One strength of the Maven Associates model is to partner with experts in key functional areas and industries. Maven leverages these partnerships when working with mid-market organizations to create specialized solution plans. One area the mid-mid-market organizations often struggle is in Technology. They tend to have out-dated impressions of what technology can do and the costs associated with improvements. This is when Maven partners with AGSI, a boutique management and technology consulting company.  AGSI, headed by Gregg Fellows, will perform deep dives to assess a company’s technology and recommend IT refinements to support business objectives. 

AGSI was founded 28 years ago by Gregg Fellows, who still owns and operates the company.  After 12 years in the corporate tech world, Fellows saw the waste and inefficiency endemic to IT and was determined to create a company to be more transparent and honest. A company that would drive efficiencies, deliver value and do it with integrity. Its mission is to provide clarity to a part of a company (IT) often seen as a black hole. 

Over the past 15 years, Fellows has developed and implemented AGSI’s proprietary frameworks: 

1. Technology Business Management: How do you run IT like a business? 
2. Technology Financial Management: How do you understand the money a company spends on technology?

In the WorldStrides client result post, we shared that during our engagement we identified that through the growth WorldStrides experienced its IT system was a conglomeration of old and new and would not support future growth initiatives. One of Maven’s recommendations was to hire AGSI to dig deeper and to provide a roadmap for success.

Fellows and AGSI evaluated WorldStrides’ IT core competencies, financial core competencies, as well as total technology spend rather than only what was reported on the P&L statement. It is not uncommon for mid-market companies to make technology purchases and fail to track those purchases completely. In addition, AGSI is able to assist organizations to understand the outsource versus develop in-house.

AGSI’s methodology is to create a playbook with a series of initiatives a company would need to work through to achieve their business objectives. In WorldStrides’ case AGSI created a 3-year playbook based on the business objectives Maven proposed. WorldStrides took the recommendations seriously and completed the three-year plan in two, and are now looking to the next stage. 

“Maven is our favorite partner. We know that when a client engages with Maven, that client is serious about making technology a part of its success,”

– Gregg Fellows

Fellows is extremely proud of the positive change that AGSI continues to help drive for companies.