Richard speaks with Arnie Bellini, CEO of ConnectWise, to learn how the company supports MSPs with their products.
An Interview with Arnie Bellini
Who are ConnectWise?
ConnectWise is a community-driven software company who help MSPs (managed service providers) make the business more efficient and automate technology through their own suite of products. This includes a professional service automation solution, a remote monitoring and management (RMM), remote control and a quote and proposals solution.
These are what technology solution providers need to effectively run their business, and they integrate seamlessly with each other to provide a consistent interface and user experience, which contribute to the success of ConnectWise’s partners.
How Arnie Thinks Technology Helps Daily Life
Every business is really becoming a technology business because they can’t survive without it, but someone has to implement it, which is where Arnie believes the ConnectWise partners come in. Technology is solving problems in the world that we’ve never been able to solve before.
In the automotive industry, Tesla built a vehicle by starting with the computer first, and they’ve disrupted the industry as a result. Likewise, solar power is helping to move away from using fossil fuels, and technology is also completely revolutionising the healthcare industry, so everyone is working hard to get it right and bring about change. Technology is only going to become more important.
How ConnectWise Came About
Arnie left Price Waterhouse Cooper, where he’d been a technology consultant, after the release of the personal computer (PC) helped him realise the potential it held for the ordinary person. ConnectWise was started in 1982 as a technology solutions provider, doing networks and selling and implementing PCs. While the business was successful, Arnie and his cofounder David found they ran into barriers as they expanded.
Trying to use multiple applications to run the business, none of which talked to each other, Arnie and David found they spent more time in the office than at home and began to create a solution to solve their problems. They showed it to others in the industry who were so impressed they requested their own copies.
The One Value That Still Holds at ConnectWise
Arnie believes that having basic moral values and not compromising them is important, as is being transparent with your customers, being honest and offering any solution you have at a very fair price. He says it’s all about relationships and creating trust with whoever you’re doing business with, and the focus shouldn’t be on making money. Rather, that should be a by-product of doing a great job for your customers.
The ConnectWise Community
ConnectWise host a number of community groups, as well as having 40 user groups meeting worldwide, and Arnie sees these as opportunities to engage with their partners and share knowledge between everyone. A focus on community is beneficial for all involved.
Helping each other guarantees success for all community members, and Arnie sees people succeed in their businesses because of that. They are able to implement more technology, spread it further, deeper and wider and make a change in the world.
The Best Entrepreneurial Decision Arnie Ever Made
Arnie says the best decision he made was to go into business and pursue his passion of spreading technology. He realised many years ago that the PC was revolutionary because it meant that the power of it could be given to everyone. He’s spent the last 35 years making sure as many people as possible could access technology and benefit from it, and to help others to spread it too, rather than it being restricted to a few big businesses.
Mentioned in this Episode
- ConnectWise: www.connectwise.com or email: ar***@co*********.com
- Book: Jim Collins – Great by Choice
Interview Transcription
Transcript – TubbTalk 21 with Arnie Bellini and Richard Tubb
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Richard Tubb is one of the best-known experts within the global IT Managed Service Provider (MSP) community. He launched and sold his own MSP business before creating a leading MSP media and consultancy practice. Richard helps IT business owner’s take back control by freeing up their time and building a business that can run without them. He’s the author of the book “The IT Business Owner’s Survival Guide” and writer of the award-winning blog www.tubblog.co.uk
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