Last week, Elevate brought together powerful changemakers who inspire us to make the world and our workplaces better.

Our annual conference also allowed us to share a glimpse into the past year at Electric and what our customers can expect in 2023. I was joined by experts from across our organization to talk about the evolution of our products, services, and even workplace – all to build a better Electric in 2022 and beyond.

In case you missed it, you can read on for a recap of our keynote below, or watch the recording here.

 

A Mission to Simplify IT

Electric was founded based on my experience as a customer. When I was building my previous two companies, IT was the last thing I wanted to deal with. I’ve personally experienced the pain of having to manage day-to-day IT on top of building a business.

I knew that I needed help. But, when looking for an IT solution, I found that all of the available options were built for enterprise organizations with established IT departments. So, in 2016, I started Electric as a solution to the lack of IT resources for SMBs, and to challenge the status quo of IT management and support.

Electric was built to make IT easy for even non-technical users, and accessible to companies no matter their size. But more importantly, Electric was built to empower small businesses and help them scale.

Electric is so much more than an IT company. We are a partner that helps your organization face the operational IT challenges that come your way. We’re there to protect you from network outages that could cost your business upwards of $5,000 per minute. We’re there each and every time you onboard a new employee to ensure they have a fully set up device on day one, regardless of where they are working.

A Year of Growth

Today, Electric powers the IT of nearly 1,000 businesses and 50,000 users across the U.S. We are immensely grateful for the confidence our customers and investors have placed in us to provide IT and lead the way in the market.

That trust is reflected in the two rounds of funding Electric raised this past year. Just five months after receiving our Series D funding, Electric was approached by Harmonic Growth Partners with an offer of an additional $20 million. With that, Electric joined the ranks of global unicorn companies and cemented our status as the fastest-growing provider of IT solutions for SMBs.

With this capital, we have made significant investments in our people and technology. We’ve also significantly accelerated our product research and development, most notably through the establishment of our incubator program. This segment of our product team is focused on identifying unique ways to solve customer problems, outside of our established roadmap. Despite being a fairly new program, this has already yielded a brand new product offering that will reduce your IT ticket resolution time by 30%.

In addition, 2022 saw Electric handle:

• 1,800 onboarding and offboarding requests
• 1,300 devices purchased, set up, and shipped directly to your employees
• 397,000 IT support requests
• 150 antivirus security deployments

All of this translates into real time and money that Electric has given back to organizations so they can invest in building their business.

The Future of Electric

When building product and service enhancements, we remain true to our mission – to simplify IT by providing easy-to-use technology and fast and accurate ticket resolutions.

This means revisiting every square inch of our offering, from the packages we sell, to the way users interact with us, to how we are automating our services. 2022 was about setting our sights significantly higher than we have in the past and running as fast as we can to re-imagine a world-class IT experience.

In 2023 and beyond, we’ll be laser-focused on speed and accuracy-enabled automation, including:

• Data-driven business insights, so you can easily track and manage IT spend.
• Automated provisioning and application-related requests, ensuring your employees have the correct access they need on time, every time.
• More self-service tools to manage and purchase applications and devices in-platform.
• In-platform proactive recommendations for hardening your IT environment against security threats and making it even more efficient for your business.

Our goal is to create a level of reliability in our products and services that allows your IT to run seamlessly, without interference. We want to ensure there’s ease of use for all Electric user types, regardless of technical expertise. And, we aim to expand our capabilities in a manner that makes Electric your single point of IT management.

Electric Product Roadmap 2023

What do these goals look like in practice? Here are some of the major enhancements you can expect in the next six to eight months.

Zero Touch Provisioning

This year, Electric launched its first use of Zero Touch Provisioning for Mac devices. Today, we are using this methodology combined with device management technology to automate the provisioning of your Mac laptops. Simply request a new device in-platform via our onboarding workflow and the device ships directly from Apple to your new employee, set up and ready to use on day one. While this is only available for Mac laptops today, we plan to expand the use of ZPT for automated provisioning of all Electric supported devices in 2023.

Automated Application Management

In 2023, Electric will place a heavy focus on the automation of your application management. Using premier automation technology, Electric will integrate directly with your applications, ensuring your requests are carried out automatically when and how you want them. This means that the moment you signal an employee offboarding, Electric’s SaaS automation will handle the removal of that employee from the applications you’ve designated. No human involvement required.

Platform Enhancements

When it comes to the management of your applications and devices in-platform, Electric will also significantly expand the control and visibility you have. We plan to add self-service tools that will allow you to take action on your applications and devices, as well as purchase new ones. And, we will integrate the critical data provided by those applications and devices into the platform, providing you with recommendations that guide your operational decision-making.

Other Highlights in 2023

Throughout 2023 we’ll also be focused on:

• Creating an in-platform device storefront where you can purchase devices, independently of onboarding requests.
• Enhancing our existing Electric Marketplace, so that you can both view and purchase software options directly in-platform.
• Integrating with our technology partners, like Malwarebytes, so that you can see all of the data provided by applications right in-platform, alongside your Electric recommendations.

Let’s Elevate Work

The recipe to our success has been, and will remain, simple: hard work, high standards, and being good people, to each other, and the world around us. Electric customers, we would not exist without the confidence you have in us to manage your IT. Thank you for your continued support and, as always, we welcome your feedback. Not yet an Electric customer? Get in touch. We’d love to take IT off your plate and help you harness its power to scale your business.