At Integris, we like to say that we’re growing fast across the United States. It’s a bold statement. It also happens to be true.
We grew 721 percent in our first year of official operation as Integris, mainly by acquiring several other successful MSPs across the United States. Now, we’re up to about 500 employees in more than 11 states. Before this year is out, we expect to announce more acquisitions—expansions that will grow our expertise and our footprint in major markets across the US.
Is that a lot of growth for a new company to process? Yes.
Has it made us better? Yes, most definitely. Let’s talk about why.
The Why Behind our Rapid Expansion
At Integris, we often say that we’re “better together,” which is crucial in how and why we’re growing. We believe that by gathering like-minded, high-performing local MSPs into a national company, we can offer small and medium-sized companies the best of both worlds: local MSP service backed up by a national security, help desk, and monitoring infrastructure.
It’s a strategy that’s working for us. Even during our relatively short corporate lifespan as Integris, we’ve seen tremendous productivity growth and organic sales growth at all our locations. Most important of all, existing clients stay on board after the acquisitions. That tells us we must be doing something right.
The Kind of MSPs/MSSPs We’re Hoping to Acquire
At Integris, we walk our talk when it comes to our corporate values: putting people first, doing the job right, and owning it, among others. Every company we acquire must be doing all these things, too.
To be more specific, we are looking for companies that:
- Commit to operational excellence. They work with reputable vendors, do good work, and have happy clients.
- Treat their people well. We prize our corporate culture at Integris, so we’re looking for workplaces with happy teams and managers who make people want to stay.
- Have a good balance sheet. Companies who’ve invested well and made intelligent management decisions will always catch our eye.
In the rough-and-tumble, competitive world of managed IT services, local MSPs with these qualities stand out above the rest. We’re looking to acquire the best local MSPs in the market and give them the tools to be even better than they were before.
Our growth is all well and good for Integris, of course. But why would a local MSP want to sell to us? Many reasons, we believe. Let’s break it down.
What Integris Brings to the Table
Smaller, local MSPs are great for that high-touch service but often don’t have a deep bench or the infrastructure to handle a significant data breach or outage. Our national structure for cybersecurity can provide the backup they need. With so much of the backend covered, Integris can free up local staff to do what they do best: serve clients.
For a potential acquiree, Integris can offer:
- A SOC2 Type 2 Certified Operations center that’s regulation compliant and strong against cyber attacks
- A 24/7 Help desk for end users
- Robust cyber risk insurance
- A standardized national platform that offers engineers an upward promotion path
- Increased purchasing power for hardware and software/SaaS
- A National CISO operation for strategic backup for client’s cybersecurity issues
- Best-in-class benefits and training for employees
And that’s just the beginning. When Integris acquires a company, we buy their employees’ expertise and relationship with their clients. It’s our most important asset. We’re dedicated to keeping those staffers and giving them a career path to advance in the Integris network.
We’re growing fast. But we’re being very purposeful about the companies we choose to bring into the Integris network. Integris isn’t a loose confederation of companies. We’re one unified, national premium MSP. As we create our expansion strategy, we’re looking to acquire companies that want to be part of that.
What Our Growth Will Bring Us
In my role with the company, it’s my job to set a vision around our corporate acquisition strategy and vet the next generation of companies we’ll be acquiring. Fortunately, there are plenty of MSPs looking to work with us. Perhaps the most common question I get from them is, “What is your end game? What does Integris want to become?”
The answer I give them is this:
We want to be the best—with the best people, the best products, the best service, and yes, the best clients. We want to offer scalable, premium IT services for small, medium-sized, and rising clients. And we want to do that with operations that are the envy of the MSP industry.
We think we’re well on our way. We’re looking for the right partners to get us there.
