Josh Dinneen, CEO of Blue Mantis, is a seasoned chief devoted to driving the corporate’s natural and M&A-fueled development and repeatedly fostering innovation all through the group and its rising consumer base.
Previously President of Blue Mantis, Josh spearheads efforts to reinforce the corporate’s ongoing initiatives aimed toward deepening consumer engagement and sustainability by delivering the optimum expertise that produces measurable and constructive enterprise outcomes. Josh’s mantra for achievement is easy however constant: consumer sustainability fuels firm development, which in flip, drives steady innovation.
Blue Mantis is a private-equity-backed nationwide managed companies supplier centered on cloud, cybersecurity, AI and digital transformation.
Blue Mantis serves mid-market and enterprise organizations by serving to them establish and implement enterprise software program options from corporations like AWS, Arctic Wolf, Acronis, Cisco, Dell, HPE, Microsoft, and plenty of others. Main prospects embrace Cole Haan, the Jacksonville Jaguars, Liberty Mutual, Woodforest Nationwide Financial institution, and Boston Medical Heart.
Are you able to share the journey of Blue Mantis from its inception to turning into a number one managed companies supplier in cloud, cybersecurity, AI, and digital transformation?
Blue Mantis has a 30+ yr historical past of delivering modern and confirmed expertise options to mid-market and enterprise shoppers. We’ve been an integral a part of their digital transformation journeys and, as your query suggests, we’ve additionally been on our personal modernization journey, one marked by a dramatic growth in the kind of options we provide and the way through which we assist shoppers obtain constructive enterprise outcomes.
We now have reworked from our roots as a small, regional reseller of {hardware} and software program merchandise to a nationwide and now a global supplier of next-generation companies in what we name three core enterprise “pillars” – cybersecurity, cloud and managed companies.
As we’ve scaled our group, we’ve additionally efficiently attracted a number of new blue-chip executives to develop our management group. In doing so, we’ve strengthened our technical acumen, broadened our companies choices, refined our gross sales execution, and sharpened our go-to market methods. These key leaders embrace Chief Working Officer (and former CISO and CIO) Jay Pasteris; Chief Providers Officer Steven DeMaayer; Chief Income Officer Terry Richardson, and our Chief Advertising Officer, Sarah Foote.
As a supplier of next-generation options, we’ve additionally expanded our consulting capabilities and we’re more and more serving as a strategic advisor for our shoppers, surveying the hyper-dynamic expertise panorama and creating the blueprint to assist shoppers harness these applied sciences to assist their companies and attain measurable and constructive outcomes. We now have additionally repeatedly broadened our portfolio of product bundles and companies, which embrace cybersecurity and threat administration, cloud, networking, information middle modernization, fashionable workspace, provider companies, useful resource administration and the flexibility to supply any of these options as managed companies.
Previously often called Inexperienced Pages till our new model identification and title change have been unveiled in July 2023, the title Blue Mantis signifies our function as a strategic advisor, one able to main our shoppers into the longer term. The truth is, the phrase mantis actually means a “seer, a prophet and one who divines.” This actually captures our mission and our ethos.
What are the important thing components that contributed to Blue Mantis’ spectacular development charges in cybersecurity, cloud service practices, and managed companies?
First, was our capability to stay keenly centered in the marketplace alternatives we noticed proper in entrance of us. Second, was retaining our shoppers on the forefront of all the pieces we do was vital. Third, we felt it was vital to undertake the transformation that has moved Blue Mantis from a gross revenue, price of products bought mannequin to a strategic services-led enterprise aimed toward driving enterprise outcomes for shoppers. That dramatically modified the expansion trajectory of Blue Mantis. To enhance our natural development, we even have made a number of acquisitions and added technical expertise in these three key development segments. These investments have paid robust dividends; we’ve achieved a five-year development charge of 405 p.c for cybersecurity, 119 p.c for cloud service practices and 495 p.c for managed service. We now have additionally elevated our headcount by 127 p.c throughout that point.
Are you able to elaborate on the twin function of AI at Blue Mantis, each internally for operational efficiencies and externally for consumer companies?
We now have gone all-in on GenAI for each inner and exterior makes use of. To achieve success in AI, information administration takes on heightened significance. We’re persevering with to put money into our information enablement capabilities at our basis. As a Microsoft associate, we had early entry to Copilot and are on the forefront of Managed Providers Suppliers harnessing the ability of AI for enterprise prospects. This level has been validated by prospects, companions, and market observers within the IT channel.
