MSP 501 Profile: Monroy IT Services with a Minority's Perspective on the Channel

Company Name: Monroy IT Services
MSP 501 Rank: 27
CEO: George Monroy

Primary Services:

Twitter: @MonroyITService

Monroy IT Services says it wants customers to focus on growing; the technology is Monroy‘s job.

The company, which placed No. 27 on this year’s MSP 501, says its IT services improve employee and client satisfaction. All the while, Monroy’s customers can grow their business without “spending a fortune” on poor IT support from another company.

In this Q&A, Monroy CEO George Monroy discusses how his company is making its way through COVID-19. You’ll also want to learn how being a minority has shaped his approach to business.

Channel Futures: What new opportunities and challenges came with the global COVID-19 pandemic?

George Monroy: Let’s start with the challenges by saying that servicing our clients has not been an issue. We have been able to do most of the work that we do remotely with systems that we have set up in place. Some of this is the tools that we use, but the other part is having good clients that are on the same page as us. They understood what the risks were during this pandemic; therefore, they were cooperative and helped us service them better. Our onsite visits have been extremely limited; most have been on weekends or when there were greatly reduced staff counts in the offices.

Another challenge was the sales and marketing side of the business. We kept our marketing efforts going through all of this, and while we could not have in person sales meetings, we were able to have video or phone meetings with prospects. We have been able to grow the company during this, even if the growth has not been as great as we had planned. Also, We know that some IT support companies have gone out of business or have failed to service their clients through this pandemic. So we have been ready to seize those opportunities that kept presenting themselves to us.

CF: Why are you a business owner instead of working for someone else? What is the allure of entrepreneurship to you?

GM: The way I got into being a business owner was kind of by accident. I was working as a temp and got laid off. Then the company that I was working for needed help because they had laid off some of their IT staff. I ended up working on an hourly basis for them and started up my business. One thing led to another, and I am where I am today. I have enjoyed the challenges of business ownership. Most importantly, I have always loved to learn and I have been able to learn about so much more being a business owner than I ever would if I were working for somebody else.

Being able to build something over the years is very satisfying. It has changed my mindset to one of planning long-term. Having my own business is something that has allowed me to create a service that companies desperately need, and doing it right gives me great satisfaction. At this point I feel that I could not go to work for somebody else as I am probably unemployable, and they probably could not afford me as an employee either.

CF: How does your experience as a racial minority change your approach to doing business?

GM: With my experience as a racial minority I see things a bit differently. It all has to do with how I was raised. Now that I think about it, everything makes perfect sense as to why I became a business owner. My parents came from Mexico with little, and they worked hard to raise me and my two younger brothers in this country where we were born. They taught us the value of growing up in this country and how important it is to cherish the opportunity that we had. I have always felt that people who have lived in America for generations have taken for granted the rich opportunities in this country where they live. They do not understand how difficult life is elsewhere because their families have been here for generations, and maybe that has made them a bit lazy.

Now I know that not all people born here are like that; obviously, being born of Mexican parents, it was hammered into us how great a country America is. I understood that we needed to do something with this great start in this country. I look at people by how they work and communicate with others. How people treat people is most important to me and how I do the same is important as well. It really drives business decisions because we need to do both what is right and what is fair. I feel that if we operate this way, then we will have a thriving business.