A senior operator, working with Microsoft MSPs
Most advisers describe businesses like Vodafone, O2, Symantec, Staples and Equifax. I spent twenty-five years running them. More to the point, I have worked inside many UK MSPs. At Principle Networks, I put their commercial growth system in place.
CEO, TechGrowth Strategy & Insights
MBA, London Business School
Microsoft Certified: AI Transformation Leader
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At GM and CxO level, carrying the revenue number
Cumulative revenue under direct accountability
Additional annual revenue delivered
Customers added
Eight MSP owners said the same sentence.
Before any of this was written, I sat down with eight MSP owners and leaders. I wanted to understand why their AI practices were not growing. I expected to hear about skills, vendor programmes or margin. Instead, each of them said a version of one sentence. They had never met each other. The sentence was: we are not consultants.
Every one of them could implement. None of them could reliably lead the conversation that comes first. In that conversation, a customer’s leadership team decides what should change, and what the change is worth. So the decision was made without them. They were then asked to quote against somebody else’s requirement.
The problem is a missing capability. It is no criticism of the people, and it can be fixed. TechGrowth fixes the problem in two ways. We build the commercial side of the AI practice inside your own business. While that is being built, we supply the same capability in your live customer engagements.
Three things that keep turning out to be true.
All three were true at Vodafone and O2, long before anyone talked about AI. All three are true in an MSP now.
Define the operating model before you choose the platform
A programme delivers the customer processes it was designed around. It does not deliver the ones the technology sets up by default. Choose the platform first, and the budget goes on changing the business to fit the software.
Technology scales whatever commercial model you already have
If the commercial model is clearly defined, the platform helps it grow. If the model is not defined, the platform makes the confusion worse, faster, and at greater cost.
Benefits last only while governance, architecture and delivery stay aligned
If any one of the three falls out of line, the benefits start to disappear. The loss grows over time. It almost never shows in the first quarter. By the fourth, the programme has almost always failed.
The role and the scale in each business.
I did not advise these businesses. I carried the revenue number inside them. In each one, the way the business made money had to change.
What to expect if we work together.
Directness, and someone in the building
The work happens on site, with your leadership team. It covers your own offers and accounts. You will get a straight read on what is working and what is not. That includes any part of the work your team is not using. If I think you are wrong about something, I will tell you in the room. I will not save it for a report afterwards.
One senior operator, working one to one with your business.
A deck, a bench, or a guarantee
No associates deliver the on-site work on my behalf. I do not produce campaigns for you to publish. I make no promise about your revenue. You should be suspicious of anyone who does. I stand behind the method, the quality of the work on site, and honest measurement of the results.
The decisions in your business stay yours, and so do the results.
A board role, qualifications, a certification and an award.
- Non-executive director, NHS Buckinghamshire, 2009 to 2011. It was a £1.2bn trust, and I sat on the main board. The trust had made a loss for seven years, and it moved into surplus. I chaired the Patient Experience Committee.
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Microsoft Certified: AI Transformation Leader. This certification covers leading AI adoption and change inside an organisation. Verify it on Microsoft Learn → - MBA, London Business School.
- MA Marketing with Distinction, Kingston Business School (top 5% of class).
- JD Power award for best customer experience at consumer scale, during the O2 years.
I am based in the UK. I work with managed service providers across the UK and Ireland. Their turnover is roughly £2m to £100m, and their businesses are built on Microsoft workloads.
We build the commercial half. You do the build and keep its revenue.
TechGrowth works only with managed service providers. We do not compete with them. We sell no software, no licences and no implementation. We do not build, configure, integrate, secure, deploy or operate technology. We do not bid for the work that follows our engagements. You keep that work and the revenue from it.
Sometimes a live customer engagement needs executive AI business consulting. Your own capability may not be fully built yet. In that case, the consulting comes from Formalus, our specialist customer-facing commercial transformation business. It does that work only, and does not implement technology. Formalus specifies the build. You deliver it, and you are paid for it.
On Microsoft. We work with managed service providers whose businesses are built on Microsoft workloads. TechGrowth is not a Microsoft partner and is part of no Microsoft programme. Eligibility and claims remain entirely between you and Microsoft.
Ninety minutes, and a straight answer.
A Growth Review is a structured conversation with you and your leadership team. There is no charge for it. Together, we find where your AI practice is actually constrained. We work out what removing that constraint is worth. Then I tell you honestly whether I am the right person to help. Sometimes the honest answer is no.
Win the business case before you win the build.