![\"Michael](\"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Michael-Kirkpatrick-SOS-150x150.jpg\")
Michael Kirkpatrick<\/p><\/div>\n
But between the self-effacing wisecracks you can\u2019t fail to notice a kind and gracious man who was keen to give credit to those he has worked with. This was evident when we asked him how he felt about being nominated as a 2016 Difference Maker by ENX magazine.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m honored and a little awkward only because anything I\u2019ve accomplished has been with the assistance of the many people I\u2019ve been fortunate to work with,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Kirkpatrick said that there were too many people to mention, but he felt compelled to single out his CEOJuice partner, Gary Lavin, and Bryan Ammons of SOS.<\/p>\n
\u201cBryan Ammons has been my long term mentor, critic, supporter, and best friend for over 30 years,\u201d said Kirkpatrick. \u201cWithout everything Bryan has done \u2013 and continues to do \u2013 for me, I would not be in a position to have whatever direct impact I have had for hundreds of other dealerships around the country.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI would have never had the drive to start CEOJuice without Bryan giving me the freedom and having Gary Lavin as the best partner anyone could ever ask for,\u201d added Kirkpatrick. \u201cGary does all the nasty detail day-to-day work of running managing CEOJuice. I\u2019m just the nerd behind the curtain.”<\/p>\n
![\"Difference_ENX_Magazine_4\"](\"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Difference_ENX_Magazine_4-150x150.jpg\")
When he returns to the question of this year\u2019s goals, Kirkpatrick notes that he is currently working on a project for the various dealer groups to bring data integrity through standardized reporting. He said that with this model dealers can compare metrics with the assurance that numbers were pulled from the same report using the same business logic.<\/p>\n
What has 35 years of providing every phase of IT services taught Kirkpatrick? He said that customers develop a strong sense of loyalty to a company that keeps their systems running and secure.<\/p>\n
\u201cA copier breaks and you fix it, but the customer focuses on the break more than they do that you fixed it,\u201d explained Kirkpatrick. \u201cEveryone, however, has had a computer problem that they have no idea what happened; why it happened, or how to fix it. When your company can solve the problem \u2013 or better yet, reduce the incidents \u2013 then the customer focuses on the fact that you fixed it. We all are better off in a business model that provides services where the fix and prevention is more memorable than the break. And as Bryan has told me forever: Where there\u2019s mystery, there\u2019s money.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kirkpatrick loves his job, particularly the opportunity to work with so many smart organizations. He cited many companies, including SOS, CEOJuice, ECi, Compass, Relevant Solutions, BEI Services, Pros Elite, DataBlaze, and all his CEOJuice clients.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo matter how smart you think you are, or how long you\u2019ve been doing what you do, I guarantee that someone somewhere has figured out a better way or a new twist,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
We congratulate Mike Kirkpatrick for being a Difference Maker!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Mike Kirkpatrick has a difficult time staying serious. When we asked the CIO at Standard Office Systems of Atlanta and co-founder of CEOJuice what he planned to accomplish in 2016, he responded, \u201cLose 10 pounds.\u201d But between the self-effacing wisecracks you can\u2019t fail to notice a kind and gracious man who was keen to give credit to those he has worked with. This was evident when we asked him how he felt about being nominated as a 2016 Difference Maker by ENX magazine. \u201cI\u2019m honored and a little awkward only because anything I\u2019ve accomplished has been with the assistance of the many people I\u2019ve been fortunate to work with,\u201d he said. Kirkpatrick said that there were too many people to mention, but he felt compelled to single out his CEOJuice partner, Gary Lavin, and Bryan Ammons of SOS. \u201cBryan Ammons has been my long term mentor, critic, supporter, and best friend for over 30 years,\u201d said Kirkpatrick. \u201cWithout everything Bryan has done \u2013 and continues to do \u2013 for me, I would not be in a position to have whatever direct impact I have had for hundreds of other dealerships around the country.\u201d \u201cI would have never had the drive to start CEOJuice without Bryan giving me the freedom and having Gary Lavin as the best partner anyone could ever ask for,\u201d added Kirkpatrick. \u201cGary does all the nasty detail day-to-day work of running managing CEOJuice. I\u2019m just the nerd behind the curtain.” When he returns to the question of this year\u2019s goals, Kirkpatrick notes that he is currently working on a project for the various dealer groups to bring data integrity through standardized reporting. He said that with this model dealers can compare metrics with the assurance that numbers were pulled from the same report using the same business logic. What has 35 years of providing every phase of IT services taught Kirkpatrick? He said that customers develop a strong sense of loyalty to a company that keeps their systems running and secure. \u201cA copier breaks and you fix it, but the customer focuses on the break more than they do that you fixed it,\u201d explained Kirkpatrick. \u201cEveryone, however, has had a computer problem that they have no idea what happened; why it happened, or how to fix it. When your company can solve the problem \u2013 or better yet, reduce the incidents \u2013 then the customer focuses on the fact that you fixed it. We all are better off in a business model that provides services where the fix and prevention is more memorable than the break. And as Bryan has told me forever: Where there\u2019s mystery, there\u2019s money.\u201d Kirkpatrick loves his job, particularly the opportunity to work with so many smart organizations. He cited many companies, including SOS, CEOJuice, ECi, Compass, Relevant Solutions, BEI Services, Pros Elite, DataBlaze, and all his CEOJuice clients. \u201cNo matter how smart you think you are, or how long you\u2019ve been doing what you do, I guarantee that someone somewhere has figured out a better way or a new twist,\u201d he said. We congratulate Mike Kirkpatrick for being a Difference Maker!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":18069,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[80],"tags":[2645,2644],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18086"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/127"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18086"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18086\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18134,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18086\/revisions\/18134"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}