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Nerds On Tap
Welcome to "Nerds on Tap," the podcast where tech industry leaders, entrepreneurs, and enthusiasts gather to explore the exciting intersection of technology, business, and innovation. Join Tim and his co-host as they dive into lively discussions, valuable insights, and thought-provoking conversations with a diverse range of guests.
From the latest trends in technology to the world of startups and entrepreneurship, "Nerds on Tap" covers it all. Each week, Tim shares candid conversations with industry experts, seasoned entrepreneurs, and rising stars, uncovering success stories, lessons learned, and emerging ideas shaping the future.
Grab a cold one, pull up a stool, and join the conversation. Whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur seeking advice, a tech executive keeping up with industry developments, or simply a curious listener who loves exploring new ideas, "Nerds on Tap" is your go-to podcast. Tune in, subscribe, and join the community of nerds who love to tap into the fascinating world of tech and business. Cheers!
Nerds On Tap
Help Desk Heroes No More: Why Your IT Guy Now Talks Strategy
Technology has transformed from a necessary evil to a strategic business driver, and nowhere is this more evident than in the managed IT services industry. In this candid conversation with Kathleen Shoop, Chief Revenue Officer at Digital Boardwalk, we explore the dramatic evolution of IT sales over the past decade.
Remember when selling managed IT services meant convincing skeptical business owners that paying a monthly fee for technology support made sense? Kathleen takes us back to those early days when the value proposition centered primarily around help desk support and predictable billing. The contrast with today's landscape couldn't be more striking.
Cybersecurity emerges as the turning point in our discussion. Between 2017 and 2020, major incidents like WannaCry ransomware fundamentally changed how businesses approached technology protection. We debunk the dangerous myth that small businesses are "too insignificant" to be targeted, revealing how modern attackers use automation to scan for vulnerabilities indiscriminately. This new reality transformed cybersecurity from an optional add-on to a non-negotiable core service.
The most fascinating shift has been in client expectations. Today's businesses approach IT providers looking to scale through technology—seeking efficiency, automation, and strategic guidance. Through real-world examples, Kathleen illustrates how the right technology partnership can completely transform operations, turning week-long processes into same-day completions. As we look to the future, automation and zero-trust security frameworks represent the next frontier in this continuing evolution.
What technology partnerships have transformed your business? Subscribe to Nerds on Tap for more insights at the intersection of technology and business strategy, and join our community of curious, forward-thinking professionals.
Sponsor of this episode: Digital Boardwalk
Digital Boardwalk is one of the top 10 Managed IT Service Providers in the United States. If you are seeking to outsource your IT Management, or if your IT Team could use some help with projects or asset management, give Digital Boardwalk a call today! They offer a FREE IT Maturity Assessment on their website. If you want to see how your business's IT scores against industry standards, go to GoModernOffice.com now.
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Hey everybody, welcome back to Nerds on Tap, the podcast where tech meets tenacity. I'm your host, tim Shoup, and today we're diving into the world of managed IT services how it's evolved, what's changed and why it's more relevant than ever. Joining me is someone who's been at the forefront of this transformation, kathleen Shoup, chief Revenue Officer at Digital Boardwalk since 2013. Kathleen leads the Sales and Customer Service Department in Pensacola, florida, and has been instrumental in shaping how businesses adopt and scale technology to stay competitive. She also happens to be my boss after 5 pm, so welcome to the show, kathleen.
Speaker 2:Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1:So today we are going to talk about. The title for today's episode is very unique From Cold Calls to Cloud Control Selling IT in a New Era. We're going to talk about the transformation of selling IT way back when you started at Digital Boardwalk versus now and how it's changed. And we're going to get into a few things today, like cybersecurity and how that kind of tied into all of it and a few other things. So again, welcome to the show. Now you've seen the show before, kathleen. What do we normally do first?
Speaker 2:Drink beer.
Speaker 1:Drink beer. We're going to drink beer today.
Speaker 2:I don't see any beer.
Speaker 1:Did you want beer?
Speaker 2:Why should I be treated differently?
