The Final Step, version 2.0

Evergreen acquisition

The Final Step has joined the Evergreen family after being acquired by the holding group on the 1st September 2023. There are currently about 65 MSPs under the Evergreen umbrella and acquisition of TFS marks their expansion into the UK market, something which Evergreen CEO Jeff Totten marked as the next logical step for the services group.

We at TFS are excited for this next chapter and look forward to continuing on the values and purpose that our Founder Raja Pagadala has instilled in the company and are shared by every employee at TFS, as well as the team at Evergreen.

Small to medium sized business as usual

Rest assured, it’s business as usual at TFS. We will continue to serve our clients as we have in the past, maintain our high standards and our consistently positive customer feedback, and crucially remain focused on helping small to medium sized businesses realise their potential.

Evergreen focus on maintaining the independence of their acquired MSPs to ensure that there are no disruptions, which means service to our clients never takes a hit. Craig Fulton, Advisor at Evergreen, told CRN about Evergreen’s business practice:

“We are a private equity-backed company but we are a holding company, so we buy MSPs to hold them forever. We understand that small business change can disrupt employee satisfaction. It could disrupt the customer base, so we prefer to keep the brand, keep the leadership team, keep all the systems and keep running the business just as it was when we acquired it.”

Forever focused on customer service

One of the reasons Evergreen acquired TFS, besides our stellar reputation in the MSP community, was for our focus on our clients and providing them with the best service possible. Totten said “[it] was all about the customer, how do we do right by the customer.”

A simple example of our service to clients is our belief that if you are picking up the phone to call us, you want help straight away and to speak to a person, and not an automated system. Our client calls go straight through to the helpdesk, which we answer within 3 rings, and we don’t use voicemail or automated attendants. This ensures you get the help you need in a timely manner.

Our commitment to our clients and our service levels are reflected not only in the frequent feedback we receive but also in our NPS score from a recent survey. An NPS score measures the loyalty of a company’s client base and ranges from -100 to +100, and comes from clients answering the question: “How likely are you to recommend this company to a friend or colleague?”

An NPS score above 0 is considered good, above +20 is great and above +50 is amazing. TFS achieved an NPS score of +92, which is a phenomenal result and very rare to achieve, with the likes of Amazon and Apple achieving scores of 73 and 61 respectively. We are very proud to have achieved a score in the top percentile and believe this accurately reflects our continued commitment to excellent customer service.

Fulfil your potential

To help businesses fulfil their potential, it’s important to have staff who are motivated to help make that happen, and in turn strive to fulfil their own potential. Luisa Marques is the best example of this. 36 years after Raja opened our doors in Covent Garden, he has handed over the reins to Luisa.

Luisa started as Junior Admin in 2006, intending to stay only 6 weeks, yet 17 years later she has taken over as Managing Director of TFS. We cannot think of anybody more deserving of the mantle than Luisa and nobody more capable to ensure the continued success of TFS – we know we are in incredibly safe hands!

Luisa intends to carry on the ethos of TFS as Raja moves to an advisory role, splitting his time between helping the team at TFS and providing valuable support to Evergreen in the UK.

Continuous improvement

Raja put it perfectly in his conversation with CRN, saying “[we] have the help of a bigger group who has the experience to do things that we haven’t been able to do. I describe it as TFS version two, and version two will be significantly better and stronger than version one, which is exactly how it should be.”

When we became a member of ConnectWise’s HTG peer groups (now known as IT Nation Evolve) and brought them to the UK, we were becoming part of a bigger family and helping it grow. From these groups we gained so much knowledge, experience and expertise from our peers, and still do, as we continue to attend peer group meetings to this day. Learning from our peers and imparting knowledge that we have also accrued means that we all succeed together, and this reflects in the service we provide to all of our clients and the IT solutions that we implement.

The same is true as we join Evergreen’s ranks alongside many of our peers. We are joining an extended family who will help us to become a better IT company – we will learn from one another from what we each do well and continue to champion our commitment to continuous improvement.

IT moves fast. 36 years ago when TFS started, there was no internet, let alone things like Cloud services and mobile phones. We are sure the next 36 years will have its fair share of challenges and will require lots of training, but as part of Evergreen Services Group we are in a good place with great support to face any obstacles that come our way. All at TFS are excited for the next chapter, our version two, and have our sights set firmly on the future and providing an ever-improving service to our clients.