Scaling Growth with AI Automation Insights | Dave Ranallo from Arnet Technologies

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Alright, everybody. Welcome to today’s episode of Pathmonk Presents. Today we are joined by Dave Ranallo. He is the Director of Growth at Arnet Technologies. Dave, welcome to the show.

Dave Ranallo: How we doing, Rick?

Rick: Doing well, thanks. And we were just talking offline a little bit about what you guys do and what we do. It’s nice to just start this conversation that way. I’d love us to go into Arnet Technologies a little bit and help us understand the heart of what your company does. How would you describe it to someone if you met them on the street?

Dave Ranallo: Yeah, sure. So Arnet Technologies—we’re based in Columbus, Ohio. And put simply, Arnet does two things. Companies outsource their IT operations to us, and we also automate business processes for them. So, we do two things: manage IT and automate processes.

Rick: Okay. Is there any specific industry or vertical that you feel you’re able to serve best right now?

Dave Ranallo: Right now, it’s more about the size segments—we can cover any. We have construction companies, manufacturing, knowledge workers, legal, accountants, engineers, consultancies. We have restaurant groups as customers, and most of those companies are outsourcing a piece—or all—of their IT to us.

But you soon find out that’s not enough. And with all the AI buzz out there—when I say AI, I’m really just talking about automation—it’s another tool to automate things we don’t want to do. They’re all looking for a roadmap—a North Star. So we developed one.

We ask a rhetorical question: would you be against doubling your revenue and keeping the same amount of employees? Obviously, it’s rhetorical. But they’re like, “Of course.” I go, “Guys, with AI, this is now becoming a reality.” And we can show you a path to becoming an autonomous business.

Then we take them through three pillars:

1. You’ve got to have a safe and scalable infrastructure.

2. Your data has to be clean, structured, and unified.

3. Your team needs to be able to prompt and speak AI.

You get those three things in place and the automations just start flying out. We’ve implemented five of these automations, and as you’re probably finding—even with your own tool—coders can now develop automations and code within weeks, not months.

If your data is structured and AI can read it, now you have a whole other tool in your chest to automate everything. And that’s what we do—that’s how we go to market.

Rick: Got it. And I’m curious—obviously people come to you with all sorts of problems related to IT and managed services. But is there a core problem that you’ve identified over the years, that always comes up and you’re able to solve it really well, maybe even better than your competitors?

Dave Ranallo: We like to approach our company strategically. Companies want to outsource their IT—and I’ll tell you, 95% of the leads we get for managed service providers (MSPs) is because the last guy screwed up. There might be a cybersecurity attack, the system goes down, they’re not communicating—whatever the issue. That’s how MSPs typically get business.

But what we’re finding now is that the AI buzz is past the hype cycle—or almost past the “trough of disillusionment,” if you remember that old Gartner chart. Now they’re realizing it’s here to stay. They’re hearing from friends in enterprise or Fortune 50 companies who are using it and getting results. So they ask, “What do I do?”

That’s how we’re differentiating ourselves from other IT service providers. We’re not just going to keep the lights on—we’re going to start driving strategic change and real ROI. We become fully embedded within their organization.

Rick: Makes a lot of sense. When it comes to people finding out about your services—what’s the typical persona that reaches out to Arnet Technologies and says, “We need your help”? And for you as a Director of Growth, what are your acquisition channels? What’s working, what’s not?

Dave Ranallo: As I said, typically they find out about us because something went wrong with their current provider. They go onto Google and the searches are very local—“MSPs in Columbus, Ohio,” “MSPs in Ohio,” something like that. A list pops up, and luckily we have enough testimonials on our Google listing to keep us in the top 10—even though Google monopolizes the top third of the page now.

If we’re found, they submit a lead, and then we vet that lead. But that’s only 5% of our business. I wish we could get more from cost-per-click or SEO. We have to do a lot of in-person events. We also hold automation events.

One differentiator we have at Arnet is our staff. We have a former Microsoft Regional CTO on our team—he was there for 16 years. He provides insight around architecture and where we’re going with Copilot and automation. There are only a handful of those guys in the country.

The other piece is that we’re part of a private equity holding company called Lyra—or Evergreen, their parent. There’s always a bigger fish, right? Lyra acquired us in 2021. They have 80 similar companies throughout the British Commonwealth and North America. Between us, we have about 3,000 technicians. If someone at Arnet doesn’t know something, someone at Lyra will.

We were also recognized as one of the top cybersecurity companies. When Chubb Insurance or Booz Allen Hamilton clients get hit with ransomware, they call us. We go in, stabilize the client, and get them out of that mess. If you’ve ever been ransomwared, it’s a nightmare. The FBI gets involved. It’s crazy.

