At MSI, It's All Hands On Deck

MSI Systems Integrators' high-level strategic consulting combined with the hands-on development of a customized client solution in one of nine technology enablement centers around the country is proving to be an unbeatable mix.

Omaha, Neb.-based MSI Systems Integrators, one of the top solution providers in the country, is opening up the strategic IT budgets of some of the top corporations in the world with free briefings aimed at solving thorny business problems. In the past six months, MSI Systems Integrators has held more than 300 of the customized IT briefings with a sales close rate of more than 80 percent, said President and CEO Jim Simpson.

Simpson said the company's secret sauce would be nearly impossible to duplicate given its unique methodology, highly skilled engineering talent (more than 50 percent of MSI Systems Integrators' 440 employees are technically oriented vs. about 20 percent for most VARs) and huge capital investment in the nine technology enablement centers that span the country from St. Louis to Salt Lake City and Portland, Ore.

"We do a customized briefing where we talk about what the customer is trying to do with technology and then show them how technology can play a role in reducing their costs, reducing their risk or reducing their cycle time on a project," Simpson said. "Customers are expecting a PowerPoint because that is what they get from other resellers. Instead we hand them a marker and tell them to whiteboard their IT infrastructure and talk about what issues they see for their business. Before the client ever spends a cent, we do a collaborative session and then we walk next door to a mini data center and roll our sleeves up and see how the solution is really going to work."

The MSI Systems Integrators team that engages in the customized briefings includes an IT consultant, typically a former IT director, and a number of engineers depending on the client problem. "We discuss what the client is trying to do and then we collaborate. It is very powerful." MSI touts the technology enablement centers as "where the magic happens—where people, ideas and technology come together."

One of the secrets to the briefings is that they are tailored specifically to each client's specific needs. "That is quite a differentiator," Simpson said. "Everyone talks about innovation, but this is innovation."

The briefings include different phases, starting with a mapping-the-landscape scenario where clients map out their specific IT architectures; a charting-the-course phase where experts bring forth technology solutions aimed at solving business problems; an exploring-the-possibilities phase aimed at demonstrating specific hardware/software or system redesigns; and a road map to the future phase where experts provide a customized client solution road map.

Next: Technology Enablement Centers