Technology Is Changing The Way We Do Business Today
That’s Why Infused Innovations Exists
“We help businesses adapt and responsibly leverage emerging technologies. Our goal is to accelerate every organization’s ability to digitally transform.”
Featuring for The Enterprise World’s this issue of Most Innovative Artificial Intelligence Solution Companies is Infused Innovations.
In this interview with Jeff Wilhelm, Founder & CEO, let us know more about the journey of the company.
Tell us about the company.
Infused Innovations works with organizations to provide them with tools to transform and excel. Infused Innovations combine technology platforms, business workflow improvements, data as a source of truth, and enhancement around human interaction, to help our clients reach their fullest potential. Infused Innovations like to get to know our clients well, looking at the unique roadmap, direction, and vision of each company in addition to the technology, workflow & process, and cybersecurity solutions that will help them get there.
Our Secure Intelligent Workplace™ offering is a framework for organizations that sets them up optimally for modern work. It provides tools for security and workplace productivity & collaboration: digital transformation, cloud adaptations, protection for endpoints, data & analytics, automation, and more… integrated to provide a seamless experience and a positive work environment for organizations of all sizes and across verticals.
Infused Innovations also provide managed cloud security, as technology solutions are constantly changing and organizations don’t always have the staff or the time to stay on top of everything regarding their security requirements. We take that burden off their shoulders and manage it for them. We work with clients to build custom security controls that are ideally suited for their organizational needs, and then we continually monitor their security posture, keeping it up-to-date and addressing any issues that come up for them. All the while, we have their big-picture goals in mind: we handle the security and technical details so they can focus on their passions.
What were the initial challenges you faced?
As someone who has been consulting for organizations over my entire career, delivering good quality services and being a trusted advisor to our clients was the “easy” part. Juggling the quick growth of Infused Innovations, while being an active parent of two young children, during a global pandemic… that was the harder part.
I always try to ensure my staff has a healthy work-life balance, that they have the ability to schedule flexibly, and that they are measured on outcomes and not “time in chair,” so I had to actively remind myself of the same thing, with varying success. But the biggest challenges are the ones most organizations likely struggle with as they grow – essentially around the pace of growth and change, and the financial model through which to support it.
How have the company graphs changed since the foundation? Can you share a few statistics?
Some of our recent awards reflect on how far we’ve come since Infused
Infused Innovations’ beginnings:
2021
- CIO Bulletin’s 50 Most Influential Companies of the Year
- Silicon Review Magazine’s 50 Best Workplaces of the Year
- Microsoft US Partner Award: Modern Work & Security
- Inc 5000 Fastest-Growing Companies (ranked #2345)
- CRN Fast 150 (ranked #21)
- Channel Futures Top 501 MSPs (ranked #16)
- CIO Views: Top 10 Most Innovative Companies
2020
- Inc 5000 Fastest-Growing Companies (ranked #1348)
- Industry Wired Magazine: Top 10 Most Trusted Cybersecurity Company
2019
- Microsoft Gold Partner (10+ competencies)
We’re very pleased and honoured to have achieved these awards, and it’s such a reward to see how much we’ve grown in order to receive this recognition.
What are the products/services the company focuses on? How are your services different from those in the market?
Infused Innovations are a Microsoft Gold Partner, so a lot of our technologies work with are from Microsoft. Of course we often have a lot of integration points with other vendors because organizations are not monolithic, but from a productivity perspective and a security perspective, most of the tools we use and promote are built on the Microsoft platform.
Technology research groups like Gartner and Forrester consistently find Microsoft to be a reliable and outstanding leader in the field, especially the Microsoft XDR stack, so we’re honored to work closely with them.
Infused Innovations’s advisory services and managed cloud security services are much more focused on the long-term relationships we have with our clients than what many other service providers deliver. We find that many managed service providers value profit over relationships.
Customers can tell the difference when a provider really gets to know them and their needs, and genuinely wants to help them excel, versus just trying to make money off them. That supportive relationship is what our clients crave, and we step in to fill that need, which is both human and business-related.
How do you decide to take the company a step further in terms of your products/services?
Infused Innovations always looking at “what’s next.” A natural passion for technology and innate curiosity is built into our organization’s DNA. Peering around the corner and connecting the dots for our clients is something we consider an important part of our job.
To that end, we’re launching a new practice in the area of Managed Innovation. The goal of this is to help clients manage the ongoing innovation process within their organization. This includes the curation of ideas, evaluation, and implementation of innovation-based initiatives.
While our focus is around emerging technologies, we will also work with clients to make sure the people and processes are in place to support these initiatives. Infused Innovations are developing this practice because of many of our clients have been asking us to help them transform their organizations and disrupt their industries.
Can you please brief us about your professional experience?
In the mid-90s, like many at the time, I started getting really excited about the emergence and accessibility of the internet. I spent time learning HTML, PERL / CGI, PHP, MySQL, and soon-after ASP, and put those skills to use for various non-profit and for-profit causes. This early consulting taught me to understand the client’s desired outcomes and the “why” around what a technology solution would bring to the table. By the early 2000s I was consulting for a number of organizations nationally, across datacenter and office technologies, Active Directory, firewall and networking, and then soon enough virtualization.
I participated in a few startups (one in the data and analytics space, another a SaaS provider of campaign management tools) that went through mergers and acquisitions, and as time went on became more and more interested in building a business. I spent time at another consulting provider, which taught me things that I would eventually want to emulate, but also things I would want to avoid, and then built Infused Innovations with a focus on technology innovations, advisory partnerships, and delivering a positive client experience.
What are the key achievements of your entrepreneurial journey?
I feel like the time I began my professional journey was during a time of great change in the industry. I was well-positioned around the “commercialized” adoption of the internet, the relative ubiquity of high-speed internet, the changing mobile broadband landscape, productivity and collaboration improvements, the advent of virtualization and the cloud, the importance of data to business decision-making, and the recognition of security being taken seriously by businesses.
I feel like through each of those “moments” I was able to learn and leverage both the practical business benefits of a given solution set, but also present a comprehensive and holistic picture of how a business might integrate with or migrate to a given solution. More than any given technology specifically though, it is being able to empathize with a business leader’s challenges and help them carry out solutions that make their business better and enhance the legacy of their work.
How do you look after your employees? What makes your team unique?
Infused Innovations team is a relatively small one and most of our interactions are digital. Infused Innovations have an office in Rhode Island, but many of our teammates live elsewhere across the country (as of this interview, currently spread across 15 states) and I consider us an example of how well a company can operate remotely.
Using Microsoft Teams makes it easy for everyone to communicate and collaborate through that central hub. We keep a friendly and comfortable atmosphere at work. My team knows they can reach out to me anytime—that I’m accessible and I have their backs.
And we make time for relaxing and fun, because that’s a big part of employee well-being too. We do virtual events and games, and we find ways to reward and encourage one another with shootouts, gift cards and weekly activities. I think it makes for great camaraderie.
