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

Simpson said many customers are surprised that the customized briefings are free. "I tell customers that if they do the briefing they will spend money with me, unless they are part of the 20 percent that doesn't," he said. "What they are buying from us are our skills that are differentiated from our competitors."

The unique formula is turning the heads of MSI Systems Integrators' key vendor partners —IBM, Cisco Systems, Microsoft, VMware and Symantec—which are being wowed by the solution provider's close rates and anxious to be part of the technology enablement centers.

What's so compelling about the technology enablement centers is each one is a mini data center filled with everything from enterprise storage and enterprise-class servers, both Intel and Unix, and a wide range of software.

Symantec Chairman and CEO John Thompson gave the keynote at the March opening of MSI Systems Integrators' ninth technology enablement center in Seattle, which includes a Symantec Protection Center where companies can get a hands-on look at real-world security scenarios.

The centers are also helping MSI engineers see how specific technologies might run into performance issues or trouble spots, Simpson said. "Our engineers have the credibility and confidence to let a client know what's a great solution and what isn't in that specific IT environment," he said. "Some of these products are not optimized for a specific environment. The last thing a vendor wants is a solution provider putting a product into an environment where it is not going to succeed."

Simpson said the technology enablement centers are a living, breathing example of a true full-fledged custom solution sales model. One large financial service company that conducted a briefing with MSI Systems Integrators mapped out a full enterprise solution that it tweaked over nine sessions during a six-week period to fully optimize and integrate a solution, Simpson said. "Clearly, this was optimized for their environment," he said. "Think of the confidence and credibility they had going to their upper management. They knew that the solution would work in their environment. It reduced their cost, risk and cycle time on the project. If you can reduce the number of risk elements, you are certainly earning your place in the supply chain between the vendor and the ultimate client. To us that is why these technology enablement centers are a competitive advantage."

Simpson said he's not worried about competitors trying to copy the model because it's such a huge investment. "It is not only having the nine technology enablement centers," he said. "It's about our people."