the ticket. That's why we're pirates. Tickets are no way to treat your customer.

And so we really wanted to be able to have a space to be able to demonstrate that. And so the rage room, they get a plate. They write what they hate the most about tickets and time entry and service delivery and the things that make it hardest for them to run an MSP.

And then they let all of their emotions out in the rage room. And they feel so much better. And then inside the solution pavilion, we have the solution to the problem, which is a pirate's paradise.

It's a beachy feel. There's sand on the floor. There's plants.

And there you go to really Zen out and learn more about the solution.

[Uncle Marv]
Now, what you could add next time would be maybe some margaritas, a little, you know. We do have some coconut rum.

[Mark Alayev]
Oh, you do? We have coconut rum in a little blow up pirate ship. So you can stop by to the...

I'll have to do that.

[Uncle Marv]
I missed that on the swag run. So we'll do that. So I got to talk with Bobby earlier.

And he mentioned your latest upgrade, I guess, is bringing more AI into the service desk. We talked a lot about that. But I want to ask you more about AI in general, because I know that just about every product is finding a way to get AI into it.

But I want to ask, you know, I try to ask people, can there be too much AI or do we know where all this is going to go?

[Mark Alayev]
Yeah, there was one thing I want to clarify first about the first statement about the new product bringing in more AI. It certainly does bring more AI. I just want to say it's a fundamentally different approach to our first product.

So the first product that we had was assistive AI, where it was really less about the interaction with an AI and more about just like, hey, just read this conversation and do all the things I hate on tickets. Like setting the type, the subtype, the item, priority, update the summary, write the time entry. So it was more about extracting the value of communication.

Right.

[Uncle Marv]
More tech-based, that side. And he said the new product is going to be actually more client-facing.

[Mark Alayev]
It is client-facing. But the bigger leap that we've had is it's actually agentic AI. So it's stateful.

And we've built an agent builder for MSPs. So you can build a custom agent for your customers. So you have customers in the hospitality industry, in the medical industry, K-12, whatever vertical you may be focused on.

You can build agents that have information that are the best at servicing that type of customer. So it's actually a builder of agents. And we help you build those agents by reading your prior conversations and helping you build those agents.

[Uncle Marv]
Okay.

[Mark Alayev]
So it's really powerful. And then I'm happy to talk about the more macro, whatever.

[Uncle Marv]
More adaptive, because that's where I was trying to... We need to be more adaptive with AI. It needs to be more tightly defined as to who's using it and for what they're using it.

So that sounds pretty good. I assume that a lot of that was born out of not just what MSPs wanted, but what you were seeing in the space in general, right?

[Mark Alayev]
That's right. And I think what's important is anyone can go and do an API call to open it. There's no boundary or difficulty there.

What's been really important is that we are focused on the communication side. And so we really help MSPs meet their customers where they are in the next gen channel, right? On chat, conversational interfaces, Slack teams.

And because we have that, we've been able to build incredible experiences out of the box because we actually have a dataset that we can test against. A massive dataset. And so when we launch an AI solution, it's out of the box.

You're not writing code or anything like that and trying to figure out the prompts. We're doing that for you and we're providing value out of the box.

[Uncle Marv]
Okay. How much of this is siloed for each MSP or is there a way to tap into AI that another MSP that's similar to you in a similar space or vertical? How much is that able to cross?

I don't want to say cross-contaminate.

[Mark Alayev]
That's a scary word in the security world. It is. But the reason why I love IT Nation and the MSP industry in specific is in many other industries, people are scared to share things.

In the MSP industry, we really collaborate, right? If you think about it, a lot of us compete with one another but we're still better together. And so, yeah, we've gotten a lot of those requests.

We have a huge community in Discord where people are sharing what they've built, their agents, what they've learned. And we are working towards a community-driven marketplace of agents and intents for agents that people can say like, hey, this really worked well for me, right? This is how I've been handling travel access change.

This is how I've been handling user auth warnings. And people are really sharing that.

[Uncle Marv]
Do you have MSPs that are still scared?