So again—former Microsoft CTO, private equity backing, deep expertise—and we need to press the flesh, be top of mind for when something happens or when they want to become autonomous.

Rick: It’s interesting you mention the in-person events. I feel like they’re making a comeback—not just in professional services. People really want to connect and shake hands again. On the flip side, we’re a website tool at Pathmonk. We deal with digital. But it’s encouraging to see events thriving again, even if they’re a logistical nightmare.

Dave Ranallo: Yeah, especially in the last three years. I used to sell to the enterprise before joining Arnet, which generally serves companies under $5 billion. That means I can still talk directly to leadership.

But at Fortune 500 level—they’re inundated with emails. They read almost none of them. They’re in meetings all day. Then you have to pass spam filters. Then hope they or an analyst is searching for your service. So you really need to make a strong impression.

COVID got us all into Zoom, which is great for remote work, but now people are relishing the in-person experience again. There’s that “loneliness epidemic.” Not everyone feels it, but a lot of people do.

That said, LinkedIn has been good for us in terms of brand awareness and generating leads. Heck, we met on LinkedIn, Rick. It was just timely. I don’t know why, but I check LinkedIn more than my email.

This is a challenge for every executive—especially in growth, marketing, and sales roles. I’d flip it back to you—what are you seeing success with at Pathmonk? For us it’s LinkedIn, events, and having a strong website.

Rick: Good point. You mentioned earlier—only 5% of your business comes from PPC or web leads, right?

Dave Ranallo: Yeah, that’s just anything coming from the web.

Rick: So the role of the website right now is more like a business card—the way it was originally intended?

Dave Ranallo: It’s a credibility tool. If you’re a tech company and your website isn’t up to date, that’s a ding. People want to see your leadership team, hear your story. We’ve got service pages, industry pages—but people just mouse over the dropdowns and move on. A case study might be downloaded once in a while. The speed everyone’s moving at now is breakneck.

Rick: Let’s switch gears. I want to talk about you as a leader. What’s your day-to-day like as a Director of Growth? I’m sure events aren’t happening every day, so what keeps you excited?

Dave Ranallo: I saw a post on LinkedIn: the average salesperson only spends 15% of their time on actual outreach. The rest is understanding the product, crafting messaging, sending emails, building sequences, understanding strategies, learning about the client, prospect, stakeholders, internal politics—so much information.

At Arnet, I’m also building our AI automation practice with the CTO and CEO. If we don’t have the resources in-house, I form partnerships and bring people in. So I’m building a practice while leading growth, and we’re also part of a holding company with reporting obligations.

Only 15% of my time is outreach—I’m trying to push that to 30%. For that, I need automation. I need services like yours to generate leads. We have a BDR who does cold calls and email sequences, which get about 1.5% engagement.

We’ve had some traction with our AI automation play because the state of Ohio offers grants—up to $180k—to companies adopting AI and tech. That’s helped us grow. But yeah, that’s my day: 15% real outreach, the rest is strategy, messaging, building.

Rick: That’s the bread and butter. Most of us are pulled in many directions unless we’re 100% specialized. Even in giant corporations, people still have to prep, send notes, deal with contracting, etc.

What’s the number one thing you wish could be automated?

Dave Ranallo: Scheduling. Just scheduling. It almost makes me angry. Someone says they’re interested, and then the nightmare begins. I need more Buddhist meditation to manage it.

The etiquette around scheduling is terrible. It’s the bane of my existence.

Beyond that, we’re working on prompt-based snapshots of our customers—using Microsoft Copilot and Dynamics. Ask a question, get a summary. That’s already here, we just haven’t fully implemented it yet.

So top two: scheduling and meeting prep snapshots.

Rick: Love that. When (not if) that’s perfected, it’ll be a game changer.

Dave Ranallo: Definitely. You can go on about lead gen too, but I’m frustrated with Google’s monopolization. SEO feels like a backlink and keyword game. Everyone’s just paying more to win. Small businesses can’t compete. So—press the flesh.

Rick: Dave, thanks a lot for being on the show. One last thing—if people forget everything we talked about today, what’s the one thing they should remember about your work at Arnet Technologies?

Dave Ranallo: We enable you to double your revenue while keeping the same number of employees. That’s something every business should be striving for.

Rick: Perfect. And where should people go to find you?

Dave Ranallo: Arnettechnologies.com, or LinkedIn—Dave Ranallo. I have a lot of friends, but I’m open to many more.

And Rick, I think these are great programs—this is a great marketing method. I appreciate your time.

Rick: Thank you, Dave. It was great meeting you—and we hope to have you again on the show.

Dave Ranallo: Awesome.

Rick: All right. Take care.