Annual Report 2022

Trusted Experts Accelerating Digital Transformation
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“Thank you for the trust you continue to put in the UPSTACK team who have committed their professional lives to aid in your success.”

Dear Reader,

My first trip to a data center was completely unplanned.

Relatively fresh out of college, I was hell bent on (what I thought was) an ingenious thesis: developing a beautiful portfolio of Dunkin’ Donuts and 7-Eleven gas stations throughout Northern Virginia. I was pitching a small group of investors, when someone suggested that one of my proposed donut locations might be better suited for a data center. “A data center?” I asked myself, “What the heck is a data center?”

 

Christopher Trapp

A few days later I stepped inside an unassuming industrial building and watched awestruck as a thriving high-tech, high-security world filled with humming equipment and blinking lights unfolded in front of me. I knew it was the future. My mind immediately went from donuts to data centers. I never looked back.

Since that day in 2006, I feel fortunate to have brought to market numerous large-scale digital infrastructure projects while witnessing an ever-evolving range of technologies and innovative business models transform what I would consider to be the bedrock of the internet. I also found a home amongst the community of dedicated digital infrastructure and IT professionals who share my passion for this rapidly growing industry. Yet, I also discovered that many IT professionals lack access to the resources—expertise, data, tools, and support—necessary to have full confidence in their mission critical decisions and operations.

In 2017, when I set out to start UPSTACK, I used my discovery to inspire what would become our company’s mission—to be the leading platform to empower our industry’s top talent with technology and unmatched advisory services to better optimize their digital infrastructure. Today, The UPSTACK Platform combines the industry’s leading experts, dedicated customer experience resources, and our own proprietary technology to transform how businesses of all sizes design, source, and select digital infrastructure solutions.

At UPSTACK, our unwavering aim is to help our customers in enhancing and accelerating their digital transformation. As I look back on the past twelve months, I am proud to say we have been able to both enhance and accelerate our own transformation, the results of which you will find highlighted in the pages that follow. Most importantly, I hope that we will continue to deliver even greater value to you, our customers.

Respectfully,

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Christopher Trapp, Founder & CEO

The UPSTACK Platform

More Than the Sum of Our Parts

Strategic technology decisions are key to creating opportunities for driving business efficiency, competitive advantage, and growth. However, making these decisions involves a host of complicated variables that often take specific knowledge to successfully navigate. The UPSTACK Platform drives better strategic outcomes by combining:
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Leading Technology Experts

A dynamic group of technology professionals that collectively bring a wealth of real-world experience and specialized solutions expertise with a laser focus on positive outcomes for all clients.

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Dedicated Customer Experience Resources

UPSTACK’s Customer Experience team provides an elevated and dedicated approach to customer success, service delivery, and customer support.

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Advanced Technology Ecosystem

UPSTACK’s operating system for digital infrastructure is a cohesive ecosystem that we are developing to streamline and optimize the entire IT project experience and improve efficiency.

Through the powerful combination of these three pillars—leading technology experts, dedicated customer experience resources, and advanced technology—UPSTACK uses actionable business intelligence to design, source, and select customized technology solutions for our clients. It all adds up to time saved, budgets optimized, deadlines met, and risks averted.

“As our clients’ infrastructure needs and demands evolve, we have a dedicated team in place to ensure seamless customer support, while advisory partners focus on strategic planning and collaborative partnerships with our valued clients.”
Monica Sanchez, Partner & Managing Director
Monica Sanchez | UPSTACK Advisor
Business Performance

The Year In Numbers

Valued Customers

From enterprise to SMBs across a range of industries

New Projects Managed

Leveraging UPSTACK’s full solutions expertise

Better Results, Faster

%

Improvement in duration from project start to install

Financial Stewardship

$400M+

Annual technology spend under management

UPSTACK Employees

We go by the name “UPSTACKers”

All data as of December 31, 2022.