Speaker 1:Well, we were going to do a dry episode because I figured you didn't want to drink anything today.
Speaker 2:It's dry September.
Speaker 1:I don't know. We can pull out the beers and start over.
Speaker 2:Maybe All right, see you All right, well, let's do it.
Speaker 1:You want to go get some beer? All right, we'll do a dry episode then. So let's talk about selling IT before subscriptions. I like to call this the Wild West era for a lot of reasons, but let's rewind the clock, shall we? Before subscription models and cloud platforms, selling managed IT was a whole different beast. So my question to you to kick off this first segment is what was the biggest hurdle you faced when trying to sell managed IT services before subscription models were common?
Speaker 2:I mean, that's really it In a nutshell subscription models weren't common. I mean, that's really it In a nutshell subscription models weren't common. And educating people that you know IT wasn't set it and forget it was difficult. I mean, you even have a better story when you met with, you know, one of your break fix customers and he said that it was going to be a terrible idea and no one was going to pay us for IT. That summed it up in a nutshell. So it was a totally new approach, especially here in Pensacola, to charge a monthly fee for IT.
Speaker 1:I think anywhere. It was a challenge for anyone to sell subscription-based IT services and I'll get into my story in a little bit because we're going to get into another topic that I think kind of leads into it but I think also trying to find the right balance, because I was also selling back then and trying to find the right balance between offering good, solid coverage while trying to find that perfect pricing fit, and we'll talk about that. But it was a challenge because it was so new. It was a new concept. People weren't used to it and what did we have like three layers of cybersecurity back then.
Speaker 2:Like malware and antivirus.
Speaker 1:Yeah, antivirus, a firewall and spam filtering, email threat protection, which wasn't really referred to as email threat protection back then. So how did you explain the value of proactive IT support to skeptical clients? Think back to a client you may have met with a decade ago or more and you know how did you get into the value prop for selling IT support to them?
Speaker 2:I think back then the help desk piece was probably the most important to customers and having them understand that you know you may call and you have one problem and it could cost you $150.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:But you know, if you pay us a subscription amount per month and you have, we will answer unlimited questions or solve unlimited problems. I think that spoke to people the most back then. Um, cybersecurity wasn't as big of a thing at that point, you know, like you mentioned, because we only had just a handful of protections in place. So I think the biggest thing back then was customer service and responding and accurately fixing things and that was kind of the big push and what got people interested and that was kind of the big push and what got people interested.
Speaker 1:I think my biggest tagline back then was you can call the IT guy when something breaks or you can just pay me to keep it working in the first place. Now that adage, it's different now. Yeah Right, it's so complex. Now I think you I haven't used that tagline in probably seven or eight years at least.
Speaker 2:Sometimes, when I'm presenting like that's all, like the help desk, part of it is almost an afterthought After we talk about the importance of patching and updating and all the 20 some odd layers we have. And oh, by the way you know all of your trouble tickets will be covered under this agreement. So it's like a total flip flop.
Speaker 1:Can you share a memorable story from one of your early sales pitches? If you can think back to maybe a sales pitch 10 years ago, think of a customer that you sold to pitch. I'll tell you what I got a better idea.
Speaker 2:I think our producer is laughing in the background, because I'm kind of putting which I'll tell you what I got a better idea.
Speaker 1:No, I think our producer is laughing in the background because I'm kind of putting Kathleen on the spot and he knows it. But here's the thing you know how to sell IT now we know how to sell it and we're going to get into that. It's a totally different ballgame now because it's acceptable. People know what we do. They need our services. But 10, 15 years ago we started what. 16 years ago you came on 13 or 14 years ago Sitting down with a customer and pitching that value prop. Pretend I'm the customer and pitch me on IT services. Back then, not now.
Speaker 2:Back then you know, you forget that I had a two-year-old and a zero.
Speaker 1:Oh, I I don't, I don't, I don't forget that I don't remember what I honestly don't remember.
