Strengthening MSP Operations Through Coaching and Community

Eric Westrom, VP of Operations at Shield, joins us to talk about the partner experience, how MSPs can build strong operational foundations, and what he believes will define the next generation of managed services. 

You spent more than a decade at a leading MSP. What key lessons or experiences have you carried into your role at Shield?

I’ve spent most of my career in the MSP world, working at companies that ranged from 15 people to well over a thousand. Looking back, the best lessons usually come out of the most challenging circumstances.

Scaling a business is exciting but it exposes every crack in the system. One of the hardest parts is growing without harming the customer experience or the brand. As companies grow, it’s easy to lose some of the closeness you once had with customers. Learning how to scale while keeping those feelings alive is important. 

And then there’s the technology side. My experiences taught me how important it is to tie your tech stack tightly into how you deliver services. In managed services, those two things are inseparable. When your operations and tech are connected, you can automate, remove friction, and build systems and processes that scale. All of that really aligns with what we’re doing at Shield.

How did you end up gravitating towards the MSP space in the first place?

I started out in enterprise IT about ten years before I moved into consulting. This was the early 2000s, when managed services existed but few firms had embraced the model. I ended up helping build one of the early managed service offerings – everything from the infrastructure to the end-user support. This was before the cloud really took off, so we built our own multi-tenant cloud environments. We were essentially a cloud provider before AWS was a household name. Once that work started evolving, the transition into the MSP model just kind of happened naturally.

How would you describe your responsibilities as Vice President of Operations at Shield? What a typical day looks like?

Simply put, my role is to help our partners build resilient businesses that support their employees and deliver value to their customers. I work closely with each of our partners and help run the partner programs.

One of the biggest focus areas is the partner community. It’s a space where partners can discuss ideas, questions, and challenges without worrying about competition. Many of our partners are in public peer groups, but there are always things they won’t share openly. Inside the Shield community, they have a safe place where they get into real issues and gain access, support, and resources across critical business functions. 

I’m also heavily involved in our coaching program, where I work with partners on specific initiatives that help their businesses grow. For example, one partner recently came to us because he needed help with the firm’s sales process and customer success program. We launched an effort focused on customer success by establishing a structured approach to customer categorization and engagement, resulting in a deeper understanding of the immediate growth opportunities. These efforts are a great example of how Shield can help equip our partners with the tools and processes to focus on their existing customers and plan their activities.

What are your top priorities during the post-integration process, and how do you balance consistency across the network with each partner's unique strengths?

My first priority is understanding how each partner runs its business. Every partner operates differently even if the core services are similar. We use a structured onboarding process to build a deep understanding of their operations and growth opportunities. 

From there, we build a tailored roadmap focused on areas with the biggest impact. For some partners, that means focusing on sales and top-of-funnel growth. For others, it’s fixing under-configured platforms or streamlining operational processes. Our director of integration leads the charge, and I join those conversations so I can carry everything forward through the coaching program.