How Control Networks was able to reduce response times from two weeks to one day

Allan Michelmore, CEO at the Melbourne MSP discusses how through NinjaOne they got control back of their internal IT systems.

Managed service provider Control Networks needed better notification and control over their systems to ensure they were looking after their clients properly.

The Melbourne-based MSP has 32 staff and focuses on IT support, service controls, SEO, and calls itself a one-stop-shop for customers.

Allan Michelmore, CEO at Control Networks told CRN Australia the MSP wasn’t getting the proper notifications and support it needed to help service its customers.

“We didn't have full control over everything, like any MSP,” he noted.

“I'd log a ticket with the other company, and two weeks later, I get a response. No MSP can work in that situation.”

Six years ago, Control Networks went on a journey to find a new IT management platform and selected NinjaOne.

Michelmore said NinjaOne “ticked all the boxes” that they were looking for.

Since implementing NinjaOne’s capabilities, Control Networks has improved its MTTR by 93 percent. Accelerating repairs and fixes from 14 days to under one day.

The platform also has saved the MSP between 30 to 60 minutes per device during client onboarding and helped Control Networks streamline Essential Eight compliance.

"It made a massive improvement on response times, making sure all the devices are up to date, and meeting the commitments, meeting the SLAs,” he said.

“Because as cybersecurity landscape changes, we have to change with it and that's where the flexibility of NinjaOne comes in.”

Michelmore explained that now Control Networks can respond to their customers quickly and in a timely fashion.

“That was the big thing that was missing,” he said.

“From a customer’s perspectives, I can meet the SMB1001 requirements, and make sure the machines are patched and they're up to date, because we are dealing with some critical infrastructure.

“It's vitally important that the patching is up to date, securities are in place and systems are backed up because it's a requirement in most cases when you're dealing with that part of town.”

Michelmore said prior to implementing NinjaOne they received “stern words” from their customers.

“[They were saying] ‘Why hasn't this been done? Why hasn't that been done?’. Now I hear crickets,” he explained.

“In all our MSP tests, from a Control Networks point of view, I set a quite a high standard to maintain that the patching is always up to date. For the cybersecurity, we run a zero trust type environment.

“So that's an ever changing threat landscape. We have to be agile and be able to change according to the times. And our current tech stack which NinjaOne is a part of, certainly meets that.”

Vic Guerrero, VP, APAC channel, NinjaOne told CRN Australia that Control Networks fits squarely into where NinjaOne started.

"We started to serve the MSP market originally, the way that the platform is expanding what it does for people like Allan and many other organisations,” he said.

“It simplifies the way that we work, simplifies the way that they work, and allows them to focus on what they're good at, which is serving their clients. We see our function as giving them as much capability as we can.”

Now with all this free time, Michelmore said he can work on the business instead of within the business.

“I've got three companies in total, one's a consulting doing Halo, one's a telco, and one's the MSP.

“My time is very critical between all three companies, and it frees me up that I know from my team's perspective, they've got the tools to be able to do what they need when they need it,” he said.

“I don't necessarily have to be part of that, because what we've done and what we've put in place is they're able to do their jobs satisfactory and without incident.”

For Michelmore, it is more about the relationship with the customer rather than the product.

“All products, they will pretty much do the same thing. But for us, it's all about relationship. I've been with vendors for quite a while because [it impacts] the relationship [with the customer],” he ended.