Speaker 2:you know what the pitch was. Um, you know and I have to just go back to you know people weren't able to resolve things quickly and efficiently back then and people were so used to getting these massive bills when they had a problem and I guess that might've been part of it is predictable billing. You know being able to project what your expenses will be because all of your issues would be handled. And you know that monthly fee. I think that was a big thing Because back then you never know Somebody, your internet wasn't working and your tech would roll in and they'd spend 10, 15, 20 hours on it.
Speaker 2:And then you got a thousand dollar bill Like that was kind of like we don't want to have. We don't want you, mr Potential customer, to have those kinds of.
Speaker 1:I can't tell you back when I was in the break fix arena. I mean, I was one of those break fix guys 20, 30 years ago and having that billing conversation when I would have to hit a customer with a $2,000 bill when they were used to paying me maybe 100 bucks or whatever it was and explaining to them well, I just spent 20 hours in your server closet because you needed X, y and Z done and they never wanted to pay it. They wanted me to cut the bill in half. So from a sustainability viewpoint, from the IT business's perspective, it's just not sustainable. Right, and that was one of my pitches is break fix isn't a sustainable industry and in order to be able to hire good engineers and put them on staff, we need a more sustainable model. And that was the billing concept behind it. And I want to stay on this topic for a minute, because we talk about this all the time.
Speaker 1:Times say, oh, mr Prospect, you're currently using ABC company. Well, that's a break-fix company, right? Well, no, he'll say no, they're not a break-fix company. They're selling me managed services, I'll go. Well, they started as a break-fix company and they're still fixing iPad displays and things like that, which takes a lot of time. So technically they're not selling you managed services at the core. All they're doing is selling you a different billing model for break-fix services.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Right, and that there's the rub yeah Right, so that's good. Do you have anything else to add to that, or?
Speaker 2:Right, so that's good. Do you have anything else to add to that or no? I think it's interesting, though, when you talk about that and you know ABC company who doesn't have managed services at the core. So they've got phones, they've got printers, they've got websites, they've got, you know, like you said, screen fixes like jack of all trades, master of none sort of thing.
Speaker 1:Exactly. But boy, they're Johnny on the spot. Right, yeah, johnny on the spot, but your data is not necessarily protected.
Speaker 2:No.
Speaker 1:Because they don't have the time to make sure all that stuff's always working and it does break, and we might talk about that in a little bit. So what pricing strategies did we use? Do you remember back in the day before recurring revenue became the norm, when we started getting into pricing out managed services? Do you remember how much of a hurricane it felt like Because we tried so many different ways to try to price it because customers just didn't want it?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. Things that looking back or just so silly, like trying to find a service level. That was just the bare bones that somebody's going to bite, and then maybe we can upsell them and then selling a few of those and regretting it at some point down the road.
Speaker 1:Remember, we sold annual contracts, yeah. Then we switched to monthly because competitors were selling monthly. Boy, that was a mistake, wasn't it?
Speaker 2:And block time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and only because competitors were doing it. We don't do that anymore. Instead of following trends, we're the innovators and they're trying to catch up with us now.
Speaker 2:And I think that it's. Also it feels good when you you know, now that we've grown and we're out meeting with other MSPs and going to conferences and they're talking about pricing structure and they're talking about, you know, bundling in your cyber with the support piece and things that we got to through our gut and understanding you know what customer needs and what also worked best for us. It's kind of a warm fuzzy when you you've realized that you're you know you're doing the right thing and you have your gut instinct was right in you know structuring things as they become.
Speaker 1:So, um. So when we look back again, right now we're stepping back. This first segment's all about stepping back. What do you think helped you build trust with clients in that era? I mean, let's not talk about how we do it now, let's talk about how we had to do it then.
Speaker 2:It was all about. It was really all about the quality of the clients that we had, their willingness to vouch for us. And then, you know, back in the day, I got a lot of from you too, got a lot of our leads from a group called BNI, and it was a quality group and quality people, and those people were referring us yeah and there was something to be said.
Speaker 2:When you know, this person said, hey, I've got a lead for you, like this is warm and I vouch for you, and so that that, I think, was a big piece of it. Everything was based on a reputation, I mean it still is, but we've got kind of a wider reach. But everything, our reputation, was everything at the time and it still is.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:But that's how we got it.
