“Before ConnectWise, we had no real CRM and relied on an outdated ticketing system that was not integrated into our billing. Moving to ConnectWise allowed us to consolidate and streamline our core processes, allowing us to focus on the actual business instead of fighting our technology.”
“The ConnectWise Partner Marketing team has been a great boost to our organic growth. The marketing portal is filled with excellent education resources and pre-built marketing campaigns that any MSP could take advantage of. The marketing funds that ConnectWise have provided us with the opportunity to expand our marketing efforts and be more comfortable trying out new ways to engage our customers and prospects. As a result of this partnership, we've closed over $900,000 worth of new clients and add-on security services for existing clients from those events.”
Aldridge, a thriving technology services provider, and longtime ConnectWise partner (circa 2010), has been on a journey. The journey, laden with typical growing pains, has been a successful one, certainly. Aldridge attributes ConnectWise’s reliable and technically secure solutions, coupled with its unrivaled Partner Program, as vital to helping them navigate the way.
Aldridge leverages several ConnectWise solutions to achieve their ultimate goal: to work on the business instead of in the business. Mason Cone, Marketing Manager, shared the early challenges they faced. While the foundational elements were there, the organization experienced a multitude of frustrations – how to do more with less, how to leverage automation, and work more efficiently.
“Before ConnectWise, we had no real CRM and relied on an outdated ticketing system that was not integrated into our billing. Moving to ConnectWise allowed us to consolidate and streamline our core processes, allowing us to focus on the actual business instead of fighting our technology.”
Over the years, Aldridge has deepened its tech stack to support its growth with continuous innovation to keep up with the pace of technology. One such example is ConnectWise PSATM a product that automates processes for each area of business: sales, help desk, support, finance, and HR. Aldridge now has a 360-view of their customers and is in a system that can scale with a multitude of integrations. There is 300+ integrations available in the growing ConnectWise marketplace. This, in addition to a suite of ConnectWise products, provides MSPs with seamless experience, and one that can pass through to their customers as well.
“ConnectWise has a robust catalog of products that seamlessly integrate with each other. ConnectWise gives you everything you need to be a successful MSP – from client support to accounting.”
The Opportunity Market: Cybersecurity
And then there’s cybersecurity, which represents a chief priority for SMBs and a huge opportunity for MSPs.
The threat landscape is evolving. Cybersecurity attacks have risen in the
past year, and there is a notable lack of confidence among SMBs around their capacity to defend against these. With the repercussions of an attack being potentially devastating, there is a clear need to improve defenses. The issue is, however, that SMBs often lack the expertise, processes and solutions in-house to enable them to defend themselves against cybersecurity threats. There’s a clear need for a trusted partner that can help them with this. Most SMBs are already exploring this – partnerships with managed service providers (MSPs) are relatively common 5 and growing more so each year – however there is widespread disillusionment with current partners, and many are expecting to change partner in the near future.
SOURCE VANSON BOURNE
The Aldridge team utilizes ConnectWise SOC services, SIEM and MDR to keep their customers safe and secure but are always seeking solutions that will improve their cybersecurity posture.
“We rely on ConnectWise for the bulk of our security stack, MDR provides a strong baseline level of security for all our managed endpoints. ConnectWise SIEM & SOC allows us to provide an advanced level of security to our clients who are ready to take the next step on their security journey.”
Given the pace at which SMBs are actively seeking a reliable partner in cybersecurity, MSPs that have mastered the art of delivering experience and trustworthy solutions are well-positioned to capture a share of this emerging market.
Through ConnectWise, Aldridge tracks client products and can identify gaps. and generate lists of clients that don't have key backup or security products. Our account managers will have conversations with our clients about their technology gaps every quarter with the intention of bringing risks to our clients' attention and empowering them to make sound business decisions.
The Partner Program
For Aldridge, the benefits of the ConnectWise Partner Program have been immediate and far-reaching in their effort to convert on these opportunities. In fact, Cone shares:
“The ConnectWise Partner Marketing team has been a great boost to our organic growth. The marketing portal is filled with excellent education resources and pre-built marketing campaigns that any MSP could take advantage of. The marketing funds that ConnectWise have provided us with the opportunity to expand our marketing efforts and be more comfortable trying out new ways to engage our customers and prospects. As a result of this partnership, we've closed over $900,000 worth of new clients and add-on security services for existing clients from those events.”
Every like-minded business should take advantage of the ConnectWise Partner Program, Cone advises. ConnectWise created the Partner Program to help Partners achieve their most ambitious vision of success by investing in Partners' go-to-market strategy, marketing, and sales initiatives. Members of the program receive access to ConnectWise sales and marketing experts dedicated to growing their businesses, MDF and Co-op funds to reinvest in demand generation, a portal with hundreds of brandable content and campaigns, training opportunities, and more. Joining the ConnectWise Partner Program is a no-brainer for MSPs!
"When you become a ConnectWise partner, you aren't just getting a product – you're joining a community. The IT industry is challenging, it is a hard job with constant change. Being part of a community of businesses that are working in the same environment that you are, that you can learn from, is necessary for any MSP that values innovation and growth.”
Cone says the IT Nation is the single point of distinction for ConnectWise. The events IT Nation Connect (November) and IT Nation Secure (June) are must-attend events for the Aldridge team. But the connected community, peer groups and partnership overall is powerful.
“The community is the biggest factor – growing our peer group and it helps us identify new M&A opportunities. Besides community, catching up on industry trends is another great benefit of ConnectWise events. We like it that our executives, HR, marketing, and operations people can attend, and each has valuable takeaways for their roles.”
ConnectWise solutions provide Aldridge with a single view of the customer to help them identify opportunities to grow current client partners through upsell and cross-sell conversations. Its Partner Program supports the growth of their peer community, expands its knowledge base, and gain access to next-level innovation.
This unrivaled connection of products and community has been vital for Aldridge.
Reflecting on how they started and where they are now, Cone says,
“We are an entirely different company, many times over since we first became a ConnectWise partner. It is because of the solid foundation that ConnectWise has given us, that we can focus on higher-order functions like growing and evolving the business. We know the core of the business is taken care of, so we can stay focused on what's coming next in our industry.”
