245: Make IT Your Bi*ch with Lenny Giller

23
Sep

Lenny Giller, Principal and Visionary Leader of Reliable Technology Services, Inc., is driven by a passion for helping businesses make IT their bi*ch by achieving their goals and enhancing their success through technology.

We learn about Lenny’s RTS Account Management Framework, which helps clients by setting communication expectations, understanding their goals, tracking performance KPIs, holding them accountable, and using technology strategically. He emphasizes the importance of aligning technology solutions with a company’s mission to drive productivity and security. Lenny also shares how fostering client accountability ensures that technology investments support long-term growth and business success.

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Listen to the podcast here

 

Make IT Your Bi*ch with Lenny Giller

Good day, dear listeners. Steve Preda here with the Management Blueprint Podcast. My guest today is Lenny Giller, the Principal and Visionary Leader of Reliable Technology Services, Inc., a leading managed IT services provider helping small to mid-sized businesses in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Washington DC, and Virginia. Lenny, welcome to the show.

Thank you for having me. Happy to be here.

Well, I’m very excited to have you. And let’s start with your personal “Why” and how it manifests in your business. What is it that drives you that make you want to do your business?

My personal “Why,” that’s a good one. Helping people, I guess that would be it. From young age, I’ve always had more pleasure of giving than getting, I guess. I always enjoy the smiles of people’s faces when I help them to achieve, whether it’s their goal or their mission or whatever the case is. So I think that’s really the “Why.”

Well, a managed service providing company, MSP, is all about helping people avoid IT troubles and risk and security breaches and mobility. I mean, what else? Did I miss anything?

No, there’s a lot. You always start with their “Why.” What they’re trying to achieve. What is their mission? What are their goals? Anytime we sit down with a prospect, they always want to jump right into technology. Because they’re talking to technology specialists. So in their mind, that’s what we want to talk about. And we always politely guide them or tell us about your “Why,” tell us about your mission. Tell me about why you guys do what you do and how you guys do it. That will tell me what technologies we need to implement. Once we understand what works in your business and what doesn't work in your business, we can make sure the technology helps you grow and achieve your mission statement. Share on X

Okay, so that’s a good segue to the framework. So this is a podcast of blueprints, frameworks and you’ve got a great management framework, which I think you guys call it the RTS Account Management framework. So you talked about understanding client goals. I think the first step is setting expectations for communication. So tell me a little bit about what it means to set communication expectations for clients.

So one of our core values is communicate well. Communication comes in a lot of different forms. And it doesn’t really matter what business you’re in. Account management is first and foremost in client retention. Understanding and delivering the service that you promised them, it’s critical. So what we’ve done is we sat down and we basically asked ourselves, what does the client life cycle look like for RTS? What is important question? There’s a lot within the managed IT services community, there is a lot of, oh, you should touch him this many times, and this is why. We kind of set all that aside. Best practices aside for managed IT services, and we ask ourselves, what does our client lifecycle look like from onboarding to annual reviews? And when we identified all the touch points, we asked ourselves, are they still relevant? Are they bringing value to the customer? And what do we need to talk to them about? In our industry, a lot of companies come in and they want to talk about, look what we have done for you this quarter or since last time we’ve met. KPIs are important in any business. Managing vendors is critical. We want to make sure that we provide those KPIs and their information in real time. Share on X And when we actually have clients in front of us, we wanna make sure that we deliver the most value for them at that time. And that value is by understanding their business, by continuing to talk about what happened in your business outside of technology in the past four months, three months, six months, what has been the last time we’ve met. Has there been any pivot, any changes, anything that you guys are trying to achieve that we are not aware of, because we want to make sure that technology is there to support your growth. Once we understood all of that, we put together our playbook as to how many times we’re going to touch the customer. And it really starts in the very beginning during the onboarding. During the onboarding, we try to understand everything that the customer has. Then we want to understand what systems they’re using and how critical is each system. Based on all that information, we can go down and say, this is what the technology plan is going to look like for the next 12, 24, and 36 months. We always want to keep in mind that in today’s world, we have to be elastic enough to go from one direction to another. So how do we incorporate all of that? How do we make sure that we engage not just the C-suite, but also everyday employees, because they are the ones that are in the trenches. Those are the people that actually understand how technology being utilized day in and day out. And sometimes there is a disconnect between what they’re seeing and how the technology should be optimized for business needs. So once we understand all that, we set the framework of how many times we’re going to meet with them, what are the agendas are going to be, what are the KPIs for each meeting, and then just how we’re going to move forward, how many times we’re going to meet.

Okay. So you set the communication expectations, they know how you’re going to get on the same page and how you’re going to iterate as to what they need, and how you measure it. You understand their goals, what they’re trying to get to. Then you also said that you have some KPIs when you’re tracking performance. So what does it look like? Give me a couple of examples of what kind of KPIs are you tracking and how do you use that to stay on expectations with your clients?