Speaker 1:And we were the only ones scaling a help desk here locally, so we were able to respond within minutes, remotely, instead of and that's what I heard a lot when we would bring on a new customer. They had to wait hours or days, and with us they switched and it was minutes Now, granted, you said earlier yes, help desk is part of it, but we don't lead in with that. That is expected, I think, but back then it wasn't no. So let's get in, let's fast forward. Okay, all right, and I know it's better to.
Speaker 2:It's easier to think in the now than in history, especially now To have a little effect that goes yeah, Woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo woo.
Speaker 1:Okay, Fast forward to today. Cybersecurity is no longer optional right, it is a necessity. So what major cybersecurity event do you think was a turning point for the industry?
Speaker 2:I can't pinpoint one. There are just so many. It's so commonplace now, unfortunately.
Speaker 1:Do you remember when our industry really started to scale and grow 2017. Do you remember 2017 to COVID? We started to see a huge uptick, right, and before that it was just randoms, right. That was when the WannaCry ransomware event happened and it was huge. It was global seismic shift in how organizations viewed cybersecurity, because everybody was scared. All of a sudden it affected over 200,000 computers, which was big back then, and now we're seeing more scale, but across 150 countries. So it kind of set the precedent. But remember the Target credit card attack when data was starting to get leaked? I think that was in what, 2013? Data was starting to get leaked. I think that was in what 2013? And then there were other known vulnerabilities with patching and Windows, and I think the WannaCry affected a lot of that. The Edward Snowden leaks we started to see whistleblowers and leaks like that. So people were starting to get spooked, but businesses weren't necessarily changing their mindset yet, but it was setting the stage.
Speaker 2:And I think too the government started with HIPAA and electronic medical records and that sort of thing.
Speaker 2:That started becoming a buzzword yeah and you know we did a lot with medical, so of course that was a big deal for us. And then you know inklings of nist, which became cmmc like that was kind of happening too. So there was a lot of that. And then you mentioned covid. That was huge, was huge because we've always been built on doing everything remotely and then all of a sudden every business in the world needed to do something remotely. So it was just, it was so smooth, like fitting into that need because we were built that way from the get-go.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And setting it up for other companies was nothing.
Speaker 1:Do you remember how easy that was for us?
Speaker 2:It was just like gravy. I would have four or five leads come in a week and we would close four or five of them. It was just from a salesperson's perspective. I was an order taker at that point. I mean we could hardly keep up with the amount of stuff that we had coming in. Yeah, I mean we could hardly keep up with the amount of stuff that we had coming in. Yeah, that was. I mean, I was much of a crappy time as it was. That was a bright spot.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:From a sales perspective, Because a lot of businesses couldn't handle that and we were just a. It fit like a glove.
Speaker 1:Not to mention COVID is, I think, when I started drinking beer, and that's how the show was born.
Speaker 2:Oh, really Well, I didn't.
Speaker 1:Was I drinking beer before that?
Speaker 2:I think so yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, 10 years ago, many clients viewed cybersecurity as a technical afterthought, something to address only after a breach or a system failure. So today, clients expect continuous monitoring, threat protection, detection and incident response plans as part of their IT services. And that is, I mean, that's where the stage is now and we'll talk about where it's going here in a few minutes, but it definitely cybersecurity has. Definitely the ones that were at the forefront of it like us. It gave us a huge competitive advantage Because I know MSPs out there. I meet them all the time at conferences. They're still playing catch up. Yeah, we're not all created the same, no. So what role does? You were talking about compliance and I kind of want to dig into that. What role does compliance play in shaping IT service offerings today? How does it fit in?
Speaker 2:Well, I think that for me, as a salesperson targeting companies, I know that the best targets are those that have some sort of regulatory compliance that they need to adhere to. It's a much easier conversation because they're familiar most times with what they need to do.
Speaker 1:So it's easy. But how do you educate them without overwhelming them? I mean, how is that? It's a much easier conversation because they're familiar most times with what they need to do, so it's easy. But how do you educate them without overwhelming them? I mean, how?
