Keeping you up to date on the latest in tech and cyber. Feel free to forward to interested colleagues and acquaintances.
In this edition: a Decision Matrix for AI, and thoughts on what 2026 holds for your IT service provider.
AI: what makes sense for your business?
In the previous CyberNews edition we introduced our latest service: InfoWorks. And the feedback we got was really positive but showed that a lot of businesses are still wrestling with how the whole AI thing fits into their plans, or if it even needs to.
So we developed an AI Decision Matrix to help our customers figure out how AI might be useful. We pitch effort against risk and come up with four different ways to think about AI.
For many businesses the road to AI value is narrow and for some a deep dive is worth it. Have a read and see where you sit on the spectrum.
Succession & LongevITy
Business lifecycle
Like all living things, businesses have lifecycles. They’re born, they grow up… you know the rest.
But have you thought about the lifecycle of your IT service provider? Where are they on that journey? And how does that impact your business? An amazing 80% of IT service business are reaching their “old age”. Not really surprising when you consider that many IT service providers were “born” at the start of the PC networking age in the 1990s – like JustWorks.
Now they are looking to exit and considering their succession plans. Half are looking to sell in 3 to 5 years.
Sell or … ?
The trouble for many IT service providers is that they were based around a founder and they have not developed a succession plan. Being a professional services business presents special difficulties in being able to extend the life of the business beyond the life cycle of its leadership. It’s not a sector that’s had the maturity to develop the kind of partnership arrangements that allow many other professional service organisations, like CPAs and lawyers, continuity over time.
So the last decade has seen a rash of “roll up” businesses which use private equity funding to buy up smaller IT service organisations in local markets. Some of these businesses have amassed as many as 200 different outlets. The founders get chained to the desk with contingent payouts based on the first few years’ performance, but the financial backers of these rollups know that there will be considerable customer attrition as it becomes clear that the new service is not the same as the old service. Providing high-quality and high-value IT services is hard, and just being bigger doesn’t make it easier.
Typically customers see higher prices, long term locked in contracts, and falling service levels after a purchase by one of these roll ups. The people change as staff turnover tends to be higher, and if you’re unhappy with the new provider switching becomes a logistical and financial nightmare.
2026 is the right time
At JustWorks, we’ve just completed a succession and guaranteed the future of the business for another 30 years. We thank our customers for their loyalty for the last 30 years, and look forward to continuing to help them succeed for another generation. No long term contracts or lock ins, we just earn your business every day… year after year.
2026 is the first year of the rest of your business’ life. Have you got an IT service provider who’s going to be with you for the long run?
So much is changing in IT. The Internet continues to penetrate deeper and deeper into business applications, cloud services become more and more important, and AI acts as a potential disruptor for every business. Keeping up means keeping young.
If you’re interested in matching your long-term business plans with an IT service provider who has the skills and the longevity to be there with you for the journey, then give us a call and let’s see if there’s a match made in heaven. Even if there isn’t a good fit with JustWorks, you’re bound to learn a ton about how to make IT work for you.
Happy Holidays and hopefully see you in the New Year.
Stay tuned – subscribe now.
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