Most IT conversations start with a product. A platform, a licence tier, a “good, better, best” security bundle. In a recent MSP Success Spotlight interview, our CEO Natalia Scheidegger explained why 3rdmill stopped starting there.
3rdmill began in Sydney in 1997 as a break-fix shop. Today we are a 30-person managed services and advisory business working mostly with financial services, insurance broking and legal firms. The MSP Success feature looks at how that shift happened, and what it means for clients weighing up AI and cyber investment.
Start with the business, not the stack
Selling a stack and a monthly bill is easy. It is also how a lot of businesses end up paying for tools that don’t match how they actually work.
We run it the other way round. Workshops first: how the business operates, where the friction sits, which risks actually matter to the board and the regulator. Then we design the solution with the client, not for them.
“We focus our go-to-market strategy on the customer and what they want.”
Natalia Scheidegger, CEO, 3rdmill
Industry knowledge is no longer optional
Financial services firms carry legislative obligations, audit pressure and client data that can’t afford a bad day. An MSP that doesn’t understand that context is guessing. Natalia’s view is blunt: for MSPs, industry knowledge is now “inescapable.”
That is why our team is cross-skilled to think like business analysts as well as engineers. It is harder to build. It is also the difference between being a supplier and being an advisor.
AI that is real, secure and comfortable
Plenty of businesses know they should be doing something with AI. Fewer know where to start, and most are rightly nervous about where their data goes. So we start with education, then build from there:
- AI: a roadmap grounded in governance, security and practical use cases, not demos.
- Cyber: a risk-led model sized to the business, not a one-size-fits-all stack.
In Natalia’s words, the goal is AI that is “real, and it’s secure, and customers feel comfortable.”
Want more than a stack and a monthly bill? Let’s talk about where AI and cyber fit in your business.