Milestones

Major Milestones at a Glance

2022

January

UPSTACK welcomes its 100th team member as it enters its next phase of growth
2022

March

CEO Christopher Trapp and UPSTACK recognized as one of the industry’s most influential companies by Channel Futures
2022

June

Company HQ moves into a beautiful new home at 7 World Trade Center in downtown NYC
2022

June

UPSTACK is named to the CRN Solution Provider 500, which serves as the gold standard for recognizing the digital infrastructure industry’s most successful companies
2022

October

UPSTACK appoints technology industry veteran Rick Dellar to Board of Directors
2022

December

UPSTACK closes the year 170 UPSTACKers strong
Customer Experience

A Fresh Experience

The third pillar of The Platform, UPSTACK’s dedicated Customer Experience resources, is continually being enhanced. In early 2022, UPSTACK formed a Customer Experience team that is focused on finding new ways to deliver the best possible service experience to customers.

Customer Success

A seasoned customer success manager serves as an extension of a client’s team. From providing supplier-neutral recommendations for efficiently and effectively solving complex challenges to negotiating pricing to providing proactive strategic account management, we are fully committed to optimizing infrastructure.

Service Delivery

We assign a dedicated project manager to ensure the successful delivery of solutions on every project so our customers can stay focused on their business. By engaging directly with suppliers, we work to ensure solutions are delivered on time or ahead of schedule while providing timely updates along the way.

Customer Support

Our team works on behalf of clients to submit trouble tickets, escalate service issues, and ensure issues are resolved as quickly as possible.

Read our customer stories to understand the value of partnering with UPSTACK:

“I can’t help but recognize the level of partnership and how critical Larry has been in assisting us with the upfront vetting and planning of [Contact Center as a Service] CCaaS solutions. Larry certainly has the Bank’s best interests in mind, and his actions continually reflect this commitment. Again, while there is still plenty of work ahead relating to CCaaS, we feel like we are well positioned to action it with Larry and team alongside.”

— Chief Technology Officer
National bank servicing individual and corporate customers

“Kelly and team have organized and streamlined our service ordering process, saving the company money. She transitioned the DSL accounts with POTs services for fire and elevator life safety systems to a new system without downtime. Kelly has also managed the transition to newer, cost-effective internet services and upgrades to support the company’s heavy security monitoring bandwidth requirements. She is a great asset to our team, and I can’t imagine doing this on my own.”

— Director of Technology Integration,
REIT investing in office buildings and laboratories

“Our experience working with the UPSTACK team has been excellent. Amy, Larry, and Judith have provided us with the utmost in responsiveness to our needs during our SD-WAN deployment project. If you want to get the project done correctly,  I highly recommend [partnering with] UPSTACK.”

— Network Engineer
Integrated financial services company

“I have been thoroughly pleased working with Eric and UPSTACK over the years. I know that Eric, Michael, and the rest of the team keep the best interests of my organization at the forefront. Their industry knowledge and skill navigating the ever-changing telecom landscape has proven very valuable, and I would not hesitate to recommend them to anyone looking for similar expertise and support.”

— Director of Network Operations
Full-service energy company

“Our Customer Experience team stands apart for its tireless dedication to assisting our customers with solution recommendations, ensuring timely service delivery, and providing ongoing support. Our comprehensive approach to CX is designed to maximize the value our clients receive from partnering with UPSTACK.”

Kurt Walk, VP, Customer Experience
Monica Sanchez | UPSTACK Advisor
Leadership

People Powered, Culture Led, Results Driven

The UPSTACK leadership team is responsible for crafting the strategic vision of the business and guiding its execution while never losing sight of its goal to reimagine how digital infrastructure is designed, sourced, and sold.

Monica Sanchez | UPSTACK Advisor
“The breadth of experience and capabilities our leadership team brings to the table are inspiring. When we combine these with the expertise and vast knowledge base of seasoned IT professionals at all levels of the organization, they become real difference-makers. UPSTACK’s collective approach allows us to surface best practices and a deep understanding of all the products and services up the technology stack, no matter the particulars of the customer’s industry or infrastructure needs. This team is constantly innovating and building upon our foundation of shared experience to ensure we are always getting the job done right, to the benefit of our customers, strategic partners, and employees alike.”
Benjamin Smoot, Chief Operating Officer
“The breadth of experience and capabilities our leadership team brings to the table are inspiring. When we combine these with the expertise and vast knowledge base of seasoned IT professionals at all levels of the organization, they become real difference-makers. UPSTACK’s collective approach allows us to surface best practices and a deep understanding of all the products and services up the technology stack, no matter the particulars of the customer’s industry or infrastructure needs. This team is constantly innovating and building upon our foundation of shared experience to ensure we are always getting the job done right, to the benefit of our customers, strategic partners, and employees alike.”

