Mark is the CEO of Intellinet, an Atlanta-based management consulting and Microsoft-centric technology services firm providing end-to-end solutions that integrate cloud, data, mobile and social strategies with application development, business intelligence, collaboration, and infrastructure platforms.
What's your background, and how did you get started in IT?
I graduated from Georgia Tech with an industrial engineering degree, which is all about logistics and process optimization, so it was a natural fit to join Andersen Consulting as a business process consultant. I've always had an entrepreneurial bent, though, and so after five years at Andersen Consulting, my current partner and now our firm's Chairman, Frank Bell, asked me to join Intellinet in the early years to develop the firm's consulting practice using the principles of process excellence that I learned at one of the big four consulting firms.
What is the story behind Intellinet?
Intellinet started as one of the first Microsoft Solution Providers in 1993. As one of the Microsoft's early partners, we had the luxury of working with some prestigious companies including Coca Cola, Delta Airlines, Cox Enterprises, BellSouth and others, focusing on their global networking, messaging, data and internet needs. This worked well for us as we continued to grow, reaping a number of Partner of the Year Awards along the way. Fast forward to 2008 or thereabouts, the effects of the recession and the advent of cloud computing gave us pause to rethink our business model.
The IT business was always cyclical‐driven, as all services firms waited for the next technology release or upgrade with which to migrate our customers. During the recession, corporate spending slowed dramatically as executives determined that they could hold off on the latest releases, and they stopped spending on second-tier projects that weren't critical to the business. It was at that time that my management consulting roots took hold.
Even though we were doing great work, we determined that if we were to be relevant five to ten years out, we needed to become more of a strategic business partner and innovative thought leader to our clients. Because we had terrific relationships with our customers, we endeavored to get a better handle on their broader business objectives and issues, and to deliver the same level of excellence we provided in the IT discipline across multiple business disciplines. It is then we developed our offerings around Business & IT strategy, PMOs, Innovation Management, Digital Marketing Strategy, and large-scale Program Execution, as well as a further technology emphasis on mobile applications, data, and cloud solutions.
What makes Intellinet unique, and successful?
We describe ourselves to clients and prospects as a services company with ‘big four credentials and boutique firm attention.' With our focus on systematic business transformation, we can provide the greatest impact to our clients on their key initiatives through business‐first, technology‐enabled solutions.
We employ highly-seasoned management and technology consultants. It's this positioning of value creation from a highly-regarded boutique firm that has allowed us to repeatedly win against the larger national or global consultancies.
Our success is predicated on our people, processes and purpose. We are driven by the relentless pursuit of stewardship excellence of our client's business needs, a process-driven culture that leverages best practices for repeatable success, and customer-centric consultants and staff.
We are also unashamedly focused on metrics, profit and growth—not for making money alone, but for the impacts that come from a great sense of stewardship. When we operate well, we can invest in our people, take bets on innovations and new offerings, and show strong thought leadership to our clients.
What are the top issues facing the IT industry?
The first challenge we face is knowledge management. The industry is moving so fast with so many innovations and business disruptions around cloud, social and experiential mobility that legacy businesses need to be more active in their strategic business transformations to be relevant in the next decade. An IT operational status quo mindset will no longer work. Second is talent management, the ability to attract and grow high-character, high-quality talent in a low IT unemployment environment. Last is a drive for innovation. Whether it's agile development, new customer distribution or touch points, or innovation management, companies need to focus on leaner, faster and differentiated value.
How can IT services executives position their company for growth?
I'd encourage other IT services executives to stay laser-focused on their customers, even more so than their strategic partners. This focus will allow them to find avenues to extend their service offerings to be more of an end-to-end service provider with strategy, deployment and managed services. The reality is that changing marketplace dynamics, especially around the cloud, will mean that businesses that relied on integration and implementation to grow will simply need to look elsewhere. That means either moving upstream into strategy and process optimization or downstream into managed services.
What has been your experience with M&A as a growth strategy?
Ten years ago, we acquired a solution provider in the Carolinas that enabled us to gain a foothold in the region, but it was very small. We learned from that experience, and our current M&A strategy is focused on partners with a large enough footprint to be accretive to our leadership team and our value proposition, along with enough scale and momentum to make the M&A integration worthwhile for everyone involved.
After evaluating over 100 firms we chose an excellent firm with a 25-year pedigree with back-to-back Microsoft Partner of the Year Awards in the Northeast. The synergies, cultural fit, and complimentary skill sets made it a great fit for both firms. We had invested heavily in management consulting, and they had invested downstream in managed services. In the end, our clients win with our ability to deliver true end-to-end solutions.
Will M&A continue to play a role in your growth?
That's the plan. When we made the transition to a Microsoft-centered management consulting firm we termed this internally as “Intellinet 2.0.” It's one thing to say you're a management consulting firm, but doing that well, hiring the right people, having real marketplace credentials that can deliver value over other consulting firms, is both an art and a discipline.
We put a great deal of effort into doing just that to add substantial value to our clients, and it has transformed our business in the process. So the avenue we're exploring with our acquisition strategy is continuing to look at strong, regional technology services firms that realize that they need to make investments in this changing marketplace but see that it would be more accretive to leverage our team, credentials, and business success in management consulting for synergies that could greatly impact their people and our combined client base.
What do you see the M&A market looking like over the next few years?
With the industry in such a state of change and transformation, and with access to capital readily available to strong firms, I'd expect further consolidation, even among the best-of-the-best firms, to the eventual benefit of their shared customers.
What is your advice for executives considering an acquisition?
For us, developing great people through a proven process while maintaining a strong culture across the combined organization were our top two priorities. In our assessments of other firms, we looked just as carefully at their people, leadership team, and core values as we did their service offerings, client mix and revenue stream. Service offerings will continue to change and clients may evolve over time, but the fabric of your target firm's culture and the leadership team you have driving growth in that region are paramount to your long-term success.
When you've chosen well, as we did with our integration, things can work out very well for both parties.
I'd also mention that clear and honest communications, clear change management, and a strong post-merger integration team are also critical. Be patient in due diligence, be clear on your metrics and common goals, and spend time with the other firm's executive team. Make sure you understand you prospective firm's culture, processes, and your role and value in the new structure. Be flexible, embrace change, be willing to let go of old ways that worked well to a point so that you can focus on being better together in a way that has a material impact on your clients, the careers of your people, and their growth potential.
You can visit Intellinet at www.intellinet.com, or contact Mark at MarkS@intellinet.com
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