[Mark Alayev]
Who's not scared?

[Uncle Marv]
Well, I mean, scared in the sense of I'm not going to use it scared.

[Mark Alayev]
Right. So one thing that we say internally is that service is the product. If you're selling sneakers and you use AI as your chatbot to do refunds and it does something funny, it's okay as long as your sneakers are a great product.

[Uncle Marv]
Right.

[Mark Alayev]
But for MSPs, the service is the product. So you can't make mistakes there as you would be able to if you were a chatbot for a refund. So we understand the gravity of the situation.

And so we take what a very... We've built a proprietary way where we've built guardrails that MSPs have full control of how they want the AI to behave without having to write code. We've built that into the system.

And that's how we've been able to show, try it. Look how much control you have. And at the same time, look how natural it feels when you start to go one step at a time and say, well, actually, I want to only...

Let me try to resolve these three things that I really hate. But nothing else. Right.

And we can do that. We can give you that control because we understand that service is the product. We're not issuing refunds for sneakers.

We are in a critical pathway. We cannot treat your customer poorly. You're going to lose that customer.

Oh, of course. Yeah. And so we take that very, very seriously.

There's always an adoption curve. There's people that are going to be more conservative, people that are more risk takers. But no matter where you are, you need to have the ability to control it.

So you can understand how much risk I want to take. And so we give you that control. Okay.

[Uncle Marv]
So how much forward thinking do you think has to be done with AI, not just from your perspective, but our industry as a whole? I mean, we need to embrace what's coming down the road. How do we look forward?

[Mark Alayev]
So, you know, you said something interesting, which I don't think I addressed. How much AI... Is there a place where there's too much AI?

Right. With every inflection point of technology, you always see an over adoption, right? You saw with social media, it went crazy.

People ended up spending too much time on it. You saw with mobile devices, now you're getting too much screen time. Cryptocurrency.

Everyone went crazy, right? So I think the typical thing is that when humans feel that there's a really great technology, we tend to overuse it at first, and then we level off to a healthy data. So I think we're going to see a big craze, but it's necessary so that everyone is moving in a direction.

Like, let's figure it out on all levels. Let's have the software companies try to figure it out. Let's have the MSPs figure it out.

The consultancy firms try to work to figure it out. I think the big inflection point and the other thing we launched today was our brand new homepage and our brand new category, the AI service desk. I think what we're seeing the future is that there will be 20% to 30% to 35% of service desk requests that are fully automated.

[Uncle Marv]
That means no technician intervention. But how much of that is RPA versus AI-driven RPA?

[Mark Alayev]
Yeah, so... Or are they just going to become the same at some point? No, no, no.

So we've thought deeply about it. I think there's two sides of this point. One is where humans interact with other humans and sometimes need to interact with systems.

And then there's where systems interact with systems. So RPAs are great at the system-to-system level. If this, go to this system, then do that.

Oh, but if you're missing that, then do this, right? So it's like this complex web of interactions between systems. Whereas we focus on the human-to-human.

And that's why I say that our superpower comes from being the communication level. That's why we're called Thread. We are the communication Thread.

We connect the humans. But what we've learned is that within that communication, you can use AI to say, well, is there something that maybe a system could do to help you resolve this faster? And so the way we view the world is that then we can say, hey, let me go trigger this RPA system.

Let me go and actually onboard this user. But before I do that, I need to collect the information, no?

[Uncle Marv]
Well, yeah, we hope so.

[Mark Alayev]
Right. Otherwise, the RPA doesn't know what to do. Right.

And that's where we really come into the picture. Okay.

[Uncle Marv]
So how much do you think there's going to be this deal where your product thread or AI in general moves beyond this ticket automation, this communication with the client? How much do you think this will filter into our businesses in other areas?

[Mark Alayev]
Outside of the service desk, you mean. You know, I think there's going to be a lot of it in cybersecurity because cybersecurity is very noisy and you need help figuring out where to focus your attention. Right.

