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Power to the Partner
By Kathryn Carlton
Arnie Bellini is the CEO and chief architect of ConnectWise. He is a passionate, and sometimes outspoken, champion of the IT solutions provider channel.
Some of our readers may not know you, or the origins of ConnectWise. Can you tell us briefly how you got things started?
ConnectWise ultimately started when I got bit by the PC bug. I was at Price Waterhouse working as a tech consultant with mini computers and mainframes when the Personal Computer came out. The partner in charge bought one and we just started falling in love with it. I knew this was the industry of the future and since I was a CPA with an MBA it eventually made sense to do this business on my own.
Soon after (1982), my brother David and I started up ConnectWise in a spare bedroom at our parents’ house – that was our office. We even gave it a suite number since it was upstairs. At that time we were providing IT Services to businesses in Tampa Bay.
As the business grew, we started hitting a brick wall - we just couldn’t scale the business and literally felt like charlatans telling our clients to automate all the time. If they ever saw our business they would realize we weren’t practicing what we preached. It was either an expensive layer of middle management or a stellar software tool. We chose (to develop) the software in 1998.
I’ve heard many people refer to you as one of the most outspoken advocates in the IT Solutions channel. Why do you think this is?
Well, I call ‘em like I see ‘em. Since I’ve been in this so long, I’m really passionate about the IT solutions channel and even a little bit protective of it. I’m very focused on our partner* channel becoming more powerful and more profitable. I guess I’m outspoken because I want to be an advocate for what’s best for the Channel.
When I see situations where we are blocked from (being) profitable I definitely speak my mind. Our industry deserves a greater portion of the profits from the whole technology world and I’ll continue to be outspoken on that.
What is your point of difference?
Several things. First, ConnectWise is the only management software developed for IT by IT. When we say “We Are You”, we really are! And IT is all we do. My brother David runs the IT solutions company for Tampa, so he’s in effect our test kitchen – for all processes and improvements.
Second, we are 100% employee-owned.
Third, we have no debt or outside investors. Our operating philosophy is based on what’s best for the Community. We have an active online forum, eight user groups, are active in the HTG Peer Groups and are continually improving our training and consulting services.
From your experiences with several IT solutions companies-including your own - What are the most important things you tell IT solution providers to do to continually develop their businesses?
First, streamline your business operations. Automate your help desk, keep your customers informed about what you’re doing, help your technicians understand their productivity, integrate all of your activities into accounting, and have a continually updated dashboard so you can anticipate issues and easily scale your growth.
Second, find a peer group or community where you can exchange ideas and grow. Learn and implement best practices. If you’re a ConnectWise partner you’ve got tons of best practices embedded into your software. Take advantage of ConnectWise University, community forums, peer groups and user groups. It will help you interact with other people in the industry who are just like you.
We’re more than halfway through the year. What goals are you and your team focusing on for Q4?
We’re releasing our 2010 version soon and are very excited about the features it has. New functionality will allow our partners to learn and share best practices, like never before.
We are re-investing our profits into the Community and training. We’re launching ConnectWise TV as another way to share best practices and maintain a dialogue with everyone in the channel. And our state-of-the-art production studio should be ready for use next month.
Another big goal of ours is creating the best three day sabbatical and party for the IT industry at the ConnectWise Partner Summit. We’re guaranteeing our partners a tremendous amount of education. And when you’re not learning, you’ll be partying. We’re going to make things even better this year by hosting more than 900 partners and over 30 sponsors. We’re facilitating the industry’s best networking and bringing cutting edge information straight to you and your business.
ConnectWise has earned several prestigious industry awards, and just had its best quarter ever. What do you credit for your recent successes?
Well, our success and our growth are due to our evangelistic partners. It’s actually been very rewarding and a lot of fun. It includes not only giving them the best product in the world for their business, but it’s also creating the most vibrant community in the industry.
The success with those things has helped attract a stellar leadership team to ConnectWise who also deserve a lot of praise.
Gee Arnie, with all this automation and growth, do you have time for anything else?
I’ve been training diligently for the Florida Ironman Competition which has been a real experience. I’ve flown off my bike several times and have the skinned legs and elbows to prove it. The real bear though, is it’s in Panama City the day after our Partner Summit ends in Orlando – so I’ll have to pace myself.
*ConnectWise refers to it users as “partners”, because they really are partners.
Interview has been condensed and edited
Photograph by Pedro Castellano
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