Phil Smith

We are thrilled to partner with the Future Standard Digital Infrastructure team! We remain laser-focused on our mission: delivering exceptional and reliable IT solutions for our clients. Looking forward to building the premier national MSP platform together.

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The role of distributors is undergoing a fundamental shift, becoming less about logistics and more about orchestration, integration and insight, according to Frank Vitagliano. “The ecosystem has gotten so complex over the past five or six years,” Vitagliano, CEO of the Global Technology Distribution Council (GTDC), told CJ Fairfield. “Somebody’s got to orchestrate all of that. Somebody’s got to manage the relationships, link all the partners together. Distributors do that.”

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Behind the Scenes, Ahead of the Curve 👩‍💻 Chris Osborne at Kendra Scott didn’t just want an IT vendor, he needed a true strategic partner. What he got was a team that: ✅ Custom-built scalable systems ✅ Worked hand-in-hand with his internal staff ✅ Delivered transparent, consistent support for over 5 years From launching pop-up stores with full wireless POS to scaling cybersecurity company-wide, The Nine Minds helped future-proof Kendra Scott’s tech, without disrupting daily operations. 🔐 Now, security is stronger. 🛠️ Systems are cleaner. 🚀 Growth is unstoppable. #BusinessIT #RetailTechnology #ITPartnership #GrowthStrategy #CaseStudy #TheNineMinds

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Training can’t fix clunky quoting. Discover how a guided configurator embeds product rules in the workflow—so reps sell, not memorize. #CPQ #GuidedSelling #SalesEnablement #ProductConfiguration   #QuoteToCash #SalesAutomation #DigitalSelling #B2BSales   #WorkflowEfficiency #RevenueOperations #SaaS #ExpediteCommerce

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NEWS: RadiusDC Expands Its Footprint with Edge Colocation Campus in Indianapolis, IN   The new campus, Indy I, is purpose-built to deliver scalable, edge-ready computing — strengthening Central Indiana’s digital infrastructure with the performance and reliability today’s workloads demand. Designed for long-term efficiency, the campus incorporates environmentally responsible features, including closed-loop chillers that enable near-zero water consumption. We're proud to deliver exactly what our customers need: performance, reliability and scalability for the future! https://lnkd.in/eSGNNi6U #DataCenter #EdgeComputing #Indianapolis

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Exciting news! Rootstock's new Managed Services offering has officially launched! This service gives customers direct access to experts who understand the Rootstock ERP platform and the operational needs of product companies. With skills deepened by the Praxis Solutions acquisition, we can optimize, tune, and maintain ERP environments for customers with lean tech teams. Learn more in today's announcement. #ERP #Manufacturing #Salesforce #OperationalExcellence

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GTIA’s research: moving forward, MSP growth will come from skill development, vendor alignment, and smart adoption of emerging tech like AI and automation. https://hubs.li/Q03TQK7-0

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📞 Unlock Insights Hidden in Your Mitel Call Data No extra hardware. No complexity. Just smarter reporting. 🚀 ✨ Track call trends with ease ✨ Measure trunk utilization for cost efficiency ✨ Monitor average answer times ✨ Get near real-time reporting ✨ Simplify IT workflows with scheduled reports 👉 Callation gives businesses of all sizes the reporting power they need to make confident decisions. #Callation #Mitel #BusinessInsights #CallReporting #DataDriven #ITSolutions #Efficiency

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I attended the GTIA - Global Technology Industry Association North America Community & Council Forum + Spotlight Awards in Chicago this week. Blah-blah-blah…great conference, lotta information, great chances to talk…just like every other conference. Let’s jump ahead to stuff that specifically works for me. First of all, the conference was about the Technology Industry. Not a specific vendor, not a specific…well, anything. Ok, except, of course...#AI. Every ^!@#$@ had to use the term “AI” as a noun, verb, adverb, adjective and with some kind of musical reference in order to be heard. But that’s true everywhere. On to the different stuff. Carolyn April’s The State of the Channel 2026 Keynote, for several years, has been my go to when I’m thinking of what external factors Simplex-IT needs to take into account for the next year planning. And she didn’t disappoint. I believe you can get the presentation on the GTIA site (might need to be a member). I wouldn’t be lying if I said her annual report is one of the main benefits I get from membership. An industry report not biased towards a specific vendor? Weird! And talking with committee members who are building useful resources on…everybody say it with me…#Iot (gotcha!). But also AI and #Data. Best practices, adoption toolkits. Opportunity maps. All without a specific vendor lean (which is critical for me). Had a couple of great (whether she agrees or not<g>) conversations with MJ Patent on the data side of things, especially talking about identifying data sources accessible for an organization for either AI or BI utilization. Also had a chance to be on a panel discussion about what we learned from our mistakes. I won’t go into details here about my mistakes I brought up… Finally I was part of the “Genius Café”, where I got to talk one on one with other attendees about issues they’re having. My personal highlight was a great conversation with a vendor that was new to the channel with a service that is underappreciated. Here was the cool thing. I got back Thursday afternoon and immediately headed over to the IoT Sandbox meeting. The topic? It was how the #Akron region can take advantage of the strengths of combining AI, Data and IoT in the polymer industries, led by the Polymer Industry Cluster. During the happy hour afterwards, I spoke with several folks about how we often think of collaboration beyond individual companies in either local/regional terms (ie, Polymer Industry Cluster, OhioX, Greater Cleveland Partnership) or National terms (GTIA). Maybe there are some opportunities to build some bridges that go beyond that mindset. Might be worth considering?

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