 Winston Edmonton here with Studio B. At IBM Edge 2013, I've got another award winner. I find great pleasure in interviewing the folks that are getting special recognition from IBM. So I have Mike Duham from Direct Data Systems who was recognized. Tell us a little bit about this award. Well, it's direct system support. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. So we won a Winning Edge Award for the X-Series brand this year and the award is based on growth, innovation, commitment to the industry. And so we were recognized in the Western United States as the Winning Edge Award winner this year. Very impressive. Now how long have you had a partnership with IBM? Well, our organization goes back to 1992 is when we first became an IBM business partner. So over 20 years. Wow. And we committed to the X-Series brand. I'm not sure what year it was, but when it was introduced, we jumped in. You knew it was a winner. Well, you know that's interesting because when people talk to us about our X-Series brand practice, they're kind of like, well, how did you decide to get into it? How do you make money into it? And what kind of solutions do you chase? And really, we're an IBM business partner and we're committed to our relationship with IBM. And so when they introduced the brand, we jumped in. I love that. And it's really, that's impressive. It's not rocket science, it's just you know, they've got a track record and now because of your partnership, you have a track record of success. Is that part of the secret of your success? This close to two decades of a partnering with IBM where customers know that you have this long term relationship, you know what's in the best interest as far as these solutions go. Well, not only customers know, but IBM knows. That's maybe more important. We're trusted by both. We're trusted by both the customer and IBM. Now, we are an IBM only partner, so we're TrueBlue, we do the whole product set X being one of the brands that we handle. But so when we're in front of a customer, sometimes that comes in into question. As a TrueBlue reseller, how do we know we're getting a view of the world? And we like to think that even though we're TrueBlue, we bring some thought leadership to this discussion as well and we're not just pushing the IBM. Brad, even though that's always up, if it doesn't fit, we don't sell it. Okay, so that's a good point. I mean, I like that point. Sometimes I would imagine that could be an asset that you are 100% IBM, but as you said, some customers feel that you're blinded to other solutions. Right. Is it 50, 50? I mean, how often do you find that that helps close the deal because they know that you are 100% IBM? And how often does it require additional conversations? So they are comfortable in the fact that although you are 100% IBM, you are offering, like you said, thought leadership. Well, there's a couple of ingredients to that because we recognize that we can't bring ourselves forward as being narrow-minded and only, you know, thinking about the IBM solution set. So we do make an effort to broaden our view of the marketplace to bring some thought leadership to the solution set. And, you know, we've got the IBM partnership, the commitment to IBM. So it's really a seamless thing when we're in there with the customer. But kind of, and it's not a secret ingredient, but our technical staff is second to none in the marketplace. So they come from a broad range of backgrounds, number of them, of course, non-IVM, a depth of education. We have a number of computer science degrees on our staff. And so when our technical staff is engaging, they're talking about technology, solutions, not brand. Right. I would imagine you get those individuals in there speaking the same language, and it's just, like you said, a seamless process. I can't, you know, when we talk about winning an award and, you know, direction from support, getting the recognition, it doesn't tell the story to not bring forward the importance our technical staff brings to them. And, you know, again, people like to ask us, you know, how did you do it? What are the plays you ran? What are the solutions you're bringing to the customer set? And it's our technical staff that plays an absolutely critical role. They are able to go in to a customer, sit down, assess a problem, bring forward solutions, look to the customer in the eye and say, we understand the requirements, we understand the problem, and this is going to work. And really, so, you know, guys with the suits on, like you and me, we're good at talking to customers, but the guys who go in and actually do the work, they're making the sense. And they have the real credibility out there. That's right, that's right. So, you guys are out there, clearly, you're recognized. So, you're the front line, you're in the trenches. Tell us a little bit about what you're seeing. What are some trends or what are some of the more common issues that customers are facing coming to you for help for? Well, you know, I don't want to just parrot the IBM, you know, theme from the Edge conference, but truly, we're seeing problems with, you know, okay, big data, but maybe more aptly termed, lots of data. They don't flow, yeah, they don't flow. Increasing expenses, both OPEX and CAPEX, we see performance problems, you know, just like you would expect. They've made an acquisition, the database has grown, it's not performing anymore, it's gotten out of tune over time, and, you know, how do we resolve that? And, you know, kind of as a solution seller, what we want to instill in our staff is that if you can't find a problem, you're not gonna make the sale. So, reduce expense, make it easier to live with so that we don't have to hire as many people, make the environment run smoother so that we don't have to spend our nights and weekends here anymore. So, what are the problems, you know, we're solving? I mean, one of the key sales in this award we won is a very large compute complex that over time in transition in the customer's staff had gotten out of phase in terms of all the code updates in terms of compatibility of all the nodes that are in the compute node, they couldn't take it down, they didn't have their own employees who really understood the whole environment. They were hijacked by their own system. Exactly, and we engaged with them, and I think we had our technical staff on site for 18 months before we solved the problem. Digging through the weeds. Exactly, and so at the end of the day, when it came time for a refresh, the sale was the result of doing the work, and kind of a foregone conclusion. I mean, there's no magic in what the salesman can say, the magic is in what our technical staff has brought to bear as a solution. I like that, that's great. There's some customers that are hesitant to get help because, and I don't know if there are solution providers that are causing this perception, but they feel like if they bring someone in to take a look, it's kind of a hard sale and it's ramming solutions down their throat. For folks that have not gone through this, kind of just walk through the process of an initial consultation. I mean, just tell us a little bit about what it's like for a first time customer that is just starting to work with you. What is that initial dialogue like? That's an interesting question. We're a California company. It was a West United States award. We're a San Diego company, and I think in California, especially, when a technical team comes in from the outside and says, we're here to solve your problems, or help you solve your problems, they're like, wait a minute. Yeah, it's almost as scary as the government coming in to say, we're here to help. Yeah, we're here, exactly. And so there is some reticence to really bring forward the meaningful data to help us solve a performance problem because along with solving a performance problem, we might find that their utilization is terrible. Their storage is at 25 or 35% their CPU utilization is at 10 or 15%. And that points to some problems in the environment and they're not willing always to bring that forward right away. So we really have to establish trust to get them to bring that forward. That's where when I talk about our technical staff having been on site for weeks and months and helped them solve the problem, they rolled up their sleeves, jumped in, got their knuckles dirty, helping, and earned the right to ask for the real data. And you can't fix it unless you have the real data, right? And it's not easy for the customer to go get that data. It's not like they're hiding it, but they've actually got to get on their systems and do some work to get it. And you'd be surprised how many don't really know how to get it, right? So being able to... They're shocked at what they find. So being able to bring them an instruction set or to get on their system for them or to give them a script that they trust, that'll pull the data forward is a big part of that. But you hit it on the head. It's not easy. They don't always just want to cough it up. Yeah, so you come in and you're willing to kind of fly blind for a time being to establish that trust. Exactly, exactly. I like that, that's what we do. So for folks that are now ready to take that plunge, what's the best way to get in touch with you or learn more about some of your solutions? Well, like I said, we're a San Diego company, but we cover the whole state of California. We're at DirectSystemSupport.com. If anybody wants to engage us, feel free to look us up on the web and make a connection. And we like getting face to face. Like I said, we cover the state, put a lot of bios in our cars in California. We're used to that. I've worked out two or three vehicles in my tenure and we're happy to get in front of a customer and have a discussion about what the problems are and how we can help. It's not painful. Mike, appreciate the time. All right, man, thank you.