After nearly eight years in the space, during which I navigated multiple mergers and acquisitions from Autotask, to Datto, through to Kaseya, I had already built a strong career. I had grown all the way from an SDR to a Director in Kaseya’s MSP Enablement org, so I didn’t take the idea of moving lightly. I spent a lot of time speaking with key MSPs and MSP thought leaders across the world to get their thoughts on what might be a good next career move.
inforcer had always been on my radar as I knew a lot of great people doing some truly exciting things there. As I continued to have conversations with people in the channel and inforcer’s name came up more and more, it became increasingly clear that it was a conversation I needed to explore. It wasn’t just industry experts recommending them, but mature MSPs who I had spent a lot of time working with vouching not just for the strength of their tech, but the strength of their team.
I already knew several of the staff at inforcer and every single one of them was an A* player with fantastic MSP experience and incredible work ethics. Most importantly, they were all truly great people.
The more I dug into what inforcer was doing, the more I started to see a complete picture coming together. They had a fantastic solution that was fixing real-life problems for MSPs and their clients. Whilst this is exciting, the ultimate draw was the future vision from inforcer. Not only was it fixing an immediate issue around Microsoft multi-tenant management, but they could see the long-term vision and were laying the foundations for future growth and ultimately AI opportunities for MSPs.
It quickly became apparent to me that whilst a lot of vendors were talking about ways that they could help MSPs with multi-tenant challenges and how to build services around AI, inforcer was actually doing something about. Not only were they acting, but with people like Matthé Smit as the Chief Product Officer, the rate at which they were developing new offerings and advancing the product for MSPs was genuinely shocking to me. It was beyond impressive.
inforcer had started addressing the issue with Microsoft 365 management well before any other vendor in the space by understanding MSPs better than most. Because of Microsoft’s focus on the enterprise space, their tools lacked key features and elements for MSPs to be able to use them en masse for their client base. This resulted in key Microsoft features and offerings that were already included in their client’s licensing remaining unutilized because MSPs just couldn’t find the time to manage them across multiple clients. Those who did were burning countless hours of expensive resources to do so.
inforcer fixes that. For MSPs that may never have even considered it, inforcer provides a clear route to maximizing the Microsoft ecosystem.
I have spoken about it on stage multiple times over the last several years, but if you think you are standing still, you are actually moving backwards. The whole world is moving forward around you and, importantly, without you.
We have seen shifts in the MSP space before:
Whether you like it or not, AI is here to stay. The quicker we learn how to not just live with it, but utilize it for our clients, the better.
There are countless vendors out there looking at how MSPs can use AI to get more time back by increasing automation on their service desk and solving tickets faster. However, hardly any vendors are looking at how MSPs can use AI when it comes to their clients.
After sitting down and chatting this through with Jamie Daum, the inforcer CEO, it was clear that this was something Jamie and his team had identified and were actively looking to solve. Where better to start than with the AI tool that was already imbedded in every MSP’s stack: Microsoft Copilot?
Jamie spoke about the Copilot readiness and enablement capabilities that the inforcer team are actively developing to help MSPs start to deliver AI offerings to their clients. The team is already considering how these capabilities could expand. inforcer’s ability to clearly identify where MSPs were struggling and where they could help was exciting to see.
It was evident that inforcer was doing great things. The next question became whether I could add meaningful value to this already impressive company.
After a few conversations with Christian Nagele (Chief Strategy Officer) it was clear that inforcer had a genuine commitment to the channel and passion for helping MSPs beyond just providing fantastic solutions. inforcer wanted to create a Community: a way for MSPs to come together and learn more about Microsoft, AI, and how to manage and commoditize both.
However, with such laser focus on building their best-in-class solutions, they hadn’t quite been able to find the time or resources to build out a Partner Program. Having been heavily involved in Kaseya’s global Partner Program, peer groups, and running Kaseya’s global MDF program, I had a great foundation to come into inforcer to help them build a great offering for MSPs.
Partner Programs are an interesting thing in the channel. A lot of vendors promise great things but struggle to deliver, ultimately lacking substance in their program beyond the occasional discount. If I was going to help inforcer with their Partner Program and Community, I wanted to be able to make something that genuinely added value to MSPs.
Being able to step into inforcer and get straight to work creating a meaningful Partner Program to help MSPs from the ground up, whilst looking at all the additional ways in which we could support MSPs with their Microsoft and AI journeys became incredibly enticing for me.
All of a sudden, I could see a great company, with great people, a great offering and a great opportunity for me to add value and contribute to their powerful journey and Community. It all came together perfectly, and I couldn’t be more excited to get stuck in.
Now having been at inforcer for a month, it's been amazing to see the reinforcement of everything I thought ahead of joining. The company is growing, innovating, and providing value at a rate of knots.
After less than a month, we have already built the foundations for a valuable MSP Partner Program, built on feedback and insight from countless MSPs.