Speaker 2:is that? I mean I know because we can get into the weeds with it, with them, but do you kind of, do you go ahead? I mean I would imagine you listen and then kind of, oh yeah, oh yeah. I mean 90% of what I do is listening in a discovery meeting what the pain points are, what compliance issues they may, meeting and going through the entire offering and associating the different line items with requirements that I know they might have.
Speaker 2:And they might know too, or it might be news to them, you know, so usually I save that for. Hey, you know you're going to, you're dealing with sensitive data and CUI or PHI, and so this encryption tool would be great for you.
Speaker 1:Is it an option?
Speaker 2:That is an option.
Speaker 1:Is cybersecurity an option?
Speaker 2:No, no, and that's something we changed years ago is just knowing that. You know. It just was a sticky conversation and this is kind of part of, at this point, the sales pitch you know it just was a sticky conversation and this is kind of part of, at this point, the sales pitch, you know, because I can show, you know, this big section full of all these, you know, cyber security related things, and I lost my train of thought, I lost my train of thought.
Speaker 1:Well, I mean, I would say that it would line up with what we were talking about earlier. Sometime between 2017 and 2020 is when cybersecurity became the norm.
Speaker 2:Oh, you said it's not an option.
Speaker 1:So it's not an option. And was that about the time? I think that was about the time we changed it around 2017.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we just kept having these weird conversations when somebody would say opt out of email threat protection, and then something came through through an email and somebody clicked on something.
Speaker 2:And they're like well, you didn't protect me.
Speaker 2:And then we had to say well, you know, when you accepted the quote, you didn't want this, so you weren't protected.
Speaker 2:So it just became kind of a pain to have those conversations and you know, we just had to take a hard line of we want to be a company that does things by the book and by best practices and if you want to do business with us you're going to have to take on, you know, these sorts of protections, because it, you know, from a business standpoint, you don't want your engineers chasing down all these things that you could have easily invented by selling something that costs two bucks per user.
Speaker 2:It just didn't make any sense. So when we were able to figure out you know how to price it, so that, and I think when we got to a certain volume or we were able to kind of negotiate with our vendors and come up with a pricing strategy that would allow us to include it, you know that was a big thing too. You know, just having the timing so we could kind of take a hard line on hey, if you want to work with us, you got to do this, and you know you want to do it anyway. Yeah, so that but, and we didn't really have a lot of pushback when we did that?
Speaker 2:No, we didn't really have a lot of pushback when we did that.
Speaker 1:No, we didn't At all and you know, just kind of step back. It's okay if you lose your train of thought next to me, because every time I sit next to you I lose my train of thought Because you know our producer's laughing behind the scenes. Ladies and gentlemen, he grew up in his trap. Oh, come on now. So what's one cyber security myth? You wish more business owners understood, and I I I know where I want to take this question why don't you take it?
Speaker 1:well, tell me what you think is the one cyber security myth.
Speaker 2:So put yourself when I ran into the other day okay, good, oh, my goodness so I met with this potential prospect. Um, and they were just. The contract was a big sticking point for them and kind of educated them on why a contract was important for both sides and they agreed with that.
Speaker 1:Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2:But they were so fixated on this one certain point, which was how do we keep—this is them talking—how do we keep your engineers from stealing our data? Yeah, and then me, I think, trying to explain to them that you know, we background check and we do all these things and we're not going to have access to certain things, but what you really need to be worried about are your people.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2:That was a difficult conversation.
Speaker 1:We don't look at customers' data. We see metrics, we see tickets. I mean that's the world we live in. Electrics. We see tickets. I mean that's the world we live in, and but an employee I mean our, our, our people aren't going to get disgruntled. I mean we signed a contract yeah, it's built into the culture of digital boardwalk, right, but we're not actually looking at their data anyway no, I mean you want to say, and it's encrypted, many things to do exactly.
Speaker 2:Then worry about stealing your data or somebody doing that.
