Perspectives

Technology Continues to Drive the Middle Market

“Private equity is in its infancy [when using alternative data]. There are a handful of firms that are adopting it, but it’s a fairly small number. Some are investing and growing their teams by adding data scientists and engineers and data sets. It’s growing, but it’s early days in the PE world.”

JASON HILLS,

Chief Revenue Officer for Facteus Inc., discusses how deal-makers need to embrace alternative data

“As you have multiple generations with varying needs and unique levels of technology experience, it’s difficult to find that perfect solution to meet all of your various different users. Aligning those expectations, timelines, training and open communication are core to a successful implementation.”

CHRISTINA CHURCHILL,

Consulting Principal for Family Offices, RSM US LLP, on the challenge faced by family offices as they adopt new technology systems

“We are seeing a lot of energy and power deals come to market, and technology is an active participant. In some regions, it’s underperforming and in some it’s overperforming, but everybody is looking at technology deals. There are lot of new technology companies buying new technologies and new talent.”

BRIAN HWANG,

Director of Corporate Development & Global Partnerships for SS&C Intralinks, discusses his firm’s Deal Flow Predictor THERE IS NOW SOMETHING CALLED ZOOM ETIQUETTE … AND I FIND THAT PEOPLE ARE MORE RESPECTFUL WHEN SPEAKING OVER ZOOM. ALSO, A MEETING THAT TAKES THREE HOURS IN PERSON CAN BE DONE IN 90 MINUTES.

GRETCHEN PERKINS,

Partner at Avance Investment Management, on the impact of remote work and virtual meetings during the past year

Tackling the Tech Needs of SMBs

With two acquisitions under its belt this year and a rebrand set for summer, ECS/My IT takes on an overlooked market

By Phil Albinus

Amazon, IBM, and Google IT and cloud services might be a perfect fit for global enterprises with tens of thousands of employees, but these tech giants’ offerings are often overkill for small to medium-sized businesses with 200 technology seats and no dedicated IT support. Enter firms like ECS/My IT, a Shreveport and New Orleans, Louisiana-based IT services company that focuses on the tech needs of the SMB sector.

While it offers and resells some of the services from the IT giants, ECS/ My IT’s back office, IT and compliance offerings allow clients to focus on their core businesses, says CEO Kevin Cook.

SMBs with 200 people are the company’s “sweet spot,” and it can scale up to 1,600 technology endpoints, according to Cook. “These are tight businesses and it’s interesting to see how the industry has evolved to adapt to the needs of our clients, because that’s what keeps us relevant,” he says.

This looks to be a year of growth for ECS/My IT, thanks to its partnership with private equity firms Kian Capital and ParkSouth Ventures, which officially acquired the businesses last year. ECS (Enterprise Computing Services) merged with My IT in 2020 and plans to acquire more businesses in the coming months and to rebrand itself in June. In April, ECS/My IT acquired The Purple Guys (TPG), a Kansas City, Kansas-based managed service provider with more than 175 clients located in the Midwest. This acquisition is ECS/My IT’s first foray in this region.

“With the acquisition of TPG by ECS/My IT, we’ll be able to provide our client base enhanced solutions and offerings, broaden our geographic reach and strengthen the combined companies,” said Jon Schram, president of The Purple Guys, in a press statement.

“We’re not out looking for fixer uppers. We’re looking for fairly sizeable, well-run, mature companies in the MSP (managed service provider) space that are in geographies that make sense for us,” says Cook, who describes his company’s growth strategy as “pretty aggressive.”

Matt Levenson, partner at Kian Capital, says that finding the right fit was key to The Purple Guys acquisition.

“There’s 20,000 MSPs out there, give or take, and a lot of them are not companies that we’re going to be interested in for a variety of reasons. But even the ones that we are, they’re getting a lot of inbound [calls] in a very competitive market,” Levenson says. “You’ve got to hit people at the right time with the right message. Fit is not just fit from a systems and service delivery standpoint, but it’s also a cultural fit.”

ECS/My IT’s new branding will start internally for employees and then move externally. “We’ve been working through a process to figure out who we want to be,” Cook says. “We’ll come together under one common brand and as we make acquisitions, we would then roll them up under the new brand.” //