Narrowed Vision for Unified IT

Now, I haven’t run this by a PR person, but if I did, they’d probably say it’s not something I should publish. But the first value at Unified IT is humility, and I want to share with the community the rationale behind a shift we’ve decided to make.

When I started Unified IT in 2019, the mission was simple: provide comprehensive, integrated solutions for networking, security, and VoIP to small businesses. We offered everything from design to cabling, configuration, and ongoing support—hence the name, “Unified IT.”

Small businesses were at the core of what we did. We recognized that many didn’t have access to affordable, high-quality IT services. Managed service providers (MSPs) weren’t a great fit for them, and hiring an in-house IT team wasn’t feasible. So, in 2020, we made the strategic move to enter the managed IT services market. The idea was to bring a level of excellence to small businesses at a fair price—$150 per user, no add-ons, no hidden fees.

We found success with this model, serving clients across the country. Alongside that, we were also working on developing a software solution that would provide a seamless, integrated IT experience for small businesses. This has been in development for the better part of two years.

But here’s the thing: while we were putting time and resources into managed IT, demand for our network engineering services kept growing. Selling managed IT services to small businesses turned out to be tougher than anticipated. Let me break it down:

1. The MSP market is hard to serve. Customers want expertise, flexibility, and a low price. But realistically, you can only deliver on two out of three. For us, quality was non-negotiable. That left us juggling customization and price—and it wasn’t sustainable.
2. Economic challenges. We’re in a recession, and it looks like we may be heading into a depression. As critical as IT is, for many small businesses, it’s one of the first things to get cut when times are tough.
3. Resource demands. We underestimated the time and resources required to develop the comprehensive IT Dashboard we envisioned. There may be another opportunity to pursue this in the future, but it’s not the right time right now.

At the end of the day, if you’re trying to sell lemonade and people are banging down your door for orange juice, you should probably just focus on orange juice.

Now, this decision isn’t just about the numbers. At our core, Matthew and I are network engineers. While we have the skills to work in various areas of IT, network engineering is what gets us excited in the morning. And when the thing that excites you also happens to make the most business sense, the choice is obvious.

The Future

Ubiquiti has made a strategic decision to focus on the enterprise market. For those of us who know the ins and outs of their products, this is a massive opportunity. Think about it—what would you give to go back 20 years and be one of the first people deploying Cisco? That’s the kind of opportunity we’re talking about here, and it’s made even more significant by a few factors.

First, Cisco isn’t innovating anymore. They used to be at the forefront of tech innovation, but that’s no longer the case. Second, licensing fees have become ridiculous. You shouldn’t have to pay just to keep your switch or access point functioning. Software updates are one thing, but paying a licensing fee just to keep your equipment working? That’s highway robbery. And in a recession or depression, businesses are going to be looking to cut costs. The network isn’t something you can cut—if it’s down, you’re down. But those insane licensing fees? Those can be cut. And anyone who can help enterprises eliminate them will be invaluable.

Third, Ubiquiti is an innovator. They’ve already disrupted the SMB market, and now they’re gearing up to do the same in the enterprise space. This isn’t going to be a sprint—it’s going to be a slow march. But in the coming years, Ubiquiti will become synonymous with enterprise networking.

Finally, we’re fans. Both Matthew and I are huge fans of what Ubiquiti has done, and we want to be on the forefront of deploying their equipment in the enterprise world. We believe this is the model that will persist through economic turbulence, and we’re excited to lead the charge.

So, that’s the plan. We’re going to focus on delivering the best network engineering services to businesses and enterprises—because that’s what we love to do, and that’s what the market is asking for. Now, it’s time to get back to work.