Well, the standard KPIs is how quickly we answer the ticket. What is the time to resolution though? Those are standard KPIs. The KPIs that I’m talking about is project KPIs. Are we moving the company forward? Are we moving the projects forward? Are we securing the environment fast enough? And the reason it’s kind of hard for me to answer that, I don’t want to go into standard KPIs for every managed IT company, right? And it’s all about service delivery. How fast we respond to their issues, and so forth. For us, it’s important to identify the technology plan and actually move the technology plan forward. Some of those KPIs are not just RTS KPIs, those are client-facing KPIs as well, meaning they have responsibility to move that technology plan forward as well. What we find in a lot of cases is that when we’re engaging with a prospect, they understand that they have a problem. They understand that they have a need and they’re ready to make that switch for whatever reason. And they’re excited about the prospect of getting everything fixed. Once that excitement fades away, contracts are signed and the work begins, we can’t forget that they’re busy running their own business. So a lot of that stuff still keep creeping up and a lot of technology stuff is still being put on the back burner. So we wanna make sure that they are just as responsible as we are to move our projects forward. Whether it's migrations, whether it's security, whatever the case is, we need to make sure that we're all on the same page. Share on X And those KPIs, we always agree ahead of time that we want here’s the project and here’s all the milestones and here’s who’s responsible for those milestones and when they have to be done.

Okay, that’s good. So you set the communication expectations, you established, understand your goals, you set your KPIs, so you make sure that you are delivering at the level that you agreed and what helps the client. What about accountability? So what’s the relationship, the accountability relationship between you and your clients?

Accountability, everybody has to be accountable for their own stuff, and that’s why we have the KPIs. We have no power over the clients. We can be a partner to them and call them out when it’s appropriate. But at the end of the day, KPIs, that’s something that they have to be responsible for themselves. We’re going to remind them of everything, we’re going to remind them of the importance. We’re always going to offer to help wherever we can. There are certain staff at the end of the day that they still have to be accountable for that for themselves.

So can you give me an example of what is the stuff that they have to hold up their end of the bargain for you to be able to affect it?

Security is probably one of the biggest issues. A lot of companies still to this day lacking in cybersecurity. And when you start implementing cybersecurity practices, there are changes that have to be implemented across the board. And the biggest change that we see is the mindset that has to take place. And sometimes communicating to your team internally as to why that needs to happen and how that’s going to affect them. It’s difficult. And that is probably one of the hardest things for organizations to do, because everybody’s busy, they’re afraid to upset the apple cart, because if something is working, and now we’re introducing complexities to them, nobody wants to do that. So that’s probably one of the hardest things that we have to keep them accountable for, is that communication to the customer, to their internal client, how we go, how their security is going to change.

Yeah, I can imagine people feel like it’s bureaucracy, I don’t have time for that, I have to deliver. But then the company is being exposed and you want to mitigate the risk. That makes sense. OK, well, finally, the last element of this framework that you mentioned is using technology strategically. So what does it mean using technology strategically and what are examples of strategic technology usage?

So understanding technology and the technology used strategically is first of all, understanding the company needs and company challenges. Once you understand that, you can understand what technologies can be put in place to fix whatever problem that the company is having or move the mission forward by creating productivity efficiency. One of the examples would be, we had a customer, because of the nature of their business, they have a lot of turnover. They’ve been in business for 20 to 30 years in the same area. So when they’re continuing to hire and they turn people over, getting new talent is kind of difficult in the same area. What we were able to do is to take their system fully into the cloud, and they were able to start hiring anywhere within the United States. That solved a very big problem for them.

Wow. Yeah, that’s cool. I think this was the area which I was most excited about when I hired my technology service company was, what ideas can they bring to the table that will make my business more productive? And we had like, we had two or three monitors, there was one idea, then we had mobility, and it was back in the 2000s, it was still a big deal. So we had BlackBerry’s and mobility, that was another idea, and people could work remotely, and we had document management that also improved effectiveness and productivity. So I felt like it was one of the best investment I could have was to have a creative MSP, because they allowed me to save money on hiring people and on communication.

That is correct. The only thing that I would add to that is just to be careful when you get those recommendations. Because a lot of recommendations come during the pre-sale. And the reason I’m saying that be careful because how much time do we really spend understanding the customer’s needs during our pre-sale process. Not enough. So what’s important from the prospect standpoint, from the organization standpoint, is to understand what are the processes that the IT company they’re vetting are going to implement once they are selected. Because the technology needs to be driven by the company needs.

Yeah, I think prioritization is very important. And I guess what you’re saying is, or what I’m hearing is that not all technology improvements are created equal and some are going to move the needle in a big way and others will have marginal impact. And then you want to make sure you work on the ones that really make a big difference and not the marginal ones.

That is correct.

Yeah. So what are the hottest areas for MSPs these days to tackle?

Security, bar none. I know a lot of people will say AI because that’s the cool new thing, but security is first and foremost. The reason I’m saying security is because for the past, security has been an issue for a long time, but for the past five years, finally the market started to realize that SMBs are just as vulnerable, and sometimes even more so than enterprise companies. It was very difficult for us to engage with customers to talk to them about security, because security always meant two things for them, additional cost and change in productivity. And mainly because they didn’t understand it. The excuse that we always heard, well, we’re small, who cares? Nobody’s going after us, we’re fine, we don’t need security. And unfortunately, the only time that they would engage with us is after the breach, after the fact. But now with the spread of the fact that yes, there is more and more of small businesses being put in the forefront that they just experienced the breach, now everybody is actually more willing to discuss that and come to the table with open mind. And that is probably the biggest thing that MSPs can do today is to secure their clients and partners.

