Commercial Integrator + Security Sales July 2024 - 12

THE SERVICE DESK
MSPs Discuss Vendor Relationships,
Vetting and Onboarding
Prominent members of The ASCII Group share insights into how they vet prospective vendor
partners, how they evaluate existing vendor relationships and more. Compiled by Dan Ferrisi
RECENTLY, Commercial Integrator asked
fi ve members of The ASCII Group, the
world's largest and oldest independent IT
community, to share thoughts about how
they interface with vendors. The conversation,
reproduced below, touches on a
range of topics, including how these MSPs
vet prospective partners, how they evaluate
existing partners and how potential
new partners can stand out from peers
and catch an MSP's attention.
This conversation includes the
following members of The ASCII Group:
Mike Nunn, CEO, TLC Solutions; Stanley
Louissaint, principal and founder, Fluid
Designs; Felicia King, vCISO, security
architect, QPC Security; Denase Harris,
president, Diversifi ed Computer
Resources, Inc.; and Joshua Liberman,
president and founder, Net Sciences, Inc.
Commercial Integrator: Do you have
specifi c processes and protocols
in place with respect to vetting
prospective vendor partners?
Mike Nunn: No, we don't have a
specifi c process. But what that supplier
needs to do, most importantly, is align to
our vision and values.
Stanley Louissaint: During vendor
selection, the most important thing is
understanding what the problem is that
I'm trying to solve. That has to be the
primary reason to seek out a new vendor
relationship. Once I understand that, I
can move forward with seeking out the
vendors in that space. The next thing is
where it gets interesting: How hard does
the vendor make it for us to work with
them? Are they responsive? Can I get
my questions answered? If I ask some of
the deeper questions, will they pawn the
answer off or be truthful?
There are a lot of things that are taken
into consideration before " getting in
Vendor relationships need to be evaluated constantly, as they are there to help
MSPs and integrators grow their business. If that's not happening, it's a problem.
bed " with a vendor. Many of them are
conscious decisions, but some of them
are not. One of the biggest things for
me is this: Will this vendor work with
us the same way in which we work with
our clients? A lot of vendors in the space
refuse to work the same way as many of
our MSPs in terms of fl exibility based on
user/device count on a month-to-month
basis. Yet, this is the way in which most
of us work with our own clients. If a
vendor is unwilling to work in that way,
they are automatically X'd off my list.
Felicia King: Vetting. We use a
rigorous, enterprise-quality process
for our own resources. We provide a
formal or informal TPISRM service to
clients based upon what they agree to.
It is amazing how effi cient a good vendor-vetting
process can be at preventing
time and resources from being wasted.
Most vendors, products or services
will just drop out of the vetting process
within an hour when that vetting pro12
Commercial Integrator+Security Sales & Integration | July 2024
cess is done by the correct person.
We have repeatedly saved clients from
mistakes that would have cost them
hundreds of thousands of dollars, [all]
because they invested a few hours of
CISO or CTO time with QPC.
Denase Harris: Yes, we have an SOP
that governs both vendor and product
evaluation. The vendor criteria include
a review of industry rankings, by
independent organizations, that gauge
the quality of the partner program and
pre- and post-sales technical support.
Separately, we gather specifics of
the number of years the vendor has
been in business; the ownership [and]
company culture; and whether the presales
and post-sales technical support
is on- or off-shore.
Joshua Liberman: There is a method,
but not a process with fi xed steps and
metrics. It starts with nailing down the
nature of the off ering. What problem
does it address? How is it superior? And
SURIYA/STOCK.ADOBE.COM

Commercial Integrator + Security Sales July 2024

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