Every successful business owner knows that finding gaps in the market—and filling them—is key to driving growth. Robert Phelps, president and founder of Creative IT, has identified a critical gap for organizations not once, but twice, over the life of his MSP business. As a result, the Kernersville, North Carolina-based MSP has reaped steady 27% year-over-year revenue increases.
The two catalysts for his success were first specializing in supporting Mac users, then focusing on improving operational efficiency for clients with remote employees.
Identifying The Need For Apple Expertise
Phelps’ first professional brush with technology began at Apple, where he worked while attending college. That’s when he recognized the large gap that existed for businesses needing Apple tech support. “I remember this business owner coming in with his server and asking for help,” Phelps explains. “Staff told him, ‘We’ll look into it. It’s going to be about five to seven days.’ The customer was obviously concerned, [saying], ‘I can’t wait that long. This is literally my entire business.’ So, there’s a disconnect in retail where they forget that this is people’s livelihoods, not just their personal gadgets. At Apple, there were too many times where [customers] said, ‘Can I take you home with me?’”
These experiences gave Phelps the knowledge and inspiration needed to start Creative IT in 2012.
The Mixed Environment Differentiator
Creative IT, which was initially focused on delivering IT solutions and support for Apple products under the company’s original name, Triad Mac, has since expanded its expertise to include Microsoft and Google technologies. They rebranded to Creative IT in 2018. Today, almost all their customers are mixed environments. “We’ve had many accounts that we’ve taken over, and after hiring us, some of the employees say they would have preferred to have a Mac the whole time. Well now [that they’re working with us], they can do that. Because of us, their employees are actually happier, able to work on [the devices] they prefer, and probably more productive because of it,” Phelps says.
Creative IT uses its flexibility and expertise to differentiate from competitors. “When we meet an organization that is not your typical Microsoft environment, we usually stand apart against our competition, whether they have Macs or use Google Workspace,” Phelps says. “So, it really comes down to mixed environments—that’s where we seem to differentiate ourselves enough to become the top pick.”
The Stamp Of Approval From Remote Businesses
But that’s not the only thing making Creative IT stand apart. When the COVID-19 pandemic shifted the way the world conducted business, Creative IT’s clients demanded changes from them as well. “When the pandemic hit, many of our clients had to go remote,” says Phelps. “However, interestingly, a lot of them never went back. They realized they can not only be remote, but they can flourish—tapping into pools of talent unconstrained by geographical location. This started to create new challenges. Our clients now struggled with the onboarding and offboarding process, shipping hardware out to employees, and getting it back.”
Phelps says, “One of the big things we focus on is everything related to employee engagement with the organization—supporting the employees inside the company when they have an issue. We decided a handful of years ago to take that a step further. We spent three years building a platform solution and staffing up to solve these unique problems.”
The solution was the Employee Efficiency Engine, a tool that helps companies onboard, train, secure, handle logistics, support, and offboard employees.
“We have teams for everything at Creative IT,” Phelps explains. “One of those teams we built is dedicated to handling the logistics of onboarding and offboarding employees. So, for example, let’s say an employee quits and you need to get your hardware back. Our team will mail the employee an empty box with a packing label so all they need to do is put their computer in the box and mail it back. We store all hardware, refresh it, and prepare it for redeployment to the next employee. We even built a dedicated setup team who handle the actual onboarding and offboarding of our clients’ staff. Although it seems simple enough, we handled over 1,400 new hires and terminations for our clients last year.”
And since Creative IT built their own software, everything is easily documented and streamlined, making things like security and compliance easier to monitor while being able to offer a 5-minute response time for clients. “One other problem our clients struggled with was shipping booklets of policies for new employees to sign,” says Phelps. “[So] we expanded our Employee Efficiency Engine to include a Policy Portal to track company policies and employee signatures.”
Support Operational Efficiency, Not Just Technology
For MSPs seeking new opportunities, Phelps recommends finding your unique selling proposition first. “Find what sets you apart in the marketplace and sell to that, because at the end of the day, that will allow you to find those clients that fit well.”
He also recommends looking beyond just fixing your clients’ IT issues. “Our business is becoming commoditized. I really challenge our whole industry to talk to clients and find out what their issues are, outside of just fixing computer problems. That’s really where we found our stride, solving some of the business operations. Because at the end of the day, you fall in the operations bucket. So, what other things in operations can you solve? And, if the tools [your clients need] don’t exist in the marketplace, demand they get made or create them yourself.”