For our shoppers, we started providing Managed AI Copilot Options in Q2 2024, a custom-made turnkey providing powered by Microsoft. We seamlessly and securely combine AI into shoppers’ present Microsoft Cloud environments with government schooling, strategic planning, and managed companies. Our GTM relies on an Assess, Modernize, Handle framework. By means of our consultative method, we’ve helped prospects establish high-value use instances for GenAI, establish and remediate safety points related to their information property, and modernize information processing in assist of GenAI use instances. Internally, we’re leveraging AI throughout many capabilities inside Blue Mantis. Whether or not it’s Microsoft Copilot or one other AI expertise, we’re seeing vital productiveness enhancements as extra use instances are recognized and other people turn out to be conversant in the expertise.
What are some particular AI-driven initiatives or initiatives which have had a major impression in your shoppers?
We’re nonetheless within the preliminary levels of this expertise wave and many consumers are nonetheless formulating their technique referring to utilized GenAI for his or her enterprise. The market is clearly within the schooling part as shoppers are taking a look at “the artwork of the attainable” as they appear to reap the benefits of this rising expertise. Probably the most vital impression we’ve seen is on two fronts. First, as shoppers start to discover their information property, this has revealed the expansive scope and magnitude of their information property and induced them to revisit their information governance processes and expose new menace vectors for information leakage and information loss. Many consumers have been stunned to seek out out simply how a lot information they’ve and who has entry to it. Second, when shoppers make investments the effort and time to coach their employees, time-to-productivity is tremendously enhanced. Establishing command and belief of this new expertise is vital to driving the kind of impression that shoppers anticipate to see from their GenAI investments. Naysayers and detractors have been transformed to champions and advocates when given the correct baseline and this has had a major impression with shoppers as they roll out GenAI options.
How does Blue Mantis keep forward of rising threats and handle threat for its shoppers?
We’re a security-first agency, and we contemplate safety to be the bedrock of all the pieces we architect, construct and assist. As a supplier of managed companies, we’re relied upon closely by shoppers to be their eyes and ears and their first line of protection towards their adversaries – whether or not insider or exterior threats. We keep forward of those threats and assist not solely handle however scale back threat by providing a whole suite of cloud safety, community and methods safety and governance, threat and compliance options to satisfy all their wants. We put a excessive premium on safety consciousness coaching each internally and with shoppers to make sure we keep updated on the most recent vulnerabilities and assault strategies. This includes menace intelligence feeds, safety conferences, and trade greatest apply analysis. We additionally supply complete safety assessments to establish weaknesses in a consumer’s present safety posture. This helps them prioritize potential dangers and implement options tailor-made to their atmosphere, trade and finances. For a lot of shoppers we offer managed safety companies and 24/7 monitoring by means of Managed Detection and Response (MDR) options by means of companions like Arctic Wolf, in addition to steering and implementation companies to help them on their Zero Belief journeys.
By combining these approaches, we offer shoppers with a complete safety technique that adapts to the evolving menace panorama and will increase their vigilance towards cyberattacks.
Are you able to talk about any latest cybersecurity developments or challenges that mid-market and enterprise organizations ought to pay attention to?
Whether or not we’re speaking about mid-market or enterprises, the organizations we’re working with face most of the identical challenges. On the prime of the record is the necessity for higher and extra holistic information administration and privateness assurance from a regulatory perspective. The brand new SEC mandate to reveal information breaches extra rapidly and transparently intensifies our consumer’s already complicated environments.
Knowledge resiliency is one other main problem for the midmarket. It’s not ok to be ok. For the straightforward purpose that once more, no matter dimension or vertical trade, our shoppers’ buyer information is below steady assault by an more and more subtle universe of adversaries. Purchasers’ threat profiles are increasing, and defenses should turn out to be stronger, extra vigilant and extra subtle to make sure steady safety.
Lastly, regardless of the elevated threats they face, many organizations are anticipated to “Do extra with much less.” That is the place Blue Mantis has shined. We assist shoppers who’re grappling with these points by delivering steering and path on how greatest to prioritize initiatives within the areas of cloud, cybersecurity and digital transformation. Nevertheless, we’ve additionally expanded our capabilities and scale within the space of strategic useful resource administration in cyber safety as all as IT. We now have expanded a complete expertise pool that permits Blue Mantis to seamlessly combine sources into consumer groups, filling particular talent gaps and guaranteeing undertaking success.
How does Blue Mantis information shoppers by means of their cloud journey, and what are the important thing elements of a profitable cloud technique?
Blue Mantis helps information prospects by means of their cloud journey with a practical method. We work carefully with prospects to grasp the actual drivers behind their cloud transformations and work collectively collaboratively to construct a roadmap.
As with most transformation initiatives, shifting to the cloud doesn’t imply prospects can have parity with their present operations and this creates challenges inside their corporations. Whether or not it’s a skillset hole, experience wanted, coaching, or capability for work, we assist our prospects envision their future state and guarantee they’re supported in any manner wanted to achieve success.
