Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share Inside the First Focus + Integris Partnership: Building a Global Managed AI & IT Provider for SMBs
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
Inside the First Focus + Integris Partnership: Building a Global Managed AI & IT Provider for SMBs
A week ago, the news broke that First Focus and Integris are joining forces to build the global managed AI and IT services provider for small and mid-sized businesses. In this conversation, recorded in Chicago, First Focus CEO Ross Sardi sits down with Integris CEO Rashaad Bajwa to go behind the press release.If you are a First Focus client, the takeaway is short. You keep the local team you already work with. You gain a much deeper bench of specialists, round-the-clock security cover from people who are awake when you are asleep, and faster access to AI use cases proven across a global SMB customer base. Nothing is being taken away. A lot is being added.In this episode, we cover:
- Why First Focus and Integris are the right fit, after years of running parallel playbooks on opposite sides of the world
- How the integration will actually work, and why local teams stay local
- Why scale matters more than ever in the age of AI, and how the combined business will run experiments across both markets
- Ross's new role as Chief Innovation Officer with global responsibility for AI product
- What changes immediately for clients in Australia, New Zealand and the Philippines
- Why the New Zealand market in particular stands to benefit
- A get-to-know-you segment with Ross and Rashaad
The partnership is pending regulatory approval. More on growth plans, active acquisitions and what comes next is covered in the second half of the conversation.Subscribe for more conversations on managed services, cybersecurity and how AI is reshaping the way SMBs work.Chapters:00:00 News of the partnership and what we are covering00:38 Meet Rashaad Bajwa and the Integris story03:01 Why First Focus and why Australia and New Zealand06:22 What the partnership will actually look like09:15 Pending regulatory approval and the planning window10:31 AI is a big part of this conversation13:33 Ross's new role as Chief Innovation Officer16:25 Why MSP owners are joining rather than going alone19:31 What ANZ and Philippines customers gain23:09 What this means for the New Zealand market24:50 Staying innovative as the business scales30:42 Get to know Rashaad: rapid-fire questions35:14 Get to know Ross: rapid-fire questions42:12 Closing thoughts: only upside
View all episodes
By First FocusA week ago, the news broke that First Focus and Integris are joining forces to build the global managed AI and IT services provider for small and mid-sized businesses. In this conversation, recorded in Chicago, First Focus CEO Ross Sardi sits down with Integris CEO Rashaad Bajwa to go behind the press release.If you are a First Focus client, the takeaway is short. You keep the local team you already work with. You gain a much deeper bench of specialists, round-the-clock security cover from people who are awake when you are asleep, and faster access to AI use cases proven across a global SMB customer base. Nothing is being taken away. A lot is being added.In this episode, we cover:
- Why First Focus and Integris are the right fit, after years of running parallel playbooks on opposite sides of the world
- How the integration will actually work, and why local teams stay local
- Why scale matters more than ever in the age of AI, and how the combined business will run experiments across both markets
- Ross's new role as Chief Innovation Officer with global responsibility for AI product
- What changes immediately for clients in Australia, New Zealand and the Philippines
- Why the New Zealand market in particular stands to benefit
- A get-to-know-you segment with Ross and Rashaad
The partnership is pending regulatory approval. More on growth plans, active acquisitions and what comes next is covered in the second half of the conversation.Subscribe for more conversations on managed services, cybersecurity and how AI is reshaping the way SMBs work.Chapters:00:00 News of the partnership and what we are covering00:38 Meet Rashaad Bajwa and the Integris story03:01 Why First Focus and why Australia and New Zealand06:22 What the partnership will actually look like09:15 Pending regulatory approval and the planning window10:31 AI is a big part of this conversation13:33 Ross's new role as Chief Innovation Officer16:25 Why MSP owners are joining rather than going alone19:31 What ANZ and Philippines customers gain23:09 What this means for the New Zealand market24:50 Staying innovative as the business scales30:42 Get to know Rashaad: rapid-fire questions35:14 Get to know Ross: rapid-fire questions42:12 Closing thoughts: only upside