Base-2 celebrates 8 years and talks cloud

Base-2 is a Kiwi Managed Service Provider (MSP) that was formed 8 years ago.

They do managed IT services, managed security services in the IT space, an array of cloud services – Microsoft Azure, AWS and everything else in between.

The company houses 23 employees and 120 clients nationwide, some of which have international divisions. Greg Sharp, managing director of Base-2 says a fair bit has changed for the business and the cloud in the last 8 years.

Sharp says that one significant change he has witnessed is in professional services automation (PSA) tools.

"They've allowed you to gain a whole lot of efficiency with automation and communication," explains Sharp.

"Remote monitoring and management tools have also come on strong.

He adds that in the last 8 years, shifting to the cloud has driven 'up time' for technology.

"A lot of things have become more commoditised; Software as a Service as opposed to running on internal proprietary service and hardware," he says.

"As a result we've had to become more consultant orientated.

Sharp adds that in this industry, customer service is key and their company ethos has always been to set a certain level of it for Kiwis.

"There are a couple of other companies who are doing a pretty good job of it but, luckily for the rest of us, there are plenty that aren't."

A key challenge for the industry that Sharp also notes is the IT skills shortage.

"There is definitely a skills shortage out there," he says.

"We've tried to take that bull by the horns by partnering with MIT to put in a graduate scheme and start taking on interns.

Moving forward, the company has taken on an internal cataloguing product called Device Desk, where they can further increase the level of service that they're supplying to customers.

This is done by providing them with a customised internal portal that they can procure products from, install their own software and speed up customer interaction.