MSP Partners with WatchGuard to Support Its Small and Medium Sized Customer Base
Challenge
In 1995, Calvert Technologies founder, Dean Calvert turned adversity into opportunity when he decided to start his own IT support business after leaving his previous job. Twenty-four years later, he’s at the helm of a respected Adelaide IT consultancy organization that employs a team of twelve IT professionals. Calvert Technologies delivers managed security services to around 50 mid-sized enterprises in the central corridor of Australia, which stretches from South Australia to the Northern Territory.
Calvert Technologies’ typical clients are privately owned organizations between 10 and 100 employees that leverage Calvert Technologies as the in-house IT department they don’t have. “We review what they need then design the environment, install the equipment and maintain it for them,” Dean reveals.
“We view our role as working with senior leadership to help them grow their businesses. It’s rewarding to see how we’re able to help them improve their efficiency and processes; we’re not just there to sell stuff to them,” Dean explains.
In 2015, Calvert Technologies went looking for a security vendor whose suite of products was compatible with the profile of the company’s customer base. “We needed something to plug the gap and provide our customers with the protection they needed,” Dean remarks.
“I don’t like just jumping on the latest thing, so we had a look around at the various products available. I had come across WatchGuard previously and had received a number of positive recommendations from other managed service providers whose opinions I valued,” notes Dean. Upon approaching WatchGuard, Dean was impressed by the energy and responsiveness of his local team.
Solution
Standardizing on a compact suite of vendors across its client sites allows Calvert Technologies to deliver a consistently high level of service. The company supplies and supports the full gamut of WatchGuard products, including firewalls, secure Wi-Fi and multi-factor authentication software. They also take advantage of the Cloud to deliver managed cyber security services.
“Our customers trust our advice on the products they should run with,” Dean states. “There are a couple of reasons we’re happy to have WatchGuard as our primary cyber security vendor. One is the layered security model they provide and the other is the fact that we know we’ll get fantastic support if we’re ever having issues.”
Calvert Technologies is open to exploring new products as WatchGuard continues to add to their portfolio. “We don’t blindly jump on everything new – we look at the technologies and test them out for ourselves – but WatchGuard has a track record of delivering innovative security solutions so, once we’ve done our research, we’re keen to get onboard. It’s like when a musician you’ve been a fan of for a long time – for me, that would be Billy Joel – releases a new album, you’re likely to go and listen to it and you’ll probably buy it,” explains Dean.
Results
Mutual support and good communication have helped WatchGuard and Calvert Technologies forge a strong working relationship. WatchGuard has provided technical training to the Calvert team, co-funded a number of customer events and supplied high-quality sales and marketing collateral.
The annual WatchGuard partner conference is a highlight of the calendar, for the opportunities it affords to network with other resellers and WatchGuard’s senior team. In fact, Calvert Technologies won the Marketing Program of the Year for 2019 in Australia and New Zealand.
“Not only do we hear from leaders about the company and the industry, WatchGuard really views the event as an opportunity to get feedback from us. I also like being able to get together with the other partners to share ideas and war stories. Some vendors don’t do such a good job of creating that community and resellers have to find their own ways to connect,” Dean adds. “Hats off to WatchGuard for delivering highly responsive support to all its partners, big and small.”
Dean comments: “Whenever I’ve needed a quick answer to something I’ve been able to jump on the phone and call any one of a number of contacts and they’ll give me the information I need or direct me to the right person.
“Regardless of how much we’re selling, we’ve still got the ear of the people in WatchGuard because they value the relationship. They listen – all the way up to the CEO, who I’ve had good conversations with, on multiple occasions. That’s so refreshing,” explains Dean.
“Some big vendors can be difficult for smaller partners to interact with but, with a great vendor like WatchGuard, that’s never been the case. It’s people dealing with people and that’s why we’ll keep choosing WatchGuard for all our clients’ security needs,” Dean concludes.