Speaker 1:I would say the big myth is well, ms Kathleen, my business is too small to be attacked. Why would they care about me? They're not going to come after me, they're going to go after Target. They're going to go after Microsoft. They're going to go after Microsoft. Well, microsoft lives in your organization too, mr Prospect, because all those machines sitting on your desks are Microsoft. What I like to say to them if you're online, you're a target.
Speaker 2:And most bad actors know that the smaller guys aren't going to have the protections in place, so it's easy pickings to go after the smaller people yeah.
Speaker 1:I mean, and they don't discriminate because they use botnets now, and I mean it's all automated. They're using AI and they're using bot networks to scan computers across the globe. Until it finds an opening, it creates a ticket for them. They're sitting in a cubicle just like an employee. They're clocking in the bad Bob that we do. If anybody ever wants to tune into that, you can find it at Digital Boardwalk TV on YouTube. But we did a whole series on what we called Bad Bob and it's the bad actor that goes to work, says goodbye to his wife and kids every day, goes to work, but he's sitting at a cubicle to attack American businesses, and that's what's going on.
Speaker 2:And they have great customer service oh my God, yeah.
Speaker 1:So let's jump into segment three because, time permitting, this is going to be called scaling through tech, so we'll talk about scaling why clients now come to us instead of us looking for them. I mean, our phones ring all the time. Today, businesses are coming to IT providers with a clear goal scale through technology. So, kathleen, what's the biggest difference in how clients approach you today versus 10 years ago? I told you we were going to get into the today, so when they come to you today as opposed to 10 years ago, what's that polarizing difference?
Speaker 2:I think they're. Now they're looking to be more efficient, like with Office 365 and SharePoint and all of that. I think that they're looking for ways. They're looking for ways to automate, they're looking for ways to utilize the technology that they have to better their process and better their business.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's more seen as a growth enabler now. I'd say 10 years ago it more seen as a growth enabler now, I'd say 10 years ago it was seen as a cost center. It was just something on the debit side, on the expense side of their books, that they didn't necessarily want to pay for, but every now and then they knew they needed. Now it's a necessity.
Speaker 2:I had a meeting earlier and this exact thing came up. It was with an existing customer and they said hey, I'm looking for a I couldn't remember what he called it, but basically they were looking for kind of a way to approve purchases. And James was on the call with me James Todd, our CIO, and he said well, you can go at it two ways. You can buy an application that sits on the server that's going to be very, very in-depth and you'll be able to tweak it exactly the way you want it, or you can use SharePoint.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And there's an approval process that you can build into SharePoint and it costs you nothing.
Speaker 1:It's a game changer.
Speaker 2:It's just so versatile and there's so many things that you can do with it, and I think that companies are just now seeing the possibilities with SharePoint.
Speaker 1:Well, and not just that, but I mean we had a really large customer lean on us recently for a. They wanted more efficiency on how the communication and the ticketing between their ticketing system and our ticketing system and and their, their, their other main CRM, you know, and and they wanted it all to talk together. So our AI coding team at Digital Boardwalk went ahead and I mean it took a while. Right, I want to say that whole project we probably spent somewhere between four and six months on, I mean with testing and everything because it had to be foolproof. On I mean with testing and everything because it had to be foolproof. We developed integration between all those platforms and we got raving reviews and we were able to make them more efficient in the way all that workflow happens. So it's basically robotic process automation and being able to have one trigger have an if-then effect. So if this happens, then this is going to happen.
Speaker 2:So how do you that says a lot too, though. We have an AI department.
Speaker 1:I know.
Speaker 2:Like that's new.
Speaker 1:Well and think about it, we had a cybersecurity department before. Cybersecurity was really been pushed by a lot of MSPs.
Speaker 2:Now we have an AI department, because that is the next huge evolution of what we do. And I think the coolest part is when we talked to Brian, who was Brian Wilkie, who was our COO, and you know, just ask the question like, how many automated hours did we have this?
Speaker 1:Yeah, no-transcript.
