Converging Networks Group (CNG) didn’t start as your typical MSP; it began as a voice company over 20 years ago. In 2016, the business began a significant transformation, evolving to a managed services provider. This shift was driven by a forward-thinking approach that enabled the company to adapt to changing industry trends and client demands, plus a renewed focus on strategic marketing.
This past year, CNG experienced rapid growth, with 30-40% increases in monthly recurring revenue and 15% growth in total gross revenue. The company’s ongoing transition to bring cybersecurity services in-house is expected to fuel even greater expansion in the coming years.
Adapting To Changing Times
Shortly after Jerry Kuntz started CNG in 2003, his son, Brad, joined the business. Brad did not have a technical background, but being pushed out of his comfort zone granted him the opportunity to learn new skills, and gave him a chance to build his family’s legacy alongside his dad and his sister.
First up in his new skill set was becoming an expert in VoIP, enabling CNG to add on-prem VoIP systems to its offerings, followed by networking and WLAN, and then hosted VoIP. Eventually, maintaining so many large phone networks pushed the business to expand into managed services to support those customer needs. Today, CNG is a full-fledged MSP, helping their clients meet current compliance standards. “We’ve built our business so that we have in-house specialists in all the key areas,” says Brad, the company’s vice president of operations. “We’ve got a firewall guy. We have a server guy. We have a compliance guy.”
CNG partners with businesses in industries like supply chain, trucking and logistics, and K-12 schools. These industries and institutions have some of the fastest-changing compliance requirements on the market, but CNG stays ahead of these changes with bolstered compliance tools and ongoing compliance trainings for their entire team.
Getting into cybersecurity requires a lot of education, so CNG partnered with a third-party cybersecurity company to ensure their clients were fully protected while they learned the ropes. “The biggest roadblock [to transitioning to an MSP] was getting advanced cybersecurity solutions in place. The company we partnered with did all of that for us at the onset, helped us market it, and helped us learn the tools. Originally, we were fully outsourced, but we’ve been transitioning over the last few years to be mostly in-house. We’ve been doing that for the last two years,” Brad explains.
Once their customers’ existing contracts run out, CNG intends to transition all but one or two of them over to their in-house cybersecurity stack, which they’ve built using Kaseya 365.
CNG’s Family-Focused Dynamic
A defining facet of what makes CNG who they are is that they are a family-owned business that treats their employees and customers like family. Besides Brad, Jerry is still holding down the fort as president of CNG, and Kuntz’s sister, Jill Naese, works as vice president of finance. “We see our employees as family, and that dynamic flows through to how we interact with our clients, too,” says Brad. “Almost everything in our industry has changed over the last two decades, but that’s the one thing that hasn’t—the value we have for the human side of business. Only three of us are actually related, but as a family business, we establish that bond throughout our organization. We challenge each other, we support each other, and we work toward collective growth.”
CNG focused in on this core value in their recent rebrand. “It wasn’t really anything new,” Brad says of the rebrand. “It was more or less defining who we are as an organization, what we want to focus on, and our core values.” This process included revitalizing the CNG logo, establishing marketing templates, and a consistent brand voice. They’re also training AI to speak in their brand voice, so the MSP can create quality marketing content faster than before. “Our tagline is, ‘We are an extension of your team.’ It started with my dad, my sister, and me, but we really do hear that back from our customers. We sent out emails to get testimonials [from our customers] and the thing we kept seeing was, ‘You’re like family. Great service. Responsive.’”
Zeroing in on their mission has not only increased their growth by helping them find prospective customers who are looking for the kind of MSP relationship CNG has to offer, but boosted employee morale as well.
Their Key Differentiator
Their main differentiator, which allows CNG to optimize their family-like team dynamic, is their structure. Kuntz comes from an aviation background, and several of their employees come from military backgrounds. “Everything is very structured in checklists,” Kuntz explains. “We all mesh well together, being able to clearly define what the outcome needs to be and then work backwards. That mindset helps us work better together, develop processes, and coach our other team members.”
A New Marketing Focus
Another major component of CNG’s growth has come from getting serious about marketing, which includes implementing incentive programs and marketing initiatives such as blog creation and social media. “All the changes have been for the better,” says Kuntz. “We’re building marketing assets and getting better about what we do. We’re getting more efficient. We’re looking at metrics as an organization. It’s changed our focus to the things that are important to building value in the organization, to delivering quality products and service to our customers.”
While CNG is still in the early stages of marketing to prospects, they are currently focusing their efforts on their existing customers. “We’ve been in business for 21 years, so we’ve done business with a lot of local companies,” says Kuntz. “That’s our focus right now. We’re going back to our current contracted customers and increasing that contract value by adding services.” T
Looking Ahead And Continuing To Grow
Two years ago, CNG acquired another MSP, a successful growth booster. The only reason CNG hasn’t already made another acquisition is due to a lack of similar MSPs in the local area. “Would I buy that company again? Absolutely,” Brad says. “Would I buy another one just like them? Yeah, but there aren’t any for sale that are making an impact here locally. But if we do go outside the area, that’s definitely an option.”
The biggest growth catalyst for CNG so far? “Internal development and maturity,” Brad stresses. “You need to embrace the chaos [as you grow] and capitalize on what it creates. You have to smartly adapt to it, and you can’t be reckless.” For Kuntz, part of this was thinking through the logistics of his tool stack before making any changes, rather than just going after the latest new product.
Between their effective team dynamic, their adaptability, and their budding marketing initiatives, CNG’s growth is sure to blossom in upcoming years.
