Sourcepass Acquires CCSI, Plans New Portal For Today’s ‘Hybrid Modern Workforce’

‘The net-new generation of users, the Gen Z and millennials, have always been online. They can shop, get pricing and make purchases online. So when new users or employees come on board, why can’t IT managers make it so they automatically get new equipment and self-provisioning according to their roles?’ says Jeff Boate, Sourcepass’ chief strategy officer.

Managed services and security provider Sourcepass this month unveiled its sixth acquisition of 2022, this time of Contemporary Computer Systems Inc., or CCSI, a provider of co-managed IT services to midmarket customers.

Bohemia, N.Y.-based CCSI brings to Sourcepass 65 people, an expanded presence in the Northeastern U.S., a solid education market and co-managed services capabilities, said Jeff Boate, chief strategy officer at East Northport, N.Y.-based Sourcepass.

CSSI’s co-managed services capabilities will be an important part of the future growth of Sourcepass, Boate told CRN.

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“In our mergers and acquisitions, we look for holes in our portfolio,” he said. “We have been looking for help in the co-managed services space. With co-managed services, you’re dealing with clients’ internal IT. CCSI also brings a big education business. We’ve been looking for a vertical that is recession-proof.”

Boate said Sourcepass is not a run-of-the-mill MSP.

“We don’t like the word ‘MSP,’” he said. “We want to create our own niche in a crowded, stale place. We are a group of operators who are all former VARs and MSPs. We know what we are doing, what levers to pull and what to do to profit.”

When Boate used the word “stale” to describe MSPs, he said there are 20,000 to 50,000 MSPs in the U.S. in a market that is already about 40 years old.

“The tools have changed, and the market has shifted somewhat,” he said. “But it’s gotten stale. We need to change how clients access IT. We want to build a brand portfolio. Ordinary MSPs are a dime a dozen.”

What Sourcepass has done is combine managed services with digital transformation, and with CCSI added co-managed services, Boate said.

The next phase in its transformation is slated to happen in January when Sourcepass will introduce a new portal aimed at bringing the Amazon model for accessing services to the business-to-business market, he said.

“The net-new generation of users, the Gen Z and millennials, have always been online,” he said. “They can shop, get pricing, and make purchases online. So when new users or employees come on board, why can’t IT managers make it so they automatically get new equipment and self-provisioning according to their roles?”

Sourcepass’ new portal aims to do that, Boate said.

“Eventually, we want to tie into HR systems so there’s no need for new employees to contact IT,” he said. “This fits with today’s hybrid modern workforce. Changes to that workforce have been accelerated by COVID. These changes would have happened in the next 10 years, but they’ve been accelerated. We see maybe only 40 percent of employees going back to the office.”

The beta version of the portal, built in partnership with Odessa, Fla.-based machine learning and robotic process automation (RPA) technology developer Rewst, went into beta testing this month and is slated to go to key customers in January for testing before going fully live sometime during the first quarter of 2023, Boate said.

“This solidifies our thesis of moving away from the stale MSP business,” he said. “We’re looking at how to blend SaaS with traditional managed services to build new experiences.”

CCSI is helping with the company’s goal to have presence in every city in the U.S. with an NFL franchise, Boate said.

Sourcepass was founded without private equity funding with a plan to acquire MSPs, and started on March 1 of this year with the acquisition of Network Solutions and Technology (NST) with debt equity funding from Metropolitan Partners Group along with investment from angel investors and Wedge Venture Partners.

The company followed that acquisition a few days later with the acquisition of Suite3, an Easthampton, Mass.-based IT services and IT consulting company.

Sourcepass in July unveiled the acquisition os SSD Technology Partners and Total Technology Solutions.

The company in October then acquired Microsoft Dynamics specialist Infinity Computer Systems.