Speaker 2:Oh, we had 5,000. It's just kind of crazy when you think about how much automation we have in place, and when you equate that to staff, it's nuts.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think we would have. At least, if we didn't have any of it in place, we would have at least 12 to 15 more employees than we do now. Yeah, which I mean. There's good and bad to that, right, right, but I think the good that comes out of it is we can lower our customers' costs and do more.
Speaker 2:And be more accurate.
Speaker 1:So how do you help clients identify the right technologies to scale their business? And I promise we've only got a couple more questions left, so I mean we have to work within the tools that we have. Right.
Speaker 2:Again, we're not trying to be, like I mentioned before, a jack of all trade. So if it can be done within Sharehouse, we do have partners who can consult and find, you know, the right match for their need.
Speaker 1:So what's a? Give me one example Now. I know you've been doing a lot of case studies on this show today. I mean, we've talked about a couple of different customers and I'm going to ask one more. Give me an example of a company that transformed through managed IT services by Digital Boardwalk without naming names, obviously. Can you give me a case study?
Speaker 2:And this was a case study done several years ago. But we had an HVAC company and we completely transformed their business through iPad and SharePoint.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Like they would go out, they, they would send their I don't know measure out. No, it was. It was a floor company or HVAC, I can't remember. I maybe it was a flooring company. They would send somebody out, they would measure, they would take those measurements back, they would walk it over to whoever did the pricing.
Speaker 2:That person would do all their numbers and send it back to that person, who would get it to the salesperson, who would go so inefficient, yeah, yeah so we ended up working with them and figuring out a way that basically everything could happen all at once on site through a tablet First meeting, you know, assessment of you know what materials and space and all that stuff Price generated there, and a signature as well, right, which is huge, you know. So what may have taken a week or so happened in one visit.
Speaker 1:So you talked earlier about you know how. Help Desk is one of our services, obviously, but we don't lead in with that, that's a known thing. So how do you position your team as strategic, our team, sorry as strategic partners versus just a tech support arm? You know, if you will, you know, I mean, I can think of a couple things off the top of my head. I mean, strategic planning is obvious, Continuous improvement.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:We talked about that yeah.
Speaker 2:Well, you know, there's always got to be communication between us and the customer, because everything, things are constantly changing, whether it's a new threat or a new capability within SharePoint or-.
Speaker 1:So knowledge training, yeah Right.
Speaker 2:There's always something that we need to be or something's end of life. Right now, we're in the middle of the Windows 10 to Windows 11 transition.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's been keeping us busy.
Speaker 2:And we're constantly trying to be proactive in all ways. So when we bring on a customer, you know we offer that. This is what we want to be. We want to be a partner to you and we explain all the ways we can. Some people take advantage of it, some people don't, but you know a lot of them do. And we have our virtual CIO meetings and that's where a lot of this can be discussed, and we try to meet with our customers twice a year to talk about where we are, where we've been and where do you want to go. And here's what we see that you might need to think about and here's a non-negotiable that we've got to deal with.
Speaker 1:And then listen, listen, yeah, and then build a strategic plan around it and go to strategy with it. So the big final loaded question and I love this question because we talked about it briefly earlier, so this should be easy as pie.
Speaker 2:I hope so.
Speaker 1:What trends do you see shaping the future of IT management and client relationships?
Speaker 2:We talked about the automation. I mean that's the biggest thing.
Speaker 1:About zero trust.
Speaker 2:Zero trust is huge.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:We didn't get into specifics of that. I mean, there are lots of neat cybersecurity tools that we're seeing and that we're implementing we're already automating patching yeah, and we've all. We've done that since day one threat detection's automated.
Speaker 1:Now backups are automated um.
Speaker 2:We've automated the pen pen test scans we got a really cool tool that we just rolled out that automates PC setups, which is huge.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I mean, that's just a massive time saver, especially right now when we've got thousands, literally thousands, of replacements that we're having to do.
Speaker 1:And I think trust and privacy is huge. I mean, that's where the zero trust that I was talking about comes in. I mean those customers that are really worried about those types of things. That's when you want to lean on zero trust, because there's more data and touch points happening now, so I mean it's complicated. Yeah, so zero trust means everything has to be verified before they can do it. Everything has to be verified before they can do it, and I mean you can't get into your bank on your phone without face detection or whatever.
