Colleague Spotlight: Dan Scott
Meet Dan Scott, Director of our IT Nation community in EMEA. Dan was recently awarded the 2022 CompTIA UK Community Leadership Spotlight Award for demonstrating outstanding service and impact to the community. I’m personally so happy to know and work closely with Dan, first as a ConnectWise partner and now as a colleague. I asked Dan to tell me a little bit about his journey and successes at ConnectWise and what working here means for him.
Getting started at ConnectWise
What did you do before joining ConnectWise?
Many years ago, I left university—where I was pursuing history and media studies—to set out in a career in IT. My rationale was that I’d always been interested in and was pretty good with computers, whereas lots of people I knew weren’t. I started by being part of in-house technical teams, including one quite cool role for a motion picture special-effects company, and one day, I thought, “What if I was part of a business where what I did was the business, rather than a department within it?” I made the move into the amazing world of MSPs. 13 years later in 2020—through roles in engineering, project management, operations management, and leading business transformation and recurring revenue service design—I joined the ConnectWise family, ready for a new challenge, and have never looked back!
Being a ConnectWise colleague
What different roles have you had with the company?
I am part of the IT Nation community team, first as the Manager, and now the Director of our community here in EMEA. I lead our IT Nation Evolve community, where business owners and leaders of sales, service and cybersecurity inside an IT solution provider (TSP), come together with their peers to share what “good” looks like, hold each another accountable, benchmark themselves against the best-in-class and drive each other to accelerate their journey to success.
I also lead our IT Nation Share user group events that we hold each quarter. IT Nation Share events allow our partners to get the most from their investment in ConnectWise products and services through expert-led training, as well as opportunities to network with and learn from industry peers. These events give our partners and ConnectWise colleagues the chance to build relationships with each other in-person and strengthen our partnership.
What do you enjoy about working at ConnectWise?
Firstly, the sense of team we all have as colleagues. Everyone at ConnectWise is focused on the same goal—fulfilling our mission as a company and delivering on the three promises we made to our partners:
- More innovation, faster
- Invest even more in their growth
- Be easier to do business with
When you need help and support in doing something that moves us closer to those goals, it’s never far away.
Secondly, clarity and empowerment as a colleague. Through our clearly defined and communicated vision, mission, strategy, cascaded goals, core values and guiding principles, we can move quickly and intentionally to better serve our partners.
What’s something about your job that makes you feel accomplished?
In short, seeing the results of being a part of the community for our partners, both personally and professionally.
I had an amazing wow moment recently, during an IT Nation Evolve meeting where we were looking at the recent history and future strategy of our members’ businesses. Some of their businesses had transformed so much over the previous 24 months that they had to switch gears and think differently about their future strategy. To continue their level of success, they needed to change their approach on some critical business functions. What blew me away was that the start of their transformational journey happened when they joined the Evolve community. One of my personal core values is to help others, so seeing these members’ journeys reminded me of the “why” behind my role and what we do in the IT Nation community.
What’s something that you want people to know about ConnectWise?
Our priorities as a company are simple—we focus on what our partners need us to be and provide them with. We’ve all met companies that say great things and have great ideals, but they don’t back them up with action. ConnectWise isn’t one of those companies; we put our partners’ needs front and center, always. We’re not perfect—no one is—but we always listen, learn and move forward together with our partners.
What’s a big win that you’re proud of?
I was bowled over to be given the UK Community Leadership award at the 2022 CompTIA Spotlight awards. I’ve learned so much in my career through being part of communities, where I had access to support, coaching and mentoring, so to be acknowledged for giving back to others was amazing. I judge my success based on how much success I help create for others around me. So, to receive an industry award for doing that means a lot.
And now for some fun!
If you can have any superpower for 24 hours, what would it be and why?
I’d have to be Thor for a day. Why? Hammers, lightning, friends with the Hulk—that’s just cool and well, he’s Thor!
What’s your go-to karaoke song?
I’m up there with the best of them when it comes to butchering Mr. Brightside by The Killers. If you see me holding a microphone with the intention of singing… run.
What’s one bucket list item you’re looking forward to?
One thing that I’d really like to do as soon as possible—as we would have already done it were it not for two years of COVID-19 lockdowns—is for my wife and I to take our two girls to Walt Disney World in Florida. There are tons of bucket list stuff I’d like to do personally, but this one is time-bound as I’d love to see the magic of Disney through my daughters’ eyes before they’re both grumpy teenagers!
