Tête-à-Tête with Naveen Rajkumar, ISOutsource President and CEO: ‘We Are Continually Investing in Tools and Products to Move Our Clients Forward in their Digital Transformation Journey’

“Our team is often viewed as an extension of our clients’ businesses as we manage the entire IT infrastructure at a fraction of what it would cost them to hire their technology staff.”

Technology is the backbone for most businesses in the 21st century, and there are roughly 31.7 million small and medium businesses (SMBs) in the United States. Businesses in healthcare, financial, manufacturing, legal, non-profit, government industries, and more rely on their IT infrastructure to run effectively but typically do not have the in-house expertise to make that happen. ISOutsource has been and continues to be a trusted advisor for hundreds of such businesses for almost three decades. It has been in business for close to 30 years and serves over 600 active clients worldwide.

The company was incorporated in 1992 and is headquartered in Bothell, WA, with field offices in Seattle, Spokane, Portland, and Phoenix.

Naveen Rajkumar, ISOutsource President and CEO, spoke exclusively to

The Silicon Review. Below is an excerpt.

Clients Treat ISOutsource as a Trusted Advisor for a Reason

In today’s fast-changing, highly competitive business landscape, clients look for businesses they can trust to watch out for their best interests.

ISOutsource functions as a vCIO (Virtual CIO) to its clients. It helps clients plan their technology strategy, roadmap, and budgets and anticipate technological needs as their businesses grow.

One size does not fit all: Every business is different, and each has its own unique technology needs, simple as that. Every ISOutsource consultant spends quality time with each client to understand their IT infrastructure related to business needs. This allows them to derive a custom plan specific to that client’s business. “We use a set of tools, systems, and software to capture all essential details and notes and to ensure knowledge retention and quick turnaround time.”

Responsiveness is key for any IT service provider. ISOutsource responds to over 99 percent of client requests in less than an hour for this very reason. It has a 24/7 dispatch and support desk that provides round-the-clock remote engineering support, and when required, engineers and consultants are available for onsite visits with short notice.

Cost predictability is especially important to businesses. ISOutsource has perfected the art of providing clients with the highest levels of cost predictability and transparency. Having worked with over 600 clients across various industries, it has gathered and analyzed many historical metrics, which allow us

to scope out each project or strategy more accurately. “We call out all the potential variables during our initial discussions with a prospect and can use those metrics to achieve transparency in estimates as well as billing.”

Without Innovation, a company’s chances of serving its clients’ needs in the future go down drastically. ISOutsource focuses on two Centers of Excellence – the Technology Solutions practice and the Strategic Solutions practice. These are R&D centers that work to anticipate their clients’ future needs and develop products, frameworks, and solution sets that will be taken into the market in the future. “Our clients know that they can depend on us to stay ahead of the technology curve, and we proactively advise them of changes (when needed) to help them grow their business.”

Digital Transformation

Over the last two decades, we have seen entire industries being disrupted by technology’s effective use. Uber and Netflix are notable examples of companies that used and continue to use technology to transform their industries. Data and Artificial Intelligence (AI) advancements have allowed companies to analyze hundreds of terabytes of data and get actionable insights at the click of a button. Advancements in the IoT field have enabled systems that help provide early-warning signals before bad things happen. These are just two, but there are numerous examples of technology advancements that change the way businesses operate.

“At ISOutsource, we developed tools and frameworks that allow for early detection and help us take proactive action on our clients’ technology systems before they encounter breakdowns. We are continually investing in tools and products to move our clients forward in their digital transformation journey. These tools will help our clients improve productivity and collaboration, gain analytical insights from their data, and realize multi-fold ROI from their technology spend.”

Exciting Times Ahead for ISOutsource and its Clients

Mobility, BYOD, Collaboration, Actionable Insights from Data, and Advanced Security Systems are emerging needs for most businesses. “We are gearing up to provide even more solutions and services in all these key areas for our clients.”

The Strategic Services suite of offerings is also being expanded to meet the growing needs of business leaders. CEOs and CFOs need expert guidance in proactive planning for their technology needs and they also need guidance in compliance, governance, and regulations related activities. “We are well-positioned to continue to meet their needs with timely and relevant strategic input.”

“We are also working on key partnerships to help us continue to provide best-in-class services to our clients in modern technology areas.”

Leadership During Unpredictable Times

The year 2020 has taught business leaders lessons that can never be forgotten.

Leaders who are focused on employee and client engagement remember that empathy plays a huge role in tiding through challenging times. Trust levels start dropping significantly during times of uncertainty, unpredictability, and anxiety. Leaders who are tuned into empathy in their interactions with employees and clients have a higher probability of success than those who ignore these nuances entirely.

Times of unpredictability often drive leaders to hunker down and spend more time on spreadsheets and dashboards to identify risk mitigation and avoidance areas. While this is extremely important, it cannot take them away from the time they need to spend listening to their key constituents – their clients, team members, and shareholders.

Building trust with employees and clients starts with effective communication. Timely, transparent, and relevant communication from leadership builds trust. Setting aside time to listen to all key players will help leaders understand headwinds before they encounter them.

Few businesses have rightly chosen not to increase the cost to their clients during the COVID-19 pandemic. At the same time, they have chosen to increase their team members’ pay, enabling them to take care of rising healthcare costs and other costs of living. While this will hurt business profitability in the short term, these companies win the trust of their team members and clients. They are intentionally focused on strengthening their communities one business at a time, and this is ISOutsource’s vision as it moves forward.

The Leader at the Helm of ISOutsource

Naveen Rajkumar, President, and the Chief Executive Officer of ISOutsource. He is responsible for driving strategy and business objectives for the company’s success. His vision is for the company to be trusted advisors and a one-stop-shop IT service provider for growing small and medium businesses. He is client-centric and relentless in his pursuit of excellence and passionate about building high-impact organizations.

Mr. Rajkumar has over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. Before joining ISOutsource, he was EVP and Chief Business Officer at iLink Digital, SVP and Chief Information Officer at Onvia Inc., and General Manager at Aditi Technologies. He has a track record of growing businesses with a good blend of technology transformation and executive leadership.

“We take immense pride in our client satisfaction scores and average client tenures, especially since we do not believe in locking them in with long-term contracts.”