Speaker 2:I think that's one that we're really going to have to. That's one that's hard to educate on and hard to get people to buy in. There is a cost to it, but it's the way things are going.
Speaker 1:You know Absolutely Well. Why are you giving me that? Look, cause you don't know what I'm about to hit you with.
Speaker 2:I thought that was it.
Speaker 1:We're going to hit you with the rapid fire questions. You can give me one, one word to one sentence answers on these. So I'm going to keep it fast and we're going to go fast. First thing that pops in your head, give me an answer. Don't look at me, look straight at that camera. Your camera's over there, your camera's right there.
Speaker 2:Oh, okay.
Speaker 1:All right, caleb I mean Jared get Kathleen zoomed in. Here we go. Are you ready, kathleen?
Speaker 2:I guess so.
Speaker 1:Mac or PC.
Speaker 2:PC.
Speaker 1:Favorite tech tool right now.
Speaker 2:Gosh my watch. I mean that's a tech tool, right. I mean, find my is my favorite button on this thing.
Speaker 1:That's more than one word or one sentence. I'm just kidding. First job in tech.
Speaker 2:I was a technical recruiter for a company called interim. I found help desk people for dell and round rock awesome biggest sales win oh gosh, there have been a lot most underrated it service.
Speaker 1:You can think about this one for a second.
Speaker 2:Don't take too long, yeah, underrated. Most underrated it service I don't know we don't underrate any, it All right.
Speaker 1:Good, good answer Coffee or tea? During client calls Coffee. One word to describe cybersecurity today. Necessity, necessity dream client industry dream client industry yeah, who is your dream client? What? What industry do they come from? They'd have to be like law okay, best pensacola lunch spot for business meetings I'm just a sucker for cactus flower, social or business. Hey, there's a plug for cactus flower on 12th Avenue in Pensacola, right next to DeNovo Salon.
Speaker 2:Yes, Palanzo, though for breakfast, Ah yeah, they got good breakfast.
Speaker 1:Yeah. What's one thing people might not know about your journey to becoming chief revenue officer at Digital Boardwalk? One thing they might not know about your journey to becoming chief revenue officer at Digital Boardwalk One thing they might not know?
Speaker 2:I don't know, it's probably a lot, they don't know.
Speaker 1:Okay, you can't name one thing.
Speaker 2:One thing what was the question?
Speaker 1:One thing people might not know about your journey to becoming the CRO at Digital Boardwalk. So what got you here? Oh, that's right.
Speaker 2:Oh, don't even.
Speaker 1:I'm kidding.
Speaker 2:I think that is not a one-word answer, so if you've got time I'll tell you.
Speaker 1:Well, we'll skip it. What's your favorite way to unwind after a long day of client meetings?
Speaker 2:Gosh watering my plants.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's good, they're everywhere they are. It's like a jungle out there.
Speaker 2:It is.
Speaker 1:And all the leaves get in our pool.
Speaker 2:No, it's because I'm not watering enough.
Speaker 1:Anyway, Kathleen, thank you so much for joining me today. I know it was kind of short notice. I'm glad that you finally came on.
Speaker 2:Make me look good.
Speaker 1:You didn't get any beer, though, and I think you were might might've been looking forward to that. We'll have you on again and we'll do beer.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Okay, I just figured. We had client meetings today and you didn't want to show up 10 minutes. You didn't want to show up all sauce, that's true? Yeah, so I see I was taking care of you, ladies and gentlemen. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for listening to another episode of Nerds on Tap, where we had Kathleen Shoup on today. And again, just a quick shout out to our sponsor, digital Boardwalk, and hey, have a nerdy day, cheers my fellow nerds and beer lovers.
Speaker 3:Stay tuned for more Nerds on Tap. Oh, and one more thing Help us spread the nerdy love and the love for grape brews by sharing this podcast with your friends, colleagues and fellow beer enthusiasts. Let's build a community that embraces curiosity, innovation and the enjoyment of a cold one.
