CloudClevr CEO: 'The MSP market is competitive, but we've spent a lot of time picking our acquisitions'
The MSP boss chats strategy in a “crowded market”, significant investment in its platform, and cautious AI approach
Managed services provider CloudClevr defines its growth strategy with one word after starting the year strong with its acquisition of MSP Bamboo Technology Group - differentiation.
The deal allows CloudClevr to expand its footprint in the west of England and grow its communications and IT capabilities.
Speaking with CRN about its growth strategy for 2024, CloudClevr CEO Steve Harris says his goal is to fulfil the MSP's potential by adding more capabilities.
"We've acquired some really strong capabilities, but we have a really significant amount of whitespace to grow within our customer base," he says.
"The amount of IT services penetration and mobile penetration, there's a lot of capabilities that have never really been sold into some of our customer bases that we've acquired.
"So we've got a really strong opportunity there."
Harris adds his second key focus is on the group's cloud software management platform, Clevr360, which it launched in February.
"We've spent a lot of money on our Clevr360 software platform which we believe is a highly differentiated offering. So it's about making sure we maximise that and getting into our customers hands where we can add significant value to them."
Driving growth through differentiation
Harris explains that the key to CloudClevr's growth is its desire to differentiate, which plays a part in selecting potential acquisition deals.
"The MSP market is competitive. But we've spent a lot of time picking our acquisitions. We've identified technical skills in the areas we think are a genuine differentiator.
"And then the second thing is with Clevr360 we've put significant investment and time into building what we think is a very groundbreaking platform that enables us to provide enterprise quality software in managing technology.
"We really think it has a lot of value to customers, and we think it's highly differentiated, which in a very crowded space is going to be one of the most important things that anyone can do."
The challenges of MSPs
The RingCentral, Mitel, Microsoft and Kaseya partner sits in what Harris describes as a "crowded market" if MSPs don't have a differentiation.
"That's largely what drove our investment into our platform," he says.
"What I've picked up on in the MSP space is that there's a lot of product sellers and catalogue-based offerings where they're very wide in terms of capability.
"I think that's probably a big challenge for some MSPs who don't have that deep technology experience in capability in the areas, and that's been a key focus for us in our acquisitions."
Harris claims CloudClevr is able to deal with existing and new customers in a "consultative way" owing to its expertise gained from investing in companies that are deeply technical.
"I think what my challenge will be, like most MSPs, is making sure that capability gets through to each and every customer we engage with," he adds.
Walk, don't run to AI
Harris tells CRN that CloudClevr are in an "investigative phase" with AI, with a team working on creating white papers on the topic.
"It's one of those technologies where, yes, you could look to support customers and monetise our capability and understanding, but it's got to be done in a very controlled way.
"We haven't rushed anything out. We can certainly help customers with Copilot, but we're not jumping on a bandwagon and talking about AI just for the sake of it and coming up with lots of AI taglines and marketing sound bites.
"What we're looking to do is to put it in place where our customers can consume it and use it in a in a safe way, but also in a way that's relevant to the other products and services that we sell to whether it's in regard to contact centre, whether it's in regards to Copilot.
"It's got to be done in a productised way where we go to our customer base and help them understand it."