This New Brunswick CEO Now Leads A National Network Of 100 IT Providers
Palm Beach, Fla. – It was snowing in Fredericton, where BrunNet IT Solutions is based, in mid-January. But CEO Adam Sprague was in the Sunshine State, sitting among executives of some of North America’s top tech companies.
Sprague had recently been named president of the Canadian Varnex Advisory Council, an arm of the SYNNEX network that has more than 450 partners. He was attending his first board meeting with North American colleagues after taking on the role.
“It’s significant for us. It gives us good exposure at the North American level,” Sprague said of the role.
More importantly, though, this means Sprague now represents over 100 independent IT providers across Canada that are customers of SYNNEX.
BrunNet is a managed service provider founded in Fredericton in 1995. With 20 staff members, the device-as-a-service company provides IT expertise, help-desk services, assistance with security and other services to mid-sized companies across Atlantic Canada.
“They bring us in, and we basically become their IT advisor or IT team. We do everything from dealing with hardware issues to helping them make sure they are protected from the latest cybersecurity threats,” Sprague said. “Everything that touches the network and everything that’s transformed digitally, we’re basically in there.”
BrunNet has been involved with Varnex for about a decade. The community has given the company, which started out by selling laptops and other hardware to businesses and institutions, exposure and a network of partners across North America that it can rely on.
They share best practices on everything from ways to compensate a sales team to ways to protect end-users from cybercrime.
“The biggest thing is I get to meet with other like-minded individuals that are in key roles in their companies, and really work together to bring back some of the best practices and try to implement those into our operations at BrunNet,” Sprague said.
Varnex members can also rely on each other when service is needed in an area out of their expertise or region. Working together means reduced hardware costs, quicker shipping times, top-notch customer care and logistical flexibility. Especially when BrunNet’s mostly Atlantic Canadian clients have satellite offices in the U.S.
“This type of network is really good for us because it gives us service capabilities right across North America through partners that we can trust,” he said. “We’ve also leveraged Varnex on several occasions to bring in technical skills that are outside of our traditional offerings. It’s really helped us become a one-stop-shop for our customers.”
Bob Stegner, SYNNEX’s Senior VP of Marketing for North America, says it’s important to have the voice of a company like BrunNet in the network.
“As a majority of the value-added resellers (VARs) are located in the Toronto area, it’s very important for SYNNEX Canada to have coverage in as much of Canada as possible,” he said. “We like to target the key leaders in the market and that was a market that we obviously see a lot of potential in. Adam and BrunNet just stood out.”
Sprague’s active engagement and relationship-building with executives at SYNNEX, as well as other resellers and manufacturers, over the past decade made him “very visible,” Stegner said. Sprague was named VP of the Canadian Advisory Council before he got to the presidential seat.
“He represented the other VARs extremely well. I think that’s important. Your president has to be a very strong leader. He also has to be able to speak for all, not just himself. Adam’s extremely good at that,” Stegner said.
There are approximately 20 people in the North American advisory council, including Sprague and SYNNEX’s executive team. Sprague’s job includes ensuring that when SYNNEX comes up with new ideas, it would work for Canadian VARs as well as it does for everyone else.
In addition, he’ll also help plan Varnex conferences in Canada and the U.S., regional events, and figure out how to add value for members and sponsoring manufacturers like HP and Microsoft, among other things.
Altogether, the Varnex community represents a $1.4 billion network of IT providers.
This story is sponsored by BrunNet IT Solutions.