The Problem | Hesitation to Adopt Cloud Solutions
The mission of F1 Information Technologies is to empower tech-minded people to gain knowledge and experience and apply that to helping small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) grow. As Microsoft Exchange experts, they had so much to offer their clients, but the idea of buying another 15K Exchange server did not align with the future strategy of the company to be cloud-first.
The company’s accounting department was also experiencing billing issues caused by a previous distribution partner. The company was seeking a better way of doing business. However, the company thought they might have to go through hurdles if they migrated their business to another distributor. John Paul Keesy, President and CEO at F1 IT, kept pushing for a cloud solution and a partner to help them accomplish their goals.
The Solution | Embracing Cloud Technology
Needs for more economical, scalable solutions and a new billing process ultimately catalyzed F1 IT’s leap to the cloud — and Pax8.
F1 IT elevated a few partners in need of Office 365. With the Pax8 partnership, they began solving all their billing pain points. They were shocked at how seamless the transitions were, and the collaboration with Pax8 was so successful that they started researching other solutions offered through Pax8.
“I’m a big cheerleader for Pax8 because I know firsthand that what they are doing really works.”
– John Paul Keesy, President and CEO at F1 IT
Keesy took advantage of all Pax8 offered, including their education and Mission Briefing events. He understood the value of furthering his education and the education of his employees to apply more up-sell/cross-sell strategies and learn best practices for creating a secure, end-to-end technology stack.
What he enjoyed the most was listening and interacting with other tech professionals and CEOs at the event. The networking offered opportunities for businesses to help one another. Even with all his experience, he still gains knowledge from both the younger and tenured professionals. He believes Mission Briefings are wonderful events for both mentors and mentees.
The Benefits
World-Class Customer Experience
Keesy recalled that he loved the first Cloud Account Manager (CAM) assigned to work with his company.
“In the process of working with my CAM at Pax8, we actually became great friends. They are all about relationships and finding new ways to grow my business.”
Instead of outsourcing, the company’s CAM encouraged F1 IT to try Pax8’s Professional Services to accommodate a large migration of their clients’ licenses from AWS to Azure. There were 15-20 servers that controlled several IoT devices, which made the project complicated and delicate. After putting their trust in Pax8 and the professional services team, F1 IT successfully designed, built, and deployed the extremely complex architecture the project required.
“Pax8 made it so easy to help our clients with the large migration. The company also made it easy for us to profit because of the flat rate offered for the scope of work. It was an awesome experience that left our clients and us very satisfied.”
To this day, F1 IT leverages its CAM often to identify emerging technologies that align with projects and support its work. They have iterated their stack within the Pax8 vendor offering based on suggestions made by their representatives and have only benefited consequently.
“We have really embraced the experts at Pax8. They often call us to see what we’re working on and suggest new solutions. They offer more than the traditional sales professional and are an extension of emerging technologies in the market.”
Unmatched Microsoft Support
Pax8 went above and beyond to assist with every conceivable Microsoft issue from the onset. The level of support remains unmatched, and now F1 IT never has to reach out to Microsoft for support. Instead, they rely on Pax8 to rectify their problems twice as fast. All of their tickets are answered swiftly and with ease through Pax8.
No Data Left to the Imagination
One of the greatest struggles in the MSP community today is clearly defining your stack — to know what your costs are and to convey your value to clients.
“You know what your numbers are with Pax8. This enables us to budget appropriately and gain more profitability.”
The Pax8 Platform has helped F1 IT easily quote, order, bill, and provision cloud products in one place, with one monthly bill. The accounting department knows this firsthand, and now, they can catch incorrect billings and know when to make increases. It has also reduced the pain of manual billing and freed up the team to work on other projects.
“With Pax8, we can catch billing errors that could have resulted in a profit loss. Their technology catches any billing mistakes, and Pax8 has helped us capture more revenue.”
Building a Tech Stack Right for Clients
After the initial concerns about cloud migration were dispelled, it was time to start building their stack with Pax8.
“The Pax8 Platform allows us to switch between vendors and solutions in one place, which is a game-changer for our business. Ultimately, It enables us to make better buying decisions for our clients. And there’s power in that.”
Keesy was also thrilled because having a solid technology stack for his clients made upselling easier.
The Results | Growth in Numbers
Through the collaboration with Pax8, F1 IT is accomplishing its mission of helping SMBs grow. F1 IT started with just two employees, a few dozen clients, and hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue. Since 2003, they’ve grown to 18 employees, and their revenue has risen to more than $3 million. With Pax8, cloud growth has tripled year over year. F1 IT ‘s success has been paid forward to all their clients.
“Through the years, we have grown as a company, and that growth would not have happened without partners like Pax8. As we continue to migrate more of our clients to the cloud and build on their technology stacks, we are grateful that Pax8 has our back.”