Reader Spotlight: Dave DelVecchio, President, Innovative Business Systems

We can be your IT department, or your IT department's best resource. Innovative has earned our excellent reputation of providing consultative IT project and support services to small and mid-size organizations where our value measured by three definable outcomes for our clients: increasing revenue, decreasing costs, or improving efficiencies.

Describe the most innovative installation/solution you’ve been involved in recently.

Starting late in 2015, Innovative was tasked with creating a comprehensive network diagram for the wired and wireless infrastructure of a private school campus, fully documenting 88 network switches across 30+ buildings on a 125-acre campus, many of which were installed in 1997 (!). In summer 2016, we completed a core networking refresh, replacing three core switches with five in a fully-redundant and managed ring as a first phase in a three-phase, three-year project. Phase II is currently in review with implementation planned for summer 2017.

What is the biggest threat to your business? What are you doing about it?

The biggest threats to any business tend to be internal, such as growing bureaucracy, failure to adapt, lack of differentiation or reinvention. Our vision statement is centered around a continued adaptation around our clients changing need - adapt or die.

What is the biggest opportunity for your business? What are you doing to take advantage of it?

While some view as-a-service offerings, cloud or otherwise, as a threat to erode existing revenue sources, the management of those offerings remains a greenfield.  The fact is, business owners still don't want to have to worry about IT - they want to focus on their business.  The consumerization of IT only adds complexity, and there's margins in helping clients manage complexity.

What emerging technology will have the biggest impact on your business and why?

Any technology that becomes the next critical communication tool - cutting through the clutter on collaboration platforms to identify how people will conduct business over the next five or 10 years is where we need to be.

What technology do you wish you had embraced sooner and why?

There are many auxiliary IT-related technologies we have avoided as they were inconsistent with our core technology stack, but we had the ability to support.  In hind sight, we should have gotten more involved, even if it meant spinning up a new business division to focus on the emerging technology to avoid spreading ourselves too thin within our core business.

Where do you see the channel in 10 years?

They have been prognosticating the death of the channel for decades - we will still be here, and be strong, so long as we evolve.  I like to point out that American Telegraph and Telephones don't sell telegraphs anymore, but they have remained relevant with AT&T commanding 32% of the wireless subscription services in the US.  We will still be supporting users in their use of technology, whatever that technology may be - much of which hasn't been developed yet.

What about your company culture attracts new employees and helps retrain current ones?

Culture is more than just ping pong tables, video games, and beers on tap in the office - it's how you treat people, and how you expect people to treat you. Mutual respect never goes out of style, and treating people with respect is why our average employee has been with us over 10 years.

What advice would you give to a VAR/MSP/ISV new to the channel?

Why did you decide to join this mess?  Get out... go sell hats or something. Seriously, this is not the sort of business that you can simply get rich quick with minimal effort.  At the end of the day, it's about providing value - is the client satisfied that they got their money's worth when they pen their name to the check they send you.  If you don't feel that way about every invoice you send out, you need to refocus on adding value to that relationship - fast!

If you weren’t a VAR/MSP/ISV what would you be doing?

I'd like to think I'd have just completed my retirement tour like Big Papi after my stellar career with the Red Sox or just getting off my most recent world tour in support of my sixth triple platinum album, but more likely, I'd be working in sales, selling something I believe in as the best product or service in it's category - which I guess is exactly what I'm doing today when I'm pitching our company to prospects.

What is the best business book on your shelf?

I'm a big fan of giving StrengthsFinder 2.0 to everyone - I'll tell you my strengths if you tell me yours...