So what are the kind of breaches that happen? Is it all phishing expeditions that break into companies or there are other security dangers that are lurking about?

Oh, they’re always going after data. This is what they’re after. Whether they want to exfiltrate the data and then hold it ransom, and basically say, unless you’re going to pay the ransom, we’re going to go public with that information. And sometimes it’s sensitive information and cannot be in public domain. And there are other times where they all they’re trying to do is just encrypt your organization’s data. So you are not able to work. At the end of the day, they’re trying to go after your data. And what they’re looking for is the ransom.

Yeah, that is pretty frightening. Now, I understand that there are some insurance companies that offer cyber insurance. So how does that protect someone?

So cyber insurance is something that we always ask our customers to get and we try to explain to them the importance of that. No matter how much money we spend, no matter how much effort we’re going to put in cybersecurity, there is always a risk of zero-day vulnerability or a user making a mistake and clicking on something. Somebody can still get into the system and do something. And cybersecurity is just going to give you that protection from financial damage. How it helps us, the MSPs, is when the insurance broker comes to them and they’re trying to sell them yet another policy and the customer actually pays attention and says, yes, I’d like to get that policy. They ask him to fill out a questionnaire. That questionnaire, some of it is very technical in nature, so they come to us. And this gives us an opportunity to reiterate all the things that we’ve been telling them for years. And we’ll explain to them why 2FA is important or whatever else they’re asking for that the customer has been telling us for years that they don’t have the funds and they don’t need it or whatever other excuse they could come up with. And that’s what helps us close that gap between understanding that they have a security threat or that they have a problem and how to fix that problem.

Yeah, it’s interesting. It’s similar to what some of the health insurance companies do these days. They go to the employees, they tell them that, hey, if you want to get the best rate, then you have to drop 10 pounds and you have to stop smoking. And if you do this and that, you have to exercise three times a week. So basically, give them a checklist for health. And now, if you want a good rates, you have to follow the checklist, which means you have to do the heavy lifting of doing things the right way. And I guess that’s kind of similar. They have to address, can’t put their heads in the sand. They have to address the cyber risks and have the experts fix them, basically.

That is correct.

All right, so we’re coming towards the end of the show. I have another question for you. What do you do that most excites you these days?

The company or me personally within the company, within my role?

Well, it’s your business. So what is Reliable Technology Services doing that is an exciting project for you?

We’ve been in business for a long time. One thing we have never done is been a part of the community. And it’s shameful, but that’s my reality. Earlier this year, we hired a vice president of business development. His name is Christopher Dunn, and he brought a lot of energy with him, and we are out and about. And one of the most exciting things for me right now is all of the business leaders in the community that are meeting, and we’re working on our 2025 community engagement plan right now, and that is probably one of the most exciting things that I’m working on currently. It's how we're going to identify non-profit organizations that we're gonna support, and how we're gonna support them. Share on X

Yeah, that’s really cool. I also saw that you posted a couple of blogs on LinkedIn as well, and sharing some of the ideas that you have about IT and security and your business, how you formulate your core values. Actually, your core values are quite unusual and I love the acronym TECHS. So what does TECHS stand for?

I guess we should let people know that you played a big role in our core values. At least guiding us in the way of coming up with our core values. So how you and I met, you were our original EOS implementer. So what we’ve done is, by your recommendation, is we identified who are the people and what value do they care that we would want to recreate across all of our organizations. And what we came up with, and it just spelled out tags by mistake, but it’s take ownership, expect excellence, communicate well, help first and selfless. This is really what drives RTS’s mission forward.

Yeah, I love that. I particularly like the expect excellence piece, which is really setting a standard to yourself and essentially putting your people on the spot that, hey, we expect excellence from your core values and we have to deliver and we have to put ourselves under pressure to do that. And I think that’s a very entrepreneurial thing when you paint yourself into a corner and there’s kind of burn the bridges and there’s no way out but forward and creating the excellence that you’re looking for. So I love it. All right, so if listeners would like to connect with you, maybe they live in the mid-Atlantic, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Washington, DC, Maryland, and they have some security risks that they are waking up to, and they would like to fix that, or they want to create more productivity in their business. Where can they find you and how can they connect with you?

There is always LinkedIn, Lenny Giller, and my direct number is 410-773-9285 and by email lenny@reliabletechnology.co.

Okay, well, definitely if you are in the mid Atlantic, I can highly recommend Reliable Technology and they live up to their names. And it’s a great firm and you get great customer service and you can move your business forward. Lenny, thank you for coming to the show and sharing your RTS Account Management Framework and why security is important and how to make your business more productive. Thanks for coming and the listeners, thanks for listening. Please like and subscribe to our show if you enjoyed this and stay tuned because every week we have a couple of exciting entrepreneur sharing their business blueprints video.

Thank you for having me.

Thank you.

 

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