Reader Spotlight: Caleb Driscoll, Froogal
A conversation with Caleb Driscoll, Froogal
In this Reader Spotlight, Froogal founder and president Caleb Driscoll shares a little about himself, Froogal, and the state of the channel.
Summarize your background/professional experience.
Driscoll: I spent more than 20 years in big box retail electronics, as well as the mobile industry during which time I had the opportunity to impact the micro and small business of America. Then I discovered the overspend on tech services, as well as the lack of technology solutions lending a hand in automation, process, and scalability for Micro and SMBs and created Froogal in an attempt to evolve America’s micro and small business.
The biggest thing Froogal does for our clients is introduce SimplicIT and Organization into their IT structures, using our ROI-M methodology: Review, Organize, Implement, and Manage. End of day we take the $H out of their IT!
What is one interesting/humorous/entertaining fact about you?
Driscoll: I have three Golden Retrievers; play the drums, piano, and guitar; and do Bonsai and lots of gardening — that includes the five kinds of fresh fruit on our property. I love golf, but who doesn't, and am a writer and speaker. I also teach How To Use Technology in our local Minneapolis Suburbs. That’s more than one but, oh well!
What verticals do you serve and what services and technologies do you sell?
Driscoll: We do not strive to serve specific vertices, rather we try to serve American small and micro business between 1 and 250 employees, sometimes higher.
We do split them into two categories:
- The original American small business firm which is 70ish percent composed of professional service firms of 10 or fewer employees.
- The new generation of small/micro, SaaS represented by small corporate office sizes of 10 to 250 people which then could have hundreds if not thousands of satellite sales and service reps whose needs are simply telecommunication and device.
Our technologies are based on our user’s needs. We find a need, then find a solution.
What vendor partners do you work with?
Driscoll: ConnectWise, ITbD, TechData, Synnex, Microsoft, PAX8, Acronis, Proofpoint, BSN, Webroot, Passportal, Sienna Security, IronScales, Sandler PArtners, Snap AV, TechRug, and Field Nation.
What is the best sales opportunity on your 12-to-18-month horizon?
Driscoll: Ha — too many to count. We believe MSPs of today are far more likely to die of indigestion of opportunity then they are to die from starvation. Find a need and fill IT!
What threatens that opportunity?
Driscoll: Lack of standard product catalogs and easy-to-understand margins/price-points to both the MSP and the client. Organization, consolidation, chasing billable hours, being reactive vs. proactive …
What could accelerate it?
Driscoll: Teaching MSPs to create a wash/rinse/repeat model and compartmentalize IT remediation into remote and on-site. Then outsourcing remote work to a reputable NOC/SOC/Help Desk (ITbD).
What is the most difficult aspect of leading an IT service provision company?
Driscoll: The lack of end-to-end workflow software in the space. How successful is the retail channel if you take away their POS systems and have their store managers run their business based on stitching together software?
How are you attacking that challenge?
Driscoll: By creating a piece of middle ware that leverages the ConnectWise ecosystem, as well as all of our vendor portals, thereby creating an aggregated single pane of glass to work in.
In the context of running your business, what apps/tools/utilities could you not live without?
Driscoll: The Chanel Company and other like-minded peer groups — this is WHERE the MAGIC happens! ConnectWise ecosystem, QuickBooks, Microsoft, Passportal, and PAX8.
On the flip side of that, what would you be happy to do without?
Driscoll: Third-party portals.