Benjamin Smoot, Chief Operating Officer

Monica Sanchez | UPSTACK Advisor

Customer Stories

UPSTACK delivers value across many industries and organizations of all sizes. Read these select customer stories to learn how.

Healthcare

Improving Patient Experience and Staff Satisfaction with Call Center Support

The Chautauqua Center, a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC), was struggling to handle increasing call volumes with existing solutions. UPSTACK designed a fit-to-environment omnichannel Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) solution that…

Read the full case study.

Finance

Modernizing a Regional Bank Through Improved Connectivity

A regional bank with a legacy point-to-point network needed to improve connectivity between branches to deliver the best possible customer service experience…

Read the full case study.

Food & Beverage

Food Distributor Protects its Secret Sauce


A global food distributor lacked a robust cyber security plan, leading to concerns about the enterprise security posture and a denial of cybersecurity insurance coverage. The UPSTACK team helped the distributor source a preferred managed IT and security provider…

Read the full case study.

“In a world full of disruption and rapid change, organizations benefit from an experienced, data-driven advisory partner who will help navigate specific challenges. Advisory services like these present organizations with opportunities for reductions in costs and complexities while making outcomes more predictable, improving speed to market, and mitigating business risks.”
Greg Moss, Partner & Managing Director
Monica Sanchez | UPSTACK Advisor
Expertise

Working with UPSTACK to Drive Better Outcomes

Today, technology executives and IT teams are tasked with creating value throughout the enterprise, using technology to drive strategic initiatives and competitive advantages, and enabling key stakeholder groups to be more productive and effective.

But no CIO, CISO, or even the whole IT team can do it alone without running the risk of making the wrong decisions, experiencing delays, and facing budget overruns, all while failing to achieve the desired business outcome. Here are six reasons why turning to an expert, vendor-neutral advisor—like UPSTACK—makes sense.

Voices

Go Deeper: Voices of Our Experts

When it comes to successful digital transformations, specialized knowledge makes all the difference. At UPSTACK, our advisory partners regularly ask difficult questions and explore important niche-related topics on our blog to increase customer knowledge and drive industry progress. Enjoy a sampling of our most-read posts from 2022.

Cloud Computing

Re-engaging the Data Center: Colo and Hybrid Cloud

Public cloud computing is gaining in popularity as enterprises look to scale up, remain agile, and be responsive to the ever-changing business environment. Gartner forecasts worldwide spending on the public cloud will increase by 20% this year…

Read the full post

Healthcare

Risk assessment in healthcare IT: The role of compliance in protecting patients

Digital technologies are transforming healthcare by reducing human errors, facilitating the coordination of care, and improving efficiencies within medical practices. Healthcare IT enables providers to more easily manage the practice, big or small, so they can focus on serving their patients…

Read the article

CX Automation

Enhancing Customer Experience: Maintaining High NPS and CSAT Through CX Automation

As we mentioned last month, customers spend more when they have a great support experience with your contact center. Not just that, when you have created a great customer experience (CX), it can become a strategic differentiator and core…

Read the full post

Cybersecurity

What’s in Your Security Arsenal?

Make no mistake; your company is under siege whether you know it or not. And it’s unlike any other conflict in that the enemy is nearly invisible but potentially lethal to the health of your business and the strength of our economy…

Read the full post

Coming Soon

IT Trends on UPSTACK’s Radar

Pairing market data with expert insights, hear from UPSTACK’s group of leading technology experts on the shifting IT landscape—from emerging technologies and evolving threats to next-wave IT strategies and the providers that are leading the charge—and how to circumvent the biggest challenges businesses may face in the months ahead.