Outcomex, a systems integrator with deep ties to Cisco, is building out specialist managed services that sit alongside its core integration work. The firm is putting money into staff skills so it can run complex Cisco, AI, security and data centre environments for customers.
Chief revenue officer Ben Blaschka said the company has no ambition to become a conventional managed service provider that looks after everything. He spoke to ARN at Cisco Partner Summit 2026 in Vancouver, according to a report by the publication.
A Specialist Rather Than a Generalist Provider
Blaschka described systems integration as the main part of Outcomex's business, supported by a smaller arm focused on software and innovation development. That arm has produced tools such as CareTrack and FarmDeck, built on top of Cisco networks.
His argument is that traditional MSPs are finding it increasingly difficult to handle modern Cisco infrastructure. He pointed to application centric infrastructure, or ACI, as an early example of a technology that many integrators avoided.
Outcomex took the opposite approach, investing in ACI because it had a large engineering bench. As a result, other MSPs with managed services contracts began outsourcing their ACI work to Outcomex, which delivered a significant amount of it on a white-label basis.
Complexity Still Sits Beneath the Surface
Cisco Cloud Control and Cisco IQ are simplifying some of the front-end experience, but Blaschka said much of the complexity remains in underlying technologies such as software-defined access.
He cited a recent multi-million dollar project for Peninsula Health involving a 17-storey hospital. Outcomex had to profile every IT device in the building, from printers and lifts to surgical equipment, laptops and phones.
Blaschka said traditional MSPs are often unwilling to invest in the engineering skills needed for this type of work. He added that specialist engineers need a steady flow of challenging projects; if their job becomes routine maintenance, they quickly lose interest and leave. Outcomex says it has enough customers with complex Cisco environments to keep such teams engaged, which in turn supports better outcomes, access to Cisco adoption funding and customer renewals.
From IoT Experiments to Edge AI
The company's work with Cisco's IoT team dates back to 2019, when it began experimenting with long-range wide area networks and related communication technologies. That early work has since shifted toward AI, an area Outcomex has been developing for around four years.
One product, CommuterGuard, uses edge computing to run AI in high-motion or low-bandwidth settings. Blaschka noted that in transport, sending hundreds of megabits per second from a train back to a data centre is not practical, making local processing essential.
Outcomex's projects began in agriculture and have expanded into healthcare and mining. One example is work with the National Centre for Healthy Ageing, a partnership between Peninsula Health and Monash University, on a sensor-based IoT system for patient tracking, operational efficiency and research.
Heavy Reliance on a Single Vendor
Blaschka said about 83 per cent of Outcomex's business is Cisco-related, covering products, renewals, software, engineering, managed services and adoption services. Including partner solutions from Cisco's Solutions Plus catalogue pushes that figure to just over 92 per cent.
He acknowledged the exposure this creates. "We always say Cisco sneezes and we catch [a] cold," Blaschka said, while framing the concentration as the basis of the firm's specialist position.
Preparing for Cisco 360 Audits
Outcomex was one of 40 partners selected to help co-design Cisco's 360 partner program, which encourages partners to focus on their areas of expertise and collaborate more. Blaschka said the firm had to overhaul almost its entire internal reporting stack to align with the program's points-based approach to certifications.
The company also pushed staff to earn Cisco black belt accreditations, with one engineer reportedly holding around 39. Next comes validation through customer experience and managed services certifications, each requiring external audits lasting three to four days.
Blaschka estimated the cost of pursuing all three certifications at around $1 million in staff time. He expects many partners to drop away over the coming months, particularly around August 2027, when the first serious measurement under the program takes effect and unaudited capabilities lose their points.
What It Means for Partners and Customers
Outcomex's strategy reflects a broader shift in the channel, where vendors are rewarding depth of expertise over breadth. For integrators, the cost of certification and specialist talent is rising, and smaller generalist providers may struggle to keep up.
For enterprise customers running complex networks, data centres and edge AI workloads, the trend could mean fewer but more specialised partners. The trade-off for firms like Outcomex is a strong dependence on a single vendor's direction.
Source: ARNnet
