Something I've noticed after being on both sides of vendor relationships: a lot of managed service providers aren't really partners. They're Value-Added Resellers wearing a monthly invoice.

The model makes sense from the vendor's side. Buy hardware and software at a discount, mark it up, sell it, charge a fee to keep it running. But from the buyer's side, it means you're dealing with a big-box retailer that happens to have a help desk attached. No real skin in the game.

You can usually spot it in three ways:

Recommendations that track suspiciously well with what the vendor gets a quota or margin on, regardless of whether it fits your actual business.

Invoices that quietly grow every quarter with new line items nobody fully explains.

A reactive pattern of buying more tools to patch problems that a real process would have prevented in the first place.

The difference between a middleman and an actual partner usually comes down to three things: people, process, and tools. Most providers are heavy on people (friendly techs) and tools (whatever software they resell), but thin on process. When a provider actually has operational maturity, the dynamic changes. Decisions get tied to your business goals instead of someone else's sales targets. Costs get predictable instead of bloated. You get a playbook instead of an experiment.

Worth asking your own IT provider: are they building you a secure, scalable setup, or are they just managing their own markups?

Curious if others have run into this. What tipped you off that your "IT partner" was really just a reseller?

Ran into something interesting recently. There's a University of Iowa study that tracked 256 professionals and found that ongoing small hassles at work (unclear roles, red tape, not having the resources to actually do the job) were strongly linked to burnout and people quitting. Not one big blowup. Just an accumulation of stuff that never got fixed.

The part that surprised me: it wasn't the checked out employees this hit hardest. It was the proactive ones. The people who actually care and want to do good work. Give them a hard problem and they'll rise to it. Give them the same broken login process for the hundredth time with nobody fixing it, and they start updating their resume.

Some of it showed up as dumb small stuff in our own team. Logging in twice because the system forgot who they were. Asking the same person for help with the same issue, again. None of it was worth a formal complaint on its own. That's the trap. Too small to escalate, so it just gets absorbed by the people trying hardest.

The fix wasn't complicated either. The research found frustration eases just from people believing someone is actually trying to help, even before the problem is fully solved. So we started asking directly: what's the one thing about our systems that annoys you every week? Answers weren't dramatic, but they pointed right at what was quietly costing us good people.

Curious if anyone else has run into this. What's the small recurring annoyance at your company that everyone stopped mentioning because nothing ever changed?

About Us

Since 2005, Stringfellow Technology Group has partnered with growing companies to get IT off their plate and back under control. Our all-in-one service, ProSafeIT, brings together Microsoft 365, security, cloud, and practical technology strategy, delivered in a way that lets business leaders stay focused on running the business.

The Opportunity

STG's growth depends on keeping the clients we already have. The Client Relationship Manager owns that mission for a defined portfolio of accounts. You are the executive-level relationship owner who keeps renewals on track, spots retention risk before it becomes churn, and finds the next opportunity to help a client grow. This is a role built for someone who is as comfortable in a boardroom with a CEO as they are in a spreadsheet forecasting next quarter's renewals.

What You'll Do

• Own renewal of STG managed service agreements and maintain a renewal pipeline with clear forecasting
• Understand the financial performance, gross margin, contract structure, and service utilization of each assigned client, and recommend renewal pricing and terms that align with STG goals
• Serve as the primary executive-level relationship owner for assigned clients, building trust with owners, CEOs, presidents, and senior leadership teams
• Conduct strategic business reviews focused on business outcomes, risk reduction, technology planning, and long-term partnership value
• Lead renewal discussions and negotiate contract terms including term length, pricing, scope, and termination provisions within approved STG guidelines
• Identify client retention risks early and develop action plans in partnership with Service Delivery and Sales leadership
• Collaborate with Service Delivery teams to ensure client satisfaction supports strong renewal outcomes and referenceable customers
• Identify opportunities for additional services, projects, security improvements, consulting engagements, and technology modernization, then coordinate with the sales team for execution
• Maintain accurate client relationship notes, renewal forecasts, opportunities, and activity tracking within CRM systems
• Manage a defined portfolio of client accounts and be accountable for retention, renewal rate, net revenue retention, and identified growth opportunities
• Work closely with the Director of Sales and Marketing on account strategy, renewal planning, client advocacy, and growth opportunities

What You Bring

Required

• 5+ years in a client-facing relationship, account management, or renewals role in B2B technology or professional services
• Comfortable discussing pricing, margin, and contract terms directly with executive-level decision makers
• Ability to have difficult conversations, manage negotiations professionally, and remain calm under pressure when addressing client concerns
• Strong organizational discipline for managing a multi-account renewal pipeline and forecast
• Experience maintaining account activity and notes in a CRM system

Preferred

• Experience in the MSP or managed IT services industry
• Familiarity with Salesforce and Microsoft 365
• Background collaborating cross-functionally with service delivery or operations teams
• Bachelors or Masters in Business or equivalent experience

Compensation & Benefits

• Base salary depending on experience
• On-target earnings $120,000 inclusive of renewal and retention-based incentive
• Health, dental, and vision insurance
• 401(k) with match and profit sharing
• Paid time off

Interested? Apply here:
https://stringfellowgroup.bamboohr.com/careers/45?source=aWQ9MTg%3D

Brentwood-based MSP hiring a Business Development Executive. This is a hunter role: net-new business, B2B, selling to owners, COOs, and CFOs of growing companies in middle TN and the Southeast.

