This week’s announcement regarding the managed IT and cybersecurity relationship between Impact Networking and Alltura Solutions that was first revealed at Executive Connection Summit in Scottsdale, Arizona, in February is redefining what brands and partnerships could well look like within the industry as we move forward.
The agreement hammered out between the veteran dealership and the upstart newcomer—essentially an authorized reseller’s pact—is unique in a number of ways. The two companies are independent entities, yet the Eric Pitassi-owned startup is called ImpactWest, leveraging the value of the Lake Forest, Illinois-based heavyweight dealer’s brand. Equally important is the ability of ImpactWest to offer the full weight of Impact Networking’s sterling managed IT and cybersecurity services platform as it seeks to scale on the West Coast. In terms of print and other ancillary products and services, the two companies are competitors.
Last fall, Pitassi and several colleagues decided to leave Pacific Office Automation and start their own company, based in Tigard, Oregon. The paths of Pitassi and Impact Networking CEO Mike Lepper had crossed on the industry circuit, and the two men discussed different ideas. Given how difficult it is to launch a new dealership, especially one with a rookie-managed IT platform, the sides quickly reached an arrangement to help Pitassi get his organization off the ground and flying while maintaining operational autonomy. Earlier this week, ENX Magazine met with Impact Networking CEO Mike Lepper on a Teams call to learn more about the unique arrangement.
What was the impetus behind the partnership with Eric Pitassi and how did the opportunity arise?
Lepper: Eric’s a few years younger than I am, but we know each other just from being around the industry. He and a few other people made the decision to leave (POA) and wanted to start up their own business. They knew it takes is a lot of time, effort, resources and infrastructure to build out the IT and cyber security platform that we’ve created during the last 11-12 years here at impact and DOT Security. We’ve been looking to grow through the channel, and not have sales people who fall under our costs, but we can do the service for them in white label fashion. This was good for (ImpactWest) because they don’t need to build out a platform internally. We can do the service for them, and they can use their salespeople and their own sales approach. We’re more of the back-end resource for IT and cybersecurity, but that’s all we do. They’re doing their other things on their own in terms of hardware and the print business. They know those areas really well, and we know the IT/cybersecurity side really well, so it seemed to be very fitting for both sides. They’ve got pretty aggressive salespeople and they’re doing a nice job. So it’s a win-win for both sides.
How long did the deal take to put together?
Lepper: The agreement was actually turned around pretty quickly. Eric flew out to talk to us in January and it was pretty much done in a day. It’s pretty simple as far as a channel partner agreement. Some of the agreement was just working out the ImpactWest naming rights and protecting both sides, which I think we’ve done a nice job with.
It seems like a great opportunity for Eric Pitassi and Impact/West, especially when you consider the monetary investment required to build an IT/cybersecurity offering the size of Impact Networking and the long runway to profitability.
Lepper: It’s great because we want to see a bigger return on our business, too. We’re already set up to help them. Ultimately, (ImpactWest) may want to [build their own platform] long term. But to get IT up and going can be pretty challenging. We think there’s a lot of good synergy within our agreement.
What was behind the decision for Pitassi’s organization to be called Alltura Solutions, doing business as ImpactWest?
Lepper: Obviously, Impact Networking has a great brand that was built up by Frank Cucco and it’s well established. The ImpactWest name helps them from a brand recognition perspective. We know that it takes credibility to have success in this business, and being partnered with Impact Networking and the type of infrastructure we’ve built helps get them off to a faster start. It gives them instant credibility in the marketplace, because we have customers in all the lower 48 states, Canada and Mexico. We felt it was a good strategy for both sides.
As your firms are ultimately still independent, what are the competitive ramifications for the two businesses?
Lepper: They do overlap with some of our territory. But the reality is, there’s plenty of fish in the sea, right? There are tons of accounts and opportunities for them and for us, especially when you look at a market like Southern California. And if we’re running into each other, it’s probably not a bad thing. That means that everybody’s working hard and prospecting appropriately. We have some clear lines of delineation there.
There have been some scenarios, few and far between, but we’ve worked out a structure that if we’re competing in a deal, let’s be smart about it. In our industry, for whatever reason, it would be a race to the bottom, and you can’t do that in the managed services world. IT and print are different from a structure perspective. You don’t want to eat into your equipment or services margins, but this professional services world takes a lot more and profitability is important to deliver world-class service. We’re aligned from a leadership perspective in those regions. Eric and I want to do what’s right to help further both businesses.
What are yours short- and long-term goals for this relationship, and do you anticipate future relationships of the type?
Lepper: It’s all about strong growth for both businesses. Short term, there are active opportunities that we’re helping them with, trying to get them up and running from a sales motion perspective. As far as replicating the idea, we’ve had other groups reach out to us across the country. Going to ECS and other industry events and talking about what we’re doing has certainly stirred up a lot of conversations.
We don’t have any deals we’re actively working on, but we’re not opposed to forging other partnerships if it makes sense for both sides. But it’s important not to waste our time or other people’s time. The relationship is so important. This is not set it and forget it—IT and cybersecurity are a 24/7/365 proposition. So there needs to be really strong relationships and great synergies between the two organizations. And that’s what we feel like we get from Eric and his team.