We now have recognized 4 main insights about leveraging the cloud:
First, is alignment to the enterprise. Any cloud transformation must have clearly outlined goals. With no clear demarcation for ‘what attractiveness like’ and the enterprise outcomes outlined, it’s simple to get misplaced in your cloud journey.
Second, is knowing workloads and assessing their fit-for-use in cloud. . We excel at framing the choice factors for our prospects and offering insights into what we’ve seen work and never work. It is rather frequent for us to see a hybrid method to cloud, particularly for legacy functions. Many functions weren’t constructed for the cloud and they aren’t cloud prepared. Deciding how a lot to speculate as a way to make them slot in a cloud atmosphere will be very difficult (and probably not well worth the funding).
Third, prioritizing migration is vital. As with all transformation initiative, you will need to see some early wins. For business-critical functions and infrastructure, nothing will kill your cloud transformation sooner than massive, lengthy operating, initiatives that don’t return some worth again to the enterprise. We search to keep away from this case and work along with shoppers to seek out stability.
Lastly, as shoppers migrate to the cloud they might want to put some sort of governance course of in place. This may be very difficult for any group that’s experimenting with new expertise, whereas attempting to run their enterprise. Clients might want to handle their prices (as that’s one thing that may get uncontrolled rapidly, in case you are not ready), make sure that the prices are successfully communicated to their enterprise stakeholders, and in the end optimize that spend over time. Following this blueprint and making some good decisions has made a lot of our prospects profitable of their cloud journey.
What differentiates Blue Mantis’ managed companies from different suppliers out there?
Once more, I’d return to the purpose made earlier about reinvention. What separates Blue Mantis from the various expertise resolution suppliers out there is that many have didn’t reinvent themselves. We now have had a transparent imaginative and prescient and a centered technique that has been embraced by a terrific, proficient and dependable base of workers who stay dedicated to the mission. We now have not tried to develop too huge too quick or to tackle greater than we might efficiently handle. And that may be a temptation, imagine me. Our steadfast devotion to resilience and skill to adapt and alter is huge based mostly in the marketplace we’re in. I’m extraordinarily proud and appreciative of the proficient individuals we’ve grown and retained right here at Blue Mantis and the brand new leaders and group members we’ve efficiently added. This has been large in serving to us develop, diversify and differentiate. They’ve embraced change, been versatile and proceed to drive our shoppers into the longer term. Purchasers inform us repeatedly – “this makes you stand out.”
What are the most recent developments in information middle modernization, and the way is Blue Mantis getting ready its shoppers for future alternatives?
The info middle trade is really witnessing a transformative period marked by the extremely fast and broad adoption of Generative Synthetic Intelligence (GenAI). This expertise, which incorporates superior fashions like GPT-4, is reshaping the panorama of knowledge processing and administration. We’re working carefully with CIOS, CISOs and even CEOs inside our consumer base to assist them absolutely perceive the implications of this seismic shift. As vital, we’re getting ready present information middle sources – whether or not these are on-prem, in a non-public or public cloud or consumed in a hybrid mannequin. Blue Mantis companions with all the key information middle {hardware} suppliers to make sure your modernization resolution is future-proof and energy-efficient. We are able to additionally optimize for price by integrating the companies of our FinOps group, which has been confirmed to scale back our prospects’ annual cloud prices by 30% or extra.
Are you able to present insights into how Blue Mantis approaches complicated networking challenges for its shoppers?
We clear up complicated networking challenges for shoppers by means of a number of key methods:
- Blue Mantis companions with shoppers to grasp their enterprise objectives and communication wants, guaranteeing that the community infrastructure helps these goals successfully.
- We provide custom-made options to satisfy the particular wants of every consumer, contemplating components like their dimension, trade, and actual community necessities.
- We apply superior applied sciences together with software-defined networking (SDN), community perform virtualization (NFV), and superior community monitoring instruments.
- Purchasers’ networking initiatives are supported by means of our group of extremely expert networking specialists who’ve intensive expertise in coping with complicated community environments. This group can diagnose and resolve intricate community points effectively.
- We’re not some extent options supplier; we provide complete end-to-end companies that handle all the pieces from community design and implementation to ongoing administration and optimization.
- We apply proactive monitoring and upkeep to each consumer engagement to repeatedly monitor community efficiency and establish potential points earlier than they turn out to be vital issues. We conduct common upkeep and updates to make sure community reliability.
- By combining better of breed and emergent expertise, we guarantee our prospects are absolutely conscious of the choices they’ve. Combining a consultative method, extremely expert specialists, and a portfolio of market main companions we’re in a position to ship the correct resolution on the proper time.
By combining these approaches, Blue Mantis successfully addresses the complicated networking challenges confronted by its shoppers, guaranteeing safe, environment friendly, and dependable community efficiency.
Thanks for the good interview, readers who want to study extra ought to go to Blue Mantis.