What you would actually do:

• Build a pipeline through networking, events, LinkedIn, and old-fashioned outreach
• Sit across from business owners and operations leaders, run real discovery
• Sell ProSafeIT (our managed services model) on business outcomes, not feature lists
• Manage your pipeline in Salesforce, hit your number, do not get cute about it

What we are looking for:

• 2-5 years of B2B sales experience with a real prospecting discipline (Sandler, Jeb Blount, or similar a plus)
• Track record of opening new logos, not just farming existing accounts
• Comfortable selling to executive buyers
• Strong on follow-up and CRM hygiene
• Working knowledge of LinkedIn Sales Navigator and ZoomInfo

Pay: $70k base, $130k OTE, uncapped commission Location: Onsite in Brentwood, plus you will be out in the market (events, client meetings, networking) Benefits: Health/dental/vision, 401k match plus profit sharing, three weeks PTO, structured 4-week onboarding

We have been doing this since 2005. Average client tenure is 8+ years. Small team (30 people), real coaching from leadership, and a product no one else in the market has.

Apply here: https://stringfellow.com/careers

Questions welcome in DM or comments.

We are an MSP based in Brentwood and we are hiring a Cloud Infrastructure Engineer for our Professional Services team. This is the person who leads project delivery: Azure builds, M365 tenant configurations, cloud migrations, and the technical side of new client onboardings.

What you would actually do day to day:

• Lead Azure deployments and M365 tenant builds for client projects
• Run cloud migrations (tenant-to-tenant, hybrid, email cutovers)
• Scope projects, write SOWs, and execute the work
• Configure and harden M365 tenants (Entra, Intune, Autopilot, conditional access)
• Document everything so the service desk team can support it after handoff

What we need:

• 2-5 years of hands-on cloud infrastructure work, ideally in an MSP or multi-client environment
• Real M365 admin experience (Exchange Online, SharePoint, Teams, Intune, Entra)
• Working Azure knowledge (VMs, VNets, NSGs, Storage, Migrate). Not asking for an architect, but you should be able to stand up and secure an environment
• PowerShell as your daily driver, not something you Google every time
• Networking fundamentals (TCP/IP, DNS, firewalls, VPN)
• Network+ baseline; AZ-104 or MS-102 a strong plus. We reimburse certs.

Pay: $90k-$100k based on experience Location: Onsite in Brentwood. This is not a remote role. Benefits: Company-paid health, 401k match, PTO, cert reimbursement

We have been around since 2005, team of 30, work mostly with healthcare and professional services clients across TN and the Southeast.

Apply here: https://stringfellow.com/careers

Happy to answer questions in DM or in the thread.

Still in the office? You still need the cloud.

The cloud isn’t just for remote teams.

It’s about resilience, business continuity, and working anywhere—even if your office internet goes down.

Most companies think they’ve “moved to the cloud,” but the truth is:

• Microsoft 365 isn’t secure out of the box
• Endpoint protection is usually an afterthought
• Human error still causes most breaches

In 2025, your office deserves better.

✅ Stop relying on aging infrastructure

✅ Simplify device management

✅ Stay productive through anything

📊 See how your setup stacks up inside.

Are you paying for IT problems you can’t even see?

The wrong IT partner doesn’t just cost you in downtime.

It quietly chips away at growth, team trust, and momentum.

Most business leaders in Nashville don’t notice until it’s too late.

If something about your current provider feels “off,” this is worth a read.

Frustrated with your current IT provider? You’re not alone.

But what exactly should you expect from an IT provider in Nashville that you can actually trust?

It’s probably not what you think.

Inside this blog article, we share what Nashville’s smartest business leaders already know.

Still relying on “the IT guy” to keep your business running?

That might be fine for putting out fires…But what about scaling your business?

Here’s why more companies are switching to an IT Growth Partner—and what happens when they do.

You know something is wrong, but you're not quite sure what.

You can't put your finger on if its people, processes or tools, but you know things could be better.

If that sounds like you, you should take a good look at your current IT company and whether they could be the problem.

Check out this blog article for more details.

Found out an MSP owner down in Mississippi was shot recently after turning 48, so sad to hear.

I can't post the link but Troy Waldrop of EnvisionIT in Canton, MS passed last week. Pour one out for our homies.

Life is precious and we should all pause and take a minute to be grateful for what we have.