So AI really helps you to filter that out. I think there's going to be a lot of use cases on the SOC, on the NOC. I think there's going to be a lot of use cases in account management, preparing your QBRs for you, being able to say, hey, these are some core insights that you should focus on.

This is what a good customer should have and this is what you have. So focus on those things. So I think you're going to see these solutions that were automated QBR become AI QBRs.

Okay. So I think it's going to slowly come in. The question is, you know, where can you get the most leverage?

[Uncle Marv]
So that'd be good. All right. So I didn't mean to throw that zinger of a question in on you.

[Mark Alayev]
No, no, it's okay. You know, we've thought about it a lot and it's like, well, why did you call yourself the AI service desk? Can't you do things for others?

Beyond that. And it's not, for us, it's about focus. It's truly about focus.

I think if you see the way that we do things, we're radical and we're extremely intentional. Right. And so we just want, we want to make sure that we're focused on the right things because we want to provide value.

We don't want to just give you a platform that you're paying for. You're not, you're not implementing. You're not really using, you know.

Or you're just using for three things and you could be using it for 30. Yeah. And you're like, you know, I don't have time to implement this, which is really code for, I can't get value out of this fast enough.

Right.

[Uncle Marv]
Let me switch gears and ask you a question related to pitching. So, you know, I talked to Bobby and the fact that you, you know, last year we were all focused on pitching. This year we were still focused on pitching in terms of, you know, coaching.

Where has that guided your company in terms of direction and ideas? Do you have more, you know, voices now kind of giving you thoughts on what you should or shouldn't do?

[Mark Alayev]
Yeah, I think, I think it's, it's taught us to be more connected into the ecosystem. When we were just a young startup, you know, we were just so focused on surviving and you're always focused on surviving. However, now we've realized the importance of being able to be connected with other people.

And that was a great experience last year as being in pitching and getting a lot of coaching ourselves. And now being able to talk to other startups and seeing, okay, well, this is something that's interesting that's developing here. This is something else that's happening.

How are they thinking about it? Maybe we should be updating our thinking. So it's really driven a really good community of MSP SaaS providers that are trying to help one another.

Whereas the majority of IT Nation is for MSPs helping each other. Here you have software providers that are like, okay, well, how can we work better together? What are you guys working on?

How do you think about the world? So I think that's been really rich for us.

[Uncle Marv]
And I did try to ask Bobby, you know, what's down the road, you know, maybe next year, the year after, do you have any idea where this could go for you?

[Mark Alayev]
Thread as a whole?

[Uncle Marv]
Yeah.

[Mark Alayev]
Yeah. We're going to continue to focus on communication and empowering MSPs to deliver the best service they can. We want them to help them make service magic.

And, you know, great service starts with great communication. And so we want to enable them. You're going to see really phenomenal releases from us with integrations into SMS, iMessage, WhatsApp.

You're going to see us rolling out integrations with voice and email so that we can really unify that communication to provide the best end. And as we do that, more automation can be extracted. And really, the goal is we want to make the MSP customers happy.

We can do that, then you can grow and we can grow alongside.

[Uncle Marv]
So I like the fact that it's still a single role, but now you've got visions into other ways to incorporate that, but still stay on the single path. That's right. Thank you guys for that.

You don't need my help. Of course. You got validated by the industry last year and continue to do so.

So Mark, it was great to sit down and chat with you. I don't know what session's coming up next, but... Looks like it's getting crowded.

It is. And I know that you're waiting to eat your lunch. I'll let you go do that.

Again, thanks for stopping by. Looking forward to continued partnership with Thread. I don't know if you noticed, but you're up there.

So I look forward to seeing you more. So thanks a lot, Mark. I appreciate it.

[Mark Alayev]
Thanks for having me.

[Uncle Marv]
That's it, folks. Mark Aliev with Thread. Get in touch with them, folks.

They can really help you get rid of your tickets and help automate more and enhance your customer communication. Going to take a quick break. We'll be back more from Meteor Road here at IT Nation.

We'll see you soon.