CRN Article: New Tech Titan Verinext Is Launched, Christened As Brand For Blockbuster Anexinet-Veristor Merger

The following article appeared in CRN on January 12, 2023, written by Steven Burke.

Read the original article here. 

Verinext, the new name for the game-changing Anexinet-Veristor merger, was officially launched Thursday, kicking off a new era in “what’s next” solutions from the full-service digital transformation powerhouse.

The name–which combines “veri” (the Latin prefix for truth) from Veristor and “next,” inspired by Anexinet—came to the fore as a groundswell from the company’s employees who wanted a new brand identity that communicated the combined company’s fiercely independent drive to deliver a full portfolio of “what’s next” digital transformation services to customers, said Verinext CEO Brian Glahn.

“We’re here to tell you the truth about what’s next,” said Glahn, referring to the new name as a “natural” outgrowth of feedback from the employees that included a survey on what was the best name for the combined company. “We’re not here to sell you something. We are here to advise you and augment your existing capabilities from the application to the infrastructure and all the things in between. And we do it with a personal touch and a culture that cares about our customers and our employees.”

The new name was revealed in an all-hands-on-deck employee meeting Thursday that was a celebration of the coming together of the two companies over the last year into a full-service digital transformation provider with a full suite of managed services. The launch includes a social media campaign, letters to customers and the launch of a new Verinext website on Jan.16.

“We started with employees to find the new name and we are now ending that search with a celebration with all of our employees to launch the new company,” said Glahn. “This is all about the power of one united company that’s able to bring the truth to customers with regard to what’s next to help them save money or gain share. Across both companies our employees wanted to keep the ‘veri’ portion of the name because it was the truth, the truth about what’s next for our customers and our company. Verinext delivers transformative business technologies so our customers are ready for everything that comes next.”

The new name comes nearly a year after Anexinet and Veristor combined in a deal that reshaped the solution provider landscape, instantly doubling the two companies’ geographic reach, customer base and solution delivery teams. The deal created a new combined company with 44 years of solution expertise that ranks in the top 100 of the CRN Solution Provider 500 with annual revenue approaching $500 million. About 50 percent of Verinext’s 350 employees are made up of technology talent and services delivery.

A Combined Channel Behemoth

The Anexinet-Veristor merger was the capstone of a Glahn back-of-the-napkin plan that was initiated two years ago with Anexinet President Steve Johnson, a solution provider entrepreneur icon, and Veristor co-founder and CEO Ashby Lincoln.

“We are a services-led organization because of the combination of these two companies,” Glahn said. “We have more than doubled our system architects and service delivery workforce in the last year. We are focused on finding the right solution in the digital transformation world for our customers and then delivering it with care.”

To that point, the combination of the two companies has provided Verinext with technology talent that can best even the biggest strategic technology consultants and systems integrators without sacrificing the “personal touch” and “customer care” that was a hallmark of the original companies, said Glahn.

“I would put our technical talent up against anybody in this industry,” he said. “The key differentiator is they have time to care. We didn’t want to get so big that we lost that personal touch with our customers. Some companies get so big they forget to care. With the synergies between the two companies, we are able to provide customers a full stack of services from applications to the data center to the cloud with security and managed services, but with the flexibility of a regional player. That is unique.”

Now that the two companies are fully integrated, Verinext is focused on continuing its fast growth trajectory, even as some competitors and technology providers pull back in the face of macroeconomic headwinds, said Glahn.

Coming off a year of robust growth in 2022, Verinext is doubling down on the top-notch technology talent that differentiates it from competitors with a plan to grow its head count by 20 percent this year, said Glahn.

“We are investing huge dollars this year when everyone else is pulling back,” he said. “We are hiring. This is a long-term play for our customers and our employees. We are going to continue to invest even if other people are pulling back. We are not scared. If customers are reducing head count, we can augment or completely outsource their infrastructure, their security and monitoring of their IT systems. If they are building applications for efficiencies within the organization, we can build those applications and we can automate them with APIs and dashboards. We are a full-service company that has the ability to provide infrastructure, security and the integration our customers need to thrive today.”

Verinext CEO: There’s Hiring Across The Board

Verinext is hiring across the board including a significant expansion of services professionals and solution architects, said Glahn. “We have the best solution architects in the industry,” he said. “They are the agnostic experts that advise our customers. Once they get enough information then they provide an assessment. They don’t come in with a preconceived solution. That’s a big differentiator for us.”

As part of its bid to bring in key technical talent throughout the organization, Anexinet has hired three in-house recruiters. “We are hiring solution architects in all regions, we are hiring for security and adding managed services talent,” said Glahn. “Finding the right talent is an important part of our culture.”

Glahn’s vision—backed by private equity company Mill Point Capital—when he joined Anexinet in November 2020 was to build a full- service digital transformation provider with top technical talent in next-generation technologies including artificial intelligence/machine learning, data analytics, automation, application modernization and DevOps. Before the merger with Veristor, Anexinet acquired engineering automation and AI/ML superstar SereneIT in 2020 and Unified-Communications-as-a-Service, Contact-Center-as-a-Service and networking solutions specialist Light Networks in 2021.

“All roads lead to digital transformation, which for us is automation, AI/ML, data analytics/data science, application modernization and then being able to secure it, support it and maintain it,” said Glahn. “We are uniquely positioned to really answer what customers need to be successful in the future. Our focus is on the next conversation and the next technology. We are going to drive the cost out of every solution we can through operational efficiencies, automation and advanced technologies for our customers.”

Glahn said he could not be more excited that the company’s 350 employees have seamlessly come together because of the shared cultural values to create a new era of digital transformation solutions for customers. “Our employees are driving this growth,” he said. “We have aligned the sales, solution architects and delivery organizations and we now have a unified set of managed services. Literally every portion of our organization is fully integrated in less than a year. That is a material accomplishment that in no way could have happened unless our people were behind it. This name change was employee-driven, culture-driven and customer- driven. It is the final piece of the puzzle for us to go to market with unified service offerings and solutions to take our customers to what is next.”