Managed services News
Managing IT Talent In A Talent-short World: MSP Adnet Shares Its Secrets
Joseph F. Kovar, Konstantin Vengerowsky
‘I think for any employee, they want to know what their growth capability is. And isn’t the largest challenge for a small employer to show a future trajectory? I think without question the largest selling point for our current and new staff is to show them they’re part of something larger and that there are opportunities within the entire ecosystem for them to work together,’ says Adnet Technologies CEO Chris Luise.
The Fight For IT Talent: A Never-ending Battle
Adnet Technologies, a 30-year-old Rocky Hill, Conn.-based MSP, is like any small MSP in that it has to find ways to serve nearly unlimited customer needs with limited resources, particularly when it comes to IT talent. The MSP does have one advantage over its peers in that it was acquired in September of 2021 by Palo Alto, Calif.-based New Charter Technologies, which itself was founded in 2018 with support from a private equity firm, Oval Partners.
Adnet Technologies CEO Chris Luise told CRN that being one of 16 MSPs that are run independently under the New Charter banner helps alleviate some IT talent issues by making it easy for each of the MSPs to call on its sister companies to help when their own skillsets or geographical location don’t match customer needs.
However, Luise said, to succeed, Adnet Technologies still has to rely primarily on its own IT talent, which means it has to have ways to attract and retain the right people. And that means depending on its own culture in addition to working with New Charter.
“If we wrap our business around people’s life objectives and people’s goals and we collectively support and celebrate each other, that has a contribution back to our culture. ... If we can figure out how to meet these people with the things that are important to them and important to their professional as well as personal lives, then I think what we end up with is deeper commitment and deeper inspiration for why they work for us as a company,” he said.
For a look at some of the strategies Adnet Technologies uses to attract and retain IT talent, click through the slideshow.
